I know. Ugh, Sarah Palin, you’re probably saying, give me a break—totally irrelevant. She has no place in the political conversation, why are you even writing about her?

Understandable—Palin generated more negative press in ’08 than any politician in at least the last decade and more media ridicule than maybe any politician ever. Nonetheless, she has a ton of loyal fans, and they’re not going away.

Palin has about 3.5 million Facebook fans. Which is less than Mitt Romney’s 5.3 million, but only about 33% less, and Romney has the advantage of being an actual presidential nominee, and at the receiving end of at least a billion dollars, chunks of which are going to bolstering his social media presence. And compare Palin to two key players at this year’s RNC: VP pick Paul Ryan, who has 286K fans, and keynote speaker Gov. Chris Christie, with 63K fans. Palin also has 821K Twitter followers to Romney’s 930K‚ also impressively close to the nominee.

Like her or hate her, Palin has managed to stay on the radar, and even stay relevant politically to her fans, reinventing herself along the way where necessary.

After being conspicuously uninvited to the Republican National Convention (even Donald Trump was invited) she took to Facebook last night to take a swipe at the GOP’s new efforts to allow the nominee control convention delegates more in 2016.

Distancing herself from GOP establishment, she almost seemed to be siding with Ron Paul and the discontent fringes of the right unhappy with the GOP’s power grab.

After visiting AZ Tea Party candidate Kirk Adams she wrote “It’s very important to pay attention to these down ballot races like Kirk Adams, Jeff Flake, and Paul Gosar in Arizona. We have to remember that this election is not just about replacing the party in power. It’s about who and what we replace it with. Grassroots conservatives know this. Without the energy and wisdom of the grassroots, the GOP would not have had the historic 2010 electoral victories. That’s why the controversial rule change being debated at the RNC convention right now is so very disappointing.”

Her fans loved it. Palin, once the darling of the GOP machine, has become an outsider. And the right loves an outsider.

Her fans reacted:

So far her comment has received almost 8K “likes,” 613 shares, and 430 comments. Pretty impressive, especially when you consider she’s not paying to “promote” these posts with SuperPAC dollars. Fact is, Palin remains one of the most famous people in the world. This is something Romney doesn’t have. Romney’s persona isn’t distinct, and what’s known of it is not well liked, even by Republicans.

From ridiculed VP pick to calls to run for president. Maybe Palin’s not quite as dumb as we all think?