The media vs. Sarah Palin

"The blogosphere has been busy truth-squading [Sarah Palin's new memoir] 'Going Rogue,' reports The New York Times, calling the Associated Press's debunking of the book's claims an unusually "sharp-elbowed" dispatch. Conservative blogs have posted detailed rebuttals, and Palin herself, via her Facebook account, has condemned the AP's decision to devote 11 fact-checkers to produce "erroneous" "opposition research" when they could have been fact-checking "Sheik Mohammed's trial, Pelosi's health care takeover costs, [and] Hasan's associations." Is Palin wise to wage war against perceived media bias? (Watch a discussion on whether the media treats Sarah Palin fairly)

The excessive AP attack justifies Palin's angry defense: This media abuse has gotten ridiculous, says Mark Steyn in National Review. The AP "assigned 11 writers to 'fact-check' Sarah Palin’s new book," and the resulting 695-word report came up with nothing even remotely "earth-shattering." So "if you wonder why American newspapering is dying..."

"Rogue’s Eleven"

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Fighting with the press never ends well: "Going to war with the Associated Press is as dumb as going to war with Fox News," says Don Surber in the Charleston Daily Mail. Just ask President Obama. "Sarah Palin should leave the criticism of the media to others. We like our leaders a little above the fray."

"Palin takes on the AP"

With her shrewd counterattack, Palin is channeling Reagan: Ronald Reagan didn't fight with the media, says Dan Riehl in Riehl World View. Instead, "he went over the media's head directly to the American people." By exploiting Facebook and the like, Palin's doing much the same thing. And "don't be surprised if it works, even as the media and some old-line politicos point how what a bad idea it is."

“Palin media strategy: Reagan 2.0"

Palin should pick her targets with care: "We journalists...need criticism," says Stephen Stromberg in The Washington Post. But Palin treats the press like "her favorite whipping boy" too often, and too carelessly—see her clearly off-base attack on Katie Couric. The more Palin "publicly nurses an unjustified sense of grievance, the more Americans will question how someone with such thin skin could possibly succeed in Washington."

"Palin’s blame game"

Read the book before you judge it: Given the "fury on the left and much skewed reporting in the mainstream media," says Melanie Kirkpatrick in The Wall Street Journal, it was "probably too much to hope" that Palin’s book would get a fair reading. Too bad: Critics who actually read the book will find a "more nuanced" Palin, not the "dim-witted ideologue of the popular liberal imagination."

"Her side of the story"

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SEE THE WEEK'S LATEST COVERAGE OF SARAH PALIN:

• Sarah Palin's sink or swim interview on Oprah

• Sarah Palin's 'whiny' book

• Sarah Palin's coin controversy

• Sarah Palin vs. Levi Johnston

• 'Going Rouge': A Sarah Palin parody book