Newest smear of Palin: Hey, maybe she had breast enlargements

As a commenter noted in Headlines, this sort of scrutiny is nothing new to female politicians. Palin undoubtedly gets it worse than most, though, partly because she’s a beauty queen and partly because it fits the image of an airhead that her detractors want to push. So, on the morning after the biggest night for Republican women in years, made possible in no small part by Palin herself, here we go:

Palin and her husband, Todd, were in New York on Sunday to bet on their pick, “First Dude,” named after Palin’s husband.

But it was Palin’s newfound perkiness, not her politics, that bumped “Heidi Montag” and “implants” off the Most Googled list.

“Sarah Palin sure looks like she was trotting out some new work at the horse races,” reported the political blog Wonkette yesterday after getting a tip on the Web site’s Facebook feed.

And so began yesterday’s Zapruder-filmlike investigation, as thousands carefully pored over Palin’s before-and-after measurements like seasoned bra-fitters at Lady Grace.

While lefty obsessives play with the zoom function on Photoshop, a serious question for you: Just how much credit does Sarahcuda deserve for her endorsees’ wins last night? She told Time Magazine today that, “Oftentimes I’m looking at the candidate who shares the circumstances in which I’ve been: underfunded, up against the machine, no big endorsements, running a grassroots campaign with the help of volunteer friends and family,” which explains her support for Haley but not so much her support for Carly Fiorina. I agree with Dave Weigel that Terry Branstad was a lock to win anyway and that Carly would have romped to victory even without Palin — she buried Tom Campbell with TV advertising in the last few weeks of the campaign — but I think Sarahcuda deserves more credit for Haley than he’s giving her. It may not have been the deciding factor, but as I understand it Haley’s main problem until the last few months was name recognition. Changing that in an instant was the one thing Palin could do for her — and what’s more, she stood by Haley after the sleaze started to flow, which was a strong signal from a prominent social con to SC voters not to panic. She deserves some credit. But then, so does Romney, who’s planning a trip to Carolina to campaign for Haley as we speak.

Here’s Palin chatting with FNC about the oil spill and last night’s results; skip ahead to 4:30 for the election stuff, about which she’s very modest. One lingering question, though: How come Palin didn’t endorse anyone in Nevada? She spoke favorably of Sue Lowden last month, but I guess when push came to shove she didn’t dare disappoint tea partiers again by opposing Sharron Angle. That’s too bad, because I’m going to level with you: I’ve got bad vibes.

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