The Huffington Post's Howard Feinman observed a few weeks ago--not unreasonably--that Joe Scarborough is "one of those Southerners who thrives in Manhattan by making locals nervous about their ignorance of the country." Whether this is true or not, the GOP congressman-turned-MSNBC host is earning plaudits from the Midtown media set for his new Politico column calling for Republican leaders to "man up" and denounce (or even refudiate) former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for crimes against the GOP, which include misunderstanding Ronald Reagan's career arc, being mean to George Bush the elder, and not fighting in World War II. Scarborough explains:

Republicans have a problem. The most-talked-about figure in the GOP is a reality show star who cannot be elected. And yet the same leaders who fret that Sarah Palin could devastate their party in 2012 are too scared to say in public what they all complain about in private.
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What man or mouse with a fully functioning human brain and a résumé as thin as Palin’s would flirt with a presidential run?...Adding audacity to this dopey dream is that Palin can’t stop herself from taking swings at Republican giants. In the past month alone, she has mocked Ronald Reagan’s credentials, dismissed George H.W. and Barbara Bush as arrogant “blue bloods” and blamed George W. Bush for wrecking the economy.
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When Sean Hannity asked Palin whether being in a reality show diminished her standing to be president...Palin sneered that she could be president if the actor from “Bedtime for Bonzo” managed to do so.
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After Palin mocked Reagan’s credentials, the TLC reality show star took aim at the 41st president and his wife... bashing Bush and his wife as “blue bloods” who had wrecked America.
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I suppose Palin’s harsh dismissal of this great man is more understandable after one reads her biography and realizes that, like Bush, she accomplished a great deal in her early 20s. Who wouldn’t agree that finishing third in the Miss Alaska beauty contest is every bit as treacherous as risking your life in military combat? Maybe the beauty contestant who would one day be a reality star and former governor didn’t win the Distinguished Flying Cross, but the half-termer was selected as Miss Congeniality by her fellow contestants.
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If Republicans want to embrace Palin as a cultural icon whose anti-intellectualism fulfills a base political need, then have at it. I suppose it’s cheaper than therapy....But if the party of Ronald Reagan, Paul Ryan and Marco Rubio wants to return to the White House anytime soon, it’s time that Republican leaders started standing up and speaking the truth to Palin.

Boom. Roasted.

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Ray Gustini