Chris Hayes, The Nation‘s Washington editor, talks to Alison Stewart on The Rachel Maddow Show about tea parties, the conservative movement, and the spectacular implosion of candidate after candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. After Sarah Palin resigned in an awkward speech that seemed designed to head off charges before they hit, Texas Senator John Cornyn and Governor Rick Perry were booed at July 4 tea party protests. Add to that the ongoing saga of Mark Sanford, now mostly an internal matter among South Carolina Republicans. Who’s left as a leader for the party? Mitt Romney looks better and better, according to Hayes, but Palin and her appeal to the base should never be counted out.

—Sarah Jaffe

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