It was incredibly wishful thinking to imagine that Palin would disappear after the 2008 election; if anything she's only gotten bigger, as scandal and insanity have marked most of her 2009, and her book, her attempt at getting her side of the story out there, only provides her with a greater platform to tour the country, reenergize her fans (and she does have many, many fans) and continue providing those of us who aren't particularly fond of her or her politics with reasons to instinctively type "Why won't she go away!??!" in the comments each time her name is mentioned. But we really should know better; Sarah Palin isn't going away. Not anytime soon. And to ignore her, as lovely as that might be, is to ignore the politics and the mindset she represents, and frankly I think it's always better to know what the other side is up to.

In today's Sarah Palin news, the former Governor has decided to attack the AP for daring to fact-check her book by posting a scathing screed on her Facebook page. Yes, I know, it's Sarah Palin Facebook page. I'm sure there are better Facebook stories you'd rather hear about, like how your Mom just watered something in Farmville or how Becky Stupinara from 7th grade is marrying Alan, that kid who ate thumbtacks at lunch. But we're going to talk about it, because it's a bit insane and includes hilarious quotes like this:

Amazingly, but not surprisingly, the AP somehow nabbed a copy of the book before it was released. They're now erroneously reporting on the book's contents and are repeating many of the same things they spewed during the campaign and afterwards. We've heard 11 writers are engaged in this opposition research, er, "fact checking" research! Imagine that – 11 AP reporters dedicating time and resources to tearing up the book, instead of using the time and resources to "fact check" what's going on with Sheik Mohammed's trial, Pelosi's health care takeover costs, Hasan's associations, etc. Amazing.

We'll keep setting the record straight, and we'll keep reminding some in the media that Americans are very tired of their non-objective reporting. A great, recent post that accomplishes this is a Conservatives4Palin post. It's got some nice fact checking included. As always, they did a great job holding some of the media accountable for spreading more misinformation and for making things up. You can read it here. Enjoy!

Ah yes. For nothing quite says "unbiased organization" like Conservatives4Palin.

In other Sarah Palin news, Foster at Gawker has a roundup of leaked McCain campaign emails that's worth reading, even if you can't stand her, as it's hard not laugh when you come across an email wherein she declares that Saturday Night Live is "whack." Tomorrow, I'm sure, there will be another Sarah Palin story, or scandal, and the book tour and all that comes with it will roll on, possibly until 2012 or beyond, should Palin decide to run for office again.

It's very easy to brush Palin off, and as evidenced by much of this post, easy to take shots at her logic and style, but it's harder to deny that she still has a way of captivating people's attention, and that she represents something greater and more frustrating than just a book tour or a series of wacky family scandals. When she speaks, there are many people who not only listen, but nod in agreement. The publicity for her book might die down, and Sarah Palin may eventually fade into the background, but the ideas she's pushing probably won't, and that's something we all need to pay attention to.

A Million Little Palinisms: Leaked Emails Already Contradicting The Truth Of Going Rogue [Gawker]
Really? Still Making Things Up? [Sarah Palin]

Palin posted several rants yesterday, most of them aimed at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, for wanting to push the bill through by midnight. "Why the rush?" Palin asked in a note titled "Speaker Pelosi, Your Blue Dogs Are Barking," "That's a lot of pages to read. Why not give everyone the chance to read it and debate it?"

In a second note, titled "The Pelosi Bill Was Rammed Through On Saturday, But Sunday's Coming," Palin celebrates the passage of the Stupak Amendment (surprise, surprise), but once again trots out her old "death panel" fear mongering and asks her readers to check out the provisions regarding coverage for illegal aliens, though she doesn't actually quote the bill or point out what these provisions are:

All of us who value the sanctity of life are grateful for the success of the pro-life majority in the House this evening in its battle against federal funding of abortion in this bill, but it's ironic because we were promised that abortion wasn't covered in the bill to begin with. Our healthy distrust of these government leaders made us look deeper into the bill because unfortunately we knew better than to trust what they were saying. The victory tonight to amend the bill and eliminate that federal funding for abortion was great – because abortion is not health care. Now we can only hope that Rep. Stupak's amendment will hold in the final bill, though the Democratic leadership has already refused to promise that it won't be scrapped later.

We had been told there were no "death panels" in the bill either. But look closely at the provision mandating bureaucratic panels that will be calling the shots regarding who will receive government health care.

