Blind Spot or Wilfull Disbelief?

I'm apparently the only pundit in the whole country who thinks that Sarah Palin is running for president this year - but I'm sorry, Sarah Palin keeps really acting like she is running. --- Rachel Maddow, 8/11/11

I don't get this. Is it feasible that a pundit could think Sarah Palin is going to eventually jump into the 2012 presidential race? Yes. I suppose that is possible. However, what I find entirely inconsistent with Ms. Maddow's logic is that she was the same pundit who spent the winter asserting that Newt Gingrich was "faking it" when he was indicating that he was going to run... that he was essentially only trying to seem to be a potential candidate so that he could continue to get high profile Sunday morning news show guest spots and, more importantly, so he could monetize his seeming relevance (i.e. so he could scam the gullible out of their money).

If you ask me, that is EXACTLY what Sarah Palin is doing! And yet Ms. Maddow doesn't see it? I don't get it.

Sarah Palin is not hiring significant staff. She is not raising a significant amount of money. All she is doing (with, for example, her trek to the Iowa State Fair this weekend) is trying to protect her "brand" without doing any actual hard work.

It is, by all accounts, a serious pain-in-the-ass to credibily run for President. That is more work than Sarah Palin is willing to do right now.

Rachel Maddow should know that.

Another Request From Furriners

Earlier today, I requested that ESPN stop putting Matt Millen in the booth for Michigan (and MSU) games. They have not contacted the site to thank us for our input but I assume they got the message and will comply.

To follow in the same vein, I have a request for cnn.com:

We get it, Sarah Palin hates the media and liberals. You don't have to make every gd time Sarah Palin opens her moose hole a lead story on your political 'ticker'. I swear, every friggin' time I go to your website, I see Palin Blasts Media or Palin Slams Liberals. Please, I beg of you, stop it! We don't care! I half expect to see a story documenting her bowel movements you guys are so infatuated with her.

Pick Your Battle

I got an e-mail this afternoon from the Progressive Change Campaign Committee regarding NBC's decision to suspend Keith Olbermann because of a couple campaign contributions.

The PCCC wants me to sign a petition to:

Tell them to put Keith Olbermann back on the air NOW!

No offense, guys... but please relax.

Just as I was fine with NPR firing Juan Williams, I am fine with NBC suspending Keith Olbermann. They can make their own personnel decisions as far as I'm concerned.

True, it doesn't hurt to voice one's opinion because it really can change things (Don Imus only got fired when the public outcry swelled and, quite frankly, it made the sponsors nervous about being associated with him) - so, in that sense, I understand the PCCC wanting to mobilize their e-mail list; however, let's not lose perspective. Our country has a lot of problems and we are getting ready for two years of gridlock (at least?) as Mitch McConnell says his number one goal is defeating President Obama in 2012. Does that sound like we should expect any progress/reforms from the 112th congress?

It surely does not to me, so getting all worked up about Keith Olbermann getting indefinitely suspended for an actual internal corporate policy violation (however suspect it might be... honestly, I don't know how to feel about the rule itself) seems kind of silly.

I think we know one for thing with ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY:

Mr. Olbermann himself knows this is NOT a First Amendment issue.

Sarah Palin might think so. Dr. Laura Schleshinger might think so. Carrie Prejean might think so. It is not.

For an example of the better uses of their energy by the PCCC, check this out.

UPDATE: I will say that I am doing my part in at least one way to hopefully bring back Olbermann sooner rather than later and that is, of course, not watching his show while he is gone. I am a regular viewer but turned it off last night. I had read a report that Chris Hayes was going to be filling in and was willing to watch it with Mr. Hayes - but he was not there; I had never seen that guy before who was filling in. Did Chris Hayes take a stand in support of Mr. Olbermann and refuse to fill in?

Barack Obama & The Park 51 Community Center

Allow me to rant a bit:

Mitch McConnell (human/turtle hybrid?) was on Meet The Press this weekend and he said this in response to a question about the controversial community center/mosque:

Obviously, this is not about freedom of religion. Typically, these kinds of decisions have been made by local officials. What's been different about this one is that you have the President of the United States weighing in on this issue - actually on each side of the issue within 24 hours which has helped stimulate a great national debate - not about freedom of religion but about the appropriateness of the location.

Okay, so that is not THAT unreasonable (for a modern day Republican/conservative anyway). However, a couple things I will note for the record. As this article indicates, President Obama's comments were made at a Ramadan Iftar dinner on 8/13, so if that is not an appropriate venue to comment on an issue concerning Muslim-Americans, I don't know what could be. Moreover, Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich had long since taken this out of being a strictly local issue. Here is a column commenting on Palin's opposition from 7/19 and here is a column that Gingrich published on 7/28. Now, I will grant you that they are nothing but citizens with an opinion, but you must grant me that these are not ordinary citizens.

Also, I was watching an episode of Charlie Rose last week as Mr. Rose was having a conversation with John Podesta (a former Chief of Staff for Bill Clinton) and Kenneth Duberstein (a former Chief of Staff for Ronald Reagan) regarding the first year and a half of the Obama presidency. Mr. Duberstein (more on him later) - though still very much the conservative - said this:

I think what (Obama) said Friday night on religous freedom and what America stands for was absolutely appropriate... the presidency should be on the high plain of talking about principles of America... he was absolutely right to talk about that but he should have said that the placement of a mosque is a local issue by New York City and New York state.

Okay, I don't necessarily agree with the need to comment on the jurisdiction of the zoning issues... but whatever... my point is that even rational conservatives recognize that the appropriateness of the POTUS addressing this issue.

Going Rogue

I came across this (excerpt of a) review on the web for Sarah Palin's book that she didn't actually write:

"Millions of copies will be sold of a book written by someone who can’t write, intended for an audience that doesn’t read, about the thoughts of a person who doesn’t think. God is dead."

Of course, it insinuates the former half-term governor actually wrote the book - which is misleading... but, nevertheless, it is a good encapsulation of my thoughts on this cultural phenomenom.