Consensus On Lipstick-Wearing Pitbulls Nearing Unanimity

It's not just libtards like me saying it anymore. It's also people like Daniel Finkelstein, former "adviser to both Prime Minister John Major and Conservative leader William Hague," and now writing editorials for the Murdoch-owned Times:

... Mrs Palin now symbolises her party, that it is what she is, that it stands for what she stands for.

There is no more eloquent statement of modern Republicanism than resigning office with time still on the clock. Mrs Palin has chosen to talk about power, rather than exercise it. She would rather write a book and give lectures about being a governor than actually be a governor. And her party has made the same choice.

[...]

[...] But for a party that seeks to govern to speak so openly of its dislike of governing, of the people who govern and of the place from which they govern, isn’t entirely serious.

Mrs Palin need not worry too much about this, because she has worked out that she can have an entire career, a public voice and a good income entirely by pleasing the Republican base. More broadly, her party has concluded that it can have a fine life just pleasing itself.

The maths of politics aren’t very complicated. If you want to win and you don’t have enough votes from people who agree with you, you have to win support from people who don’t by accommodating their views. You cannot win elections by getting the same people to vote for you by pulling the lever harder. This, however, is the strategy the Republicans seem to be embarking upon.

And even more to the point: the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal:

Poor, Persecuted Sarah Palin

The GOP embraces the culture of victimhood.

[...]

The culture's fantastically unfair treatment of middle Americans is the main lesson that many will no doubt take away from Ms. Palin's time in the national spotlight. In fact, it may be the only lesson. We don't really know where the former vice presidential candidate stands on most issues. We know only that she is constantly being maligned, that when we turn on the TV and see her fair face beaming, we are about to hear that some liberal someone has slurred this noble lady yet again.

Indeed, if political figures stand for ideas, victimization is what Ms. Palin is all about. It is her brand, her myth. Ronald Reagan stood tall. John McCain was about service. Barack Obama has hope. Sarah Palin is a collector of grievances. She runs for high office by griping.

This is no small thing, mind you. The piling-up of petty complaints is an important aspect of conservative movement culture.

The WSJ piece closes with a great bit rebuking Kristol and Continetti, but I don't want to step on their lines. Same goes for Finkelstein's piece: great ending, which deserves reading what comes before it.

(h/t: Wolcott and Wonkette)