The Dish

“It is pure fiction. No such discussion took place,” – Nicolle Wallace, disputing yet another passage in Palin's book.

“That is the most cockamamie bullshit. She didn’t have a damn thing to do with it, and she didn’t know what it was about," – Dave Oesting of Anchorage, lead plaintiff attorney in the private litigants’ civil case against Exxon and its successor, Exxon Mobil Corp.

He was referring to governor Palin's boast in her book that she played a role in "achieving victory" for the victims of the Exxon-Valdez disaster, even when she is on record at the time of the final court decision saying she was "very, very disappointed" and heart-broken with the decision to reduce damages for the victims that she called "not right".

In "Going Rogue," she calls it a "victory".

Another pot-smoker, another loser:

Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum has won the 2009 National League Cy Young Award in a historic and close vote of the Baseball Writers Association of America. Lincecum becomes the first pitcher since the writers created the award in 1956 to win it in each of his first two full seasons in the majors and the first starting pitcher to win with as few as 15 wins in a nonstrike year.

 

Drezner flags a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace study:

China will become the world’s largest economy in 2032, and grow to be 20 percent larger than the United States by 2050. Over the next forty years, nearly 60 percent of G20 economic growth will come from Brazil, China, India, Russia, and Mexico alone. However, these emerging markets will not rise among the world’s richest countries in per capita terms: their average income in 2050 will still be 40 percent below that of the G7 states today. The end of the decades-old correlation between economic size and per capita income will have profound effects on global economic governance.

Silver does some Senate handicapping:

I suspect the net gain for either party will not exceed two seats. There are some primaries yet to determine nominees, so it's too early to say either way which party should come out ahead.

Mudflats is blogging the book page by page.

It feels like the campaign again on the Dish. Over the past three days, we tried to wrap our heads around the latest media blitz of Sarah Palin.  Andrew ultimately blamed McCain.

Greg Sargent parsed her polling, TNR and Slate indexed her book, Cottle called out her victimization, a reader deconstructed her psyche, Steve Chapman contrasted her with Reagan, Andrew shuddered at her settlement statements (and attracted dissents), Damon Linker chastised her critics, Allahpundit sized up 2012, Nate Silver predicted she'll run, he explained how she could win the nomination, and the Dish tallied another odd lie. Palin blinked when Barbara Walters asked her about Levi. Meanwhile, he held his fire and released some starbursts.

In the other big story of the week – terrorist trials in NYC – Ackerman told us to bring em' on, Josh Marshall calmed fears, Eric Posner cut through the spin, and Andrew praised the president.

In home news, the Daily Dish released its very first print publication, "The View From Your Window." To secure a copy of the book at the 50% discounted price of $16.25, click here. They're going fast.

— C.B.

Palin strikes again. Hannity cannot correct her. It would be like correcting the Pope – too confusing for the viewers.

After running video of crowds from a September Tea Party rally to make it seem the recent health insurance reform protest was bigger than it was, Fox News has done it again: this time to make Sarah Palin's crowds look bigger, using old footage from the campaign. It's funny, isn't it, that these "errors" never happen to make Democratic crowds look bigger.

Steve Chapman notices the stark difference:

Who needs policy? In her world — and the world of legions of conservatives who revere her — the persona is the policy. Palin is beloved because she's (supposedly) just like ordinary people, which (supposedly) gives her a profound understanding of their needs.

That attitude used to be associated with the left, which claimed to

speak for the ordinary folks who get shafted by the system.

Logic and evidence about policy, to many liberals, were less important than empathy and good intentions. Now it's conservatives who think we should be guided by our guts, not our brains.

Palin is the embodiment of this approach, never imagining that knowledge and reflection might be of more value than instinct. When Oprah asked if she had felt any doubts about her readiness to be vice president — which requires the readiness to be president — Palin replied breezily, "No, no — I didn't blink. I felt quite confident in my abilities, in my executive experience, knowing that this is an executive administrative job." (The audience tittered.)

Contrast that with Reagan, who after learning of his victory on election night 1980 told his supporters, "There's never been a more humbling moment in my life."

And I, of course, think of Thatcher, whose example helped make me a conservative, and her total grip of policy detail, and her fascination with ideas and history, and her degree in chemistry from Oxford and her training as a lawyer, and years in diligent opposition and government, and her willingness to take on and argue with anyone, and to never quit anything.

And I silently weep that the right has been reduced to this absurd fantasist know-nothing who believes her ignorance is her selling point. It is worse than a descent. It is an abyss.