I wasn’t going to write about Moosewoman again, but the event of Richard Cohen writing a good column was too remarkable to ignore. Today Cohen writes,

The Institute for the Study of Sarah Palin might conclude that she represents the exact moment important Republicans gave up on democracy. She was clearly seen as an empty vessel who could be controlled by her intellectual betters. These include the editorial boards of the Weekly Standard and the Wall Street Journal, neither of which would hire Palin to make an editorial judgment but both of which would be thrilled to see her as president of the United States. It does not bother these people in the least that the woman is a demagogue — remember “death panels”? — and not, on the face of it, very responsible. If she quit as governor of Alaska in the noble pursuit of money, might she quit as, say, vice president or president for the same reason? From what I hear, one can never be too rich.

My only quibble is with Cohen’s belief the Weekly Standard wouldn’t hire Palin to make editorial judgments. I mean, Bill Kristol. Please.

She has a phenomenal favorability rating among Republicans — 76 percent — who have a quite irrational belief that she would not make such a bad president. What they mean is that she will act out their resentments — take an ax to the people and institutions they hate.

Of course, if you honestly think government doesn’t do anything useful except bomb Iraqi weddings, if follows that you think the presidency is largely a symbolic office that anyone could do.