Sarah’s message to the GOP: Conservatives will no longer be kept on a leash

Sarah Palin’s forthcoming wonderfully-named book, Going Rogue: An American Life, is already energizing her conservative admirers – to the point that her publisher is willing to bet a lot of money on the book’s success. WSJ’s John Fund notes yesterday:

Sarah Palin may no longer be governor of Alaska, but she's certainly destined to become a best-selling author. HarperCollins, her publisher, has announced the print-run of her memoir will be a staggering 1.5 million copies -- equal to the print-run of Senator Ted Kennedy's posthumous autobiography published this month. Publishing sources tell me that such a giant run is only ordered up when there is clear evidence from booksellers and surveys of massive interest in a book.

HarperCollins’ confidence appears to be justified. Although the release date is still more than six weeks away, pre-orders have pushed the book to #2 at Amazon and #1 at Barnes & Noble.

As we learn more about how Sarah was “handled” by the McCain campaign last fall, it becomes increasingly clear that the party leadership has nothing more than a milquetoast commitment to the conservative principles they claim to champion.

Conservatives are often accused of hoping for Obama’s failure.  This is true only inasmuch as Obama embodies the radical agenda he’s carrying out. 

More significantly, many if not most conservatives hope for the GOP establishment’s failure, seeing that its agenda appears to be a reversion to the bad old days prior to Reagan: try not to lose any more congressional seats, and play the “we’re only half as bad as the Democrats” game (where Republicans in Congress react to Dem proposals simply by proposing alternatives, rather than by opposing the proposals on principle).

Hurricane Sarah will make landfall soon.  Will the ideological clapboard shacks of the GOP establishment be able to withstand her?