WASHINGTON – What a difference one year makes. Last year Sarah Palin was the queen of the midterm elections. This was a long time in coming and much deserved. Sarah Palin’s celebrity tease has made her besotted fans look stupid, which isn’t the worst of it. Live by fan politics, be humiliated by it. So, two powerful conservative women are finally speaking out.

“[A]t some point, Sarah Palin has to take some responsibility for her supporters as Ron Paul must for his. Palin’s dragging out the tease on her decision has compounded the problem and we’ve reached a breaking point.” (via Eric Erickson)

There’s no room for Sarah to run and no evidence she could gear up to raise enough money, especially with Rick “ponzi” Perry in the race and even if he’s already a goner in general election terms. So Sarah’s whole exercise this year, starting with when she ignored Roger Ailes’ advice and doubled down on “blood-libel” over the Loughner shooting, has been a sad fall from where she was this time last year.

Women in national politics need to behave as if they’re ready and prepared to lead if they’re going have power over the national dialogue, not just garner celebrity coverage. It’s the 21st century and political cheerleaders shouldn’t be taken seriously.

After a tremendous 2010, Palin had a chance to take the clout she’d earned and make a difference for Tea Party conservatives. Instead she chose celebrity and money, which is her prerogative. However, because her fan base is so lacking in critical thinking and objective goals that have anything to do with political solutions, but instead simply live to blow smoke up Sarah’s perpetual political trial balloons, they’re making her rich while adding nothing to the national debate.

In Iowa over Labor Day weekend, Palin reached back into what used to be her strong suit when she was rising in Alaska. She challenged Republicans on “crony capitalism,” also saying the Tea Party crowd needed to stay true to their message. Her fans are left to wonder what might have been if she’d taken the clout she’d earned in 2010 and hooked it to this message. Instead she chose talking head status without any hint of seriousness or policy prowess.

Ingraham and Coulter did a service to conservatives by calling Palin out. She’s been using her fans for months and months to serve her own purposes and it’s long past time they said “enough is enough.”

Taylor Marsh is a Washington based political analyst, writer and commentator on national politics, foreign policy, and women in power. A veteran national politics writer, Taylor’s been writing on the web since 1996. She has reported from the White House, been profiled in the Washington Post, The New Republic, and has been seen on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, CNN, MSNBC, Al Jazeera English and Al Jazeera Arabic, as well as on radio across the dial and on satellite, including the BBC. Marsh lives in the Washington, D.C. area. This column is cross posted from her blog.