Brownshirts do not care.

When you really are a clownish, vindictive amateur, one can't help doing what you do. Steve, by wondering aloud about Palin's "strategy" and "logic", you wrongly assume she is capable of such things.

In politics, just as in American Idol auditions, sometimes people who are really bad at it have no idea that they're really bad at it.

She ought to take some lessons from her alter ego...Lisa Ann.

RINOs are going to whine but Governess Palin is the real deal. A looker who can cook, field dress a moose and run a state in her spare time.

Here's a shocking thought...the Sarah Palin all these cheerleaders thought they knew really has been a lobotomized, clownish, vindictive amateur from DAY ONE. They're just finally, slowly, waking up to reality, now that their bubbles have been burst so rudely by the dumbass from Alaska.

Has Sarah Palin undergone some kind of secret lobotomy?

Secret? Not so much: she's always been that way.

That "bold right-left populism" was horseshit. That "enemy of Alaska's corrupt Republican establishment" was horseshit. That "gosh darn aw shucks" vibe was horseshit.

Pretty much all of her pre-VP act was horseshit. A smokescreen that covered up the fact she's the rightwing base's wet dream: a theocratic, gun toting, defenseless animal killing, willfully ignorant twit who has little desire for basic competence and governance and every desire to push forth a Christianist and anti-tax-the-rich agenda. y

Folks in Alaska were either too dumb or too worried about prepping for the winter to notice any of this, while the rest of us (mercifully) saw through the act in no time at all.

So, yeah, welcome to reality, Salam. Thanks for joining the rest of us.

I'm just more shocked it took them this long to figure it out.

One can't help but get the impression that Palin is a clownish, vindictive amateur.

You don't say, Doctor.

This astonishingly witless, months-late statement of the obvious once more confirms Mills' dictum. "Although it's true that not all conservatives are stupid people, it is true most stupid people are conservative. "

You know the conservative movement is in bad shape when it's actually newsworthy that one of them publicly acknowledges that up is up, down is down, and Sarah Palin is a moron.

Forget Salam. What did McCain see in Palin?

I agree with the above posters that this is not a strategy. This is who she is and she is not capable of changing.

Strategy? You give her way to much credit.

The base already loves her -- the diehard pro-lifers, the hands-off-mine individualists, the anti-elitist brigades, you name 'em. Where she has (deepening) trouble is with everyone else: moderates, socially liberal libertarians, DC-establishment types, and anyone who places a premium on basic competence.

Sorry, but Governor Palin doesn't do competence. So, it's not inexplicable that she's ignored "a more obvious and productive route". She's a one trick pony. Perhpas she has a future as a political analyst on Fox.

Independent, @ 17:00

The jokes write themselves but, seriously? He needed the religious zealots she brought him. And he may have thought that there was a modicum of chance that some Pumas might be tamed by the skirt...

I'm guessing Salam never heard the "Sarkozy" telephone call. There is no way to conclude she had a lobotomy after that.

There's simply no logic to this strategy.

Logic? LOGIC?!?!

The reason she told Couric that she "reads all of them" in response to what newspapers she reads is that she gets all her info from Fox.

She's under the impression that everyone else is a wingnut.

The base already loves her -- the diehard pro-lifers, the hands-off-mine individualists, the anti-elitist brigades, you name 'em. Where she has (deepening) trouble is with everyone else: moderates, socially liberal libertarians, DC-establishment types, and anyone who places a premium on basic competence.

This is true only if you assume that she wants to be President of the United States. Maybe she wants to be President of the Independent Republic of Alaska.

Forget Salam. What did McCain see in Palin?

I figured that it was conventional wisdom that McCain was just trying to get laid.

beautiful.

the oft-predicted Republican Internecine War never quite materializes because a "war" worth its name requires armies on both sides. To date, the Limbaugh-Hannity wing has had all the troops; there was no way for anyone else (including the business community who created this monster) to launch a meaningful fight.

but little by little - John Cole, Andrew Sullivan, Charles Johnson, Salam (and occasionally his co-author Douthat), even Megan McCain - those for whom the line has finally been crossed is growing. They are willing to speak out for change in the Republican Party.

before long, a critical mass will be reached: the change faction will have the strength to actually fight; the Total Nutter Brigade will try and put down the increasingly loud dissent. the fun will truly begin.

i'm starting to stockpile popcorn in anticipation.

