John McCain will lose come November, and he will lose by a lot. That’s the way it has been for a long time now, and nothing’s going to change it. And when John McCain loses, he will fade from the national scene, and not long after, disappear from the Arizona political landscape as well. And that will be that.

And then we will be left with Sarah.

There are those who believe that Governor Palin is the future of the Republican Party, or at least one possible future. There’s a certain logic to it: as the GOP’s candidate for vice president, the laststanding member of the campaign duo, the conservative albeit shrill voice of the moment, the champion of some twisted form of family values, one might regard her as the leading contender for the crown.

Regardless, it is not to be. I know some will disagree, noting how Pallin has allegedly electrified the base, infuriated the Dems, and raised McCain from the dead. Maybe some of that is so (Democrats, among others, are definitely upset), but in the end none of that will add up to anything substantial or lasting. Palin is finished, washed up, done.

When the election’s over, Palin, with a taste of the bright lights of the accursed big city still sparkling off her rimless glasses, will not be satisfied to troop back to Alaska, but way up north she will be forced to go. On a purely practical, nonpartisan level: Alaska is a poor physical base from which to make friends, raise money, and influence the media in the lower forty-eight. Strike one.

Sarah can’t lead the conservative wing of the party because leading the conservative wing of the Republicans, just like leading the liberal wing of the Democrats, demands more than just passion, it requires a philosophy beyond slogans, some intellectual heft, and Sarah Palin possesses no such heft. She cannot lead because she cannot formulate policy or articulate concepts or relate history. The conservative wing is about more than pro-life platitudes, it proffers a view of America on the international scene, it promotes a view of the role of government in domestic life. Palin is incapable of championing any such ideas, not even the simplistic notion expounded by Ronald Reagan or George W (particularly in his first campaign for president) – and those two guys, while hardly qualifying as philosopher-kings, had the extra virtue of being downright likable, which Sarah most certainly is not.

Finally, we know so little about her, having only met some six weeks ago, and when more is known, there will be more to question, more to disdain, and more to dislike. Three quick examples, among so many, should make this clearer.

Example one: While she spews on about Obama’s supposed lack of patriotism, her continued association with the virulently anti-American, secessionist movement in Alaska has barely been mentioned in this campaign. Example two: Americans weren’t all that crazy about the behind-the-scenes role Hillary Clinton played in her husband’s administration. What are they going to think when they learn the details of Sarah’s husband’s highly inappropriate meddling in her administration? Example three: Once you get a reputation for being an idiot, it’s a rep that’s hard to shake, and Sarah’s stupidity in her oh-so-few interviews has earned her a big, dumb rep. What’s she planning on doing the next four years, as she hopes for another chance at the big prize? Not give any interviews? She will have no choice, and when she slips up, as she surely will, she will only reinforce her stupid label.

The more Sarah pushes to get to the front, where she thinks she belong, the more desperate and ridiculous she will look. Now she has the support, however tepid, of at least some of the Republicans. Wait till Romney and whoever else decides to run in 2012 drop the pretense of standing respectfully aside for her, and tells the world what they think of their primary opponent. It will not be pretty.

Didn’t Dan Quayle float a presidential trial balloon at one time? The embarrassing sputtering noise that balloon made as it spin aimlessly around the room on its way to the ground will be robust compared to the stillborn silence that will greet Palin next time around.

No, you can rest assured we’ve seen the last of Sarah Palin. Now if we could only think of something to do about Madonna.