Rogue, the X-Man, has the superpower of sucking the life out of everything she touches. Palin, the ex-governor, can relate.

The first time she unleashed her great power, you’ll recall, she killed John McCain’s 2008 election bid (albeit not an extraordinary feat). Then, mere months after returning to Alaska, she terminated her own governorship amidst mounting ethics complaints — and mounting speculation that her 15 minutes of fame might be up.

And now she has her perverse Midas death-grip around the throat of the G.O.P.

In her forthcoming memoir, the (perhaps unintentionally) aptly titled Going Rogue: An American Life, Palin, already a 2012 presidential favorite, is expected to discuss her ideological break with mainstream Republicanism.

Her mission, she explains, is “to shake things up.” The Republican Party included.

Her first order of business, strangely enough, involves a congressional special election taking place next Tuesday in upstate New York.

While only two ridings north of Ithaca, the 23rd District seems to satisfy Palin’s definition of “the real America.”

The congressional seat is currently vacant because President Barack Obama, radical socialist that he is, appointed the Republican congressman of the district, John McHugh, to be the Secretary of the Army. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich and the Republican leadership in Congress endorsed Dede Cozzafava to run for office. But Palin, in an unprecedented act of defiance, has instead thrown her support behind an independent candidate named Doug Hoffman.

Cozzafava, she believes, is not Republican enough.

Last week, via Facebook, the former-maverick-turned-rogue explained: “Political parties must stand for something ... and there is no real difference between the Democrat and the Republican in this race.”

I don’t know about you, but for me, Sarah Palin talking politics on Facebook is the 21st century equivalent of watching your parents try to rap.

In any case, Palin’s endorsement of Hoffman went viral in the blogosphere and attracted support from not only the usual suspects (Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity), but also from a handful of inspired Republican congressmen.

Suddenly Hoffman, an out-of-district independent nominee with no political experience, has become the darling of a rather powerful faction of the Republican movement. He has received prime-time exposure on Fox News and conservative radio as well as still-untold hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations.

By supporting Hoffman, Palin explains, “Republicans and conservatives around the country are sending an important message to the Republican establishment in their outstanding grassroots support for Doug Hoffman: no more politics as usual.”

But the real message of this campaign is being sent by Palin to Newt Gingrich, the former congressman and presidential possibility who was once the party’s favorite son and who is now leading the fight to maintain its credibility and mass appeal: There’s a new sheriff in town, Newt, and this one knows how to gut a moose.

Consider this: Even though you would never guess it from listening to Palin and her cohorts, Cozzafava and Hoffman are virtually indistinguishable on all matters fiscal.

“Dede Cozzafava,” Gingrich explains, “is endorsed by the National Rifle Association for her second amendment position, has signed the no tax increase pledge, voted against the democratic governors’ big spend budget, is against the tax increase in energy, is against the Obama health plan, and will vote for [House Minority Leader ] John Boehner rather than Nancy Pelosi to be speaker.”

In fact, the only significant ideological difference between the two candidates is that Cozzafava supports gay marriage and abortion rights whereas Hoffman doesn’t.

Palin does not get around to mentioning this ideological difference in her Facebook manifesto. Neither does Beck or Hannity. But, like most things driven by bigotry, it boils just beneath the surface of New York’s 23rd District campaign.

And the further implications are quite clear as well: The G.O.P. is no longer the party of people who prefer smaller government, lower taxes and less regulation. It is the party of social-conservative, Christian-fundamentalist ideologues.

If Sarah Palin’s hijacking of the G.O.P. proves successful, we may witness to the fall of the increasingly-irrelevant Republican Party in the not-too distant future.

In other words: Intellectual conservatives need not apply.

Cody Gault is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He may be reached at cgault@cornellsun.com. Stakes Is High appears alternate Fridays this semester.