That explains the spike in popcorn futures.

Sarah Palin has never been anything but a clownish, vindictive amateur. There are two key differences between Sarah Palin and George W Bush. Palin's daddy was a nobody and after 8 years of Bush, voters were repulsed by the prospect of another clownish, vindictive amateur in the White House.

Had Bush not crapped in the pool first, Palin and McCain would have had a halfway decent chance.

Funny how you lefties conveniently forget that she singlehandedly cleaned up Alaska government, risking hissyfits from the Alaska GOP when she weeded out corruption in her party's own house.

She's entitled to rest on her laurels a bit.

Besides, having her around makes libs' heads' explode. The gal is worth the cash I send her weekly just for that. Feeling a little nervous about 2012, are we?

That's right, Myke. We're all quaking in our boots at the thought of Palin vs. Obama in 2012. I suggest that you double your weekly contributions to the Sarah Palin Defense Fund/Presidential Campaign Committee. That'll a) bring her an extra $15.60 by the time the election rolls around, and b) sufficiently deplete your allowance to the point that you have to forego attending the Junior Prom.

Oh please keep those cards and letters comin', Mr K!!! We lefties just hate it when the voice and face of the Repub Party is Palin's, or Cheney's, or Gingrich's.

Please, don't throw us in that briar patch!!!!

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

As a true friend of the Republicans I would like them to put forward substantial candidates with serious policy proposals. Instead they seem to be pinning their hopes on a vain and vapid airhead.
Sarah Palin has no strategy. Her head has been turned by people paying attention to her. She'd rather ignore Alaska and chase after applause. If this derails her political career, she will end up blaming it on people who dislike her rather than any failings of her own.

"Reform-minded Republican"???

Do such people exist?

While we may deride Sarah's antics, methinks she is one dangerous bitch.

We may scoff at redneck anti-obamausdemogays, but she is part of a very real force.

I wish she'd go away, but there are too many slime molds like herself to just fade away.

God help us.

Sarah Palin loves to be adored. The base will adore her, cheer her loudly, and treat her like a messiah. For a personality that craves adoration, serving a fervent base is a better deal that being supported by a less passionate middle.

I don´t think she is any more frightening than any other wingnut. I mean, all wingnuts are scary. Most of them are just waiting for the right time and the right moment to fertilize the tree of liberty, as it were... but there are no shortage of nutso leaders on the right.

It seems to me that Salam's commentary really shouldn't be taken very seriously. He was "utterly electrified" by Palin's convention speech. He claims that "snobs" on the left and right attacked Bristol over her pregnancy (rather than the more correct claim that Sarah was attacked over the matter as a way to portray her as a hypocrite on reproductive issues). He thinks that the latest news may indicate some sort of brain impairment. I mean really, what else is there to say? As my grandad used to say: I wouldn't trust this guy to give me the winner of a one horse race.

No logic to Sarah's strategy? Well, maybe not if she wants to run for President, but what if she's got her eye on a place in Fox News' brilliant stable of commentators? A female Glen Beck? Well qualified.

Palin is not a good leader, she doesn't listen and she is too lazy to learn. LIke Molly Ivins description of GHWBush. “Deep down in side he’s really shallow.�

Palin is not a good team player. McCain's staff panned her as a rogue and a diva. And she ruined his campaign.

Palin cannot create a consensus. Look at the last Alaska legislative session. The Democrats stood up for themselves for the first time and even her own party turned against her.

Palin does not show good judgement, look at her recent AG debacle.

She is an infantile control freak. Look at the way she handled filling the Legislative seat for Juneau.

Palin does not look out for the welfare of the citizens. Rural Alaska might have starved for all she did. Fortunately food was sent by Americans from the lower 48.

Palin has a very limited vision, - guns, anti-abortion, just recently State's Rights, and accessing Alaska's natural resources, even if it means destroying Alaska to do it. That's pretty much her total agenda.

In other words Palin has so many self-imposed limitations, that her capacity to govern is virtually nonexistent.

