Sarah Palin has no chance to get the GOP nomination!

Neither does Tim Pawlenty.

Same song, next verse when it comes to Ron Paul.

The problem with such pronouncements is that they're often based on what the person making the statement thinks about the candidate.

Sarah Palin has become America's political joke machine -- she seemingly cannot get out of bed in the morning without some comedian or liberal bloviator making fun of her. (Oh, and let's be honest -- President Obama cannot get out of bed without some comedian or conservative gasbag just waiting to jump all over him, metaphorically speaking.)

But the problem right now with determining that Palin has no chance -- for a job she's not actually indicated she intends to run for! -- is that not a single vote has been cast by any Republican for any of the presidential candidates.

You might recall that it was just four years ago that the pundits were telling you, me and anyone else you might be listening that Hillary Clinton was going to be the Democrats choice for the White House. Sure, there would be other nominees, but none of them had a chance!

Something funny happened on the way to that nomination.

Now, it is the Republicans' turn to sift through perhaps 10 candidates and determine which one they would like to challenge Mr. Obama for the presidency. Of course there are those with name recognition (Gingrich, Palin and Romney immediately come to mind), those with "outsider" status (Pawlenty fits that bill), those with a groundswell of excitement that might carry over to votes (Huntsman) and those that enjoy being thorns in anyone's side (Paul).

But until the good people of Iowa and New Hampshire begin the vetting process -- by voting -- none of us will really know who has a chance to be the GOP's standard bearer in 2012.