For all the fire and motion they've produced in the last thirty years, religious conservatives don't have many political triumphs to trumpet. Abortion is still legal, segregation is dead, gays are marrying, and creationism has been beaten back to the poorest, most ignorant corners of the educational system.That's why I find it so amusing to watch Republicans work themselves into a froth over McCain's vice presidential pick, Alaska governor Sarah Palin. Practically unknown outside Alaska, Palin has gained a name within the religious right because of her decision not to abort her baby after learning he would be born with Down's syndrome.Palin has no exposure to federal politics - her only experience has been as mayor of a tiny Alaskan town and less than two years as governor. I think it's fair to say that McCain didn't envision her as his Dick Cheney. Palin was meant to address two of McCain's weaknesses - women and religious conservatives. It was always inevitable that McCain would pick someone with ties to the religious right, even though he'd have preferred Lieberman or Ridge. Abortion is non-negotiable in the Republican party, and none of McCain's buddies are ideologically acceptable. However, most people thought Tim Pawlenty, the governor of Minnesota, would be McCain's logical pick.Why was Palin picked over Pawlenty? Pawlenty is also a religious conservative star, he's been governor three times longer, and has expressed much more interest in foreign affairs than Palin. (That is to say, any interest) McCain would like people to believe that she was chosen as a Hillary substitute, or at least a competent second-in-command.A more cynical interpretation is that McCain chose her precisely because he knew she would be ineffective. Palin has the biography to satisfy religious conservatives, but she doesn't have any contacts within the Washington establishment that would allow her to influence his policies. She'll be trotted about during the campaign, throw some red meat to the "agents of intolerance" that McCain needs to win in November, but once the election is over she'll be consigned to the fundraising circuit and one of McCain's buddies - probably Lieberman - will be annointed defacto vice president.If the goals of the religious right weren't so contemptible, I might almost have pity for them. Like blacks (prior to Obama) and gays in the Democratic party, they don't have any real influence on policy. Why should they? So long as abortion is the litmus test, there's no one else to vote for. The Republican party only needs them every four years. That McCain could gain the nomination without their help when every other serious candidate was pandering to the religious right hints at how little power they really have.Perversely, the only way the religious right could maintain their illusion of power is to deny McCain the presidency by staying home on November 2. If so meager a bone as Sarah Palin is all that's required to christen him as their saviour, there's no reason for the Republican party to treat them as anything except the subservient curs they've become.