For that warm tingly feeling in our pants that was long forgotten until you came along. Thanks for awakening our loins...errr...our Convervative Values.

This should be the real title of this.

I laughed at your description of Palin's admirers: people whose lives are so pitiful, miserable, and tiny that Sarah Palin could be an inspiration to them.

As I mentioned in earlier posts, at the Palin rally I attended, I don't think I've ever seen a more vibrant, physically fit set of 12,000 people (it was held in a small town hockey barn on a Saturday night) or a group of young women who looked more likely to succeed on all levels, personal and professional. This was not exactly a rich, thin, sorority set, either; it was more like the sub-sorority, high GPA crowd with high self esteem and just a lot going for them.

I must say, at the risk of sounding mean spirited, that where I live the people who were campaigning the hardest for Mr. Obama, wearing placards around and so forth, looked considerably less happy with life, or successful. Maybe when they get their rebate checks, they'll feel better. :)

I'm also reminded of something Machiavelli wrote about Hannibal, in describing his brutality. Machiavelli said that many think Hannibal was brilliant -- "despite" his brutality. That is wrong, he explained. Hannibal succeeded "because" of his brutality; he could not have managed his polyglot army without it.

With Sarah Palin and her husband, I see two people who are remarkably fit for their age and disposition in life (including five children); she is upbeat and exuberant, and accomplished much more in a short period of time that anyone with her (oft criticized) educational background and station in life could be expected to achieve.

Now, people may say, "Yes, we would really admire all of that, were in not for the fact she is an unabashed born again Christian, and pro-life, if she went to an impressive east coast school, and if she traveled around Europe earlier in life so she would know more about the world." To that, one must retort, as would Machiavelli, that if she were that kind of person with that kind of resume, she would probably not be living in her hometown, would never have become the hockey mom governor, and would not enjoy the high esteem among many she has today. She is where she is because of who she is, in all aspects of her life.

So, no, I don't think her admirers are tiny, pitiful, or miserable. They like Palin because she's a right-of-center person with grace and charm in spades, and the potential to build a national platform with cross-over appeal just as she did in Alaska. As I said earlier tonight, she could be comparable to Angela Merkel of Germany. That's where she could be headed - and who knows whether it will even be the next time around - eventually.

If memory serves, the Messiah claim originated with Oprah Winfrey, in her endorsement of Mr. Obama for the S.C. primary. She paraphrased some New Testament passages on the second coming of Christ: those which say many will come claiming to be the Messiah, and many will ask, is this the one? Winfrey explained that today, in America, we have been searching and asking ourselves "is he the one, or is there another"? She concluded that we have now found the "one"; it is Obama.

I was not too bothered by this, because biblical allusions are a tradition in the black church. MLK compared himself to Moses in his "Mountaintop" speech in Memphis. In Jamaica, they used to call Norman Manley "Moses" and his son Michael "Joshua." Although, it is unusual to compare political figures to Jesus. In part, some might regard this as blasphemous. In part, Jesus was apolitical, telling Pontius Pilate his kingdom was "not of this world." (Unlike Moses/Joshua, who sought to establish a political entity in the land of mild and honey).

The Obama = Jesus argument picked up further steam at the RNC, when Donna Brazile and others likened Obama to Jesus and compared Sarah Palin to Pontius Pilate. I thought that was harsh, and stupid, and reflected poorly on the purported Christian faith of those making such charges. In turn, it fueled sarcasm directed at Mr. Obama.

As for Sarah Palin, today, no, I don't think any conservatives will be comparing her to Jesus, or calling her a Messiah.

I think of her as comparable to Angela Merkl, the German chancellor. Merkl, like Palin, governs as a fiscal conservative; she is not a professional politician by training; and she enjoys a deep level of heartfelt admiration among the German people. One of my favorite stories about Merkl involves some non-German Euro-critics who made fun of her supposed provincialism early in her tenure. Surprisingly, the liberal leaning press in Germany came to her defense and basically said, look, regardless of our political disagreements, this woman is liked by a lot of people, and at some level we've got to respect that. There are some lessons to be learned from that experience, in my opinion.

So, I'm glad to see some people spending the time and money to publicly thank Sarah Palin for her efforts. She deserves it.

Put tears in my eyes. And I'm a pretty tough and crusty old Vietnam combat vet. Or maybe I'm not so tough?

At this rate, "moose" is going to replace "crow" or "cake" in some variant of a classic English phrase. I'm just not sure what form it will take.

I've long maintained that Sarah Palin ain't going anywhere... until she finds her Karl Rove. Just as W was a front man for the collective interests of a powerful few, Sarah is a very compelling "spokesperson" for . . . well, the base.

And the base is where you raise your money, and if you're an operative like Rove, it's where you make your career. These are the folks that have made careers out of demonizing Hillary Clinton -- not because they genuinely feared her -- but because she was a great way to rile the base into writing checks for them.

They always have to have someone to demonize -- and someone to canonize. It's not hard to imagine that the demonization of Obama will re-commence once the inaugural glow has worn off a bit. But who will the Great Leader be on the Freeper side of things?

W's time has gone and McCain's time never was. Welcome to the Year A.P. She will be trotted out to front whatever base-savvy cause they think she can master with 3 catchy talking points, and the base, eager for a Leader, will willfully accept that she's the brain behind the machine.

So who is the brain behind this? Does it look to anyone else that this is an effort to court Palin into the sphere of influence of some powerbroker somewhere?