J-Mart thinks Palin’s strutting around helps McCain:
The Palin obsession — which she has fed by going on a media tour and returning to the Lower 48 for the RGA meeting — obscures the mistakes McCain made in his own campaign (though some would say one of those was in picking the Alaska governor). The central debate in the GOP is not now what typically takes place after a party loses — what the candidate did wrong or whether he ran too far to the left, right or middle.
Instead, it’s entirely forward-looking, and based around whether Palin represents the future of the party. McCain will have a voice in this, yes, but the base of the party never cared much for him and McCain himself never has shown much interest in being a party leader. So now, as the battle over Palin begins, McCain can quietly begin to reclaim his own legacy and place in public life. That begins tonight with an appearance on Leno and will accelerate as he re-engages in the Senate.
The Dish 