The Sarah Palin Hypocrisy Watch revved up to full throttle Monday as a quote from a speech the former Governor gave in Calgary over the weekend hit the news wires: "We used to hustle over the border for health care we received in Canada. And I think now, isn't that ironic."

It's always fun to look at the anatomy of political hysteria. Because there in an anatomy, or a life-cycle, to these kinds of kerfuffles, and it goes something like this:

Step #1: Take slightly out-of-context quote.

"We used to hustle over the border for health care we received in Canada. And I think now, isn't that ironic."

Step #2: Pounce.

Hypocrisy, thy name is Palin! She tells Canada they should get rid of universal care, but she USED it! Her family would have had to travel 15 hours to cross into Canada! They owe Canada money! Canada should sue! To bad the "death panels" didn't get to her!

Step #3: Find full quote in context.

"My first five year of live we spent in Skagway, Alaska, right there by Whitehorse. Believe it or not -- this was in the '60s -- we used to hustle on over the border for health care we would receive in Whitehorse. I remember my brother, he burned his ankle in some little kid accident thing and my parents had to put him on  a train and rush him over to Whitehorse and I think, isn't that kind of ironic now....Zooming over the border, getting health care from Canada."

Step #4: Pounce anew on inconsistencies.

She told that same story about her brother burning his foot and being put on the train to Juneau....

Step #5: Defenders to the rescue.

Leave Sarah alone! She was a child, a mere babe in the cold, cold Alaskan wilds. It's not her fault she inadvertently sucked on the teat of Evil Canadian Socialized Medicine! Poor gal's lucky she escaped with her life! Besides, the Yukon didn't even really institute single-payer until 1972, long after her family had moved to Wasilla and were back in the safe and loving arms of American hospitals.

Step #6: Attack the defenders.

Palin-bots! Hypocrites! The Yukon did TOO have single payer, back in 1966. So there!

Step #7: Repeat, repeat, repeat until the story finally dies of natural causes....in this case, exhaustion.

You can really plug in anything. Barack Obama's birth certificate. Michelle Obama's college thesis. George Bush's National Guard service. Just about anything Bill or Hillary Clinton have ever said or done (or not said and not done, as the case may be).

The weird wrinkle with Sarah Palin is that it's even more pointless than usual. The level of freak-out and vitriol is totally disproportionate to her actual stature in the world. Palin had her moment in the political sun, and she blew it. She's a footnote. A punchline. The Republicans aren't going to hoist her on their shoulders and make her their candidate in 2012 or 2016 or any election cycle thereafter.

But we have to keep the pressure up....she might run with the Tea Party!

Oooo...I'm shaking now. I can really see Americans lining up to elect, for the first time in history, the female candidate from a small, fringe third party. A female candidate with a 37% favorable rating in the polls and no appeal to independents, running with a fringe third party that one in eight Americans know little or nothing about.

Yeah, she should definitely start pondering White House china patterns now.

She may run for president some day. So what? She's got less pull than Ralph Nader, less money than Ross Perot, and is unlikely to siphon votes away from anyone but Republicans.

A more likely scenario has her continuing as she is now: a political celebrity, flitting from Conservative radio stations to Fox News and back, giving speeches, updating her Facebook page, and generally making a lot of money. She's said to be negotiating  a reality show, for God's sake.

Wherever you fall on the Democratic/Progressive/Independent axis, it's time to stop paying attention to Sarah Palin. We've got actual problems to solve, and actual people in power to shine our spotlights on.