I’ll concede that I have expressed some preferences for possible GOP nominees in 2012, but I also recognize that it is a bit early to commit oneself to a candidate. After all, the new president has not even taken his oath of office. So for John McCain to take this position vis-à-vis a possible Sarah Palin candidacy is not at all surprising.

Sen. John McCain said Sunday he would not necessarily support his former running mate if she chose to run for president.

Speaking to ABC's "This Week," McCain was asked whether Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin could count on his support.

"I can't say something like that. We've got some great other young governors. I think you're going to see the governors assume a greater leadership role in our Republican Party," he said.

He then mentioned governors Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Jon Huntsman of Utah.

McCain is no fool. He is correct in recognizing that we have a number of young governors (including not only the two he mentioned, but also Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal and Hawaii’s Linda Lingle who would be great candidates. There are also several promising members of the House and Senate who would be fantastic candidates. And let’s not forget Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, whose showing this year gives them serious name recognition that would help a future candidacy. But who knows – there may be some candidate who is not yet on anyone’s radar who could emerge and lead us to victory. David Petraeus, anyone?

So for anyone who wants to make this into a slight of Palin by McCain, please think again. After all, at this time in 2004 we all thought that 2008 would see the major Dems line up to put Hillary Clinton into the Oval Office. We saw how well that worked.