It has nothing to do with "Democratic plumbers" or any other secret left-wing conspiracy. Only an idiot or a fool thinks so.

Which one are you?

Does s/he have to choose?

So long as the news outlets report things as allegations or rumors, they shouldn't need worry about defending the truthiness of some statement to a judge. If attorneys persist in litigating it will only rise to a level akin to an illegal SLAPP suit. Such situations are a clear violation of the first amendment, as you use a government instrument(court)to oppress the peoples' rights. Explicitly illegal!

One of the things that drew me to the Republican Party -- or at least the Republican Party of 1994-2000 -- was a sense of personal strength and perseverance. They demanded -- but also accepted -- individual responsibility.

This letter, Sarah Palin, and much of the current Republican Party lack any sense of individual responsibility or strength. Oh, the buzzwords are still there -- we hear about how the American people are so great because they work so hard unlike those out-of-touch liberals in Washington, etc., etc. But other than blowing sunshine up the working man's ass, Republicans no longer have any idea what it means to be strong and independent.

Real strength doesn't require bogeymen in the form of a media out to "get" you. Real strength doesn't hide behind sound bites and cheapshots, behind cutting off your opponents' mic or screaming at them. Real strength doesn't need to out-shout its opponents -- it is confident that it can out-think and out-work them. Real strength doesn't talk about "Democrat operatives" or imagine itself oppressed by the too-powerful forces of a vast conspiracy. Real strength goes to work every day and tries to do a better job, and remains confident that it will get the job done without having to resort to cheap tricks and petty whining.

And, yes, real strength doesn't tell its lawyer to threaten to sue anyone who looks into an issue. Real strength doesn't fear sunlight.

How on Earth did the Republican Party go from the party of personal independence to the party of personal oppression? When did we get so whiny? How on Earth can a party claim to value intelligent thought and independent responsibility, but spend so much time on cheap rhetoric and whiny conspiracy claims? It's sad.

Sarah Palin -- the universe is not out to get you. Your failures are yours and yours alone -- own them. They are not the product of Democratic "operatives" or a liberal media. We should not -- and will not -- sacrifice American indepence and personal responsibility by letting you pass your shortcomings off to someone else.

I never put too much credence in the Housegate stuff. I would be surprised if she resigned over some potential scandal. I am still intrigued by the "higher calling" reference.

At first I thought well maybe she is going to be a full-time mother and devote herself to raising her family. That truly would be a higher calling. Then I thought well, maybe she's going to be a full-time crusader for special-needs children. That would also be a "higher calling.". But I don't think that would give the constant media attention and the chance to draw adoring crowds that she seems to require and also does not have the potential to allow her to become a king-maker. Nope, I'm betting she's going to go the James Dobson/Anita Bryant route. Making herself a martyr is a good first move if that is her goal. This would allow her to freely mix religion and politics, with no accountability, and would have unlimited fund-raising potential. I think our girl Sarah has her sites set on nothing less than . . . Her very own empire.

She may be up there ....

"Misogyny is a noun, not a verb."

Yes, weve already discussed that here on this thread. And had a good chuckle, too. Read much?

"Last time I checked, Salon was a website, not a human, and it is run by a woman, not a man."

Who said Salon was a human? Or that it was run by a man? Not me. But now that you've mentioned it, Salon IS run by living, breathing human beings who answer to Joan Walsh. An editorial staff that has, in fact, systematically "misogynized" Palin since the day she walked on the national stage -- and under Joan's watch, I might add. If you doubt that's the case, perhaps you should revisit some of Salon's past coverage.

Gary Kamiya depicts Palin as a dominatrix here:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2008/09/09/mistress_palin/

Cintra Wilson calls Palin a fuckable Christian Stepford wife here:

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/09/10/palin_feminism/index.html?source=rss&aim=/mwt/feature

Tracy Clark-Flory on the Salon "broadsheet” posts "Sneak Peek: The Palin Porno" here:

http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/feature/2008/10/20/palin_porn/index.html

"Palin has legal bills because Palin has questionable ethics and she's been called on them."

Yes, and almost two-thirds of are from the "Troopergate" nonsense drummed up against her. And Joan wonders why Palin's lawyer wrote that letter? Yeesch.

All words are made up. Each and every one of them. At some point somewhere someone used every word for the first time. The ones that work and are used widely make it into dictionaries.

"Misogynizing" perfectly evokes the behavior it is describing. Did any of you critics fail to catch the meaning of the word as it was used? No? Isn't that pretty much the definition of a good word?

As much as hasnovirtue is an idiot and a quite dependable bullshit fountain, he can't be wrong all the time.

Nobody is perfect.

This all-Palin-all-the-time is getting really boring, Joan.

Even more boring than the all-Michael Jackson-all-the-time that preceded it.

Can we please have an intelligent and thoughtful article about something more coherent, something like, um, health care reform? Thanks in advance.

Thanks, Uncle Creepy. And even though you appear to be "an idiot and a quite dependable bullshit fountain" too, I'm sure you can't be wrong all the time either. At least, not on this one:)