Holding Sarah Palin to just three interviews and microscopically focusing on each interview I think has been a mistake. I think they'd be a lot wiser to let Sarah Palin be Sarah Palin.

And that's a good strategy for Mitt, says Mike Shea, a veteran Boston Democratic strategist:

The more interviews for Sara Palin, the less likely she will be the heir apparent to the Republican Presidential nomination next time. Whatever happens, McCain probably will not be the Republican nominee next time, and Romney will begin campaigning for that post the day after the election.

Live it up, Matani, because like your Mormon counterparts, you lose your her divine status when you reach puberty.

I enjoy your blog and I don't mind the shots, but . . .

Let me just say: She did not faint. She did not faint. Are you kidding me? She came [backstage] and had a Red Bull!

Any check that I receive from a lobbyist and deposit in my campaign account to pay for yard signs, newspaper ads or brochures means one less check that I have to write from our family's bank account, where we keep our money to buy groceries, gasoline and school clothes.

My wife and I are seriously tempted to abandon our personal pledge and subscribe to the standard mantra that accepting checks from interest groups is fine as long as all contributions are fully disclosed for the voters to see.

Bountiful — holier than thou as "God's Backyard."
Woods Cross — "Gateway to the Refineries."
Centerville — intermarried six-toed, pink-eyed hillbillies.
Farmington — the name says it all.
North Salt Lake — where Utah gets its mufflers fixed.
West Bountiful — home of the eponymous dump.

I don't think we can get the bill passed in a time where we are seeing budget cuts. I don't' think we can get the bill passed unless we have a provision in there that says it will be funded from an outside source.

Wimmer and two other lawmakers last week called press conference/rally in the Capitol Rotunda to announce they were going to sponsor a package of anti-abortion bills to stop "the slaughter of innocents."

Wimmer claimed he had already lined up the firm "known worldwide" to accept the legal costs. Most state senators hadn't heard of the proposal until the day of the press conference.

Wimmer (a former cop who was tragically born without a neck) and Rep. Stephen Sandstrom righteously denied the move was a cheap campaign stunt, timed to appeal to their mostly conservative voters before too many hard questions could be asked.

KCPW followed through on the question of who, exactly, was going to foot the bill for the millions of dollars in legal fees involved. The public station learned that the D.C.-based American Center for Law and Justice, a likely candidate for the legal work, acknowledges that even if they took the case Utah taxpayers could still end up paying for legal fees.

Wipe the smile off this guy's face.

• A former lawmaker says Rep. Greg Hughes offered her $50,000 in campaign funds to drop her opposition to school vouchers.

• Hughes files an ethics complaint against Rep. Phil Riesen for leaking the ethics complaint to the media after state troopers prevent him from "getting a piece of" Phil.

• House Speaker Greg Curtis, above, denounces the demand for a ethics probe (not the allegations) as "disgusting."

• Attorney General Mark Shurtleff gives a lucrative contract to a law firm that is not only a major campaign contributor, but hired his daughter.

• House members are accused of colluding to offer a bribe of a lucrative job in the treasurer's race to get a candidate to drop out.

• Rep. Mark Walker resigns to avoid an ethics probe. (A criminal probe still pending.)

• In the crossfire, Rep. Steve Mascaro is accused of sexually harrassing an intern. (Whatever happened with that?)

• Sen. Chris Buttars writes a threatening letter to a state judge on behalf of a developer buddy.

Unrighteousness before God! All problems in all states and countries are directly related to people not following God. This is the number one problem. . . .

Either we follow God or we will be removed or destroyed from this country.

I am a child of God and am ordained to be a king and priest unto the most high God....

Henious [sic] abomination runs rampant and Jony Jr does nothing about it. . . .

• Make himself poster boy for arrogant lawmakers everywhere.
  
• Help ram a voucher bill through the House even though voters made it clear they didn't want it.
• Fail to stop teachers unions and voters from round-filing said bill in a referendum.
• Totally piss off teachers unions and pro-public ed. lawmakers during the voucher fiasco.
• Allegedly offer former Rep. Susan Lawrence a bribe of $50,000 in campaign funds if she switched her vote on vouchers.
• Drive away even GOP allies by mocking a diminutive Republican senator as a "midget."
  
• Lose his s**t with House chief of staff Chris Bleak in Legislative parking garage.
• Continue losing s**t to the point the state troopers are called in.
• Pull the rest of the roof in on himself by filing a counter ethics complaint against furniture pitchman Rep. Phil Riesen for "leaking" the Lawrence allegations to KSL.
  

Utah elevated in Boston.

The state spends millions to promote Utah around the world, so it's sad to hear that an absolutely free "Utah" advertising campaign has come to an end. According to the Boston Herald:

A globe-trotting graffiti goon accused of desecrating historic Back Bay with her artistic upchuck was held on $10,000 cash bail yesterday after several of her victims painted a picture of solidarity by standing up in court.

Graffitti artist Danielle Bremner, 26, a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, who has left her tag "Utah" on dozens of buildings in Boston and New York, pleaded not guilty in Boston to 33 counts of tagging.

“Utah,” a folk hero among taggers, has been on the run since May 2007. She was captured in August returning from Europe (which explains the uptick in French and German tourists we've been seeing in southern Utah).

There might have been a crowd more predisposed to view Gov. Sarah Palin’s debate performance as favorable than the one here at the Rock Creek Pizza Co., but it was probably gathered in Alaska.

