So…here’s the Friday “Chaos Theory” edition, containing all the leftover news items for the week of July 19th through the 25th:

PALINWATCH:

• In 2008, Sarah found another interesting use of Alaska taxpayer money…she used it to travel to the Mat-Su Valley so she could attend two religious events with the Wasilla Assembly of God folks.  Events…which included the odd use of SAMURAI SWORDS.  A minister quotes from scripture: “May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double edged sword in their hands to inflict vengeance on the nations, and punishment on the peoples, and to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron, and to carry out the sentence written against them.“  Perhaps someone should tell them that if they kept reading, this guy named Jesus had more of a “peace-sort-of-thing” going on instead of a “stabby-sort-of-thing.”  But, who can blame them, I mean c’mon…SAMURAI SWORDS!  Here’s a clip.
• Ok…this is one of the funniest political items I’ve seen all year:  Vanity Fair ran a piece where Sarah’s resignation speech was marked up by an editor, a research editor, and a style editor.  It can be seen here…really, take a minute and look through it.
• Woo hoo! Sarah Palin has been slapped with her 19th ethics complaint.  One more punch on her card, and she gets a free six-inch sandwich.  The Alaska Fund Trust, was created and group of lawyers from around the country who are “experts in state and federal law.”  The fund’s purpose was to assist Palin with the costs of her various legal defense efforts.  These attorneys have pointed to similar funds (like Hillary Clinton’s) and asked why the fund that they created is any different. The Answer: those other funds are held to federal law, which they comply with.  Sarah’s fund complies with federal law…but may not comply with ALASKA law.  The state investigator thinks the charge has substance; predictably, Sarah and her attorneys do not.

HEALTH CARE:

• GOP Rep. Steve Scalise from Louisiana would like to warn us all about the organ rationing that will occur under the Obama plan:”When you look at the bill, you start to realize what they’re doing and proposing is the very government takeover where rationing of care would exist where a government bureaucrat can get in between the relationship of you and your doctor. It’s the same thing that’s happened in Canada, the same thing that’s happened in England, where unfortunately just yesterday, we saw the story of a 22-year-old, who was denied life-saving care, denied a transplant by this government bureaucracy that exists in England that rations care.“  First of all…all health care systems, including OUR CURRENT ONE, exercise organ rationing because…there are only so many organs available!  Oh, and the 22-year-old he mentions that didn’t get a transplant in Australia…it was a liver transplant, and it was denied because he’s an ALCOHOLIC and he wouldn’t have received it in our country, either.
• Remember how Republicans promised that they would offer their own health care plan?  Well, GOP Rep. Roy Blunt, chair of  the “House GOP Health Care Solutions Group” now says they won’t.  Why?  They claim it is because they don’t want to “confuse the focus.“  I’m only “confused” as to how they get away with opposing every administration plan without ever proposing a reasonable alternative…
• Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House Republican whip, called it “the nonpartisan Lewin Group.”  The House Ways and Means Committee Republicans called it an “independent research firm.“  No matter what you call it…this group is the primary source of the Republican’s statistical data when they are arguing against the health care reform plan.  AND no matter what you call it…it is COMPLETELY owned by UnitedHealth Group.  That’s right:  one of the nation’s LARGEST health insurance providers.  Oh…but I’m certain the data is completely accurate and not at all “massaged” towards the company’s own interests.
• I’ve seen an number of blogs and emails which clearly aver that the president said things, at times they even attribute the claim as a direct quote, that HE DID NOT SAY AT ALL.  So, for the record…here’s the transcript.  And no…he did not say that the government will make decisions for doctors…and no…he did not say that you grandmother won’t get her pain meds…and no…he didn’t say that it is going to be paid for by taxing your health benefits.  Read or listen to the speech…and then comment on the speech.  That’s the procedure.
• The GOP keeps playing this cute game of “if we can delay this past August…we can say we defeated Obama!“  What makes this needless, political stalling “not cute” is that nearly FIVE MILLION people have lost their health insurance since September, 2008.  The number of uninsured is 36.5 million, which means that 4.8 million adults have lost their insurance…IN LESS THAN A YEAR.
• The Health Insurance Industry would like to share their own “data” with us.  They TRIED to say that 77% of people are satisfied with their private insurance…but it turns out that those are just the people WHO NEVER USE IT.  Here’s a shocker:  healthy people who never have to deal with their insurance company…they think their service is AWESOME.  Oh, and in terms of customer satisfaction…turns out that people are just as satisfied with Medicare as they are with private insurance; so much for the whole “government can’t do anything right” claim.
• U.S. Reps. Michele Bachmann and John Kline (both Republicans) say they oppose the formation of a public option because it would be…cheaper.  That is, it will be cheaper…than the insurance that is currently bankrupting businesses and families while providing little in the way of service.  Um, Michelle…John…that’s the whole point.

