Palin is a Communications major who has upstaged John McCain, rallied thousands of freepers and shown that she can dish it out but can't take it.

What could Sarah have in mind? Move over Man Coulter, here comes Catibou Barbie. I expect Palin to sign for $10 million her first year and hit the airwaves around Labor Day.

Can you find something/someone else to write about? Or at least get a life. Then you'll have something to write about.

Alislaura, I agree that John made a good joke on my reference to Palin's polling.

Fortunately, we didn't have to wait long to find out how the resignation will affect Sarah for 2012. USA Today / Gallup is out with the first post-announcement poll tonight, surveying 1,000 people and finding very good things for Palin.

70% say it has absolutely no effect on their view of her, but of the 30% that did find an effect, Democrats (a large majority of the 30%) say their opinion of her is worse, while Republicans say . . . the resignation improves their opinion of her.

So, a week ago we had Palin at number 1 in early presidential surveys, number 1 in fund raising, number 1 in grass roots support. Now, she's leaving office and her stock is rising in the party, while PAC contributions are also up post-announcement. She's free to be a national political force, and her supporters have her back.

Finally, I can't resist one short funny at CNN's expense. As mentioned recently, the Washington Post reports that Mike Huckabee's hopes could be the first casualty of Sarah's 7/3 announcement, and he might pivot to a Senate race instead. Given that Huckabee is number 2 behind Palin in the polls, a drop-out would substantially enhance her hold on social conservatives.

So, CNN put out a story (i) quoting its own "consultants" for the premise that Sarah can never hope to be the nominee; (ii) linking to the WashPost concept that Huckabee is now "out" in the hearts and minds of social conservatives in lieu of Palin; but then (iii) reverting back to hypothesizing a two group primary race between Huckabee on one hand and other GOP hopefuls on the other. In other words, CNN's copy writers are not capable of connecting simple dots within their own story . . . and imagining a favorable outcome for Palin. There is a mental barrier there they cannot seem to cross.

But why quibble over such silliness? She doesn't need their respect or affirmation, and it's not clear why she should want it. People respond to her self-confidence. That's more than enough . . . for everything that matters now, in turn one of the 2012 pony race.

So, as before, Sarah is high flying, adored. Higher, perhaps, tonight than ever.

SP and the GOP say they're all for "family values". SP say's she's going to do things to help "all our kids".

She could always start with her grandson and allow the boy's father to form a real attachment to him.

Letterman knew who he was hammering with his alleged "humor" and a flimsy apology eventually came after he felt his millions threatened. Bitter bad news bastard. His ratings suffer because of his attitude.

I rather doubt that a significant portion of Letterman's audience would be offended enough by one joke of questionable taste to ditch him.

hupocrites

One can only wonder whether this was intentional.

Maybe she couldn't handle it herself, but it will surely survive as a meme. -- Split infinitive of "surely" dividing up "will survive"

No infinitive in the text cited. The infinitive form would be "to survive."

Look, I don't like some of the Palin-bashing I've read because I do think it goes over the top. But when she starts talking about her Mama-bear mode, I find it hard to relate. At some point, Palin told a very convoluted story about Trig's birth -- a month before his due date she flew to TX (something all ob-gyns would encourage you NOT to do, even if you weren't having a high-risk pregnancy & about to give birth to a child that was likely to have heart condition). Per Palin, her amniotic fluid started leaking in TX. She decided to fly from Dallas (which has some world-class neonatal units) to Seattle. Amniotic fluid still leaking, she decided to fly from Seattle (which also has some great neonatologists) to Anchorage. Amniotic fluid still leaking, she supposedly left behind the better hospitals of Anchorage, so she could give birth over an hour away in Wasilla.

My guess is that she was BS-ing about this -- that she was just trying to some political point about wanting her son born in small-town Alaska. If she wasn't -- if she really was in labor & repeatedly decided to fly away from multiple good hospitals to put her son's life at risk -- what kind of protective mother bear is that? That she didn't give birth on a plane & that Trig didn't have some kind of Downs-related, life-threatening heart problem is just her dumb luck -- not a sign of maternal care. Moreover, the bizarre nature of this story led to rumors that she was covering up Bristol giving birth. To quell THAT story (which she could have done by releasing her medical records -- even a much redacted version), she told the world that Bristol was pregnant -- that is, she used her own child to shield her. Again, you call that mother bear behavior?

& there was at least one other time on the campaign trail when Palin was supposed to make an appearance at a Flyers hockey game. She was told the fans would boo her. So she decided to have her youngest daughter go out on the ice first. "They wouldn't dare boo Piper," she said. Again, she used her CHILD -- & a very young one -- to shield HERSELF (& it didn't even work).

Even her recent "defense" of Willow was a bit off. What's likely to make a teenage girl feel better? Her mother explaining that the nasty David Letterman made a mistake & was actually joking about her adult sister (which had the benefit of being true) or essentially telling her daughter -- repeatedly -- that total strangers found funny the idea of the girl being raped? If she had wanted to attack Letterman for being sexist, why not stand up for working women & put the focus on the slutty flight attendant joke? By harping on what Letterman said about her daughter (instead of what he said about her), Palin essentially repeated the insult & drew more attention to it.

Similarly, someone photoshopped a picture of a radio personality onto a picture of Trig. The joke wasn't supposed to be about Trig, but about the radio personality's closeness to Palin. Instead, Palin decided to tell everyone, including her own children, that strangers were attacking their brother -- why is that better for her kids? Why try to emphasize to the kids that if anyone in their family was being attacked, it was her -- presumably a strong adult who can handle such things -- not the baby? What kind of mother wants the kids to be paranoid?

Moreover, what makes you call Palin strong? Physically, no doubt. But mentally? She has neither intellectual strength nor the kind of emotional grit to survive one term in a statewide office. My state's governor (Jennifer Granholm) is far tougher, cooler, more tested, & intellectually rigorous than Palin, & a mother to boot. If my daughter wants to look up to a pol, she doesn't need to look any farther north than Lansing.

Palin is indisputably a mother, but whether she is strongly maternal (or merely manipulative) is not clear.