Since she is the opposite of Palin, she gets no coverage for doing something heroic and newsworthy.

I guess she is TOO BLACK for Salon.

One was that "millions of dollars of taxpayer money" were being used to hound her for non-existent conflicts of interest. Her supporters no doubt agreed, though the tab is under 300 grand.

They probably also fully backed putting the Clinton White House under the microscope; at one time there were 22 separate Congressional investigations going on which did run up a tab in the millions. One involved the White House Christmas card list.

The jury is still out on whether there were quid pro quos in this Wasilla sports complex between city hall and those who got the building contracts. But it undeniably left the city swimming in red ink and that does not speak well of Palin's administrative abilities.

"By all counts, someone with her diction and general lack of political knowledge and overweening tendency to get in her own way should have been laughed off the national stage a while ago, but Palin has clung on tenaciously, perhaps because she has tapped into some deep vein of psychodramatic symbolism."

I call BS to Ms. Fortini's assessment of Ms. Palin's maternal instincts. Sarah Palin is all about Sarah Palin. Her children are props. When she interrupts her olderst daughter's interview on national TV to correct her statement regarding abstinence she's not being maternal. She being dictatorial and the family ventriliquist. "Say what I tell you to say. Or else."

Sarah Palin might attempt to talk a good talk about values, but her children know that to get mommy's attention (read: love and approval) they must toe the line. Bristol's pregnancy proves the adage that mom's actions speak louder than her words.

Dude, get help. Professional help. Your words and admitted actions are the behaviors of a drrply delusional fan gone far over to the dark side. You've convinced yourself that you somehow play a significant role in her success. Next you'll be following her public appearance schedule...and then you'll do anything to personally deliver your important message directly to the candidate. I wouldn't be surprised is you're already on some Secret Service list. Right now, this object of your attention can do no wrong and you have appointed yourself her public defender. You secretly think she'll notice. You are baby steps away from disconnecting with reality. Get professional help.

They were props, just like they've been from the start. She and Kate Gosselin seem to be in an insensitive-mom contest. Are you on crack or something nameless only Hunter S. Thompson did before?

Tell me. Does this fellow seem to care about his children, or spouse for that matter?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72ZO6w0rl6Y

No? Then tell me how this is different.

I know Salon wants to appear to be balanced but this is weak.

...who invokes her children to cover for her misdeeds ("the insulted my retarded child" who is too young to care).

...who uses her children as stage properties by posing with them far more often than their father.

...who uses uses her children as stage properties by speaking of them in convenient, sugar-coated terms.

...who exploits her maternity by telling stories of how much doggone work she has done as a mother, when other women just do the work and don't expect votes for it.

...who exploits her maternity by telling stories of how doggone great she is as a mother and invoking the "hockey mom" over and over again, without evidence and with the common sense contradiction staring people in the face (how are you a hockey mom, if you keep running for office? doesn't a hockey mom necessarily stay at home?)

...who uses protection of her children as a rotten, stinking excuse for saving her reputation from her political misdeeds (she's resigning not because of all the scandals, but because someone said something about Trig).

This is a tough mama? I would call it a narcissistic mother, myself, and I would predict that the children of such a mother might learn the lessons of egoism and hedonism.

1. How on earth do you think comparing Sarah Palin to Nixon and Jackson improves her image?

Jackson was a thug and a bully, who had all kinds of stupid ideas, but plenty of ego. The Trail of Tears is enough to put him in my "bad guy" column, but let's not forget his systematic replacement of professional government employees with his loyal buddies. Then there's his attack on the bank as "elitist", and his orchestration of a lovely depression (in the name of fiscal responsibility) - crowing over reducing the national debt, only to then explode it.

Hmmm. Actually, the comparison is pretty apt, but it hardly flatters your idol.

2. Video schmideo. WTF does the video have to do with anything? Paln can deliver a speech (just don't let her write one!), with passion and charm. She'll make a great news actress on Fox. I have no doubt that she loves her children, including Trig (just not as much as she loves herself). ay aside the video, and look at her actual treatment of actual children with special needs: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/04/politics/animal/main4414049.shtml

3. Bristol is loving life? Maybe now. But it's clear you've never been (or known?) a teenage girl. They don't go in for national humiliation so much. Again, Palin had someone write a nice letter to announce Bristol's condition, but my 17-year-old self would have begged for the floor to swallow me were I in Bristol's shoes.

euripedes923: "Next you'll be following her public appearance schedule...and then you'll do anything to personally deliver your important message directly to the candidate. I wouldn't be surprised is you're already on some Secret Service list. Right now, this object of your attention can do no wrong and you have appointed yourself her public defender. You secretly think she'll notice. You are baby steps away from disconnecting with reality. Get professional help."

Great post... Sad, but true. Readerreader writes like an intelligent, educated person, but when you step away from his posts for a few seconds, you have to shake your head and go, "What the hell?"

R2 announced last week that he was leaving Salon for good. Over the weekend he granted himself an extension, saying he'd stick around to comment on Sarah Palin's resignation. Now it appears he's digging in his elbows to write some sort of Palin fan-fiction, about how she's going to become the leader of the one-world government and turn everything into a hexagon-based hive where she can emit millions of human/bee hybrid larvae named numerical variations of Trig.

R2's modus operandi is to (1) explain how Palin's clumsy moves are in fact genius-level misdirections intended to "fool ya"; (2) claim precognitive ability by imagining Palin preparing to run for president, clear the way legally for PAC contributions, or something; (3) compare Palin to any number of historical figures and then try to pretend that a random comparison is inseparable from axiomatic truth.

In the past couple days, R2 has compared Palin to: Richard Nixon; the founder of the KKK; Princess Diana; an ancient queen; some European aristocrat; Andrew Jackson; several others I can't remember. Who cares if the comparisons make sense or not? To R2 their merit is self-evident.

There is an advanced-level delusion here, but what I more strongly suspect is that it's a formed of veiled hostility. R2's prolific posts suggest defiance in the face of defeat. It's the equivalent of, "I know I've lost and made a fool of myself, but FUCK YOU! I am going to make an even BIGGER fool of myself, just to teach you all a lesson!"