Sarah Palin hasn't had a good week. From her disastrous interview with Katie Couric to speculation that John McCain wasn't going to show up tonight to spare her from showing up next week, the first part of it couldn't really have been worse. But, since everyone loves a good pile-on, everyone's piling on today! From calls from the National Review for her to drop out of the race (!) to the New York Times saying that she owes voters an explanation on the rape kits issue to news that she accepted $25,000 in gifts from lobbyists as governor to stories about anti-Semitic leanings by her pastor, it's just not turning into a good end of the week for Palin either.

The National Review's Kathleen Parker, who we've already invited to move to Thailand, calls for Palin to drop out for the good of the party and the country. Naturally, she also says that all liberal feminists are part of a "hirsute, Birkenstock-wearing sisterhood" — because, naturally, a feminist would never wear cute shoes or trim her bush, let alone shave her legs — but her point is that Sarah Palin is rather obviously out of her league in this contest. After watching Palin's interviews with Charlee Gibson, Sean Hannity and Katie Couric, Parker's response is: "If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself." Ouch.

Then there's the New York Times "Editorial Observer" column, which takes Sarah Palin to task for the little rape kit thing she's refusing to talk about. Writer Dorothy Samuels comes to basically the same conclusion that I did — that Palin must have known, and that she did it in an orgy of Republican-y cost-cutting that Samuels calls "boneheaded." Samuels compares that to Joe Biden's sponsorship of the Violence Against Women Act, which Samuels notes contained "provisions to make states ineligible for federal grant money if they charged rape victims for exams and the kits containing the medical supplies needed to conduct them." As far as Samuels is concerned, the voters deserve an explanation.

And as if that isn't enough, today, the Washington Post reports that Palin took $25,000 in gifts from various interests groups with issues before the legislature, causing the campaign to not respond with a denial (of course) and The Guardian digs into the nasty anti-Semitic leanings of the preachers and speakers at Palin's church. So, for the end of this week, Palin's an unqualified Republican who takes bribes, doesn't like Jews and is enthralled with cost-cutting to the point of amorality. That's not a good day.

Worst Of Sarah Palin's Katie Couric Interview (So Far) [Gawker]
More Painful Palin Excerpts From Couric Interview [Daily Kos]
Palin Problem [National Review]
Wasilla Watch: Sarah Palin and the Rape Kits [New York Times]
Palin Accepted $25,000 in Gifts, Alaska Records Show [Washington Post]
Palin's Preacher Problem [The Guardian]

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