The Drama Queen of the Klondike and future former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin is threatening to sue "liberal bloggers" and media for "defamation." Heh.

An attorney representing Palin the Petulant complained specifically about a rumor that P the P had received kickbacks as mayor of Wasilla. There is an appearance that some of the same materials used in the construction of the Wasilla Sports Complex somehow ended up being used to construct the Palin family home, built about the same time. Did the Palins get some free construction in consideration of a contract?

Being from a small town myself, I can tell you that such appearance is not necessarily proof of anything. In small towns homes and other buildings often appear to be made out of the same stuff because there is a limited choice of contractors and materials and, in fact, everything is made out of the same stuff.  Even so, citizens have a right to speculate out loud about what their elected officials might be up to, I say.

An Alaska blogger claimed knowledge of a federal investigation of Palin for embezzlement charges, a claim that was picked up by some other bloggers and media, although as far as I saw where these claims were repeated they were were conditioned with "allegedlys." (They teach you in journalism school that everything is "alleged" even if it happened in front of your eyes, until Official Sources say otherwise, and maybe not even then.) Now the FBI says it is not investigating Palin, and maybe it isn't.

But the fact is that the govenor has yet to give a coherent reason for why she is resigning. All she has to do is come up with one, and I believe most of the speculation would fade away. As it is, I think MoDo (via) came as close to anyone at capturing the essence of Palin's press conference:

Sarah wanted everyone to know that she’s not having fun and people are being mean to her and she doesn’t feel like finishing her first term as governor. ...

...Naturally, she dragged the troops in, saying that her trip to see wounded soldiers overseas “fortified” her decision to give up because “they don’t give up.”

She refuses to succumb to the “politics of personal destruction.” It’s no fun unless she’s the one aiming those poison darts, as she did when she accused Barack Obama of associating “with terrorists who targeted their own country.”

Sometimes, she explained, if you’re the star, you have to “call an audible and pass the ball” and leave at halftime, “so the team can win” somehow without you.

And, considering this is Palin we're talking about, those might be her real reasons.

But to me the fun part is the way some rightie bloggers are cheering on the lawsuits. These are the same folks who for years have complained about frivolous lawsuits and the need for tort reform, but scruples do tend to vanish when Our Sarah must defend her honor.

For example, a blogger who uncritically repeated every rumor against John Kerry churned out by the Swift Boaters in 2004 had this to say about those who speculated about Palin's resignation:

Sue them, bankrupt them, ruin their lives, destroy their careers, shut down their blogs and other propaganda outlets, get ‘em locked up wherever possible. Kick them in the teeth again and again, until they howl in pain from the gutter they roll in. Scorch the very earth under their feet. Unleash pure hell on them, and make every single day of their lives a horror and a misery — just as they did to you, just as they’ve done to so many other decent men and women who have the temerity to disagree with their anti-American ideal of what this country should be. Liberal asswipes have gotten away with this sort of thing for far too long.

Priceless. as John Cole says,

If politicians start suing for erroneous claims and winning, Mr. Barack “birth certificate not a real american pals around with terrorists” Obama might just win the lottery, in the form of a hundred thousand double-wide trailers and semi-used pick-up trucks.

One claim I have seen repeated several times on rightie blogs today is that all 15 of the ethics violations charges brought against Palin have been dismissed. In fact, there were 18 charges, and two are still pending.  (Those are alleged violation charges, of course.)

But do we want to talk about all the criminal charges brought against the Clintons in the 1990s, and the fact that none of them stuck? Well, I might, but I bet the wingnuts don't.