William Shatner has been rubbing shoulders with his fair share of the right wing power structure lately. Last night, not long after debating health care with Rush Limbaugh, he was stage-crashed by a sly Sarah Palin on Conan O’Brien‘s Tonight Show. Shatner comes on to read some choice revelations from Palin’s blockbuster Going Rogue, and that’s funny on its own, but then comes the bombshell. Joke’s on you, Captain Kirk!

If you’ve been following the news media over the past two weeks, then you know the big stories inside and out: an Alaskan woman wrote a book and some elected officials are working on making new laws. Or so we’ve heard. But the effects of these stories have a reach that extends well into the media world, even tickling the Mediaite Power Grid, leading to a little bit of rearrangement. Inside, find out how Meghan McCain, Andrew Sullivan and others fared.

New York Times columnist Frank Rich gives Going Rogue a go, deriding Palin’s ego and star obsession, but giving her credit for what she is: the only person in American politics that can come close to the star power of Barack Obama. Quotable indeed — and there’s more!

Last night, SNL got off to a shaky start, but then, a digital short! That means tons of editing and high-quality footage and no line flubs and celebrity cameos and… voilà. Laughs. A topical movie parody paired with the author of the biggest book in the land: Sarah Palin, 2012, Glenn Beck, Going Rogue — just watch.

It’s on! Power Grid fixture Martha Stewart has taken a direct shot at Going Rogue author Sarah Palin on the red carpet in a clip that aired Thursday on HLN. After being asked, “Why do you think she’s polarizing to so many people?” the daytime star, business mogul and ex-con was not shy in her response, showing some uncensored grit by shooting back, “She’s very boring to me. Very boring.” But that’s not all! Check out the clip inside.

Two of the top contenders for the 2012 GOP nomination are Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin, and unlike their competitors they have a secret weapon – the media. Besides being political stars, they also have huge media platforms. But who is the bigger media star? A few weeks ago, the question seemed valid, but now Palin seems to have pulled away. But could Huckabee be the consistent tortoise in that famed fable?

This week our favorite lady from Wasilla sucked the air out of the national conversation with the release of her mega-hyped memoir Going Rogue. So who were the winners and losers of Palinpalooza? We tally up the big gainers — the lady herself and a certain newsweekly, for starters — and pit them against those who didn’t quite thrive. Has anyone heard from John McCain lately? Let’s go rogue one more time!

Maybe Friday was an exceptionally slow news day. In fact, in a week of all Twilight, Oprah, and Going Rogue, real news did seem to cease. But does that really give Countdown — with Lawrence O’Donnell sitting in for Olbermann — license to forgo their headline story altogether in favor of a highlight reel replaying all of the Sarah Palin jokes from across television this week? Is no one on the Countdown writing staff funny?

At yesterday’s book signing in Noblesville, Indiana, Going Rogue author Sarah Palin was faced with an angry mob of her own fans who were turned away without having their copies signed. Many of the fans, who had been given wristbands entitling them to up to 2 signed books, had waited hours in the rain for the chance to meet Palin. Needless to say, they were not pleased.

Sarah Palin is currently involved in a heated back-and-forth with Newsweek magazine (while Runner’s World ducks for cover) over their use of a sexy cover photo of her on their most recent issue. This whole thing sounded weirdly familiar to me. Newsweek magazine accused of sexist cover photo, headline calling her a problem? Sure enough, it looks like this is an annual event for Newsweek. There are a few key differences, though.

Back in October of 2008, Newsweek took fire from Palin supporters for a cover photo that was NOT sexy enough.

By now you’ve surely heard about the controversy brewing over this Newsweek cover photo of Sarah Palin: Clad in athletic gear for a Runner’s World photo shoot, wearing shorts, arm resting casually on an American flag. The controversial part is that Newsweek used this photo, because it shows Sarah Palin posing in shorts, which some people think is sexist. Now Runner’s World responds.

Today is the first day of the rest of Going Rogue’s life, and the beginning of what is sure to be a media avalanche of fact-checking, mock-checking, charges, and counter-charges. Not long ago, on these very pages, John Ziegler prescribed the antidote to this circus: a live debate with Countdown’s Keith Olbermann. Today, I say “Help us, Olby Wan KeithOlby, you’re our only hope!”

We’ve heard about it for weeks. We’ve seen the reactions from each side, the clips, the partial transcript. Now it’s time for Oprah Winfrey and Sarah Palin to kick off the Palin media blitz in full force.

We’ve got a live blog going for the occasion – with analysis and reaction from the Mediaite team, as well as Twitter feeds from media writers across the political spectrum (and…you). Check it out!

The former governor of Alaska has had her share of ups and downs with the internet, but certainly made a name for herself speaking directly to followers. In anticipation of Going Rogue, the Wall Street Journal reported that Palin’s publicity team has been making deliberate gains online. Have you seen this Facebook?!

Yesterday, after a relative lull on Facebook, Sarah Palin fired off two new notes, working in a few jabs at Obama over his handling of the war in Afghanistan and his position on energy.

They’re further proof of Palin’s ability to stay in the spotlight much longer than most would have expected in January.