Palin on the outs with the grand old patriarchy's apparatchik?  Yes.  snooty snippy Larry Craig style toe tapping politics is evident.  Are the powerful GOP closet queens afraid of the snow queen from Alaska?

After a little hoopla in the last 24 hours or so, it does appear that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and perhaps her husband, Todd, will drop in with little advance notice at tonight’s annual big Republican fund-raising dinner here in Washington, D.C.

We’re told she won’t have a speaking role — the program has long been set. But Republicans said officials would introduce her to the mega-donor audience and give her a shoutout at the event, jointly sponsored by the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee. The two organizations help elect candidates to the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The contretemps over whether Governor Palin would attend Monday night’s gala has twice eclipsed buzz of the event altogether, leaving some Republicans here in Washington to suggest that she damaged her credibility by asking to talk to the crowd at the last minute — especially since she had rejected the keynote slot weeks ago.