Newsweek. Oh, Newsweek, Newsweek, Newsweek. What were you thinking? Were the interns in charge when you made the decision? Has the media meltdown forced you to get rid of some of your best minds, people who would have said the cover of Sarah Palin was 17 steps past wrong?

I’m no fan of the Wasilla terror but have no problem with her being covered in the news. She is a major player in the GOP and attention must be paid. Also reliable sources inform she has a book out (while we are on the topic of books, I hope you do a major  review of  Teachout’s Pops). But your cover? Really? Her in running shorts? Come on! That’s soft and weak, and you know it’s bad when a commie pinko queen  takes up for “Mrs. Real America.”

Yes she was a beauty queen back in the day, and yes a few straight men want to know her in a familial way. Heck some conservative writer described his moment of bliss when she winked during her debate with Joe Biden. However, she ain’t a waitress from Hooters and we all know you would have never taken the same shot if she were a man.

Thanks much for making me defend someone I don’t like. Appreciate it.

“My ambition, if you will, my desire is to help our country in whatever role that may be, and I cannot predict what that will be, what doors will be open in the year 2012,” she told Barbara Walters.

When asked whether she’d play a major role, the former Republican vice presidential candidate replied that “if people will have me, I will.”

Palin is making the rounds to promote her new book, “Going Rogue,” which came out Tuesday. On Monday, she appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”

Palin said she’s gotten plenty of offers during the past few months, including to open up her family for a reality show, that she has rejected. She also said she wasn’t sure whether a talk show would be best for her family.

“I’d probably rather write than talk,” she told Walters.

The former Alaska governor said she’d rate President Barack Obama’s performance a 4 out of 10. She criticized the president for his handling of the economy and for “dithering” on national security questions.

“There are a lot of decisions being made that I – and probably the majority of Americans – are not impressed with right now,” she said on ABC. She said Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize was “premature.”

Palin also discussed David Letterman, whom she criticized for a sexually suggestive jokes made at the expense of her teenage daughter in June. Letterman eventually apologized to Palin.

Palin told Walters she has ruled out an appearance on Letterman’s late night TV show. “I don’t think that I’d want to boost his ratings,” she said. “I do want him to sell my book, though I hope he keeps it up.”

The title of Palin’s book refers to a phrase John McCain’s campaign used to describe his vice presidential running mate going off message. In the book, she criticizes the people who ran McCain’s campaign and says she wished she had been allowed to speak more freely. But she told Walters the outcome probably would not have been different if she had.

“The economy tanked,” she said. “(The) electorate was ready, sincerely, for change.”

On the controversy about the $150,000 spent on her wardrobe by the campaign, Palin said there was a double standard: No one ever questions male candidates where their shoes or suits came from, she said. In the end, she added: “The clothes all went back. They were never my clothes.”

Despite the internal squabbling and ultimate loss, Palin said she would go through the experience again. “(I) would do it again in a heartbeat,” she told Walters.

And though she backed the first federal bailout, Palin says she would not support a second. “That did not put our economy back on the right track. So we learn from our mistakes.”

During her interview with Winfrey, which was taped last week, Palin said that it’s heartbreaking to see the road that Levi Johnston, the father of her grandson, has taken and that the soon-to-be Playgirl model hasn’t seen his baby in a while.

The new memoir doesn’t mention Johnston, who has sparred repeatedly with his former mother-in-law-to-be. When Winfrey asked about Johnston, Palin said she didn’t think “a national television show is the place to discuss some of the things he’s doing and saying.”

But Palin went on to say she finds it “a bit heartbreaking to see the road that he is on right now” and that “it’s not a healthy place to be.”

Palin also said Johnston remains a member of the family and that they can work out any troubles. She said she prays for him and that he has an “open invitation” to Thanksgiving dinner.

Winfrey began the interview by asking Palin if she felt snubbed at not getting an invitation to “The Oprah Winfrey Show” last year. Winfrey said she didn’t have any candidates on her Chicago-based show during the campaign because of her support for President Barack Obama.

Palin said she didn’t feel snubbed and told Winfrey, “No offense to you, but it wasn’t the center of my universe.”

1. Dr. Bert Chapman writes nothing worth a darn; however, he doesn’t need to lose his gig at Purdue University.

2. I’ve taken the Human Rights Campaign to task many a time, but this morning a lift of the coffee cup for this website focusing on students at predominately black colleges and universities.

3. Need a good laugh? Or cry? Watch Donnie McClurkin expound on what it means to be gay.

4. Will marriage equality get a vote this week in New York? Wish I knew.

5.  Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong is starting to appear in bookstores.

