Two of soon-to-be former Gov. Sarah Palin's comments stick out to me. One being that she can be "more effective outside government", and two that she did this after a lot of "prayer". My thought is that she would clearly have been a disaster had she advanced to VPOTUS. To imagine how she would be "more effective" outside government is difficult at best. Given her ties to extremist groups like the AIP and the Christian Right agenda, which continues (thankfully!) to fall into disfavor every time another "family values" Republican is caught "blowing off steam", about all her effectiveness amounts to is another voice in a locked room full of cranks. The GOP brand is becoming further marginalized with her resignation. I'm just not feeling any sense that we'll see her again on the political stage even though I'm certain we've not seen the last of her. She is clearly many things, but lacking ambition isn't one of them. As for her "prayerful" decision to quit as Governor of AK, one would have to assume she has a soul to conceive of her praying to anything higher than her ambition. But let's look at a larger theme here. The theocracy in Iran is having some glaring structural problems as we've seen, and the theocratic argument in this country is losing credibility faster and faster as its standard bearers throw in the towel. The point being that this is all to the good that she's leaving the stage now. Leaving aside her incoherence, the GOP had a powerful presence arguing for its cause, however insane and impractical. Now she's left, and one less insane, incoherent, and impractical voice in our collective ear is a good thing.

You Don't Care: "This isn't news, and shouldn't be on the headline."

Right. A recent VP candidate and celebrity-level politician suddenly announces her resignation, in a bizarre manner, and according to you "this isn't news." Okay, then! Be sure to let us know how your job applications to news-editor positions work out.

You Don't Care: "The Washington Post's publisher tried to sell access to the Administration to lobbyists."

This has been news for a couple days. Was top news on Huffington Post. You've fallen prey to the old fallacy that "if one thing is important, anything else is not important." Sort of a zero-sum attention game, right? Or better yet: If your team looks bad, then it's not fair because the other side's team also looks bad, and why isn't anybody noticing, and HEY EVERYBODY DON'T LOOK AT THAT, LOOK AT *THIS*! Just keep repeating to yourself: "It's not fair." Stick your fingers in your ears while you're at it. "I'm not listening, I'm not listening..."

You Don't Care: "Helen Thomas thinks Obama is more controlling than Richard Nixon."

Wait.... Now I am convinced! You are right! What Helen Thomas thinks absolutely should be the #1 news item at the top of the page. I am sold. Also, what's Robin Meade's opinion?

Ms. Palin demonized herself as follows:

1. Snidely ridiculing community organizers at the RNC;

2. Whipping up hate at her rallies to the point of wingnut violence. "Kill him!" "Terrorist!";

3. Lying everytime she opened her mouth.

4. Thinking that she was ready/qualified to be VPOTUS;

5. Crying and/or allowing her followers to cry "poor me" & "sexism" whenever someone disagreed with her ridiculous policies, or complete lack of understanding of basic issues;

6. Thinking that women would/should support her on the basis of her having the same reproductive organs;

7. Taking her "pro-life" stance to the extreme of not allowing abortions for victims of rape and incest;

8. Believing that rape victims should pay for their own rape kits;

9. The whole "Pallin around with terrorists" bs, while her husband was in that crazy Alaskan terrorist group for SEVEN years;

10. Proudly announcing that she had been cleared of any ethics violations on the same day the report came out that she had indeed violated ethics by using her position to try to get someone fired;

11. Constantly trotting her children out in front of the cameras and then whining that the media reported on her children;

12. Cutting funding for kids with disabilities while using her own child with disabilities as a political tool;

13. Arrogantly touting ignorance as a good and rightous thing;

14. Spouting nonsense about there being parts of America that were "real America";

And I could go on and on and on....Point is those are things that SHE did, said, stood for. We libruls didn't have to demonize her. That is the ONE thing she has been competent at all by her little lonesome.

So, heck yeah, you betcha, I am celebrating tonight and waiting for the next installment of this amusing soap opera. Bring it on.

It wasn't MacArthur who said "Retreat hell, we're just attacking in a different direction". As any good Marine knows it was General Oliver Smith in the Korean War during the retreat from the Chosen Reservoir I believe

I don't believe I have ever heard a political resignation speech before where both General MacArthur and a fridge magnet were quoted.

Joan, I am not blaming you for their hate letters, but please think about this: if your readers are the orchestra, then you are a conductor of this orchestra. And this is a huge responsibility.

Oh oh oh! Can I be the trumpet in Joan's Orchestra of Hate?! I call first chair!

I'm kidding of course. I know hate speech. Technically, legally and morally. In a way it is a shame that the word "hate" is part of the phrase "hate speech". "Hate Speech" is has a legal defination regarding bias. The talk radio hosts confuse the two on purpose to mock bias crimes.

People often feel they have very legitimate reasons to hate someone. What if you knew someone who lost all their money to Bernie Madoff?

Would you tell them not to hate him? You might, if you were a good Christian. In this case you could probably understand why people would hate Madoff.

What I find most distressing is when people on the right make statements about people on the left hating others. They imply that we hate for no apparent reason. This gambit throws the act of hating back on the other party. "Prove to me that your reasons to hate this person are good enough for me!" Of course if you can't come up with good enough reasons they have "won" the conversation.

So Person "A" says they hate Sarah for her lying. Another person could see that as a silly reason. "Everyone lies, it's no big deal." Just because you think that is a silly reason doesn't mean that person "A" really doesn't hate her for lying. Maybe that person believes that Sarah's lies hurt her financially, emotionally or physically.

I am a peaceful person by nature, but that doesn't mean that I don't have strong feelings. Joan can be persuasive, but her comments here don't lead me to hate Palin. But I wonder about that same thing when it comes to people on the right. The Right talks about a day of reckoning for the liberals. They point to the uptick in gun sales and then tell people that a revolution is coming.

How many more dead do we need until we start acknowledging that comments like "Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?" that Henry II said about Beckett are inciting violence.

Joan is NOT directing an Orchestra of Hate, but that would make a cool band name.