I'm watching MSNBC and they're showing Sarah Palin's live sssstump sssspeech for Ssssaxby Chamblisssss. The lighting and her clothing is making her look like a (really sibilant) Star Wars hologram projection.
But more importantly, as Sudbay wrote, it's clear that Palin is the de facto leader of the Republican Party. The Republicans clearly aren't going to forge a more centrist, secular direction with appropriate leadership -- it's going to be all about southern, super-fundamentalist whites, and led by an unserious hoople.
Good luck with that!
The only conceivable way this iteration of the Republican Party could be successful is if the Obama presidency is a catastrophic failure.