But in perhaps the most interesting section of her rant, Palin builds several conspiracy theories regarding Pelosi's desire to push the bill through the House:

Despite Americans' decisive message last Tuesday that they reject the troubling path this country has been taking, Speaker Pelosi has broken her own promises of transparency to ram a health "care" bill through the House of Representatives just before midnight. Why did she push the 2,000 page bill this weekend? Was she perhaps afraid to give her peers and the constituents for whom she works the chance to actually read this monstrous bill carefully, if at all? Was she concerned that Americans might really digest the details of a bill that the Wall Street Journal has called "the worst piece of post-New Deal legislation ever introduced"?

I don't know, you guys. I mean, maybe Speaker Pelosi was afraid that Sarah Palin would totally read the bill after she finished reading all the newspapers and magazines and she just wanted to push it through so she could be all "Oh, Sarah Palin, don't you have some designer suits to return? Oh snap flowchart: women in politics edition." Most likely, however, Speaker Pelosi was less concerned with Palin's death panel fearmongering conspiracy theories and more concerned with trying to take the steps necessary to eventually provide coverage for millions of Americans.

In any case, here are a few more guesses as to why Speaker Pelosi had to have the bill passed by Saturday at midnight:

• Really wants to watch the Mad Men season finale without being worried about all that health care hullabaloo
• Not ready to share her werewolf issues with the American public just yet
• Plans to spend all day Sunday praying that pro-choice voters will forget about the passage of the Stupak Amendment (not gonna happen!)
• Trying to prove to the rest of the House reps that C-SPAN is where it's AT on Saturday nights
• Made a deal with Fairy Godmother: Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo provision ensures coverage for Godmothers with magical powers; failure to pass bill by midnight would have turned the United States into a giant pumpkin

Feel free to add your own conspiracy theories in the comments.

The Pelosi Bill Was Rammed Through On Saturday, But Sunday Is Coming [Sarah Palin]
Speaker Pelosi, Your Blue Dogs Are Barking [Sarah Palin]

It's been almost a year since John McCain selected Sarah Palin to be his running mate in the 2008 election; our first introduction to Palin was as Sarah Barracuda, the pitbull in lipstick, the threat that could steal disenchanted Clinton supporters away from the Obama/Biden ticket based only on the fact Palin and Clinton shared a gender, and little else, in terms of policy or political views.

But weeks later, the weirdness kicked in and only snowballed from there; the rumors, and later confirmation of, Bristol's pregnancy, the rumors that Palin might not have given birth to her son, Trig, the Troopergate scandal, the Bridge to Nowhere, the devastating Tina Fey impression, the painful Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric interviews, the winking issues during her Vice Presidential debates, and the $150,000 spent on clothes and makeup during her time on the trail. It got to the point where a "shocking" story about Sarah Palin wasn't actually shocking at all, but frustrating, in that it appeared that Palin remained unfazed by the negative press and always seemed to find a way to spin it to her advantage.

So when Palin resigned on Friday, in the midst of a holiday news dump, no less, it was both shocking and, in a way, not surprising at all. Palin herself claims that she "is not wired to operate under the same politics as usual," and her decision to step down, effective July 26, has left many wondering what her true motivations for leaving her post might be.

Palin says it's because she feels she can do more for her country without the restraints of her governmental position: "I've never thought I needed a title before one's name to forge progress in America," she posted on her Facebook page yesterday, "I am now looking ahead and how we can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint." Palin also says that she's tired of the negative press, the attacks on her family, and being the victim of "political bloodsport." But, as is typical with the Sarah Palin Show, not everyone buys these excuses.

Shannyn Moore, a blogger for the Huffington Post, put up a post on Friday afternoon claiming "for weeks the rumors of a criminal investigation against the governor have been brewing. They are rumors, but are swirling fresh again with Palin's resignation." Palin's attorney, Thomas Van Flein, has already come out on record to warn bloggers like Moore against posting rumors regarding the "true" reasons behind Palin's resignation: "This is to provide notice to Ms. Moore, and those who re-publish the defamation, such as Huffington Post, MSNBC, the New York Times and The Washington Post, that the Palins will not allow them to propagate defamatory material without answering to this in a court of law."

But while Moore and other bloggers may be threatened by Van Flein, the questions as to why Palin chose to resign won't go away anytime soon; it has long been thought that Palin was gearing up for a Presidential run in 2012—a resignation before the end of her first term is not exactly the type of behavior one expects from a candidate getting ready to hit the national stage once again. Her fellow Alaskan lawmakers claim they feel "abandoned" by their governor and demand an explanation beyond "a higher calling" for her sudden departure from her elected position.

Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski has released a fairly scathing statement on Palin's departure: "I am deeply disappointed that the Governor has decided to abandon the State and her constituents before her term has concluded," while Karl Rove believes her resignation "hurts" her chances of running for President in 2012. "When you're a sitting governor, you have the tactical advantage if you're thinking about running for president of turning down a lot of things with an excuse that people will accept. 'I've got a job to do as governor.' She's now removed that."

John Weaver, a former adviser to John McCain, agrees with Rove: "I wouldn't call this a strategy. This makes no sense. The way for her to increase her chances in 2012 is to be reelected in 2010." McCain, however, has spoken out in support of his former running mate, noting that Palin "will continue to play an important leadership role in the Republican Party and our nation."

As it stands, Palin's resignation fits in with the rest of her strange career over the past year or so: there are plenty of rumors, plenty of grand statements, plenty of high-profile supporters and detractors, and plenty of questions that remain unanswered. If it were ANYONE else, would there be such interest? It's hard to say, but our refusal to stop questioning Palin's motives, despite her insistence that her resignation is a personal one, based on what she believes is best for her state and her family, is perhaps a testament to our inability to ever really know who Sarah Palin is or what Sarah Palin truly means, a direct result of the seemingly unending controversies that continue to seep out of Wasilla, Alaska.

If anything, Palin's resignation is just the latest episode of the strange and often bewildering Sarah Palin Show, and though Palin and those who support her, criticize her, or simply seek to understand her will be releasing various statements on what's next for the soon-to-be former Governor of Alaska, like any captivating program, all we can really do is sit back and tune in for the next episode—which, of course, we will. And perhaps, in that way, Sarah Palin is getting exactly what she wants.

Palin Fires Back At Press On Facebook [Politico]
Palin Attorney Warns Press On "Defamatory Material" [Politico]
Shannyn Moore: Sarah Palin Resigning As Alaska's Governor[HuffingtonPost]
Why Sarah Palin Quit [Time]
McCain Says Palin To Play Leadership Role As Ex-Governor [Reuters]
Rove Cold On Palin's Move: It "Hurts" Her Chances In 2012 [Huffington Post]
Palin Fires Back At Press On Facebook [Politico]
Murkowski Blasts Palin: You Abandoned Our State [HuffingtonPost]
Palin Cites "Higher Calling" In Quitting [MSNBC]

Earlier: Sarah Palin Will Not Run For Re-Election, Resigning As Alaska's Governor
Sarah Palin: "I'm Not Wired To Operate Under The Same Politics As Usual

Palin's spokesman, Bill McAllister, can barely contain is excitement over the growing media frenzy surrounding his famous client: "Tomorrow, Governor Palin could do an interview with any news media on the planet," McAllister says, "Tomorrow, she could probably sign any one of a dozen book deals. She could start talking to people about a documentary or a movie on her life. That's the level we are at here."

Palin's objective, it seems, is to undo the damage inflicted on her public persona during the McCain/Palin campaign. The interviews she was allowed to give were complete and total disasters, and though the blame is being placed on everyone from Katie Couric to gotcha journalists to John McCain himself, it's hard to argue that anyone is more responsible for the flow of WTF that came out of Palin's mouth during those interviews than the Governor herself. Palin has backtracked on her claims of "gotcha journalism" and admitted that Couric's interview wasn't totally unfair. For Palin to suddenly embrace the media she blamed for everything during her campaign shows a calculated desire to keep her national profile high; high enough, perhaps, for a 2012 run at the presidency.

Sarah Unleashed, however, is still having problems, like returning to her stump speech at the Republican Governor's Association Conference, much to the dismay of her fellow up-and-coming governors, including Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, who politely referred to Palin's speech as "interesting."

Palin also seems to be overlooking the element that may ultimately be the key to her success: she needs to prove her abilities as a leader, as a governor, as more than a well-dressed, down home, huntin' fishin' shootin' son of a moose who just wants to connect with Real America. Before she hands in her resume for 2012, she might want to fix the problems in her own state, starting with the $500 million dollar natural-gas pipeline she bragged about all through the campaign that has yet to be built. Troopergate is still unfolding in Alaska as well, as are "questions over issues like financing Medicaid, increasing mining in environmentally sensitive areas and spending on transportation projects," according to the NYTimes. Her reputation also needs repair with her own constituents: as State Representative Les Gara, a democrat, tells the Times “She’s coming back to a divided state, where Democrats had supported her but they watched her for two months call the president-elect of the United States a terrorist sympathizer.”

