Deconstructing Sarah

The MJ story is far from over, even though Tuesday's memorial service, which the networks covered as a state funeral, felt like a natural climax. But the political shows are back to their own Queen of Pop, or Queen of Political Pap, depending on your point of view.

Sarah Palin has stoked the story, of course, by going fishing with denizens of the same dreaded mainstream media she loves to denounce. The woman has a special talent for marketing herself. Her surprise resignation has provided gainful employment for untold numbers of pundits trying to decipher why she quit, even as the governor keeps explaining why she quit, and acting like the journalists who don't understand are slow second-graders.

I guess I still find the explanation somewhat disjointed. She decided not to run for reelection. Therefore she doesn't want to hurt her state by being a lame-duck for a year and a half. And she doesn't want to hurt Alaska by defending herself in ethics investigations, which are running up her legal bills. And this was best for her family. Besides, she can better help Alaska, and the country, by not being governor. This way she can progress the agenda, or whatever.

I think the media types have erred by focusing so heavily on 2012. I mean, Palin has got to know she hurt whatever presidential ambitions she might harbor by bailing during her first term. She can imagine the ads: "Sarah Palin cut and run on the people of Alaska after promising to serve four years. She said that investigations of her ethics got to be too much. Is that what America needs in a president?"

A more fruitful area of inquiry is Palin's latest effort to reinvent herself, perhaps as a social commentator, perhaps as a movement leader, while taking in a nice chunk of change on the side. And what a balancing act: continuing to deride the media for David Letterman-type insensitivity while attempting to use the media to amplify her message.

One thing is unmistakable: Palin's polarizing persona.

"Sarah Palin's bombshell that she is resigning as Alaska governor actually has boosted her a bit among Republicans, a nationwide USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, though it also has dented her standing among Democrats and independents.

"Two-thirds of Republicans want Palin, the party's vice presidential nominee in 2008, to be 'a major national political figure' in the future. Three-fourths of Democrats hope she won't be . . .

"Palin's complaints about unfair treatment by the news media resonate with many respondents. Three-fourths of Republicans, more than half of independents and a third of Democrats say coverage of Palin has been unfairly negative . . .

"Republicans by 71%-27% say they'd be likely to vote for her if she ran for president in 2012, while independents by 51%-44% would not."

Those numbers nicely set up this Roger Simon column:

"If the Republicans were picking a nominee today, they would pick Sarah Palin.