SEX SCANDALS:

• First it came out that Governor Mark Sanford had been cheating on his wife…and that he abandoned his state without notice so that he could meet with his mistress and “soul mate” one last time.  Now we know…he flew FIRST CLASS and on the taxpayers’ dime.  His office’s response?  They say that he “compares very favorably with previous administrations on use of the state plane, and we believe he would compare favorably on his use of other state travel as well.”  In other words, he may be corrupt, but at least he doesn’t abuse taxpayer money AS BAD as those past governors did.  This clearly seems to contradict his own claims that he is very concerned with “frugality“…and why not…he already contradicted himself on how “morally upright” he is and regarding those pesky marriage vows.
• And…more and more creepy details come out about the C-Street house, where Sanford, Ensign, and Pickering stayed, prayed, confessed to each other, and then ran around on their respective spouses.
• On the Subject of C-Street, Rachel Maddow interviewed Jeff Sharlet, the author of a book he wrote about his experiences while undercover within the C-Street residence:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2qsEu5UKA0

SOTOMAYOR CONFIRMATION:

• Quick Catch-Up: The confirmation has been delayed for a week…for no reason whatsoever, because everyone freely admits that she will definitely be confirmed.  Senator Graham (R-SC) says he will vote for her…and added: “Her life story … is something that every American should be proud of, and if her selection to the Supreme Court will inspire young women, particularly Latino women, to seek a career in the law, then that is a good thing -- and I hope it will.“  Personal Comment:  Regarding Graham’s statement…seriously, only a politician can call you a “motherf--ker” all week and then praise you at the end for being an “inspirational person.” Senator Kyl (R-AZ), will not…a specific reason wasn’t given…

POLITICIANS BEHAVING BADLY:

• More GOP racism:  Dr. David McKalip, a Republican activist with a strong anti-health-care-reform stance, sent an email around with the words “funny stuff” and a picture of President Obama as a witch doctor with a bone through his nose.  Let’s see…we have a foolish email…with a racist picture…all that’s missing is a ridiculous claim of “communism.”  Oh wait…scroll down to see the hammer and sickle.  That’s it -- he got the jackassery trifecta.
• Rep. Marsha Blackburn’s (R-TN) words: “Let’s agree that we’re going to have PAYGO enforcement. That we’re not going to cry ‘emergency’ every time we have a Katrina, every time we have a Tsunami, every time we have a need for extra spending, that we don’t go call for a special appropriation that allows us to circumvent the PAYGO rules.” While we can all appreciate fiscal responsibility…Blackburn’s claim that events like Katrina shouldn’t be treated as special circumstances where what must be done gets done with a minimum of bureaucracy and a maximum of speed and efficiency…is a bit sick.
• Maybe it’s a Republican thing:  Watch Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) stumble over a classic adage:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm8a3fFM1kw

You’ll remember that someone else in the GOP had similar difficulties:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKgPY1adc0A

THE MEDIA: HACKS, PUNDITS, AND OTHER INVETERATE LIARS:

• FOX’s Glenn Beck has reacted to the death in the Senate of a ridiculous gun law that would have invalidated each state’s specific gun laws, and allowed individuals from any state where they have a permit, to go to any other state and carry their weapon.  He said in defense of the bill: “I went to the movie this weekend with a gun. And surprise, surprise, I didn’t kill anybody!“  Here he is…in all his lunacy:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVUQM5XmCIg

• It’s official: Jon Stewart of the Daily Show is America’s most trusted newsman.  Jon would be the first to say that this is a strange, sad day…a day when news journalism is so vapid and, at times, so biased that a man who runs a COMEDY NEWS SHOW is more trusted than any of the rest.
• Good For You, Joe:  On Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough laid into FOX for being the only major network to refuse to air the president’s news conference.  What show was so important that it just couldn’t be preempted?  So you Think You Can Dance…sigh.

And that’s it for this week…tune in Monday for all new tales of whimsy, debauchery, political espionage, and the American condition…

…have a great weekend.

