Karl Rove probably never imagined Sarah Palin to be his legacy. And yet you can draw an arrow from Bush to her. Bush was the perfect folksy coachable candidate, with just enough of a nod toward the center to attract both the evangelical rednecks and the fiscal conservatives, at least in his first term. Palin is almost all that, in a more media-sleek package, and just dumber and commoner enough to seem approachable. She gets the passive-aggressive Baptist women who resent their husbands for forcing them to stay home, or who resent the world for never being able to amount to much more than an empty breeder in the first place.   She gets the dumb hicks who like her tits.   She gets the god-lovers and the gun-lovers.   The only thing she doesn’t get are the intelligent, thoughtful Republicans, and they aren’t going to vote for Obama anyway.

You’d think the Republicans would learn from the polarization of the last 3 elections, and how McCain lost 2008 because he followed their playbook instead of the one that had made him so popular for so many years.   But they continue to let their party’s blowhards set their course.   Palin having a soapbox is fracturing whatever is left of the Republican Party, and I say good riddance.   The best thing would be if the noble part of the Republican Party shed the “base” that demeans them. It would leave them as a minority party, and I cringe when I think of Obama’s health care plan and Nancy Pelosi lording over the House.

Congratulations, Karl!   Your sins have come home to roost.