Author: Andrew Sullivan

Newsweek's story about the cult of Saint Sarah grasps the key import of the Trig pregnancy for Palin's political appeal:

Let’s face it: the Trig story is a women’s story, the kind girlfriends share over coffee or in church. It has all the familiar elements of evangelical testimony: tribulation and dread; trust in God; and, finally, great blessings. Many Christian women loathe Palin, of course, and many men love her, but a certain kind of conservative, Bible-believing woman worships her. And it is these women Palin has been actively courting as she crisscrosses the country talking about Trig to women’s and pro-life organizations.

My question is: if this story really is a "women’s story, the kind girlfriends share over coffee or in church", why has no one ever asked Palin about it on national television? Especially women interviewers? Why has Oprah never asked about it? Why did Katie Couric never ask about it? Why is it taboo to ask about it, except on Palin's own employer, Fox News, with her own personal publicist, Greta van Susteren, where Palin's account is simply assumed to be true?

Later, Miller calls the story "discomfiting" but doesn't say why. Newsweek, moreover, reprints the essentials of the story from Palin's, un-fact-checked auto-biography, "Going Rogue". I've emailed Lisa Miller to find out if she has discovered any other sources to back it up, or whether Newsweek's editors believe that a politician's own account of his or her life is always factually true, and does not need further reporting out. Update: Lisa Miller has confirmed that her only source for the story of Trig's parentage and birth is Palin's own un-fact-checked biography and Palin's various statements. There was no attempt to verify these claims independently of the person whose political interest it is to tell this story. Hey, the MSM's job is to reprint politicians' statements, not to fact-check them.

Miller's email in full after the jump:

Palin’s book and public remarks are my sources for the details about the birth of Trig. Despite your persistent interest in the matter, we have never found any reason to doubt Palin’s truthfulness regarding the circumstances of Trig’s birth. Further, I’d argue that obsessing over Trig’s parentage obscures the bigger – and more important – story. In some quarters, the left so loves to loathe Palin that it can’t or won’t acknowledge the real power she has among millions of people. With midterms coming up and a presidential election just two years away, understanding that power is crucial to understanding our political context.

I use the word “discomfiting” near the end of the story, then, because Palin seems to be telling the story over and over for personal or political gain. Thus, a sympathetic, human moment becomes a billboard; that makes me squeamish because a real child is involved.

Friends of the blog Megan McArdle and Peter Suderman got married over the weekend. Timothy Lee was in attendance:

I thought I'd mention another notable thing about the wedding: the promiscuous use of Twitter by the assembled guests. As you might expect at a marriage of two bloggers, we used Twitter for everything. Peter used it to announce that the deed was done. We used it to share blurry, realtime pictures with the world. And we used it for many more frivolous purposes, such as settling intra-table rivalries at the reception. There's a school of thought that says this is tacky and even anti-social.

On this view, people should be interacting in "real life" with the happy couple and each other, not ignoring each other as they stare at their cell phones. This isn't a view I share. For starters, no one was tweeting to the exclusion of face-to-face communication. One of the best things about Twitter is that it's extremely lightweight. You can read and write tweets in a few seconds, often during times (such as waiting in line for a drink) when you wouldn't be talking to anyone anyway. We did plenty of talking, dancing, eating, and drinking along with our tweeting.

In one handy graphic. Courtney Knapp looks at the other side of the equation:

With more than 80 percent of the world's population expected to watch the World Cup, the month long tournament is a(nother) distraction to workers, an excuse for soccer-related absenteeism, and a strain on office resources as fans use network bandwidth to live-stream the matches at work.

Hard to beat this reader's take on boob-gate:

"What am I going to wear so that nobody will look in an area that I don't need them to look at?"

Nicely played. But then everyone should have expected this. A woman who does her bogus Q&A sessions sitting in a skirt so short that she can't even shift in the chair without threatening to show her "political credentials" and one half expects her to simulate the leg cross scene from "Basic Instinct"….Who shows up for a rally for special needs children wearing a tiny jean skirt more appropriate for her teenage daughters and sky high strappy "take me boys" sandals with elaborately sparkled show girl toenails….who appeared at Belmont, arriving late to be sure to be noticed, wearing inappropriate clothing including a black bra under a figure forming white shirt – well the problem isn't that she doesn't want them to look. It's that she wants them to look, so she can then cry "sexist".

She creates the situation she wants to gripe about. It's intentional. It's a way of appearing faux "feminist" while also displaying the wares that got every golddigger in history a sugardaddy. It's a way of controlling her product messaging.

The tragedy … in Lego.

Bab Az-Zahra, East Jerusalem, 12 pm

Andrew Exum sizes up Daniel Byman and Christine Fair's argument:

I think the ineptitude is just one side of a wider trend. Keeping the argument to Britain for now; before 9/11, to become an extremist, you had to be fairly committed. There was none of the reflected glamour of being associated with people capable of scaring polite society. In those days, extremists were overzealous, a bit nerdy, waay too into religion and generally uncool. As Chris and Daniel's example of 9/11 lead attacker Mohammed Atta suggests, in such an environment, a potential recruit is more likely to possess a certain awareness, commitment and focus. Of course, there are examples of pre 9/11 Jihadiots, but in general terms, the cause was as cool as chess club and membership reflected that. 

Now that the cause is much more glamorous, many more people want some of the action. So the fact that there are numerous instances of idiocy means that extremists have been able to lots of idiots. And, just one idiot who manages to press the right button at the right time is a huge problem.

But more than that, if you are going to get lots of recruits, most will be idiots but you are also going to get a larger proportion of useful people.

This is how terrorism becomes self-sustaining. With the help of the West.

"Health should be a right for everyone.  […T]he health care reform bill was highly debated by a lot of people. And I guess I’m glad that a bill was passed," – Barbara Bush, W's daughter, on Fox News.

CNN asks Karroubi about the status of the reform movement:

The Green Movement today is stronger and more mature than last year. Despite a heavy climate of repression, this movement has been able to unite and spread to different layers of society. Incidentally, the (Iranian) leadership understands this important development very well. The fact that funeral processions take place with the presence of anti-riot police and the fact that they never grant permission for any gatherings, even to honor Imam Khomeini, shows the strength of this movement and their fear of this movement.

A photo caption from Mousavi's Facebook page explains the latest act of violence:

Following the trip of Mehdi Karroubi to the city of Qom and his visit to the house of Grand Ayatollah Saanei, pro-reform senior religious figure, a group of organized plain clothes thugs surrounded the house of Grand Ayatollah Saanei and damaged Karroubi’s car. This group of organized thugs also attacked the office of Grand Ayatollah’s Saanei and Montazeri and destroyed the property and it items while the police and security forces not only did not act but were in full cooperation with them!

Many more photos of the damage here.