KRISTOL + TODD = MORNING JOE'S ARTISANAL COCKTAIL OF STUPID

Mediaite reports:

In his new "Kristol Clear" prediction segment on Morning Joe ...

Ponder that: Morning Joe gave Bill Kristol a regular segment for predictions. Now go on:

In his new "Kristol Clear" prediction segment on Morning Joe, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol augured Thursday morning that Sarah Palin might run for president in 2016. "I mean, why wouldn't she run?" he asked....

Why wouldn't she run? There's a simple answer to that question: because running would require effort.

But no, Kristol's prediction wasn't ridiculous enough for Morning Joe -- along came Chuck Todd to respond, "I have always believed she's going to run, too," though "for much more cynical reasons":

"I think it's a financial reason," Todd said. "To get back into the spotlight. Get the speaking fees back up...."

Really, Chuck? You think she'll run for the money? In that case, why didn't she run in 2012? Would that not have gotten her back into the spotlight and raised her speaking fees in exactly the same way as a 2016 run? So what held her back? What on earth will be different for Sarah Palin in 2016?

I'll tell you what will be different: nothing. As 2016 approaches, Sarah Palin will still be a lazy person and an intellectual lightweight who wants a quick financial score, not a path to further wealth and notoriety that requires actually reading briefing books and attempting to master, and speak articulately about, policy ideas. Sarah Palin doesn't want to get up to speed on the nuances of Middle East power politics. She doesn't want to understand the various right-wing alternatives to Obamacare. She doesn't want to spend months and months tromping through Iowa cornfields and shaking hands with retirees in New Hampshire diners.

Palin might like the idea of actully being president, in a Caligula sort of way, but she's made it abundantly clear that she doesn't want to do the work she'd have to do to get to the White House. Just as water seeks its own level, Palin has sought and found hers: she makes speeches, delivers one-liners on Fox News, appears on reality TV, publishes books and Facebook posts -- nearly all of it scripted for her. The minute she goes off script, as she does every time she appears on Fox and has several minutes to fill after getting off the latest tendentious quip her team has crafted for her, she lapses into incoherence. Those moments of incoherence would pretty much be her whole waking life if she runs. Why would she subject herself to that?

In the Morning Joe segment, Chuck Todd does say, correctly, that Mike Huckabee has a habit of encouraging rumors about his presidential plans because he wants to raise his profile, for mercenary reasons. Huckabee, however, did actually run for president once, fairly credibly. He believes a lot of nonsense, but he's willing to put in the effort. Palin isn't.

After Todd says that Palin might run for the money, Kristol whines:

"Really? Can't we give these people the benefit of the doubt here? Some establishment type runs, everyone says. 'Oh, take very seriously, Jon Huntsman's running, wants to serve the country.' You guys have him on 452 times on Morning Joe and Chuck says, 'Oh, Jon Huntsman could do it. He's a governor and ambassador to China.' Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee? 'Oh, those guys just want to make money!'"

On paper, Huntsman actually is a credible candidate -- good resume, thoughtful about issues. He's just one of those sad sacks who can't resist running -- every four years we get one of them, a Bill Richardson or Lamar Alexander, someone who is to politics what Llewyn Davis was to show business, a guy with some talent but no charisma or broad appeal. The insiders were crazy to take him so seriously in 2012 -- he didn't even try to pass or fudge the many GOP primary litmus tests -- but if the GOP were less crazy, he might have been in the running, at least for a while.

He tried. Palin will never try. She's working the grift that suits her. The fact that Kristol and Todd believe otherwise tells you all you need to know about them.