Question: When Will Sarah Palin Shut Up and Go Away?

The election ended more than two months ago, the inauguration of Barack Obama is a mere 12 days away, and yet I still have to hear and read about Sarah Palin on a daily basis. WTF?! Why won't she just shut up and leave us (the country) alone?

First she whined about how the McCain campaign didn't let her call the shots, and kept her hidden from the media. Then, she whined about the media's coverage of her family (you know, the teenage daughter who got pregnant while not being married with her high school drop out boyfriend, despite all of that "family values" and abstinence education she was force-fed as the daughter of a right-winger). Then, of course, there was the "turkey slaughter" interview and Palin's consistent denials about the extravagant expenditures for her clothes and make-up (after all she does have that "hockey mom" image to keep), despite the mountains of proof to the contrary.

Now, Gov. Palin is putting in her two cents on the vacant New York Senate seat currently being held by Hillary Clinton. She is once again whining about the "unfair" treatment she received at the hands of the media (the same media she was hidden from by the McCain campaign), and thinks that Caroline Kennedy's treatment shows a bias based on sexism and class. “It’s going to be interesting to see how that plays out and I think that as we watch that we will perhaps be able to prove that there is a class issue here also that was such a factor in the scrutiny of my candidacy versus, say, the scrutiny of what her candidacy may be.”

Ummmmmm. No. Couple of things. First of all, Palin was running to be Vice President of the United States with a 72 year-old running mate with a history of cancer. She was a complete unknown to anyone outside of Alaska, and much of the hype regarding her record in Alaska was proven false within a week of her addition to the ticket (i.e. the bridge to nowhere). On the rare occasion that Palin did grant an interview to an entity other than Fox News, she proved herself incapable of answering the most basic questions. She did not know what the "Bush doctrine" was, and could not even identify a single newspaper she has read. These were hardly "gotcha" interviews, yet she still struggled. The public went from fascination with Palin to a sort of shock at her ignorance. That is on her and not on the media. Let's just be honest about that.

Caroline Kennedy, on the other hand, is being appointed to a partial term in the US Senate, and will not be a "heartbeat away from the presidency." She has been a known quantity since she was a child and lived in the White House. Kennedy went to an Ivy League school and has published multiple books on the Constitution. She, too, has been selective about interviews, but Palin is wrong to argue she has gotten a free ride from the media. She came under intense criticism for saying "you know" too much in those interviews. Talk about a silly and irrelevant critique! Which is worse: not knowing what the most significant change in US foreign policy in a generation was or saying "you know" a lot? The answer is obvious.

So, Governor Palin, you need to just zip it and take care of your business in Alaska. Get over the election. You lost. It happens. But to blame the non-confrontational, treat you with kid gloves, media for your loss is absurd. Your words, your policies, your ignorance, and, in some cases, your beliefs, caused the loss. Not to mention the fact that the Republican party has been presiding over the country during the worst economic crisis in over 70 years, and its candidates only offered more of what got us into the situation. If you want a political future, Ms. Palin, you are going to have to stop blaming the media, stop blaming John McCain (who is not in the media every day), and stop being such a freakin' hypocrite. The nation made a choice, and it didn't choose you and McSame. Look in the mirror to see what contributed to the loss, and stop blaming everyone else.