Without further ado…

PALINWATCH -- BECAUSE SHE JUST WON’T GO AWAY:

• In “News That Should Surprise Nobody:“  Sarah Palin’s reasons for leaving the Governor’s office early…don’t stand up to much scrutiny.  Aside from her perpetual grousing over “media unfairness,” the primary reason that Palin gave for resigning involved the ethics charges against her, the time it was taking her to address those charges, and the money it was costing the Alaska taxpayers.  Do you know the actual, additional dollar amount it was costing those taxpayers?  Zero.  Alaska, like all states, has its own legal department and its own attorneys on permanent staff…those attorneys get paid every year even if there aren’t ANY ethics charges against the governor.  True, if they weren’t having to spend so much of their time getting Sarah out of jams, they could focus on other things…but the budgetary bottom line stays the same.
• Oh, and all that time she was having to spend defending herself…that was cutting into her regular duties to the extent that it was “paralyzing?“  Well, it couldn’t have been THAT much time…there are only three outstanding charges out of the EIGHTEEN that have been filed against Palin while she has been governor.  According to the Anchorage Daily News, they are as follows:  “Jan. 26: Two complaints filed by McLeod alleged two of Palin’s top aides misused their official positions for Palin’s personal and political gain. The complaints said then-press secretary Bill McAllister and Kris Perry — director of the governor’s Anchorage office — worked on state time to benefit Palin’s interests during and after her vice presidential quest.  April 27: Contends Palin is misusing the governor’s office for personal gain by securing unwarranted benefits and receiving improper gifts through the Alaska Fund Trust. The fund was recently established by supporters to help Palin pay off more than $500,000 in legal debts stemming from other ethics complaints, including troopergate. Complaint filed by Eagle River resident, Kim Chatman.“
• Ooops…spoke too soon.  There’s a new complaint.  The new complaint alleges that Palin still received her salary and utilized resources from her office towards the purpose of campaigning for Vice-President.  Jack Coghill, an Alaska Republican and an author of the state’s constitution, responded to the new charges by voicing his assertion that the constitution required that Palin officially place the lieutenant governor in charge while she was out of the state.
• Liberal activist group, MoveOn, has found a way to capitalize on Palin’s move…their fundraising drive focused on Palin’s “lies” netted them $100,000 in just 24 hours.  This begs the question:  besides the fact that Palin does not have the popular support for a Presidential run…shouldn’t Republicans also be concerned that even ATTEMPTING to rally around her would likely cause massive campaign fundraising success FOR THE DEMOCRATS?
• Just for fun:  Here’s the Daily Show’s treatment of the Palin resignation (I just love Samantha Bee)…

POLITICIANS BEHAVING BADLY:

• Under “What is with these guys?:” I’ve proposed earlier that the real issue with Governor Mark Sanford is NOT that he had an affair…it’s that he abandoned his post.  The release of emails during the relevant period brings this idea front and center; people were really trying to contact the governor…but he was completely AWOL.  But now…I’m starting to look at the “affair” issue.  Bear with me:  First there was Sanford, then there was the news of Senator Ensign’s affair (who also, interestingly, has now been tied to what some are calling a “do-it-yourself-exorcism” movement…okaaaay)…and now, we are hearing about the affair of Representative Chip Pickering.  Why is this interesting, beyond the sordid details and the fact that they are all Republicans?  It’s because they are all affiliated with the same C Street building…they all lived there at one point…it is the “HQ” of a Christian group called “The Family” that has described itself in the past as being a sort of “Christian Mafia“…and there are some claims that seem to indicate that some of the “indiscretions” actually occurred INSIDE the C Street building. A group named Youth With a Mission actually owns the C Street building…here’s their “plan” for Christian world control:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQtB-AF41p8