The Anchorage Daily News certainly isn't happy with Palin's celebrity rounds, releasing an editorial this week that demanded the Governor concentrate on the job she was actually elected to: "There are ... low graduation rates, plummeting North Slope oil prices, proposals to build alternative energy projects, the gas pipeline. It's time for the governor to refocus on Alaska's needs."

So maybe Palin should consider, you know, actually getting to work repairing her state before she sets out to repair her own image. "She has to deal with the perception that she bobbled her debut," Claremont McKenna College political scientist John Pitney tells the AP, "She needs to stay home for a while. If she wants a future in national politics, her No. 1 job is doing a good job as governor."

Sarah Palin Baffles Reporters By Rehashing Stump Speech At RGA Conference [HuffingtonPost]
Pawlenty On Palin Speech: "Interesting" [MSNBC]
Is Alaska Big Enough For Celebrity Palin?[AP]
Cold Realities Await Gov. Sarah Palin In Alaska[AP]
Back Home, Palin Finds Landscape Has Changed[NYTimes]

Let's get this out of the way: we are all sick of hearing about Sarah Palin. She dominated the news cycle during the past two months of the campaign, with everything from her hate-filled rallies to her pregnant daughter to her wardrobe choices finding their way on to the front page of every newspaper in the country. Who is this woman, we asked, where the hell did she come from, and how can we send her back there?

What began as a strong campaign for Palin, with her addition to the ticket boosting McCain's popularity with disgruntled Clinton supporters and rallying the conservative base, quickly devolved into a wacky politics sideshow: she unraveled on national television in front of Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric, two anchors who she should have been able to handle. She came across as unprepared and ignorant, but still maintained millions of fans across the country, who were drawn to her pro-life stance, her folksy huntin' background, and, of course, her looks and style.

As the McCain campaign sputtered out amidst the economic crisis, Palin's presence on the ticket was suddenly more curse than blessing; she was blamed for being a drag on the ticket, her approval ratings bottomed out, and Americans began to realize that she would not be ready to take the position of President of the United States, should anything happen to John McCain. Prominent Republicans such as Colin Powell and Chuck Hagel came out against Palin, citing her lack of foreign policy experience as a reason why she was not ready for the job.

And so, on Election Night, we saw Sarah Palin with tears in her eyes, and many of us probably laughed at the screen. She would head back to Wasilla, Alaska, to be greeted by fans at the airport who chanted "2012" as she stepped back into her home territory. The GOP, however, doesn't seem too pleased about those Palin 2012 plans, piling on the criticism as the McCain campaign is torn to bits by angry former supporters.

It's extremely easy to laugh at Palin at this point: her ill-preparedness is coming back to get her, and we can all breathe a little easier knowing that our rights, at least for a little while, are in safer hands with the new administration. Throwing Palin under the bus takes the blame off of McCain, though the argument can easily be made that Palin didn't put herself on the ticket; McCain is more to blame for Palin's presence on the national stage than Palin herself is.

Yes, Sarah Palin made serious mistakes. Yes, she was a drag on the ticket, due mostly to her own screwups, her inability to answer a damn question, and her extreme-right stances turning off moderates and independents. But to turn John McCain's nasty campaign on Sarah Palin herself says more about the Senator from Arizona and his staff then it does about the Governor of Alaska.

As Palin's reputation is torn apart, it's almost getting difficult to revel in the mudslinging. John McCain is being praised for his "gracious"concession speech, as if 15 minutes of prepared remarks have suddenly wiped away 6 months of all-out nastiness on his behalf, and yet Palin continues to be pummeled by her own former team with rumors of her stupidity, greed, and ambition. McCain didn't lose because of Sarah Palin; McCain lost because he ran a small, bitter campaign, he didn't know enough about the economy, and because he listened to Steve Schmidt, who told him to place Palin on the ticket in the first place.

But still: Palin will be the face of McCain's failures. And though I have no love for Palin, and no respect for her stances on any issues, I can't help but feel that something is not right here. Even the worst mistakes of Sarah Palin do not negate the fact that she didn't get here on her own: there are others who deserve the criticism far more than she does.

