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I love how Newsweek rips her for not appearing in NH with Sen Sunnunu because he was pro choice, when Sunnunu had a 100% from NRLC and a 0% from NARAL. They said she also wouldn’t appear with him because he was against ANWR, even though McCain himself is against ANWR and that didn’t stop her from appearing with him.

The facts are just so rediculously wrong.

The names will come out.

She’ll be fine. Some time to regroup, recharge. Focus on being a good Governor and maintaining and building a national presence. A lot can happen in 2-4 years. She has 100% name ID and base and party support that others would kill to have. Mitt Romney for example spent 2+ years and 50M+ of his own money and he couldn’t get what Palin got in a matter of weeks at no cost to her. She starts out way ahead of where others have to get to.

Similar in a way to Obama. After his speech in 2004 every Dem and Liberal knew who he was and loved him. He had a huge base right away and that helped big with fundraising. It was enough to win a 3 way race in IA, and once Edwards was out he consolidated the black vote and took advantage of the caucuses and the timing of the primaries to win an extremely close victory. If OH and PA voted the week after Super Tuesday instead of LA, VA, MD and WI, Hillary would have won. Given that this was a virtual lock dem year, that was big. He also had huge media backing, which Palin won’t have.

But she will have a good shot at having big conservative media backing which is very helpful in a GOP Primary. One of the reasons McCain won is because is because conservatives never really gotbehind one guy until it was too late and they tried to pump Mitt up in FL. They split between him, Fred and Huckabee and that allowed McCain to squeak through. If they’re all behind one guy, as we saw with W in 2000, or one gal as the case may be, that makes a big difference.

McCain also has a big network of fundraisers, email lists, field workers, state party contacts, GOP VIPs, donors, military contacts, especially in NH and SC that could be very helpful to someone. I assume he’d help her out with all that and turn it over if she asks. It’s the least he could do.

A lot depends on what happens with Obama. If he’s popular around November 2010 or so, the dems picked up more seats, and his reelection looks like a lock, I say Palin and Jindal and any future hopes stay out, a Romney or Huckabee runs as the next in line and likley loses. Meanwhile Palin and Jindal both etsablish two term records as Governor with a buunch of achievements and get ready for 2016 to take on Jeb Bush for the nomination. Biden isn’t running for the dems so I predict Mark Warner or Jim Webb of VA will be the nominee, with a small chance of Hillary.

If Obama sinks by 2010 and the GOP makes gains and it looks like we can win, you’ll see a bunch of folks jump in.

But Palin’s future can be very bright, and if not, she already had a 2 month span that just about anyone in politics would dream of, and memories and experiences that very few and certainly no Republican or conservative woman has ever had in US Politics.

Her presence was the one thing that got me excited about the election, and whether she runs in the future or not, I hope she sticks around as a leader and a voice in the party. She’s exciting and fun there are plenty of opportunities going forward.

One thing is sure, the Bush-Cheney-McCain-Delay-Frist-Hastert GOP is finished. It’s time for new leadership and Palin, Jindal, Romney, Ryan, Cantor and a few others with be a big part of it. I think Palin and Jindal by virtue of their youth and diversity and appeal have very bright futures. If the GOP wins the WH in 2012 or 2016 it will likely be with one of them, with Petraeus or Jeb Bush being outside possibilities.

I think finally being unshackled from Bush has the potential to be an exiting time for conservatives and Republicans. W is a good man and he did a lot of good things, but by the end he really had nothing left(especially domestically and he even gave up on Iran and going hard after AQ in Pak and Afgh). His time is up and I think that’s a good thing.