Pundits are predictably split lines on whether to love or fear Liz Cheney's new red-blooded, anti-Obama, neoconservative foreign policy group, Keep America Safe. But they agree that she is part of a vanguard of conservative women who are rising to lead the GOP. Here's why two prominent columnists from different ends of the political spectrum think women could help Republicans stage a comeback:

• Women Will Lead GOP Out of the Wilderness  Kathleen Parker declares at The Washington Post. "In the past few months, several conservative women have emerged as candidates and critics to challenge the notion that the GOP is the party of men. They're also putting to rest any thought that Sarah Palin is the female face of the party. The McCain campaign had the right idea; it just picked the wrong woman." Who is Parker talking about? Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina, Meghan McCain, and Liz Cheney, "Among the newer comers are two mega-businesswomen and two famous daughters, representing younger generations with divergent ideas," she writes. "Although these aren't the only Republican women rising, they offer a glimpse at what could become a surge of hormonal correction on the conservative side."

• The Liz Cheney-Sarah Palin Apocalypse  One pundits dream is another's nightmare. Republican women can champion the same failed policies as the men who came before them, Mauren Dowd writes in The New York Times, but they'll still be failed policies. She finds former Vice President Cheney's daughters particularly troubling.

Kristol joked to Politico’s Ben Smith that the venture might serve as a launching pad for Liz to run for office. (A Senate bid from Virginia, where she lives, or Wyoming, which she still calls home?)That raises the terrifying specter that some day we could see a Palin-Cheney ticket, promoted by Kristol. Sarah would bring her content-free crackle and gut instincts; Liz would bring facts and figures distorted by ideology. Pretty soon, we’re pre-emptively invading Iran and the good times are rolling all over again.

• But at Commentary, Jennifer Rubin is unfazed by Dowd's taunts. The left, Rubin says, is simply afraid of strong Republican women. Why else, after all, would Dowd bring up Sarah Palin? "What if the Republicans come up with a conservative standard bearer who is smart, attractive, and dedicated to debunking Obama’s weakling foreign policy — and female?" Rubin writes. "The invocation of Palin is telling as well. She was the last (and not so coincidentally also female) Republican who unhinged the Left."

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