Those Sarah Palin clips from yesterday are all over the newshole this morning and the business of Sarah Palin is booming again. MSNBC cut themselves a slice of the pie, pitting David Shuster against conservative filmmaker and Palin interviewer John Ziegler, who presented his case that the media -- with MSNBC itself held out for specific scorn -- "assassinated" Sarah Palin. Naturally, Shuster objected, and chaos ensued, and it made for excellent television for MSNBC and excellent publicity for Ziegler, which is why he smiled through the entire segment.
Look, I sort of gagged when Shuster asked if Ziegler's use of the term "assassination" diminished "actual assassinations," because really, why turn this conversation into a high-stakes debate over semantics? Woo! Value!
But from there, the segment becomes yelly and incomprehensible, with Ziegler repeatedly calling Shuster "a joke" and objecting to the premise that Sarah Palin was unqualified to be vice-president. "Oh, is that your opinion, David? As a newsperson? That Sarah Palin was unqualified to be vice-president? That sounds very objective."
Shuster tried to get this back on track. "I'm asking if during your interviews, did Sarah Palin take any responsibility for her own shortcomings," he explained. After a reference to O.J. Simpson, Ziegler says that if Shuster had watched the YouTube clips, you'd know that she did. I watched the YouTube clips, and she doesn't, other than to say she was naive to believe that the media would provide her with a constant love-fest. Remember: she believes that things would have been different if she'd been Obama's running mate. And she's right! Things would be different: Obama would still be an Illinois Senator, no one would have ever heard of Roland Burris, and John McCain would have an eighth domicile.
It's BONKERS. But the thing no one seems to be able to counter Ziegler with is the fact that Sarah Palin's reversal of fortunes came not as a result of "liberal media" criticism. 'Twas conservatives -- Brooks, Krauthammer, Will, Buckley, Parker, and others -- that really ran Palin off the road. Why? Those aforementioned voices on the right thought Palin had shortcomings for which she wouldn't take responsibility.
[WATCH.]