And lets not forget she is vindictive, and everything that goes wrong is somebody else's fault.

In other words Palin has so many self-imposed limitations, that her capacity to govern is virtually nonexistent.

She has no interest in governing. She wishes to rule - to use the office to reward herself, her family, her henchmen, using the power of the state. Think of a second-string European king, about the year 1260.

Another possibility: she's running for spokesmodel, not President.

This is the future -- W showed the way. She will need her own Cheney chosen for her, however, to actually run things.

Sarah Palin is a credit to her sex, her party,her state, adn this great Christian nation. She is an exemplar of family and christian value, and would make a great President.

Arghhh!!!

Cognitive...dissonance...too...powerful!

The pain...Arghh!!!

Palin is a clownish, vindictive amateur.

Whewww! I feel better already.

John McCain, Richard Bruce Cheney, Sarah Palin...have I missed any Republicans for whom sudden mental or physiological changes are being offered as excuses for "inexplicable" bad behavior?

Hello, winger apologists! These people were deluxe assholes from the get-go! The only change is your finally being able to spot what's in front of your face.

I heard that mad Wayne Anthony was geared to open up Alaska as much as possible to upscale unsportsmanlike hunters, facilitating the fish-bowl type safari pen shoots and all that. Glenn Beck would have been soggy up there all the time.
A sharp nail she is!

Oh, Myke. Zip up your pants, put your tongue back in your head and PAY ATTENTION. Sarah didn't even come close to cleaning up AK politics. Murkowski was smart enough to know Sarah wasn't, and put her on the Oil and Gas Commission so Ruedrich could go about his business without interference. Problem is, Sarah is a control freak. She couldn't stand that Ruedrich wasn't playing her game. If she'd had bigger ambitions then, she would never have quit the commission--she's just not that ethical. She's an accidental celebrity at best, and she let it go to her head. Her only political future is to be an embarrassing footnote in Republican Party history. Even Republicans in AK are backing away from this bobble-head train wreck.

That's not her strategy...that's her personality.

Please Steve how about some examples re: a genuine Republican leader. Who are McConnell, Cantor, Boner, McCain, et al exactly as not genuine republican leaders. I find it difficult that anyone could get behind Palin as a possilbe stand-in for presiden. They would have to be in bed with her relentless bible waving wackiness, hunting wolves from helicopters mentality, ad nauseum. I cannot take seriously anyone who claims to be a conservative intellectual that think Palin is the possible new face of Republican leadership including Salam Reihin (sp?).

The woman is just not that bright. I thought the campaign made that very clear.

OF COURSE she's not doing politically logical things. For that, she would have to be logical.

Instead, she's dogmatic, a true believer and that kind of "belief" allows no room for logic or pragmatism.

For her, it's a badge of honor that she is NOT pragmatic.

BTW, this seems to be a characteristic of what remains of the the "Republican" base. I think we saw a bit of that on TeaBagging Day, and I think the Republicans have to be a bit worried that they are losing that "base."

I think it is apparent that men just don't watch pagents. Like Miss America and Miss Universe.

Otherwise, they would have recognized La Palin for the beauty queen she was, with the pat answers memorized and used no matter what the question.

"before long, a critical mass will be reached: the change faction will have the strength to actually fight; the Total Nutter Brigade will try and put down the increasingly loud dissent. the fun will truly begin.

i'm starting to stockpile popcorn in anticipation."

Yeah, but without the Nutters, just how many Republican'ts are left?

I think they could, over twenty years or so, get back the moderates who used to be "Rockefeller" Republicans. But with a legitimate moderate wing of the Democratic Party, why would these people join the Nutters?

Gonna be a long, lonely road back, IF there is anyone who really wants to and can walk it.

"A female Glen Beck? Well qualified."

Well, I don't like her at ALL, but she's no Glen Beck.

An idiotic opportunist can succeed for a while if merely lucky (or simply be in the right place during the right crime--see George Bush). If one's stature depends on luck, looks, and looking the other way? Train wreck. Like W, she is bad at pretty much everything important, from being governor to being a mom. She is good at dieting and being vindictive. Not sure those are skills we need in government. . .

