"Sarah Barracuda has actually been Sarah Barraquitta for most of her life"

Joan Walsh

The only thing harder to understand than Sarah Palin's inscrutable resignation speech Friday was the statement her lawyer released Saturday, threatening media outlets with lawsuits if they reported allegations that she's quitting because of a criminal investigation into the Wasilla Sports Complex boondoggle.

Certainly I hadn't planned on writing about "Housegate" until Van Flein made it news. Personally, I don't think there had to be a looming scandal for Palin to make this odd decision. I think Sarah Barracuda has actually been Sarah Barraquitta, as a friend quips, for most of her life, moving through five stays at four different colleges to get her degree, leaving her oil and gas commission post after just more than a year, and now stepping down as Alaska governor because it's no longer fun. Daily Kos diarist Walt Starr found video of Palin criticizing Hillary Clinton for complaining about her media coverage; clearly Palin could learn a lot from Clinton if she wants to have a political career, and not merely be worshipped by a cult of adoring right-wing fans.

Wild Bill Kristol continues to peddle the line that Palin's shocking move could be a good way to jump-start her 2012 presidential campaign, but almost no Republicans seem to agree (except maybe that other GOP gambler, Bill Bennett). Karl Rove thinks it hurts her chances, but Palin backer John Coale (the husband of Fox News' Greta Van Susteren, and allegedly a Democrat) tells the New York Times: "She has a following that will jump in front of a plane for her. If she takes this time to develop that base, she could be a real force in the Republican Party, and maybe run."

Interestingly, the first time AKGovSarahPalin twittered about Van Flein's press release, she linked to Van Susteren's Web site. But since Van Susteren had only posted a truncated version of the statement, an hour later "Palin" had to tweet another link to a PDF of the full statement (it's at the bottom of this post). Note to "Palin" on Twitter: You need to change your bio: "Creating New Energy for Alaskans as governor of the 49th state!" isn't terribly accurate anymore............