YEAH, AND I ALSO CRISPLY SALUTE THE GUY ON TV IN THE GEORGE WASHINGTON SUIT TRYING TO SELL ME A DODGE MINIVAN ON PRESIDENTS' DAY WEEKEND

Sarah Palin, dishing out soundbites to Esquire:

"I would think we all tear up during the national anthem at the beginning of a baseball game, don't we? That's an alikeness between Alaskans and New Yorkers."

Has this woman ever actually attended a baseball game as a spectator? Yeah, right, Governor -- people start cheering after "banner yet wave" because they're beside themselves with misty-eyed patriotism. Not because the combination of anticipated athletic prowess and crappy beer in plastic cups is making them drunkenly giddy on an estrogen/testosterone cocktail.

I guess we're getting this because Palin, not being a military veteran, can't try to feed us the old-fashioned politician's ridiculous claim of having spent long hours in a trench as a youth thinking about how noble it is to fight for the Bill of Rights or the constitutional separation of powers or the right to vote, malarkey I've heard over the years from the likes of John McCain and Poppy Bush. Please stop insulting our intelligence, with this nonsense, folks.

Oh, and by the way, Sarah, I can tell you're in an unofficial competition with George W. Bush to see who can get the most press this month while doing the least work (latest Bush "exit interviews": Sean Hannity and Elisabeth Hasselbeck of The View), but while Bush has at least given his two weeks' notice, don't you have a job, Sarah? Let's see: Esquire, John Ziegler, next month CPAC -- not a lot keeping you busy otherwise, Gov?