Fact is, good leadership begins in the home.

Palin fails right there.

"...sometimes people who are really bad at it have no idea that they're really bad at it."
Q-bert at 4:45 PM

In fact, it is a statistical near certainty that this would be the case. The less competent you are, the more you over-rate and are unaware of your actual competence:

"Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments"
http://www.apa.org/journals/features/psp7761121.pdf?Unaware

Palin is a classic example of this, as is almost the entire Republican establishment at this point including amoral, stunted dorks like Rove. Genius, my ass. As far as I'm concerned, the vicious vacuity of Repuke standard bearers like Palin and her equally dismal "base" are compelling evidence of the death throes of imperialist American 'conservatism'. Too bad for them that the Republican Party let itself get punk'd by the truly hardcore forces of capital. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of...empty, pathetic assholes.

You know what is clownish, ---- that this site is under the banner of "Washington Monthly", soon to be "Washington Yearly".. Libs know they will lose the womens' vote in the next Presidential election.Thats why they are frantically trying to discredit Sarah Palin.

Here is something you Liberal weasels can look forward to. In July, the FEC will publish how much money Palin has in SarahPAC. Hint: Money won't be a problem in 2012. HA

Right, Andy, because everybody knows that women vote with their ovaries-- which is why Sarah was so popular among women. NOT. Glad to see that you think women are so simple.

I'd love to see a woman president but not just ANY woman-- she has to be qualified, thoughtful, competent and not a rightwing simpleton. Sarah Palin is a republican straight man's fantasy and nothing more.

If that's the best you got in 2012 it's going to be a very entertaining and predictable election.

Andy: Runs up to the doorbell of a neighbor, rings it. Laughs hysterically. Then finds out his parents have moved when he tries to sneak in the basement window. That is called a parable. You might find more of them in your "Christian Concealed-Carry Comic."

Palin and campaign cash? A fool and your money. . .

One can't help but get the impression that Palin is a clownish, vindictive amateur.

Reihan just notices this now? What a trenchant insight. Here's a sneak peak at a post he's working on for next month: "I have the impression that executives at AIG may have been somewhat reckless in their development and use of exotic financial instruments."

As others have noted above, albeit indirectly, this says more about the state of conservative punditry that they can see a moron only when it bites them in the ass.

.
What idiots didn't know right from the start that this woman was an idiot, a nut-job, a hypocrit, a fool, corrupt, incompetent, and a total mess personally & professionally? Is brain damage a major part of being a Repukelickin', or is being a Repuke just a symptom of brain damage?

Do we listen to the opinions of two-year-olds? The senile? The certifiably insane? Why is anyone continuing to listen to any of these delusional MORONS???!!!

When do those damned FEMA camps open, anyways?
.

... Libs know they will lose the womens' vote in the next Presidential election.Thats why they are frantically trying to discredit Sarah Palin.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA **cough** HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA **wheeze** HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA **gasp** HA HA HA HA HA ... HA HA ... HA ... HA HA.

Ahem.

Please, GOP, please oh please oh please run Palin in 2012.

What's the alternative in either party? If Ted Stevens is "hilariously crooked" for getting some freebie home repairs, what is Barack Obama for getting a sweeheart real estate deal from Antoin "Tony" Rezko to buy his mansion in Chicago?

... what is Barack Obama for getting a sweeheart real estate deal from Antoin "Tony" Rezko to buy his mansion in Chicago?

Completely innocent, per the investigations into the matter?

And honestly, if all you guys have is the already-debunked Rezko nonsense (along with the birth certificate nonsense ... and the Ayers nonsense ... and the "He's a socialist! No, wait -- a fascist! No, definitely a socialist with fascist tendencies!" nonsense ... and the FEMA re-education camp nonsense ... and the "all conservatives are rightwing extremists" nonsense ... etc. etc. etc.) than you're toast.

America is moving on, rightards. You can either:

1.) Adapt your policies to reflect the new reality and join us in the 21st century, working as partners rather than adversaries; or

2.) Continue to think you just weren't conservative enough, promote Palin and Not Joe the Not Plumber and Rush as your party's leadership, double down on the crazy as you have been, and become an irrelevant regional party.

Your call.