Just as soon as I saw news of Palin’s announcement I knew it was coming. Finished. Kaput. Time to move on. Terms of the absolute issued not by the press and lefty pundits, but our own side. Maybe it’s just me- but it seems that with any mention of a possible chink in the armor of a prominent Republican, instead of tightening ranks we will push our wounded comrade out front into the melee. Rushing to be first to proclaim, “she/he’s not one of us” or “already written off”… as if by beating the media to the inevitable punch we will somehow be rewarded.

I blame it on the progressively biased and now downright partisan nature of the media; we have become gun-shy, cowering at the mere thought of a confrontation. No doubt we are well trained Republicans… and no I don’t have a mouse in my pocket. It is an unfortunate trait we all share at least to some degree. It doesn’t matter that we have a President mentored by a racist bigot, with a past that includes a cast of dubious natured characters ranging from convicted felons to unrepentant terrorists- nor does the fact that our rival party has a race exclusive caucus, a known murderer, and a past clansman among its ranks. The buffoonish Speaker has repeatedly and unabashedly lied and beclowned herself in front of the press and American public and the Senate Majority Leader issued a preemptive surrender… and yet we walk on eggshells lest we be labeled racist, partisan, or for dear sake even patriotic!

I am not here to say that we stand up in unison and declare Palin our glorious leader- this is not Highlander, and until the primaries there can be more than one. In fact, we darn better be sure that we have several seeing how the odds are being stacked against us. What harm in there is to wish her well without the inevitable “but”… Instead push the positive what-if-she-becomes like fundraiser, talk show host, VP candidate, or yes even top of the ticket- that is the thing to do. No one can deny she is formidable. Enough to intimidate the Left so much that they miss the irony in the fact that they can not seem to stop talking about her insignificance. I like talking about her just because she irritates them so badly, why should we want to marginalize her?

Two things I want to make sure happen in the struggle ahead. One is that our 2010 candidates are not afraid to speak clearly and without reservation on conservative values and against the Democrat agenda of socialized health care, global warming power grabs, and unrestrained spending. They must know we will guard their backs regardless of how the media comes down on them, and that starts here with not speaking ill of one of the few Republicans brave enough to speak out and fight back. This will ultimately affect my second concern, the emergence of the 2012 front runner. Will we have a bold candidate with full grassroots support, that has the leadership and charisma to strengthen and expand the party, or will we once again enable mediocrity and end up promoting a plain vanilla candidate?