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SARAH PALIN, FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: It is because I love Alaska this much, sir, that I feel that it is my duty to avoid the unproductive, typical, politics as usual, lame duck session in one's last year in office. How does that benefit you?

With this decision now, I will be able to fight even hard for you, for what is right, and for our truth.

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BAIER: Now former governor Sarah Palin, there you see the latest FOX News opinion dynamic poll and you can see her favorability rating has dropped.

As you look at this next poll, however, the 2012 presidential nominee run, you can see that her prospects have increased since May, up to 17 percent in this poll.

What about Sarah Palin, her exit speech, and where she stands now? We're back with the panel - Fred?

BARNES: I had initially thought that her - if she wants a future career as a national political player, that stepping out as governor was a mistake. But I have changed my mind on that.

Look, I don't know how far she will get in national politics, but there was nothing else for her to gain, and it was just going to be stagnating anyway between the legislature and her. So there wasn't anything for her to gain politically or otherwise by staying in the governorship.

Now she can be a national political player. She is free to do it. I think she needs - and then she is free to have time to learn more about issues, to hire a good speechwriter.

And she can't just keep going around and doing what Mara said about President Obama on health care, just saying the same thing over and over again. She will have to give speeches on different subjects. And she can be a national player with tremendous clout.

The press is always going to cover her, because she's a star. You can't underestimate how important it is to be a star. And she will be all over the country. I don't know what she will do for Alaska, but she will be with us for a long time as a national political player of real clout.

LIASSON: I think she is definitely a conservative folk hero. I don't know how far. I bet she will run. I don't expect that she will get that far for the 2012 nomination. She certainly has a lucrative and promising career ahead of her in the media and giving speeches.

But I do think the big question is, and Fred raised this, is she willing to do the homework that is necessary on domestic and foreign issues to kind of get up to speed and become a real player? I mean, she has to have something to say on these things.

And what I always expected her to do when she went back to Alaska after the McCain campaign was to kind of bone up on this stuff, and she didn't. Now maybe without being distracted by her duties there, she will. I think that remains to be seen.

BAIER: Charles, we have proven many times that there is a Palin derangement syndrome for some in the media. She spent a lot of this speech going after this press and how she has been covered. What about that move?

KRAUTHAMMER: Well, it's absolutely true that she has been terribly treated by the media, unfairly, on a scale rarely seen.

Nonetheless, I don't think it's productive for her to attack the media. A, it's not going to change anything.

Secondly, her coverage is what - the oxygen that she lives on. She will be covered all the time the way no one else is. Has there ever been a losing vice presidential candidate who got a tenth of her coverage? The answer is no. It is a love-hate relationship. But it benefits her in a way.

And thirdly, when she complains about it, it has a whining quality like Nixon in '62 in which he said to the media "I won't - you're not going to have Dick Nixon around to kick around anymore."

So she doesn't need that. She is a political star. She really is a phenomenon.

And I repeat again and again, and I know it sounds condescending - she needs the discipline to study up on stuff if she is going to be a major presidential candidate. She has her constituency. It will be there, but it isn't enough.

And it is not a matter of becoming a philosopher or speaking like Obama in all kinds of complexity. It is simply studying the major issues. If she could do it, she really could be a strong candidate.

BAIER: And she will make a lot of money.

BARNES: She will.