Ann Coulter & Laura Ingraham: Palin is ‘Obama of the Tea Party,‘ Not Interested in ’Digging Deep’ on Policy

If former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is truly interested in seeking the White House in 2012, she'll be less-than-pleased with an exchange that aired last night between radio host and Fox News fill-in host Laura Ingraham and conservative commentator Ann Coulter.

On Tuesday evening's "The O'Reilly Factor," Ingraham and Coulter made some negative statements about Palin's presidential prospects, her willingness to dig deep on policy issues and her fans' diehard allegiance to her. During the discussion, Ingraham explained:

"...I like Sarah Palin, but I don't think she seems all that interested in digging really, really deep on that stuff. That's just my take on that."

Later, Coulter -- elevating the temperature of the discussion -- said:

"...she's become sort of the Obama of the Tea Party. She's just 'The One' to a certain segment of right wingers. And the tiniest criticism of her -- I think many of your viewers may not know this. No conservative on TV will criticize Palin, because they don't want to deal with the hate mail...

You know, we used to all love Sarah Palin, conservatives like me, for her enemies. I'm starting to dislike her because of her fans."

While critics will likely see these attacks on Palin and her supporters as disparaging, both Coulter and Ingraham insist that they "like" Palin. That said, both seem to want candidates who are willing to "dig deeper" and who have more substantive policy stances to share.

Considering the media power these two women have, their statements could ignite a firestorm of debate among conservatives.

(h/t Gateway Pundit)