Super Sarah? Action Figures Go on Sale

Campaign aims to do the opposite of McCain

(NEWSER) - Team Romney’s rule of thumb: Do the opposite of everything John McCain did in 2008, or so reports Politico in a look at the campaign's strategy. The approach applies broadly, say advisers—focus hugely on the economy, fully engage in fundraising, integrate early with the Republican National Committee—but comes most into play in the search for a VP. The campaign doesn’t want to end up with its own version of Sarah Palin, so it is going to great lengths to avoid anyone who could be seen as unprepared. The goal, according to one official: Go with an "incredibly boring white guy." More»

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»

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.

'If people will have me, I will' do something in 2012

(AP) - Sarah Palin says that a 2012 presidential bid is "not on my radar," but wouldn't rule out playing some role in the next presidential election. "My ambition, if you will, my desire is to help our country in whatever role that may be, and I cannot predict what that will be, what doors will be open in the year 2012," she tells Barbara Walters. "If people will have me," she says, she'll play a major role. More»