But who else is there? The Brooks-Noonan axis, if they had their way, might … might … be able to produce a GOP with some appeal to independents and conservative Dems – but I don’t see them winning any battles within the party any time soon. Who else is there. The Paleos? Not going to happen. Sincere small government types? Are there any of them left, aside from the Paleos? And how do they craft a message that works given the dynamics of the modern welfare state?

What Palin shares with Goldwater is the obsessive sense among the base of the conservative movement that she represents the core values they care most about. That their values are very different means only that the core values of movement conservatives have greatly changed. And yes, I’m well aware of the history of the conservative movement (my father was a devout Goldwater conservative), and how it led to Reagan, Bush, and now Palin. Not a pretty development to be sure. The point is that this movement has degenerated to the point where Palin is actually its best representative, just as Goldwater was its best representative in 1964, and the base is simply not going to put up with anything but the true and pure thing next time around. McCain could be seen as the Nixon of 1960 – a republican without conservative base credentials who won the nomination because he seemed safer to the establishment and more likely to win. Goldwater was denied the 1960 nomination because he was too rough and crude, it was thought. So in 1964 the party went with him as a gesture of purity in the face of a hudely popular President of the opposite party. Goldwater became a virgin sacrifice to the base in 1964, when everyone knew he had no chance to win. My guess is that Obama will prove popular and successful, and the GOP will nominate Palin as their sacrifical goat to appease the conservative base.

Now, it may be taking this too far to extrapolate what the future development of the Palin movement might bring us. Sullivan brought up the possibility of using CGI design to create a totally virtual Palin candidate who can be programmed to repeat GOP talking points flawlessly, and look absolutely fabulous while doing so. Now, that’s a joke, of course, but I think the reality is closer than we might think. My guess is that there are GOP operatives out there as we speak scouting beauty pagents, cheerleading squads, and modeling agencies looking for conservative women with no sense of shame who can be molded into potentially devastating candidates for the future. You know, the kind of women who currently embark on successful careers as pharmaceutical sales reps and Fox News fembots. I’m telling you, Palin is the future of the GOP, the model that will simply require upgrading and retooling until they find the right agent, the new “Reagan” to replace the crude and sometimes offensive “Goldwater” that is the current Palin. And yes, someday even that will degenerate further, until the GOP slouches towards an even newer Bethlehem, looking for a new monster to be born.

“Palin, unfortunately, is their new Goldwater”.

As a librul (which I am too by present definitions, though I’m probably right of you on the whole), you’d better hope that you’re dead wrong about that. You do know that Goldwater’s campaign/movement was the direct progenitor of the Reaganite movement, yes? (which Reaganite movement eventually begat us Karl Rove and his spawn – Barry, I love and honor ya and in no way hold you responsible for Feldmarschal Karl, but if only you could have somehow pushed things a little differently).

If you really want want to say that about 2028 a Palin-spawn is going to bestride the rightosphere like a colossus, well I tremble for you when I think that Ghod is just.

Also, what JoeMax93 said.

My father was a Goldwater conservative, a rock-ribbed son of Arkansas.

And he agreed with Goldwater who said, in 1981: “I’m frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in “A,” “B,” “C” and “D.” Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of “conservatism.”"

Sarah Palin, you are no Barry Goldwater.

A-yep.

Funny, though, that Blankley or anyone should want to attempt to rebuild a political movement with the “true believers” at the foundation.