Sarah Palin is (almost) irrelevant

It's not quite official, but politicos across the spectrum have attached the dreaded "irrelevant" label to Sarah Palin. It seems the supernova has burnt herself out. Even if Palin makes a late-entry into the presidential race, it won't matter much. Beyond her cultist fan base, nobody is much interested. If Palin jumps in, her run would be nasty, clownish and short -- an inevitable train wreck. In fact, that's precisely why some cheeky pundits on the left are chanting "Run, Sarah, Run." Cratering epically in a presidential race would deliver a vampire-like stake through the heart. Steve Kornacki, drooling at the prospect, writes that it would "once and for all convince the political and media worlds that the empress has no clothes." And, poof, Palin disappears from our lives forever (a pleasant thought indeed). In a succinct but terrific piece, TPM's Benjy Sarlin surveys what happened to the once and future Prom Queen of America. "Ultimately, Palin has been her own worst enemy. Over and over she's made costly unforced errors that have solidified her critics' worst impressions of her while alienating potential supporters," Sarlin writes. Manically, Palin used every nail available to her to hammer home the "already entrenched image of the ex-governor as a thin-skinned, rash, and divisive figure." And it worked brilliantly. How sweet it is.