A PIG FOR PALIN'S LIPSTICK?

Because there doesn't seem to be any equivalent to a wooden stake when it comes to Republican pols' careers, no matter how much they seem to be disgraced, I suppose we shouldn't be surprised at this story, from David Brody at Pat Robertson's CBN News:

Sources close to Ralph Reed tell The Brody File that the former Executive Director of the Christian Coalition is "seriously" considering running for Congress in Georgia. According to one well-placed source, Reed has talked to key grassroots leaders and local elected officials in Gwinnett county and other parts of the district, but has not made a decision yet.

18 year veteran Congressman Rep. John Linder announced over the weekend that he's retiring. This seat is in a big time Republican district in the Atlanta suburbs. Reed would be positioned well.

As David Weigel notes, Reed would seem to be washed up -- he ran for lieutenant governor in Georgia in 2006 and, largely as a result of his Jack Abramoff ties, lost the GOP primary by 14 points -- but maybe he thinks he can call on a very special political ally to help him out: Sarah Palin.

Recall that during the Virginia governor's race, Palin made robocalls for Reed's new Faith and Family Coalition on behalf of GOP candidate Bob McDonnell (even though McDonnell, trying to downplay his far-right credentials, distanced himself from the robocalls as well as from Palin).

Also read this early-February Ralph Reed post at National Review's Corner, which lavished praise on Palin:

The Palinator

Sarah Palin dominated the news this weekend with a flurry of appearances, from her keynote speech to the Tea Party national convention in Nashville, campaigning for Gov. Rick Perry in Texas, and an appearance on Fox News Sunday, her first Sunday morning interview.

...[Palin] is raising funds for GOP candidates (many of them in primaries), giving speeches, maintaining ongoing exposure as a Fox News contributor, and making contributions through her political action committee. All these activities will redound to the benefit of conservatives in the short term, regardless of her long-term plans.

Palin has sharpened both her message and performance on the stump. Her Tea Party remarks provide a blueprint of sorts for conservative candidates in 2010....

She understands the fiscal and values agendas of conservatism are reinforcing, not mutually exclusive.... In this sense, Palin is a fusionist who weaves the various strands of conservatism into a coherent whole.

This is why Palin can act as a bridge between Tea Party activists and the Republican party and have credibility with both.

...the MSM are missing the bigger story, at least in the short term: Palin, whom they tried to drive out of respectable political discourse, is reenergizing the grassroots of a Republican party that they dismissed as dead....

I think if Reed can line up Palin's support, he's off to the races. At the very least, it will be excellent PR for his new organization, which he has said he hopes will be a "21st Century version of the Christian Coalition on steroids, married with MoveOn.org, with a sprinkling of the NRA" -- a tea party/religious right hybrid that would be, as he sees it, very Palinesque.