6. Anyone reading Sarah Palin’s new book? And yes that is a serious question.

7. Anyone watch the Colts/Patriots game last night? Not a fan of the pig skin but that match had me shouting.

8. There is nothing better than someone going on an extended homophobic rant and then coming up with a lame apology.

9. Who doesn’t need Cassandra Wilson on a Monday morning?

10. Why am I always late for work?

In “Going Rogue,” which will be released Tuesday, Palin also laments about everyone in her entourage being forced to wear fancy clothes she couldn’t afford – preferring simpler, cheaper garb. But it’s as if Johnston, who was among those hastily spiffed up to appear at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., had never left Wasilla, Alaska.

The tactic does appear to have merit; Johnston, who has sparred repeatedly with his former mother-in-law-to-be, continues to warn that she should leave him alone, or he might dish some serious dirt that “will hurt her.”

While the book – which contains 68 color photos but no index – stays away from Johnston, the former vice presidential candidate digs in when it comes to those who ran Sen. John McCain’s campaign.

She confirms that there was substantial tension between her advisers and McCain’s. She bitterly details how she was prevented from delivering a concession speech on election night, how she’d been kept “bottled up” from reporters during the campaign and prevented in many ways from just being herself. She also contends she was prepped to give non-answers during her debate with Joe Biden.

The book, which has a first printing of 1.5 million copies, has been at or near the top of Amazon.com and other best-seller lists for weeks, ever since publisher HarperCollins announced it had been completed ahead of schedule and moved its release date up from next spring. The Associated Press was able to purchase a copy Thursday.

Interviews with Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters will be televised next week to coincide with the book’s release. Palin said on her Facebook site that she’s hoping to schedule interviews with others, including Rush Limbaugh and four Fox News Channel personalities: Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Greta Van Susteren. All but Van Susteren have their own radio programs.

The tour, which will skip major cities in favor of smaller localities, starts Nov. 18 at a Barnes & Noble in Grand Rapids, Mich., where Palin and McCain made a campaign appearance last fall. Other parts of the tour will mirror the 2008 race. On Dec. 7, Palin is booked for the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., not far from last year’s Republican National Convention, where Palin’s speech – in which she likened herself to a pit bull – made her a national sensation.

The tour will last about three weeks, with a break for Thanksgiving, and will end around Dec. 10, according to HarperCollins. Palin will travel by bus for much of the time, likely accompanied by family and by aide Meg Stapleton.

While the book follows Palin’s life from her birth in Sandpoint, Idaho, to wondering about the next stop in her future, Palin, who received an advance of at least $1.25 million, saves her strongest words for run-ins with McCain staffers and her widely panned interview with CBS anchor Katie Couric.

She describes Couric as condescending, biased and “badgering.” She contends the anchor chose “gotcha” moments while leaving the candidate’s more substantive remarks on the cutting room floor.

Palin takes another dig at Couric while asserting her expertise on energy matters. She writes that she was shocked Couric had asked her which newspapers and magazines she read; given what she called Couric’s lack of knowledge about energy issues, Palin wondered whether she should have asked the news anchor what she read.

The closest Palin comes to naming names occurs in the passages about chief McCain campaign strategist Steve Schmidt. Quoting another campaign official, she writes that Schmidt felt she wasn’t prepared enough on policy matters and even wondered if she was suffering from postpartum depression following the April 2008 birth of her son Trig, who has Down syndrome.

She says Schmidt was also upset if anyone in her personal circle tried to correct – without approval from the McCain camp – what they perceived to be incorrect portrayals of Palin’s record as Alaska governor.

Palin comes across as particularly upset about being stuck with $50,000 in legal bills that she says were directly related to the legal vetting process for the VP slot. She says she was never informed that she would have to personally take care of expenses related to the selection process, and jokes that if she’d known she was going to get stuck with the bill, she would have given shorter responses.

According to the book, Palin asked officials at the Republican National Committee and what was left of the McCain campaign if they would help her financially. She says she was told that if McCain had won, the bills would have been paid, but since he lost, the bills were her responsibility.

Trevor Potter, the McCain campaign’s general counsel, told the AP the campaign never asked Palin to pay a legal bill.

“To my knowledge, the campaign never billed Gov. Palin for any legal expenses related to her vetting and I am not aware of her ever asking the campaign to pay legal expenses that her own lawyers incurred for the vetting process,” Potter said.

If Palin’s lawyer billed her for work related to her vetting, the McCain campaign never knew about it, Potter said.

Written with Lynn Vincent, “Going Rogue” is folksy in tone and homespun. She writes in awe about how the McCain campaign had hired a New York stylist who had also worked with Couric.

Taken aback by the fussing, she wondered who was paying for the $150,000 worth of clothes the campaign gave to her and her family. Palin did not like the forced makeover and said she wondered at the time if she and her clan came across as “that” unpresentable.

Family members were told the costs were being handled, or were “part of the convention.” The designer clothing, hairstyling and accessories later grew into a controversy.

