It's the Right-Wingers Who Are Unloading the Harshest Critiques About Palin’s Bizarre Departure

By Eric Boehlert, Media Matters for America. Posted July 8, 2009.

For some reason though, NewsBusters didn't write up Douthat for a liberal media bias infraction. In fact, the website was forced to give a pass to conservative Fox News commentator Charles Krauthammer for calling Palin's move "erratic" and "delusional," and to Karl Rove for admitting to being "perplexed" by Palin's unorthodox "no más" move. And that wasn't the half of it from the conservative chorus:

• "Giving up on an executive job a year and a half early isn't the best way to persuade voters you're ready for the more demanding rigors and scrutiny of the White House. ... Some Alaskans, including many of her admirers, can be forgiven if they conclude she bugged out when the going got rough." [editorial, The Wall Street Journal; 07/07/2009]

• "If this is geared for her run for the presidency in 2012, it is one of the most politically tone deaf decisions that we've seen." [GOP consultant Stuart Roy, ABCNews.com; 07/05/2009]

• "She dashed her chances of winning the 2012 nomination. ... Forget about Sarah Palin as the Republican presidential candidate in 2012 and probably ever." [Fred Barnes column, The Weekly Standard; 07/05/2009]

See the glaring contradiction here? How can it be the so-called liberal media's fault that Palin gets bad press when conservatives were out front giving Palin bad press? How can right-wingers argue that liberals are obsessed with taking Palin down, when it's conservatives who are elbowing each other to reach the front of the get-Palin crowd? In other words, shouldn't the question be: Why do conservatives hate Sarah Palin so much? (And, is it because she's so pretty?)

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