by Chris Bodenner

This comes from a person who for the past month has led the campaign to pressure and shame the Cordoba people into leaving their lower Manhattan location, which just yesterday she called a "stab in the heart" to the 9/11 families. To her credit, Palin has not suggested - like lower forms of politician - that the government should actually intervene to block the construction of the Cordoba center. Nevertheless, in her warped view, the spirit of the First Amendment is not meant for a minority religion trying to practice its faith on private property, but rather the feelings of a wealthy radio host who made some controversial comments on air. And for the record:

[Schlessinger] insists, however, that the decision to leave radio was her choice and not forced upon her by her syndicator. "Were you gonna have a new contract?" King asked. "Yeah," Dr. Laura responded. "We've added five stations this week and added sponsors. This is not an issue of I'm losing anything."

So she wasn't even under corporate or financial pressure, let alone "shackles" that made her "1st Amend.rights ceased 2exist." And now we learn that she had been planning to leave radio for the past year anyway.

On second thought, "chutzpah" might be inappropriate for this post, since it implies Palin is conscious of her temerity; she must have no idea what she's saying one moment to the next. Half of what she says is some cognitive version of "Keep your socialist hands off my Medicare!" Like the last time she was on "Fox News Sunday," railing against the budget crisis:

[Mama Grizzlies] have common sense. They know that we have to extend the Bush tax cuts, they have to repeal the budget-busting bills like Obamacare

On the other hand, there is consistency between Palin's defense of Schlessinger and her understanding of the First Amendment, which she spelled out in this timeless quote from 2008:

If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations, then I don't know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media.

(Correction: I said Dr. Laura was Christian; she's Jewish.)

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.