video 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. (more...)

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 photoshoot, wearing shorts, arm resting casually on an American flag. The non-controversial part is that she'd wear running gear for a Runner's world photoshoot for a feature called "I'm A Runner"; the controversial part is that Newsweek used this photo, because it shows Sarah Palin posing in shorts, which some people think is sexist and inappropriate, but which I think is fine because she posed willingly for the series less than 6 months ago, and this particular photo was controversial because of the resting-on-the-flag thing and that well-illustrates a story a story about why she is problematic and that is headlined "How Do You Solve A Problem Like Sarah?" which is a reference to a song that is basically about a nun going rogue. But! Still, it is controversial, and Palin herself disapproves of it, saying that it is sexist and taken out of context. Now Runner's World is getting in on the action with a disapproving editor's note on the story: (more...)

"I told you so" moments are pretty sweet — and thanks to Sarah Palin, now I've got one. Ten months to the day after her speech at the Republican National Convention, I would like for this woman to eat her words:

I'm not a member of the permanent political establishment. And I've learned quickly, these past few days, that if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.

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