Her approval rating and he[r] ready for president rating among GOP is still overwhelming.

If true, that says all that needs to be said about the GOP’s incipient slide into irrelevancy.

Will a new center-Right party emerge from the wreckage? Or are we headed for a decade of essentially single-party rule in Washington? I don’t know, but I sure hope, for the sake of the country, that it’s the former. A functioning (and not dysfunctional) opposition is essential to the 2-party system.

…but to assert that Palin is the most popular politician in the country among the GOP is an equally weightless assertion, without polling to back it up…

It is closer to the truth than the sour comment.

Her approval rating and he ready for president rating among GOP is still overwhelming.

but she has been under attack in the pages of the National Review, no less,

From a few people. In any event, can you seriously assert that NR speaks for the majority of conservatives or even the broader GOP? I can’t.

rather of intellectual heft, or lack thereof…she makes G. W. Bush look like Albert Einstein…

Wow. Two liberal slams at once.

You are on your way to the dark side.

Still, I will admit one again to having no real basis for saying most Republicans…but I’d be interested in seeing a scientific poll of only Republican voters, with two questions:

1. Was Sarah Palin a good pick, given what you know now?, and…

2. Would you support a Sarah Palin run for the presidency in 2012?…

…but to assert that Palin is the most popular politician in the country among the GOP is an equally weightless assertion, without polling to back it up…

I soured on Palin after the interviews, anyway, like most Republicans

“most Republicans”?

Not true.

Palin is in no way, shape, or form the frontrunner for the 2012 Republican nomination. I know there may be some of her fans saying that…but it’s not going to happen. Her credibility is tarnished irreparably.

She is the most popular politician in the country among the GOP. Frontrunner she is.

Not to say that she will be the nominee. Hilary was the frontrunner too.

But she has a good chance.

Many on the left had an irrational hatred of Bush to the extent that they substituted their own emotions for facts. They thought that every non-Republican would be just as apt to believe their over-the-top criticisms as they were, and so they were overconfident (Taranto applied this similarly to the GOP and Obama now). This, however, worked to Bush’s disadvantage as well. When he did things that were worthy of criticism (mismanagement of post-liberation Iraq and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina), those of us who supported him had become so accustomed to tuning out any criticism of Bush that we automatically assumed that people who criticized him were afflicted with BDS.

Likewise, Sarah Palin gave but one speech before the MSM subjected her to more thorough and harsher investigations in a week than it had to Obama in four years. Thus many of us who supported her tuned out the negative news and/or justified her poor interview performances. I had some hope for her for a while, but I’m back to Petraeus (if we can get him to run) or Jindal in 2012.

The Republican “base” would be staying at home in the fall. And Obama’s money advantage would be considerably more formidable than it already is.

Last thought… do I really have to remind one of the founding members of the Coalition of the Chilling about how the internet echo chambers can whip up panic?

There is still a huge block of undecided voters — far more than usual at this point in the race. There are very few states in which the margin of Obama’s lead is greater than the number of voters who have yet to decide.

And the only thing that would surprise me this month is if we have fewer than three major surprises left in store in this election cycle.

Buckle your seat belt, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

On the other hand, Troopergage remains relevant. Sarah Palin is being bruited about as a potential “frontrunner” for the 2012 Republican nomination. Does that scare the heck out of you? (I figure it would, if you entertain hopes that the Republicans will regain the White House in 2013.) Perhaps the next week or two, as the fallout from Troopergate unfolds, will help you sleep easier.