Douthat, Palin and the Twitter Meter

What is it about conservative thirty-something writer/columnists?

First, Matt Labash says he ain't gonna watch Palin anymore, no way, no how--but only after inflicting a 2,000 word essay on his feelings about watching her.

Now, Ross Douthat, takes the media (including himself) to task for paying so much attention to Palin and declares:

"If the press (including this columnist!) and Sarah Palin can’t quit each other, you can still quit us."

Only after inflicting a whole column of his thoughts about Palin on his readers does Douthat imply Palin won't have him tagging along after her any more. One can only hope that this means we won't have to endure more of Douthat on Palin any time soon.

Of course, the problem is not Douthat's will power. It's that Palin continues to have political impact whether Douthat likes it or not. But, Douthat assures us Palin is not and will not be important.

"To the media: Cover Sarah Palin if you want, but stop acting as if she’s the most important conservative politician in America. Stop pretending that she has a plausible path to the presidency in 2012. (She doesn’t.) Stop suggesting that she’s the front-runner for the Republican nomination. (She isn’t.)"

If you're wondering about Douthat's ability to give accurate political predictions on 2012 and beyond, not to worry. He has a fool proof method: the Twitter meter.

"And every time you’re tempted to parse her tweets for some secret code or crucial dog whistle, stop and think, this woman has fewer Twitter followers than Ben Stiller, and then go write about something else instead."

According to Douthat's Twitter meter method, Republicans with the best chance of winning the 2012 nomination are in order:

1. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (except for the Constitutional thing)
2. Sen. John McCain
3. Newt Gingrich

Except for Gingrich all the other major mentions for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination are dwarfed by Palin in Twitter followers. Maybe Douthat needs a better crystal ball than Twitter.

In any case, here's hoping that we won't have any more foot stomping by Douthat on Palin. And that Douthat quits himself if he feels the telltale tremor when his fingers start to write on Palin. Probably too much to hope from a man clutching the Twitter meter.

H/T Check to the Power