Palin Aide Fires Back At McCain Camp Claims [ABC News]
Palin In Spotlight As Republicans Turn On Each Other [The Guardian]
Secrets of the 2008 Campaign [Newsweek]
Palin Calls Her Critics 'Jerks' [MSNBC]
Chuck Hagel: Palin Isn't Ready [MSNBC]
Colin Powell Endorses Obama, Says Palin Unqualified, Defends Muslim-Americans [LA Times]
The Making (and Remaking) Of The Candidate [NYTimes]
Gracious McCain Puts Bitterness Behind Him [The Independent]

"Barack Obama has an ideological commitment to higher taxes, and I say this based on his record," Palin told the crowd. "Higher taxes, more government, misusing the power to tax leads to government moving into the role of some believing that government then has to take care of us. And government kind of moving into the role as the other half of our family, making decisions for us. Now, they do this in other countries where the people are not free." Apparently, Palin picked up this info on the way to becoming an expert in misusing power and taking advantage of taxpayers in order to ensure that her family was taken care of, no?

In any case, it appears that hinting at socialism, last week's no-no word, has now been replaced by hinting at communism. So look out, totalitarianism! Palin is comin' to getcha! Because Sarah Palin isn't down with a big bad government, makin' all the rules. No! Sarah believes that "individual Americans and American families who can make better decisions for ourselves than government can ever make for us." Except, you know, women and their wacky wombs and vaginas, because the government should totally make decisions for them, right Sarah?

Palin's continued insistence on preaching one thing and practicing another is, at this point, becoming terrifyingly expected. No longer are we shocked by the vitriol and bizarre statements that come out of her mouth. That does not mean, however, that we should not be concerned about the messages she continues to spread on her Hate Talk Express tour around the country. A particularly disturbing revelation on Palin's part is her belief that abortion clinic bombers should not be considered terrorists, despite the FBI's insistence that abortion clinic attackers are, in fact, domestic terrorists. When asked about the terrorism designation by NBC's Brian Williams, Palin responded, "Now others who would to engage in harming innocent Americans or facilities, I don’t know if you’re gonna use the word ‘terrorist’ there, but it’s unacceptable, and it would not be condoned of course on our watch.”

Ok. So you're not going to use the word "terrorist" to describe an individual who BOMBS a clinic as a means of religious or moral protest in order to spread a message of fear and hate and intimidation, but you are willing to call Barack Obama someone who "pals around with terrorists" because he was on a school board with Bill Ayers 10 years ago? Could you please explain the logic of this to me, Governor Palin?

Terrorism is defined as "the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion." If abortion clinic bombings aren't domestic terrorism, then I'm not sure what is. As Josh at RightWingWatch notes, "it’s disturbing that after 7 murders, 17 attempted murders, 41 bombings, 175 acts of arson and hundreds of cases of death threats, stalking, assault, and break-ins, Palin doesn’t think it’s appropriate to use the T-word."

Perhaps Palin's actions over the last few weeks are the reason why The Anchorage Daily News has officially endorsed Barack Obama. Though the Daily News gives Alaska's governor some credit for her abilities, the paper concludes that "despite her formidable gifts, few who have worked closely with the governor would argue she is truly ready to assume command of the most important, powerful nation on earth. To step in and juggle the demands of an economic meltdown, two deadly wars and a deteriorating climate crisis would stretch the governor beyond her range. Like picking Sen. McCain for president, putting her one 72-year-old heartbeat from the leadership of the free world is just too risky at this time."

Good call, Anchorage Daily News, though I'd say based on Palin's increasingly inflammatory rhetoric, inability to match her words with her actions, and failure to understand the horrors that befall American citizens, regular Joes and Janes who are just trying to work and live, (and who, as it stands, have the protection of the United States government and the right to freedom of religion) every time an abortion clinic is bombed, I'd say any time is too risky a time to have Sarah Palin anywhere near the White House.

Obama For President [Anchorage Daily News]
Alaska Funded Palin Kids' Travel[AP]
Transcript: Time's Interview With Sarah Palin [Time]
Palin Disagrees With FBI Over Terrorism Designation[RightWingWatch]
Palin Says Obama 'Palling Around With Terrorists'[HuffingtonPost]
Palin: Obama's Tax Plan Could Mean Nightmare Communist State[HuffingtonPost]
Palin Allies Report Rising Camp Tension [Politico]

According to Republicans close to Palin, the Governor of Alaska "has decided increasingly to disregard the advice of the former Bush aides tasked to handle her, creating occasionally tense situations as she travels the country with them." This, perhaps, explains why Palin has chosen a much more hawkish stance at recent rallies and why she's been much more willing to give interviews and discuss policy over the past few weeks. As Politico notes: "Palin's 'instincts,' on display in recent days, have had her opening up to the media, including a round of interviews on talk radio, cable, and broadcast outlets, and chats with her traveling press and local reporters."

