Palin lost her credibility when she embraced McCain's "liberal-light" platform....until she redeems herself with a conservative run as govenor or in Congress (maybe taking Ted Steven's seat), she won't be touchable as Presidential material....
I give her a pass as she was playing second banana. "Team player" & all that. If she continues to speak like McCain in a dress, yeah, I would kick her to the curb. All VPOTUS candidates do the same thing. Just look at Biden before & after his pick. GHWB toed the line in the Reagan White House, but his inner wobbly came out during his 1988 campaign and during his term.
She still has a couple years in this term as governor and I expect her to win in the 2010 AK gov race.
Also, it looks like Ted Stevens, just convicted in court, has won his Senate seat. If he goes to prison or the US Se
nate refuses to seat him, Palin will have to appoint a successor and (I think) set up a special election.
McCainiac staffers will do their best to weasel out o responsibility for running a dismal campaign. The sooner the RINOs are taken out back and beaten, the better.
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I disagree vehemently with agricola that if she stays as AK gov, she has no future. It is a power base of far greater magnitude than any Senate or House seat. It is an example of executive experience. What she has to do is what Bill Clinton did as gov of a small state, Mitt Romney did after leaving the governorship in Mass, Reagan did after leaving the CA gov, etc.:
1. Become involved in Party politics and drumming up support.
2. Lotsa trips around CONUS
3. Lotsa speaking engagements at all the Republican and conservative organizations & organs.
4. Direct involvement with the national issues of the day
5. Cultivate relationships with some Rep/conservative intellectual types. Newt Gingrich comes to mind, as does Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, etc.
6. Hit talk radio very hard, not just on topical issues, but a post-campaign/bio/prescription for America's future book would be just the ticket.
7. Reach out to small "L" libertarian groups like Cato as "the most libertarian prominent Republican"
A term as Senator or Congresscritter would be seriously limiting.