• Senator Russ Feingold has written to Attorney General Holder, asking him to investigate Bush-era CIA practices.  My reaction: if not now…what would it take?  Seriously…let’s examine the claims we have so far:  torture (both within and outside the bounds of the DOJ memos), warrantless domestic wiretapping (both within and outside the approved bounds), failure to inform Congress (read the law…it says Congress shall be informed of ALL activities, even planned activities, even minor activities), rogue assassination squads, extraordinary rendition.  I’ll leave it at this: if Holder doesn’t investigate when faced with THIS LEVEL of potentially criminal, treaty-violating, unconstitutional activity…then he IS NO Attorney General and we HAVE NO Justice Department.
• Representative Michele Bachmann believes the census asks too much personal information.  She has even gone so far as to suggest that people should refuse to take the census.  Even her GOP colleagues were quick to point out that what she was asking people to do…IS AGAINST THE LAW.  Even FOX’s Glenn Beck found her stance a bit confusing (of course, adding to a very long list of things that confuse Glenn Beck). Others pointed out that failure of Bachmann’s constituents to fill out the census would likely cause a redistricting…that would ELIMINATE HER SEAT IN THE HOUSE.  Bachmann…not one to be burdened by the laws and logic of our world, is pressing ahead with her anti-census campaign.
• Catherine Crabill, the Republican Party’s nominee for Virginia’s 99th District in the House of Delegates chose a recent Tea Party event to voice her suggestion that the “war against taxes” might be fought with conventional weapons: “We have the chance to fight this battle at the ballot box before we have to resort to the bullet box.  That’s the beauty of our Second Amendment rights…Our Second Amendment rights were to guard against tyranny.“  Since Crabill seems interested in the Constitution and the laws of our country, I would like to suggest that she research another concept: treason, and/or fomenting armed insurrection.  You see…there are certain things that don’t fall under the protections of Free Speech.  You are NOT allowed to shout “fire” in a crowded movie theater…you are NOT allowed to threaten the president…and you ARE NOT ALLOWED to call for the violet overthrow of the government.  Ms. Crabhill…it is a crime for which you may be prosecuted.  A serious one.
• Just yesterday, I wrote on the topic of the new Health Care bill.  One of the points I made was that we are not looking at the final bill…revisions will be made.  Well, as expected, revisions ARE INDEED being made…revisions that the Republicans want…and also as expect, just like during the Stimulus bill debate, the Republicans are saying that they are being given NO INPUT WHATSOEVER.  That’s funny…out of 788 amendments filed, 67 came from Democrats, 721 came from Republicans…and of the Republican amendments, 161 have been approved.  Right…no input at all.  Here are the details.

THE SOTOMAYOR SENATE CIRCUS:

• Senator Jeff Sessions had to squeeze in just one more embarrassing comment before the Confirmation Hearings for Sotomayor closed.  To Wade Henderson, the president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights: “Mr. Henderson, It’s good to work with you. Senator Leahy and I are talking during these hearings, we’re going to do that crack cocaine thing that you and I have talked about before.“  Huh?
• Not to be outdone by Sessions, Senator Lindsey Graham managed to make several sets of ridiculous remarks.  First, instead of adhering to the LAW when dealing with detainees in the “War on Terror,” he suggested that he’d like to suggest that some “deserve to stay in jail until they die“…regardless of the actual crime the committed, but due instead to the “nature” of the conflict.  Then, he admitted that he would have lacked the courage to support school desegregation if he had been in office back in 1955.  AND lastly…he added that Sotomayor: “said some things that just bug the hell out of me.“
• Jon Stewart of The Daily Show thought Senator Graham’s comments were worth a mention:

• David Arquette paid a visit to Fox and Friends and made some comments guaranteed to garner him another invitation.  Discussing Sotomayor, he said: “I think Latina women are, I mean, it depends on the woman, but I think they are very, they have great judgment, but there are some that are just nuts. I’m just saying.“
• Filed under “Things That Disgust Me:”  I won’t say much about this clip, except that it features Pat Buchanan as a guest on the Rachel Maddow Show, discussing Sotomayor and Affirmative Action.  If Buchanan did not expose himself as an unqualified racist during his bid for the presidency…he did in this interview.  When asked why 108 of 110 Supreme Court Justices have been white, and 108 of 110 have been men…Buchanan asserts that all the founding fathers, most of the soldiers at D-Day, and most of the soldiers at Gettysburg were white men…and so maybe most of the people on the Supreme Court should be, too.  It’s disgusting, unmitigated racism:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrtqE4WyUdY

MISCELLANY:

• If you’ve been paying ANY attention, you’ve heard that California is on the edge of complete financial collapse.  Obama has rejected most of their cries for help…and major banks are refusing to accept their “IOU’s.”  I’ve said it before, and I’m certain I’ll say it again:  Why are the President and other dismissing the idea of legalizing marijuana so cavalierly?  It’s already the number one cash crop in the state…but the state economy benefits little.  Imagine the possible tax revenues…imagine the business opportunities…imagine the money that would be saved in law enforcement…imagine all the money saved in the Corrections system (no longer having to jail people for years for minor marijuana offenses).  Apparently…I’m not alone in thinking this way.
• Have you heard about this guy: U.S. Army Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook argued that he doesn’t accept Obama as president…because of the whole, well-debunked “birth certificate” nonsense…so he says he shouldn’t have to deploy to Afghanistan.  The Army responded:  because Cook was a reservist who VOLUNTEERED to go back on active duty (but hadn’t started active duty yet)…he can be UNVOLUNTEERED, which is exactly what they did.  It’s a bit like if I went and interviewed to work for a company, and then the day before I started work I called them and said “You know what…I really don’t want to work for you, and you can’t make me.“  Their response would be the same as the Army’s: “Fine…don’t show up.”  Apparently, these fringe conspiracy theorists have come to be known as “birthers” and, of course, FOX News is doing all it can to support their fact-free-fanaticism…and some GOP members in Congress would like to help them, too.  They may be nuts (if you don’t know why…here’s a resource)…but they vote Republican.

