Quote:

---

Days after her first foray this election cycle into New Hampshire politics, Sarah Palin is getting a chilly reception from one of the crucial presidential primary state's most conservative and influential newspapers.

In a blistering Op-Ed on the front page of the New Hampshire Union-Leader's Wednesday edition, publisher Joseph McQuaid writes the former Alaska governor and vice presidential nominee knows little about the Granite State and even less about its residents:

Quote:

---

SARAH PALIN'S endorsement of Kelly Ayotte for U.S. Senate should neither surprise nor upset the other campaigns. The race will be won by the candidate who impresses New Hampshire voters, and New Hampshire voters are rarely impressed by what outsiders have to say.

Former Gov. Palin isn't making these endorsements because, as she claims, she has spent time in New Hampshire and thus knows that the people here are a lot like Alaskans. She spent a few hours here on one day during the 2008 Presidential election. That's still more time than she spent getting to know Ayotte, but it takes quite a bit longer to know New Hampshire.

A word of advice for supporters of Messrs. Bender, Binnie, Lamontagne and Hodes (sounds like a law firm, doesn't it?): Don't fret over what a "Mama Grizzly'' from Alaska does. Right now, Granite Staters have more to worry about in keeping bears away from bird feeders.

---

Howie Kurtz, a Washington Post media critic and CNN contributor, said the Union-Leader editorial is emblematic of the state's independent streak.

"The publisher's column is significant because it plays the home-state card–that is, who is this outsider from Alaska to tell our Republicans how to vote?–in a state that prides itself on its independence," he said.

---

Quote:

---

If we stopped commenting on every stupid thing Palin says or does, do you think she'll go away? The fact that anyone takes her seriously blows my mind. Ignorance married arrogance and named the child Sarah. Maybe if I went to five different colleges for my Bachelor degree, I could forget actual words during public speeches, make up new ones, and claim I'm Shakespeare. Can you imagine playing Scrabble with her? She'd always win!

---

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of __________________, code name ‘Nike”,
signing off