Palin shares behind-the-scene moments when the nation learned her teen daughter Bristol was pregnant, how she rewrote the statement prepared for her by the McCain campaign – only to watch in horror as a TV news anchor read the original McCain camp statement, which, in Palin’s view, glamorized and endorsed her daughter’s situation.

She writes that the incident made it clear to her that McCain headquarters was in charge of her message. She said when she tried to find out what the McCain camp would and would not allow her to say, Schmidt told her to simply “stick with the script.”

Palin laments that she wasn’t allowed to bring all her family members to the stage while McCain gave his election night concession speech, having found out minutes earlier that she wouldn’t be permitted to give her own speech.

In limited excerpts of the prerecorded Winfrey interview, Palin says Johnston is still part of the family. Johnston was quoted as saying that any attempts at reconciliation are fake.

Get out the popcorn because the Palin/Johnston show is back! Levi Johnston, the father of Sarah Palin’s grandson, is telling the family secrets and the former governor is not liking it one bit.

According to Johnston he was a convenient prop at the Republican Convention (shocking!),  only there to firm up Palin’s conservative bona fides. Can’t be a national Republican with an unmarried pregnant daughter. Palin, also reported by Johnston, referred to her Down Syndrome child Trig as “retarded” on multiple occasions.

Oh, the juice! Details! Dirt! Drama! Palin released a press release  accusing Johnston of being a  liar with pants a fire.

“We, like many, are appalled at the inflammatory statements being made or implied. Trig is our ‘blessed little angel’ who knows it and is lovingly called that every day of his life. Even the thought that anyone would refer to Trig by any disparaging name is sickening and sad.”

Palin isn’t reading this, but baby what’s up with the over the top press release? And why, oh why, are you getting into a war of words with a 19 year old boy? Yes he’s cute and all (am I the only one intrigued by his upcoming Playgirl gig?), but an adult who argues with a youngster looks small and peevish. Not a good look if you are a “star” of your party.

Like The Godfather’s Vito Corleone it makes no difference to me how a man makes a living (although if you sling drugs, you’ll last longer in the game taking cues from The Wire’s Omar). With that said Jonathan Burnham might need to explain a few things.

As reported by Andrew Sullivan yesterday, Burnham is an out ‘mo and marketer for Harper Collins. A queen working in the world of books? Cool! Hold on though before you start dancing in the streets. Apparently Burnham hired a homophobe to help Sarah Palin write her memoir.

Now the problem isn’t shilling Palin’s tome (stop laughing). But out of all the conservative scribes out there, Burnham couldn’t find someone whose background wasn’t filled with anti-gay noise?  Palin’s co-writer, a Lynn Vincent, was all in with the anti-gay marriage forces in California. Which wouldn’t have been a problem if she didn’t throw out  lies about how po’ oppressed religious folks would lose  free speech rights if two lesbians went to city hall for a piece of paper. And can you really trust anyone who worked with nutty Robert Stacy McCain (no relation to the Arizona senator)?

Don’t know Mr. Burnham and couldn’t pick him out of a line-up; however, this stinks to high heaven. We deserve better.

1. Nothing wrong with being against health care reform but if you pimp out death panels talking points, you are either dumb, intellectually dishonest, or a combo of the two.

2. Anyone who is for health care reform should be reading Megan McArdle. She offers a fair, honest, and smart rebuttal.

3. Why is Rosie O’Donnell stoking her old feud with Elisabeth Hasselbeck?

4. No more Woodstock stories! Please. It was a freaking concert! That’s all.

5. Levi Johnston adores his gay fans. Hanging out with Kathy Griffin has done him wonders. Will Sarah Palin twitter (or is it tweet?) about this?

6. Anyone see MSNBC’a Rachel Maddow on Meet the Press yesterday? What do you think of her performance?

7. Buddy Guy equals cool.

8. Gay Division 1 football players! Get out!  I’ll spare you a list of the ones I wish played for Dorothy.

9. George Michael just needs to hire a driver.

10. My fingers are too fat for texting.

Sarah Palin stepped down as Alaska governor on Sunday with a fiery speech reminiscent of her days as running mate to Republican John McCain – when she frequently revved up crowds while attacking Democrats and the news media.

On Sunday, Palin took on old foes in the media, Hollywood and the Lower 48 states. As her audience shouted its approval, she scolded reporters for making things up, mocked Hollywood stars who have opposed wolf-control programs, and complained that “outside special interests still don’t get it.”

Palin, 45, said she was resigning with more than a year left in her first term to take her political battles to a larger if unspecified stage and avoid an unproductive, lame duck status.

“With this decision, now, I will be able to fight even harder for you, for what is right, and for truth. And I have never felt that you need a title to do that,” the former Republican vice presidential candidate said to raucous applause from about 5,000 people gathered Sunday at Pioneer Park in Fairbanks.