With that out of the way…we’ll start fresh on Monday.  Have a wonderful weekend…

And that one subject…would have to be SARAH PALIN…

I have so much material, that I think it’s probably impossible to weave these into any sort of cogent narrative. So, I guess I’ll simply try to categorize and summarize as best as I am able:

THE BOMBSHELL RESIGNATION:

• On July 3rd, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin shocked EVERYBODY by announcing that she not only wouldn’t run for another term as governor…but she also wouldn’t even be finishing her first term. She plans to leave office on July 26 to pursue…well…keep reading. The full video and written transcript of her announcement can be found here. The speech…was classic Palin. It was badly written, rambling on-and-on without much in the way of an organized structure. It was badly delivered…breathlessly spewed forth in a torrent of incomplete sentences and rambling tangents. There was also an obvious disregard for atmosphere reminiscent of Sarah’s ill-fated Thanksgiving interview in front of a slaughtering table – She chose to deliver the announcement in an area populated by loudly (and somewhat comically) honking geese, and these surroundings lent a somewhat distracting and surreal feel to the whole event.
• According to Sarah…she’s leaving because of the distraction presented by all of the ethics charges against her…and the cost of defending against those charges…and she’s not finishing her term, but she’s not quitting, because she’s going to keep on “fighting“…but she won’t say what she will be fighting, or how, just that she’s not really “quitting” because she’ll still be “fighting.” She later responded that it has been considered “honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling.” No word as to what this higher calling might be…McCain seems to think she will serve as some sort of Republican leadership figure, however, most experts see her political future as bleak. Governor Mike Huckabee says those very ethics charges and her decision to leave office mid-term nearly negate the chances of a future presidential run. Even Karl Rove, who get get conservatives to vote for a dead cat, thinks her “strategy” is risky and that her options are few.
• And Sarah also wants us to know that she’s really not walking out on her responsibilities…because he “lame-duck” status prevents her from getting any real work done. Unfortunately for Sarah, NOBODY considers halfway through one’s first term a “lame-duck” period…in fact, this is a period where a governor SHOULD be able to accomplish quite a bit. The Alaskans who elected her are more than a little disappointed…since they elected her hoping she would perform some actual work. In fact, one legislator spoke of Palin’s “surprising amount of disinterest in state government after November…This state has a lot of problems, and she showed a complete lack of interest in solving them.” Alaska’s Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski was even harsher in her criticism of Palin’s move: “I am deeply disappointed that the Governor has decided to abandon the State and her constituents before her term has concluded.” Governor Ed Rendell, (D-Penn) took offense…criticizing her characterization of lame-duck governors, her designation of herself as such, and her choice to leave office during a recession: “To resign after two-and-a-half years in office and somehow to say that she was going to be a lame duck and lame ducks can’t get anything done and governors just go on junkets during her lame-duck period is ridiculous. First of all, she’s a first-term governor, not a term-limited, second-term governor, and if she hadn’t announced she was leaving, she wouldn’t have been a lame duck, she would have been in a pretty strong executive position, number one. Number two, this is not the time for governors to abandon their states…Everyone of us is facing severe financial challenges brought about by the international recession and this is not a time to leave. We pledged to our folks when we asked them to elect to us, we pledged that we were going to serve four years and we serve in the good years, but we also serve in the bad years as well. And for her to leave and turn the state over to a lieutenant governor with less than a month’s notice, in the midst of difficult financial times, I think it’s just dead wrong.“
• Oh, and it’s the media’s fault, too. According to Palin, the mainstream media has been completely unfair to her and her family, they would not have gone after any other candidate the way they have pursued her…and she would still like to be in front of the cameras and allowed to talk as much as possible and if all the members of the mainstream press wouldn’t mind coming to see her fishing at the shoreline, she’d like to talk to all of them. She said this…as she alluded to her future political aspirations: “How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it’s about country…And though it’s honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make.” You know…I could quote from this wonderful article, dispelling the myth that the media has been somehow “harder” on Palin…or I could show this clip from August of last year where Sarah chastises Hillary Clinton for “whining” about the media, and says that it “bothers her” when female politicians proclaim themselves victims of the press. Instead…I’ll call it what it is: cry-baby bullshit. No, Sarah, you don’t get to pop out of nowhere as a virtual unknown, and run for Vice President…with a radicalized, secessionist husband…and an unwed, pregnant daughter…and ties to extreme, evangelical religion…and a history of abuse of power and ethics complaints…and a history of taking huge amounts of public money to fund failed projects…and then proceed to go ill-prepared into debates and interviews where you CONTINUALLY reveal your general lack of education, lack of knowledge of government, and lack of reasoning skills…AND THEN COMPLAIN THAT THE MEDIA IS TREATING YOU DIFFERENTLY. The media would treat any candidate in the same situation, with the same background, and who exercises the same poor judgment the SAME WAY.

