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Today in Palin

It's amazing that Sarah Palin has granted only one interview in advance of her appearance at the Republican National Convention Wednesday night. You'd never know it to look at the raft of stories being written about her.

"What cannot be measured is the impact on voters of a new, attractive and well-spoken woman"

As the clamor over Monday's pregnancy announcement calms to a dull roar, we turn to new questions, for instance: How thoroughly did McCain vet his newly appointed V.P.? According to The Washington Post? Not well at all!

But lest we get too distracted by stories about Palin's passion for drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or polling statistics (Democrats, rejoice! War Room reports that the number of Clinton supporters intending to vote for Obama has shot up to 81 percent from 70 percent prior to the convention), the poster that we should have seen coming has arrived (pictured). Yes, a play on teen pregnancy AND Alaska. It's puntastic.

Conservative commentator Robert Novak leapt to Palin's defense Tuesday, pointing out that "what cannot be measured is the impact on voters of a new, attractive and well-spoken woman." What a presidential race this will be -- a new, attractive and well-spoken woman in one camp and an "African-American who is articulate and bright and clean" in another. We ARE progressive here in America!

Not enough outrage for you? Here's a Financial Times Op-Ed written by U.S. managing editor Chrystia Freeland: "In contrast with Mrs. Clinton, whose most important political decision was whom she married, Mrs. Palin is a genuinely self-made woman, who broke into politics without the head start of a powerful husband or father."

Now, if you've been wondering what it means when Sarah Palin says that she is a "Feminist for Life, it has less to do with feminism forever and more to do with keeping that baby. The good news is that Cindy McCain disagrees. While we're on the topic of abortion, Slate takes an absurd tack with a story about abortion could-have-beens. That's right, a list of all the young daughters of presidential nominees who could have been knocked up without us ever knowing. Both educational and worthwhile.

And now, a little concern for the kids: Seventeen on preventing teen pregnancy by planning for the future, and ABC on the difficulty of being a teen father. Levi, it's hard out there!

Finally, Time gives us the stats on Internet searches for "Sarah Palin": "In just two days, the number of U.S. Internet searches for 'Sarah Palin' reached a peak greater than any other political personality in the past three years."

Get ready for at least two months of Photoshopped pictures and fakes.

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A slap in the face to fat girls
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