Joan, what happened to housegate?

Why didn't you mention your man Max Blumenthal tonight, and his reporting from Alaska that an indictment is imminent from the rumored federal investigation?

You know I'm just having some fun.

You might also know I like the movie North by Northwest. Palin's "escape" from the governor's office to the Des Moines rotary club reminds me of Cary Grant's scene in the Chicago art gallery, where he tricks the police into hauling him out and narrowly escapes a knife wielding man who hounds him throughout the film. "Keep trying, old boy" Cary says as he passes by. I have the same feeling for liberals, as to Palin. I don't think you're going to get her with this ethical silliness.

And speaking of North by Northwest, someone needs to read the James Mason line to your friend Lawrence O'Donnell: "Has anyone ever told you that you overplay your various roles, rather severely?" I haven't seen him this pepped up since he addressed John O'Neill and the swift boat charges aimed at John F. Kerry.

Even so, it seemed like the old time vitriol was gone. Is it just me, or is the air going out of the baloon on liberals' disdain for Palin? I mentioned the MSM earlier, which is starting to cover her like she might run for president someday and get, like, votes. You'll never support her politically, but I could tell tonight that no one else in politics could inspire you to reach so nobly for a term to describe such things as a hypocrite whose hypocricy hypocritcally escapes them.

And yes, I'm glad you used the word "maudlin" to describe her recent address. That's the word that comes to mind when we think of the Checkers speech, with Pat Nixon's "respectable Republican cloth coat" (in contrast to high falutin' Democratic mink coats); the dog Nixon ruefully confessed to receiving improperly; and of course his farewell speech later, when instead of expressing sorrow for his crimes, he blamed elites for looking down on his working class father and having no interest in a mother who buried one son after a bout with tuberculosis.

Ah, politics. Who says Sarah Palin doesn't understand history? She makes history, and sometimes echoes it. Not many people can say that.

No more frivolous lawsuits. Who can they kick around now?

I think she lives in an echo chamber where she has come to believe that she really is in huge demand and can win an election. There are enough right wingers who are so desparate to get back power that they will pick the first non white male they see that has the potential to rally the base. I don't think Sarah is herself a visionary...she was a knee-jerk reaction to someone who was a visionary...Barack Obama. The party searched for someone young and good-looking to counteract him with women and young voters. McCain also made the mistake in believing the overblown media hype suggesting there were millions of women wanting to vote for a female...any female. Sarah failed to live up to their expectations. The right wingers fell in love with her not because of her intelligence in national affairs, but because she had a baby with Down's Syndrome instead of abortin it. She was picked because the pro-lifers hoped to reignite the culture wars. So they picked a woman based on what made her woman: looks, charm, and the ability to procreate many times. She was picked only because she was a woman. Which is the highest form of sexism that I can think of. Hillary was known as a fighter who would not give up. Sarah is trying to convince us that by quitting...one can also be tough. She has no clue what she is doing. And as long as she continues to keep the culture war going, the right wingers are going to lover her.

George Bush (or more likely Dick Cheney) could kill a baby on national television and drink it's blood and Ron Christie would find a way to make it a positive for the Republican Party...

And Brad Blakeman would second the motion... Both guys have never found a Republican they didn't like...

We want Palin to run in 2012. It will be so entertaining!

Documenting her lies is fun! If only some investigative reporter would dig in....

When she lies, she lies big. She claimed she was spending 80 percent of her time dealing with ethics complaints. Really?

The NY Times obtained hard-won copies of her schedule from Andree McLeod and reports that on May 6, her schedule shows only a 45-minute interview with Runner's World and a meeting with guests at the mansion. May 22, there were four items scheduled: "promotions at the middle school in her hometown, a book dedication ceremony, a girls’ soccer game and an event at which she and her family dropped a puck at a hockey game." According to the July 5 article, "Her schedule does show that she met, for instance, with officials in her administration to discuss energy matters like her proposed gas pipeline project. But noticeably absent from her schedules are regular, substantive policy meetings and discussions with her cabinet and lawmakers."

Let's not forget she was so consumed by these complaints that she barely found time to fly to Indiana to give a pro-life speech, to New York to be in a parade, to NYC to go to a baseball game, to D.C. for a Republican dinner, etc. etc. Remember, she was gone at the end of the legislative session and let her attorney general nominee go down in flames.

There are many interesting things in that spreadsheet worth dissecting. For example, it reports that records request cost a total of $528,000. But in Alaska, you have to pay for those requests. Last fall, the AP wanted copies of emails sent from state accounts to her private Yahoo account. They were told it would cost $15 million. Furthermore, the state would have charged NBC another $15 million for the same information. Needless to say, they didn't follow through.

But this spreadsheet doesn't explain if there were revenues from records requests, if they're accounted for in this figure, or what.

Finally, she claims her office alone devoted 6,000 staff hours to all those pesky ethics complaints. That would break down to 10 staff people working 7.5 hours a day (Alaska's state work day) for 16 weeks. It's hard to believe that when even the Department of Law reports devoting only 1,600 hours of lawyer time to ethics, FOIA requests, and other issues. I would like to see her office prove their numbers.

This may seem like small stuff, but I really can't abide the notion that she's going to spend the rest of her life claiming she was run out of office by frivolous complaints--and that her acolytes are going to keep insisting it's true. Let's at least get the truth out there for those who aren't too blind to see....