http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106384060

It really covers/emphasizes how inappropriate the media has been, but not only to Palin.

And here’s a further issue: Palin was selected to be McCain’s running mate BECAUSE she is a woman. No man with her background and resume would have been picked. So it’s definitely something you have to consider in the mix.

oh, and as for the “speculation.” No one has said for a fact that she is udner investigation and her lawyer threatened to sue a blogger for saying “There are rumors out there.” In fact, there are. And her lawyer did the worst thing possible by acting like a bully, and by giving a way too long protest-too-much detailed breakdown of the so-called Housegate scandal which, given Palin’s many apparent ethical lapses, may not even be the issue.

Amd Nordette, there’s a very simple way Palin could have disccolved any “cloud of speculation” : she could have given an actua REASON for quitting.

I wish I had gotten to see you, Jill, but I just found out about this when I got home. I will look for the link. That’s great, and congratulations.

One thing I noticed was that Matt brought up an analogy that was prevalent from conservatives during the ‘08 campaign that essentially Palin was running against Obama and that her experience and choices should be weighed against his. It’s almost as if in their minds she already has run for president (since they didn’t really support McCain) so perhaps that makes it a bit easier to envision this as a strategic move for 2012 (though clearly Matt, does not).

My thoughts on Palin’s resignation are more inklings than hypotheses, but I think there are clearly deeper gender politics going on.

Palin said that when she asked her family if she should resign, they said something like “Yeah,” “yeah,” “yeah,” “yeah,” and “Hell, yeah!” (The latter, I presume, was her husband.)

That anecdote, and its public retelling, obliquely points to traditional gender roles as the rationale for her resignation. Being at home with family is a better, more obvious choice (hell, yeah) than being in the governor’s office.

Strange that none of her kids or her husband said, “But what about your proposed blah-blah legislation? Don’t you want to stay until that gets passed?” Aren’t they aware of, or don’t they value, her political goals? I would they could hardly have lived with her for all this time without being very aware of her agenda.

But at the moment, SHE’s pretending she doesn’t have an agenda, and the press is letting her. If Palin were male there would be more pressure on her to answer those “Why are you really leaving?” and “What are you going to do with your time/energy/ambition/power?” kinds of media questions.

Instead, the media coverage has accepted Palin’s own crypto-conservative implication that it’s natural for a woman to want to relinquish her right to wield power. As Palin is she’s saying, “You guys were right; all this governing is too much for little ole me.”

But as we all saw during the election, Palin has more than her share of megalomania and will-to-power. And that makes her attempt to gracefully retire from public life seem like a sham, a subterfuge for some other motive. But what?

Media speculation has been that she was under investigation (apparently she’s not) or planning to run for the presidency (but wouldn’t her candidacy be stronger if she ran as governor rather than ex-governor?)

I don’t have a clue. But I do have the unshakable gut feeling that she is being very disingenuous about the whole thing.

About the feed of the video: it is only shown on Cnn.com online – you go to http://cnn.com/live1.

I will be sent a link to the show eventually and will post that once I get it.

About the point guard point – yeah, you know – I could not let that one go. I’d been thinking about it since I heard it last week. Yes, LeBron knows when to pass, but to be allowed this kind of decision to change directions and “pass” the ball? You need to be a crazy one of a kind WITNESS great point guard. Not just a “good point guard” who is passing because of the pressure after only 2 1/2 quarters (aka years) of play, versus being in there, hanging in there, for all four.

Just my O obviously.