Palin's Talent Scout was Bill Kristol

Seems there's a reason why Bill Kristol has been so full-throated in his support for Sarah Palin, whether in the New York Times, the Weekly Standard, or various cable outlets. It's because he's Palin's Talent Scout, according to The Daily Beast website: "In June 2007, a cruise liner sponsored by the political journal The Weekly Standard set anchor in Juneau, Alaska. Editors and guests of the publication were then treated to a reception with Governor Sarah Palin. It was a moment of discovery to equal Hernando Cortez’s landing at Veracruz. A writer for London’s Daily Telegraph interviewed one of the participants in the Juneau junket about the meeting with Palin:

“She’s bright and she’s a blank page. She’s going places and it’s worth going there with her.” Asked if he sees her as a “project,” the former official said: “Your word, not mine, but I wouldn’t disagree with the sentiment.”"

According to Scott Horton,

Palin’s name appeared in fifty-seven Weekly Standard articles since the Juneau meeting—starting with a paean entitled “The Most Popular Governor” that ran right after the reception.

Indeed, Kristol, who was a loyal McCain supporter in 2000 and is often thought to have suffered exclusion from Bush’s inner circle as a result, may have played a key role in McCain’s decision to tap Palin as his running mate.