Palin Fans, Stop Whining About Caroline

Oh, yeah, I read about that somewhere, says still-angry Sarah

(NEWSER) - Not one to forgive and forget, Sarah Palin took the opportunity yesterday to kick Katie Couric now that she's down—and exiting as CBS News anchor. Couric famously put Palin on the spot in an interview during the presidential campaign when Palin was unable to name a single publication she reads regularly. Asked on Fox News about Couric's departure, Palin quipped: "Yeah I read something about that in a newspaper." She also mocked Couric's comment that the anchor was leaving her job to explore "multi-dimensional" story telling. More»

Alaska Republican fell to Tea Partier in primary

(NEWSER) - Lisa Murkowski, upset in the Alaska Republican primary by a Tea Party rival, will run for re-election to the US Senate as a write-in candidate, sources tell CNN . Speculation has swirled since Joe Miller toppled Murkowski last month, but her staff has been coy about her plans. Until today, that is, when an adviser sent out an email urging supporters to "Join us at the Kick-off of Senator Lisa's campaign," the Anchorage Daily News reports. For more on longtime Sarah Palin rival Murkowski, click here . More»

Senator must choose between moderation and partisanship

(NEWSER) - For the first time since 1982, John McCain must fight to retain his US Senate seat. But the challenge is less about the viability of rival JD Hayworth—McCain has much more money and influence—than about which John McCain will prevail. Will it be the storied "maverick" who flirted with joining the Democratic caucus, or the post-election, hyperpartisan McCain, who threatened to shut down the government over health care and who Mitch McConnell now calls "a fabulous team player"? More»

Who could believe he was actually that big a scumbag?

(NEWSER) - Andrew Sullivan is really, really sorry for not doggedly pursuing the John Edwards scandal in the same way he went after, say, Sarah Palin. But he has a good reason: “It seemed too awful for me to believe.” Who would imagine that “a husband could do that to his wife then,” when she had terminal cancer? All of us, Sullivan says, obviously excluding the National Enquirer, just “assumed that he wasn't one of the biggest assholes on the planet.” More»

Don't be so quick to judge Palin

(NEWSER) - Sarah Palin's critics say she was unqualified to be vice president, but don't be too quick to label her the worst pick ever, writes Matthew Cooper. In the Atlantic , he runs down others since WWII who need to be part of the conversation:

• Spiro Agnew: Nixon's VP had to resign on bribery charges and had scant experience before being picked. "In terms of corruption and temperament, has there been anyone worse in memory?"
• Richard Nixon: His paranoid personality would have made him a disaster as president in the '50s had Eisenhower died in office. Nixon dealing with Stalin, Khrushchev, and Castro? Yikes.