McCain supporters, however, claim that Palin's poor public rollout is the fault of her own inexperience, not bad handling on the part of the McCain campaign. "Moments that Palin's allies see as triumphs of instinct and authenticity - the Wright suggestion, her objection to the campaign's pulling out of Michigan - they dismiss as Palin's "slips and miscommunications" - that is, her own incompetence, and evidence of the need for tight scripting."

If the McCain/Palin ticket loses on Nov.4, this blame game will spin on for weeks, with Palin's supporters undoubtedly trying to lay the blame on the 72-year-old man with no chance of running for the presidency again. Palin's potential as a Republican rockstar is garnering quite a bit of buzz right now, and it's fairly safe to say that her fans will do whatever they can to get her out of this election unscathed.

As easy as it is to call Sarah Palin inexperienced and unready, even McCain supporters have to agree that the only person to blame for Palin's failures on the campaign trail is John McCain himself. Sure, she may have gone off-script, and she may be completely off the rails at this point, attempting to save her own political future, but Sarah Palin never would have made it to those rallies, to those interviews, or to those debate podiums if John McCain hadn't asked her to be there. Sarah Palin's political career may have started out on the wrong foot, thanks to mishandling from the McCain campaign, but it's the reputation of her running mate that will end this race more tarnished and in need of new direction. You can blame Palin all you want, Senator McCain, but in the end, the fact that her name is sitting next to yours on those signs and ballots is a decision that only one person on the ticket is responsible for.

Palin Allies Report Rising Campaign Tension [Politico]
Earlier: Palin in 2012? Maybe, If Some Dicks Have Their Way

A fascinating and ultimately horrifying look at the male fan base that assembles at Palin rallies and fundraisers, Leibovich's article paints a pretty scary picture of the mentality of some Palin fans. Her attractiveness is often mentioned as a big draw; a man who was so embarrassed about his crush on Palin refused to give his real name and asked that the reporter refer to him as "John Deere." Deere admitted that he thought Palin was "beautiful" and that he "came to look at her." Good call, Mr. Deere- if I were attending a rally for a person who could potentially lead our country and I admitted to the New York Times that I was there just to check her hot self out, I'd keep my name anonymous, too.

Leibovich notes that the men in Palin's crowds often shout out sentiments such as "Marry me, Sarah!" or "You rock me out, Sarah!" as Palin takes the stage. (I suppose they shout these things out before they start yelling "Terrorist!" or "Kill him!", no?) Palin, as any politician would, plays to the crowds and touches on the cultural ties that the audience perceives to be between them. She enters to AC/DC, and is sure to call attention to the "Carhartts and steel-toed boots" being worn by her adoring fans. As Larry Hawkins, a truck driver from North Carolina, tells the Times "Palin is our kind of woman."

Hawkins also states that he thinks Palin is qualified because of her experience as a mother. “They bear us children, they risk their lives to give us birth, so maybe it’s time we let a woman lead us,” he says. He then goes on to say this: “The sexual drives and big egos of male leaders have gotten in the way of politics in this country.” Right! Because women don't HAVE sexual drives! They just bear your children and such. Good to know.

Rob McClain of Indiana claims that he isn't bothered by the media's tendency to mock Gov. Palin, brushing aside the Tina Feys of the world to support a candidate he feels can handle the criticism. Mr. McClain was interviewed while wearing a button that read, "Proud to be voting for a hot chick," and felt that he could easily trust Palin to take control in the White House, if need be, for, as McClain says, "who can't trust a mother?"

Much has been made of Palin's unwillingness to call out nasty crowd members as they shout hateful words towards Barack Obama at her rallies. But Palin also chooses to ignore the cat calls and the "You tell 'em, baby" shouts that come from her rabid male supporters, and she should be held responsible for that as well. Governor Palin isn't running for Super Awesome Girlfriend of the USA. The "Palin Dudes" don't seem to realize this, basing their vote on backwards sexist notions and a desire to get the "hot chick" in office. Maybe they'll be successful, and Sarah Palin will head to the White House this Fall. But as the economy falls apart, Americans lose their jobs, women's rights are threatened, and the world remains in a state of turmoil, it might be worth stepping back and going a bit deeper than lipstick and a pair of fancy glasses. Attractiveness is one thing, dudes; effectiveness is quite another.

Among Rock-Ribbed Fans Of Palin, Dudes Rule [New York Times[