Todd Purdum appeared on Hardball to discuss his 10,000-word piece on Sarah Palin in the new Vanity Fair. "The piece is filled with former McCain staffers making damaging statements (albeit anonymously) about Palin on a wide range of issues," explains HuffPo, "from her lackluster efforts to prepare for debates to her diva-like behavior and strained relationships with the campaign staffers assigned to her." Not surprisingly, the piece, entitled "It Came From Wasilla," is creating a lot of, um, discussion on both liberal and conservative blogs. NewsBusters calls it "an indefensible political drive-by shooting," and Sister Toldjah describes the article as "a 9,800 word rambling diatribe that played fast and loose with the facts." But Politics Daily says it's "fascinating if for no other reason than its look at the slash-and-burn defense tactics of the Alaskan governor's shrinking inner circle." Many bloggers are just enjoying tidbits from the article: "the Alaska Governor was apparently so intent on delivering a concession speech that McCain advisers found it already loaded in the TelePrompTer when they went to put in his remarks" (via Faded Youth Blog); she wrote an e-mail to friends after Trig's birth signed "Trig's Creator, Your Heavenly Father" (via Change of Subject); she tells tons of odd lies (via Daily Intel).

 Shakesville likes the piece but hates the cartoonish title: "There are, it happens, lots and lots of very good points about Palin made in the piece. And all of them risk being lost beneath the crushing weight of the lazy implication that she is a monster. Worse yet, dismissing her as a monster, as a wild animal, as crazy, is tacit encouragement to pay her no real attention at all." Sarah Palin wouldn't talk to Purdum for his piece, but she'll have her say next year: She has "a book contract and a writer, Lynn Vincent, a senior writer at World magazine, and a publication date next year with not only HarperCollins, but also Zondervan, the Bible-publishing house" (via The Swamp).