Palin called her 2 1/2-year tenure as governor a success, citing efforts to take on the state’s long-dominant oil industry and progress on development of a natural gas pipeline. She also cited ethics reform, but said “ironically, it needs additional reform” to stop partisan and frivolous complaints such as those that have dogged her in the past year.

Palin leaves office with her political future clouded by ethics probes, mounting legal bills and dwindling popularity. She has been targeted by nearly 20 ethics complaints filed by Alaska residents, most of which have been resolved in her favor. She did not refer directly to the ethics complaints in her 19-minute speech, but has repeatedly cited the financial and psychological toll of those investigations as a key reason she is stepping down.

Palin said Sunday her reasons for resigning “should be so obvious,” but listed them again for the benefit of a supportive crowd that repeatedly interrupted her speech with applause and shouts of support. She said her departure would spare Alaska an unproductive, “politics as usual” lame-duck session, adding that she would always work for Alaska.

“When I took the oath to serve you, I promised, remember what I promised? To steadfastly and doggedly guard the interests of this great state like that grizzly guards her cubs, as a mother naturally guards her own. And I will keep that vow wherever the road may lead,” she said.

Her first order of business as a private citizen is to speak Aug. 8 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. She also wants to campaign for political candidates from coast to coast, and continue to speak her mind on the social networking site Twitter, one of her favorite venues to reach out to supporters.

Free speech was a theme of her farewell speech at the crowded picnic in Fairbanks, as the outgoing governor scolded “some seemingly hell-bent on tearing down our nation” and warned Americans to “be wary of accepting government largesse.”

“It doesn’t come free,” she said.

Palin also took aim at the media, saying her replacement, Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, “has a very nice family too, so leave his kids alone!”

And she told the media: “How about, in honor of the American soldier, you quit makin’ things up?”

She didn’t elaborate, but Palin said when she announced her resignation July 3 that she was tired of the media focus on her family and felt she had been treated unfairly by reporters and bloggers.

Friend and foe alike have speculated that Palin may host a radio or TV show, launch a lucrative speaking career or seek higher office in Washington, D.C.

Palin hasn’t ruled out any of those options, and her political action committee, SarahPAC, has raised more than $1 million, said Meghan Stapleton, a spokeswoman for the committee and the Palin family.

Palin’s surprise announcement she was stepping down 17 months before the end of her first term pushed her favorability rating down to 40 percent, according to a Washington Post-ABC poll. Fifty-three percent of those polled gave her an unfavorable rating.

Last summer, almost six in 10 Americans viewed her favorably. The latest poll was taken July 15-18.

Parnell, 46, of Anchorage, was sworn in Sunday as the state’s new governor.

“I’m firmly convinced that Alaska’s greatest days are ahead,” Parnell said in pledging to continue Palin’s policies, which he said “put Alaska first.”

Palin received a warm welcome Sunday, both during her speech and as she served food at the annual Governor’s Picnic.

Among those present was Donna Michaels, 57, of Fairbanks, who wore a red T-shirt that said: “Palintologist.”

The T-shirt defined a Palintologist as “someone who studies Palin and shares her conservative values, Maverick attitude and American style.”

Michaels also held a poster board sign showing the front page of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner when Palin announced she would resign. Michaels altered the banner headline “Palin steps down,” replacing the last word with “up.”

“She’s really not stepping down. She’s stepping up to do something bigger and better,” said Michaels, who attended the picnic with her daughter and two granddaughters, one of whom who wore Sarah Palin-style eyeglasses.

Larry Landry, 51, of Fairbanks held up a red, white and blue sign that that read, “Quitting: the new American value.” The other side read: “Thanks for the laughs.”

Landry, a registered independent, said he respected Palin when she ran for governor in 2006, but he felt she changed during last year’s presidential campaign.

“She descended into ugly, divisive politics,” he said.

1. RIP E. Lynn Harris. There is still no official cause of death.

2. Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, is pro choice and supports gay marriage. The Republican is  running in the 23rd District’s (NY) special election. A few Repubs are loudly saying she does not represent the GOP.

3. Looks like Iran has fell off the fold.

4. Does it mean anything that I’ve never been to Fire Island, NY?

5. Ex-governor Sarah Palin has to hire some speech writers.

6. Congressional candidate Anthony Woods (another West Point grad discharged because of DADT) is  getting some national exposure for his campaign.

7. Nothing is more depressing than listening to minorities argue what is, or isn’t, part of a particular minority experience.

8. Never been perceived as a  good minority (by gays or blacks). Plan on keeping it that way.

9. New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has secured a promise from the Senate Armed Services Committee to have fall hearings on DADT.

10. I’m starting to appreciate Godfather III.