What's in an Accent? Outsider Credibility

2008 running mate brought in to counter Hayworth

(NEWSER) - With JD Hayworth breathing down his neck, John McCain is looking for help in the Arizona primary race from a familiar campaigner: Sarah Palin. The former Alaska governor and Tea Party favorite will travel to Arizona next weekend to stump for her onetime running mate. The joint appearances will be their first since they conceded the 2008 election, notes the Arizona Daily Star . More»

Palin suggests Dem's '08 adviser lifted Alaska strategy

(NEWSER) - Sarah Palin believes she might deserve some of the credit for President Obama's victory but not in the way some people in the McCain camp would have it. In Going Rogue, Palin points to her campaign for Alaska governor as having used the "Change" theme and suggests she may have inspired the Obama campaign, the Telegraph reports. More»

Sarah Palin's threat of a libel suit goes a bit awry

(NEWSER) - Back in the day, public figures were cautioned not to pick fights with people who bought ink by the barrel—namely, newspaper publishers. In the age of the blogger, it's more important to guard against fueling your antagonists with the 21st-century version of ink: attention. Paging Sarah Palin: "The Wasilla whack-job was an obsessive reader of this blog," crows Andrew Sullivan of the Atlantic . More»

(NEWSER) - Levi Johnston continues his gripping expose of the Palin family in an interview with Vanity Fair. Some choice revelations from Bristol's ex, who lived with the family for two months following the election:

• "There wasn't much parenting in that house": The Palin parents were too busy to care for their children, so "the kids would do it all themselves: cook, clean, do the laundry," Johnston says. He chipped in, too: "I’d barbecue chicken or steak on the grill."

(NEWSER) - Sarah Palin might have had a shot at the presidency, writes Ross Douthat, but she blew it—10 months ago, when she accepted John McCain's offer to join the ticket. Instead of easing her way into the national spotlight, she was catapulted before she was ready, exposing her inexperience and putting her children "through the tabloid wringer." For the New York Times columnist, Palin's failed transformation from hockey mom to "Mrs. Spiro Agnew" was probably fatal. More»