1. That the race in NY-23 might portend well for conservatives has now acquired the authority of the printed word. Meaning George Will. Like me, he believes Marco Rubio may be the happiest man in American politics tonight.

2. Truth be told, there is something of a retribution going on here. Just as Carlo had to answer for Santino, Republicans who clung tightly to Obama now must answer for his results. Worse still, people like Newt must defend their endorsement of an avowed liberal Democrat posing as a Republican.

3. However, I wondered just a bit about the Frank Rich column comparing the Palin brigade to the Cambodian killing fields. Why so harsh, I thought? Then another thought crossed my mind, for some odd reason: Chris Matthews.

Funny enough, News Busters reports tonight that Matthews, echoing Rich, compared what is happening here to Stanlist purges. Why relevant? It's basically the '94 playbook -- treating conservative victories as triumphs for a Fourth Reich.

Obviously, the left fears as a loss in NY-23, and is trying to salt Carthage before anything grows on the right. It's okay with me; in fact, I welcome it. I'll take the win, and the fight.

4. Of course, not everyone sees it that way. Tonight, Keith Olbermann opined that Obama is downright brilliant. He (1) removed a sitting Republican from NY-23, then (2) induced the Republicans to cannibalize a moderate, paving the way for Democrats (over time) to capture the center nationally. Keith also bitterly denounced a guest who told him the tooth fairy is not real.

5. What about New Jersey! Today, Palin vaulted into the headlines by picking a fight with the third party guy, calling him a liar and then suggesting he withdraw from the race. Message to conservative Palinistas: she truly wants you to vote Republican, notwithstanding a snubbing. We'll see how that turns out.

6. What about Virginia! There, Palin did some volunteer calls for a conservative outfit independently of the official candidate. That's good stuff for future primaries -- helping conservatives elect their man, even though his toady campaign staff doesn't like Palin.

7. One final thought on the purge. It's interesting that Pataki and Rudy both endorsed Hoffman. Truth be told, there is room for moderates in the party.

8. To sum it up, I think of Tom Hagen in Godfather II: "Roth, he played this one beautifully." Substitute Roth for Palin, and that's what you have here.

She built her Facebook infrastructure, drew attention to it with some spicy headlines, and then deployed it -- when it counts -- to unprecedented effect. Quite a week. Quite a woman.

I appreciate the walk down memory lane.

Although, I'm slightly disappointed you did not mention the Tochter aus Elysium. That might be my favorite allusion.

As a point of self-defense, note again that the Forrest analogy pertained solely to his skill in escaping a siege at Fort Donelson.

I thought of him again recently when the DNC announced a campaign to infiltrate Palin's Facebook following. Sherman once said of Forrest that his insurgency must be stopped, "though it cost 10,000 lives and bankrupt the treasury." David Axelrod knows exactly how Sherman felt.

Andrew Jackson's gold experience does not translate easily into modern times, because it pertained to government land sales. Essentially, he preemptively punctured a speculative bubble. A better model is McKinley, as I explained in a recent post.

You are mistaken about Mr. Bernanke. He believes the "lesson" of 1893, 1929, and other downturns is that government should increase the money supply in response to recessions. In the past, governments did the opposite. The best example is 1893, where Congress repealed silver issuances in response to a dramatic crash.

Yes, Palin spoke out on autos last December. Senate Republicans opposed the use of TARP money without wage concessions. Bush green-lighted the loans without concessions, with the support of President-elect Obama. Palin publicly supported the GOP senators.

She was right. GM today is no different than Fiat or Renault back in the 70's -- a state-owned monolith heavily dependent on direct consumer subsidies (e.g., cash for clunkers). Obama had another chance to get concessions this spring, but declined. He owns the problem.

Central banks around the globe are engaging in loose money printing. There is risk of a repeat crash. Housing is the best example -- the Federal Reserve is pumping large new sums into housing agencies to stablize prices.

One contra voice is Angela Merkel of Germany. The Germans have long insisted on balanced or near balanced budgets, and high central bank interest rates. We could use a woman like Merkel over here.

Here is Joe's argument in a nutshell:

"Gas prices are high. Palin wants to drill for more oil domestically. Not us. We have a 20 year windmill plan to achieve 2% of that result."

Memo to Axelrod: get Joe better talking points. And don't match him up against Sarah again.

To paraphrase George Bush Sr., Sarah kicked a little ass today. It was a mismatch, given the hand Joe had to play.