First, Sen. John McCain was not going to win the presidential election anyway. Secondly, she was chosen as an interesting and sparkling trinket to dangle like jewelry from the neck of a presidential campaign that was flabby. She was a sideshow. Her choice by the McCain staff was an affront to women.

She was used for her gender and good looks. She made one, count ‘em, one good speech at the GOP Convention and that was it.

Bye-bye Dorothy. Down the yellow brick road, you go.

Had Palin said “no” last summer, now, in 2009, she would be a mystery, and she could have milked her status as the obscure governor who turned down fame all the way to a possible run in 2012.

There have been comebacks in national politics. The two most famous are those of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. They were defeated but came back to reclaim glory. Both were cagey and smart. They studied and learned and then applied the knowledge to win.

Palin has shown none of these characteristics.

As for Weymouth, well, let’s put it this way. If her family did not control The Washington Post she would be a publisher without a newspaper, out on her ear.

Remember what happened to poor old Howell Raines at The New York Times? His staff revolted and his publisher, (also a controlling owner) Arthur Sulzberger Jr., buckled like cheap aluminum siding in a Midwest tornado and fired Raines.

In this case, Weymouth substitutes for Sulzberger and so far she has chosen not to fire herself.

She either concocted or agreed to a plan to invite lobbyists to dine in her home with reporters and editors and Obama administration folks.

There were a couple of catches to the invitation.

The cost was $25,000 per dinner or $250,000 for a series of dinners. That’s enough right there to deal a body blow to Tthe Post. Plus the dinners were off the record.

Ouch.

Add to that the inclusion of folks from the Obama administration.

So, Ms. Weymouth, now exactly do you answer the change of a liberal agenda in media? We are not even asking about ethics because clearly neither you nor Editor Marcus Brauchli have any.

Boy, does Rupert Murdoch look even brighter than ever for dumping Brauchli as editor of The Wall Street Journal when he bought it.

Now Weymouth is falling all over herself writing an apology in the Sunday Post and then writing to employees saying she has asked the company attorney Eric Lieberman to “review recent events to make sure that our business processes are consistent with, and will not in any way compromise, our journalism.”

Please, someone stop this woman. Stop her before she writes something else as inane as this, also in her letter to employees:

“Simultaneously, I’ve asked Marcus and Milton Coleman to codify parameters for Post newsroom participation in live events.”

Before they measure the ethical dimensions of the newsroom, how about banning phrases such as “codify parameters?”

I’ve been at this work a long time.

How about promising readers and advertisers first and then employees that you are asking all executives to begin using common sense when making decisions?

And, oh, by the way, while you are at it promise them all this: News and opinion is never for sale at any price at a newspaper. Anyone trying to peddle or sell influence will be shot — after they are hanged.

Men make stupid decisions every day but, let’s face it, they still have the upper hand. Pressure still exists for minorities, and I include women in that group, to be better than everyone else. They still have to, rightly or wrongly, prove themselves.

Palin and Weymouth hurt other women last week. They set back the progress of others in their professions. Both need to leave the stage and go back into the wilderness.

Richard L. Connor is CEO of the Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Publishing Co. and MaineToday Media, owner of newspapers in Portland, Augusta and Waterville, Maine. A newspaperman for 40 years, he has served on two Pulitzer Prize for Journalism nominating committees.