THE CONSPIRACY THEORIES – WHAT IS REALLY BEHIND THIS?

• Unconfirmed gossip: let’s get this out of the way…some have said that Sarah was trying to get ahead of the results of very damaging federal investigation…however the FBI says it is in no way investigating Palin. If there is some damning piece of gossip or some pending investigation…there’s no proof of it. Others have said Palin wishes to continue to pursue lucrative book deals…maybe even a position on Fox News or some other conservative outlet as a contributor. Again, even if this is the case…there’s no evidence to support it, other than the face that she has signed a memoir deal with HarperCollins Publishers, which is a pretty standard practice for politicians.
• Presidential Run: As mentioned earlier…even Huckabee, Rove, and a wealth of other Republicans and GOP campaign advisors think Sarah’s chances of a 2012 presidential run are SLIM. However…polls show that a majority of self-identified Republican voters would still vote for her for president (of course, with self-identified Democrats and Independents…not so much). I’ll just say this: I have a good friend who I consider to be a very intelligent conservative. Back during the last election, he defended Palin to me…saying that it is not so important that she is not very intelligent, because her “charm” is such a powerful tool. This same friend…posted on Facebook recently that he believes Palin should step out of the spotlight, because her intelligence is obviously SO LOW as to not even meet the minimum requirements for the presidential office. I’m glad to see he has come around and finally grasped what I hold to be an obvious truth.
• Maybe she’s just nuts: no article did so much to damage Sarah Palin as Todd Purdom’s opus for Vanity Fair titled “It Came From Wasilla.” I highly recommend reading the entire piece. The article forced a major division in the GOP…between those who were willing to admit to the horrific strategic mistake that was choosing Sarah Palin as the VP candidate, and those still blinded by…well, whatever. In short (I mean really short, given Purdom’s article is 10,000 words long) Palin appears to be not very bright, not very experienced, not very savvy…and perhaps just a bit nuts: “Several told me, independently of one another, that they had consulted the definition of ‘narcissistic personality disorder’ in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – ‘a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy’ – and thought it fit her perfectly.” Or maybe Liz Trotta, a contributor for Fox News, put it best the other day when she said, “the woman is inarticulate, undereducated…I think all the liberal stylists…really have a case. She just begs for adjectives like flaky and wacky…We’re talking about somebody who, right from the get-go, has been a flashy person who gets into a lot of trouble and really has no credentials for any job.” Wow…well said, Liz.

THE ENSUING LAUGHTER:

• Seeing as Sarah’s announcement comes so close on the heels of her spat with David Letterman…one can hardly fault him for taking a parting shot…or twelve. Here’s his Top Ten list of messages on Palin’s answering machine. Enjoy.

• Of course, Keith Olbermann couldn’t resist a bit of tongue-in-cheek analysis of these developments…here is his segment titled appropriately “Palin’s Paling Prospects.” It mostly revolves around Andrea Mitchell’s interview with Palin at the water’s edge (Palin had just stepped out of a fishing boat…hip waders and all)…where Palin continues to flounder (no fishing pun intended) while attempting to explain both her motives and her ambitions. For me, the highlight is when Sarah refers to the federal government’s “Department of Law,” once again reminding me of how close we came to having this woman as Vice President…a person who has no knowledge of how our government or laws actually work. And here…is a brief Palin retrospective:

I’d say that we will have no more need for my regular “Palinwatch” segments, but the truth (and you and I both know it) is that she’s not going ANYWHERE and we will certainly hear from her again…for better or worse.