Just last week, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin took justified exception at the media’s petty sniping over her visit to Haiti, when she was just trying to do some good. In a neat, if predictable, reversal, Sarah Palin took to sniping at First Lady Michelle Obama‘s attempt to fight childhood obesity. On the latest episode of Sarah Palin’s Alaska, Palin roots around for the three ingredients for S’mores, and dedicates the snack to Michelle Obama “who said the other day we should not have dessert.”

This isn’t Palin’s first foray into snacktivism, and it probably won’t be the last, but what’s the big frickin’ deal?

Bill O’Reilly had Sarah Palin on the Factor tonight, and he wanted to know something many have wondered: are Palin’s TLC program and new book presidential, or might they hurt her politically? Palin, of course, didn’t seem concerned.

MSNBC isn’t normally a network that you’d associate with being “in the tank” for former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, but a recent Hardball segment certainly makes it look that way. Leaving aside the relevance of hunting expertise to governing, Chris Matthews presents an edited clip of Palin downing a caribou on Sarah Palin’s Alaska, then holds forth on the image-making potential of the image, and finishes by praising Palin as a “dead shot.”

As a review of the full clip demonstrates, however, Palin’s true shooting prowess lies somewhere south of the Mendoza Line, which proves as much about her qualifications to be President as John Kerry‘s windsurfing proved about his: nada. (h/t Teresa Kopec)

It turns out there’s a lot more to hunting than buying a gun, aiming it at a living thing, and pulling the trigger—at least, according to The Awl’s Abe Sauer. Yesterday, he published a piece that claims the latest episode of Sarah Palin’s Alaska, in which Palin and her father go caribou hunting, “absolutely exposes Palin as a charade” who doesn’t truly know the first thing about the sport.

Mostly missed, in an hourlong interview with Sean Hannity that produced buzzworthy soundbites about Katie Couric and Dancing with the Stars, was former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin‘s unprompted response to the uproar surrounding daughter Willow’s recent Facebook misadventure.

While Palin correctly points out that the national media should not have exploited the musings of a 16 year-old, the balance of her response reveals important things about Sarah Palin, not as a parent, but as a media critic and human being. Not only does she undermine her claims of media “lies” by making stuff up herself, she also displays a disturbing attitude about the use of the word “faggot.”

The reality TV gods have been kind to Sarah Palin. Her own show, Sarah Palin’s Alaska is a certifiable hit, breaking ratings records for the normally stolid network TLC. Additionally, the former Governor’s own daughter Bristol Palin is a finalist on ABC’s Dancing With The Stars, affording Mama Palin plenty of invaluable network TV appearances in which the presidential hopeful comes off as a supportive and relatable mother. Odd, then, that leaked excerpts of Palins’ latest book are very critical of reality television essentially “refudiating” the very genre from which she benefits so greatly.

Seeking to make hay out of Willow Palin‘s Facebook misadventure, among other things, Bonnie Goldstein, Editor of Politics Daily’s “Woman Up” blog, writes that the Palin teens “lack supervision,” and that “Sarah Palin may want to budget a companionable nanny for the older children.”

While we predicted that some would level this attack, it seems counterintuitive that a blog devoted to women’s issues would not only see the Palin kids as fair game, but would then perpetuate the sexist notion that parenting is the sole purview of the mother. Todd Palin’s name never comes up.

A while ago, Karl Rove wondered whether Sarah Palin starring in her own reality show was a wise idea for someone with lofty, and potentially presidential, ambitions. Palin fired back, and last night, Rove addressed the flap on Hannity – and clearly thought the reaction to his remarks was overblown.

Various members of the Palin family have been in the news for many reasons lately, including Bristol (for Dancing With The Stars controversies and PSAs with The Situation), Willow (for Facebook fighting), and, of course, Sarah (for SPAlaska). Jon Stewart couldn’t let any of that go without comment, and used a segment on last night’s Daily Show to take a look at the craziness.

TMZ is reporting that Willow Palin, 16 year-old daughter of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (and sister of newly-minted Dancing with the Stars champion Bristol Palin) struck back at a critic of her mom’s TLC show by calling him “f*ggot,” along with a string of other obscenities. The incident is being widely reported on the internet, and while Miss Palin’s word choice is, indeed, homophobic, it would be unfair to label her a “homophobe.” If anything, the lengthy exchange illustrates the lack of thought that goes into this kind of name-calling, and presents an opportunity to get these kids thinking, instead of fighting back.

Read the full, uncensored exchange after the jump.

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, but Sarah Palin’s Alaska, Sarah Palin‘s new reality show, became the most watched premiere ever in TLC history, with nearly five millino viewers.

Here are some more details about the widely-promoted, much-discussed first show:

By now, it’s common knowledge that people can see Sarah Palin’s Alaska from their living rooms. But as the show’s premiere edges closer, a new question is taking root: can 2012 be seen from Sarah Palin’s Alaska? According to one former aide quoted in The Daily Beast, the answer is yes. “She is running for president,” he said. “And this is a season-long bio ad, free of charge.”

From the moment it was announced, Sarah Palin’s Alaska was not going to be just another TLC show, starring Sarah Palin.

Besides attracting the ‘will she or won’t she’ debate, the show has a vibrant new media effort going at (amazingly-titled) SPAlaska.com. Mediaite went to a launch event for the show last week.

Yesterday, we told you about SPALASKA, Sarah Palin’s Alaska‘s official site. (Its name is so fantastic that we think it should always be written in all caps.) Today, we learned a little more about the people that make SPALASKA tick—and found out that one of its bloggers, Danielle Johnsen, has written some pretty negative things about her new boss.

While we while away the hours waiting to see how well Sarah Palin‘s Mama Grizzlies do in today’s Midterm elections, why not explore what actual mama grizzlies do. That is the sort of information available to readers of the newly launched website for the upcoming Discovery show Sarah Palin’s Alaska. Welcome to SPALASKA!