I think she’s very sophisticated and strong.

Give me a break. It's not a massive erection like some of the ones you see on the panels. If [State Parks] are going to be bullied, they should at least announce it so other people can step up.

If a handful of ladies can pressure a state park into changing their displays without anybody having input, that should be outrageous to everybody. . . .

These poor ladies have never been to Florence or Rome or any actual art museum. They would be scandalized.

I'm honored by the recognition, but legislative service is a team sport. This is a credit to my colleagues . . .

It's very distressing to me as a journalist and writer when this sort of thing happens—we need to be able to trust our sources. That's what our business is all about.

1. Marie suffered from mental illness as a child.
2. Had an eating disorder as a teen.
3. Attempted suicide.
4. Lost her virginity, at age 17.
5. Lost said virginity to the late Bee Gees brother Andy Gibb*.
6. The reason for her divorce from Stephen Craig was that she found him in a hot tub with her personal assistant.
7. Fabricated claims of child abuse to spice up her 2001 autobiography.

Guv at hippy ethnic love-in.

• In a recent debate, Huntsman swung to the left of his Bolshevik opponent Bob Springmeyer, bragging about how he bucks his own party's stone-age ideas.
  
• Huntsman ordered a crack down on patriot families who recreate in Utah's wild spaces with gas-burning, sage-rippin' ORVs. Jon says their wholesome good times are "an abomination."
• He's hanging out with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.
• After dragging the state into an initiative to reduce greenhouse gases, he's urging other governors to join him and T. Boone Pickens in signing an "Energy Independence Pledge."
• He denounced patriot Jason Chaffetz's totally swell idea to incarcerate illegal immigrants in tent camps as "extreme."
• Huntsman says he'll have to read proposed legislation banning abortion before he signs it.
  
• He reads books and has a dreamy look in his eyes.
  

Perhaps they didn't like the questions. Maybe they figure that in today's online world, they can ignore a statewide newspaper.

If you want to pay [city workers] more, put it in the budget, send it through committee, go through the public process.

Recommended "bonus" schedule for government workers:

Meter reading without stomping the flower bed: $1

Water service promptly turned back on even though you still can't pay the bill: $15

Garbage picked up without dumping it all over the street: $2

Garbage picked up even though you have mop handles, part of a bike and 50 pounds of used cat litter pushing up the lid: $5

Cop courteously writes you a ticket: $1

Cop gives you a warning, instead of a speeding ticket: $25-$250 (depending on how fast you were going and your standing with your insurance provider).

Legislator "takes care" of your interests in a bill: One Jazz ticket.

U.S. senator gets you a casino license: Let him/her win big at poker.

I want to be diplomatic* about this. I respect the efforts made by my own party's leadership. I would like more leadership.

If it was, Tancredo would've been the Republican candidate for president instead of his sworn enemy, John McCain; instead, Tancredo sits somewhere in Colorado, drowning his tears in green chile over his hypocritical endorsement of McCain.

The problem for your side of the political aisle is that you've never been able to lay out a cogent argument against illegal immigration that doesn't inevitably turn into a Know Nothing screed against culture.

Again, look at Tancredo, also known as Mr. Deportation, who's now leaving Congress with little to show for his nine years on Capitol Hill other than having his name become a synonym for pendejo*.

Starting today, retail sales of flavored malt beverages will come to a halt in Utah. . .

Remeber back when Gov. Jon Huntsman made a deal with the devil (worse, actually, the state Acoholic Beverage Commission) to move the "drunkard's training wheels" to state liquor stores just to get a lousy additional half-ounce of liquor in a drink? The bill came today.

But as yet none of the national drug dealers have met the requirement that alcopops have special for-Zion-only labels, including a skull and crossbones*, so consumers are aware that they are about to purchase something containing alcohol from a SHELF IN A LIQUOR STORE.

So far, no one thinks the lucrative Utah market is worth it. Until then, a cold Bud Light Chilada will have to do. MMMM, Clamato . . .

Lawrence says the bag man was Draper Rep. Greg Hughes. But Hughes, chairman of the Conservative Caucus, says the money offer was unrelated to her vote:

There is nothing illegal or unethical that ever took place. There was never a quid pro quo.

This has nothing to do with re-election. . . . It is the wishes of the people of Utah.
It is reprehensible that anyone would even suggest that protecting unborn life is a political gimmick.

This nation has prospered and been blessed by a higher power , . . . That prosperity may hinge on the value we place upon life. It's time to take Roe v. Wade to the Supreme Court and get it changed.

This is obviously a campaign stunt. These are all men from very conservative districts. Why do the taxpayers have to pay for their pet projects?

Nobody talked about a tent city with barbed wire fences around it.

Jon Huntsman, as much as I like you, you're wrong on global warming. It's a farce.

• Expanding health care.
• Limits on campaign spending.
• Education for immigrant children.
• A bipartisan commission to prevent gerrymandered legislative and congressional boundaries.
• Blocking nuclear waste disposal.
• They even agree that a government bailout of Wall Street is necessary.

Huntsman seemed proud of the fact that he had taken positions on policies that have made him a minor celebrity in the world of moderate Republican politics outside of Utah.

He didn’t talk about why he has problems getting those policies past the legislative power brokers of his own party and actually enacted into law.

The Rev. Robert Jeffress, who is hot stuff in Dallas, explained:

I believe we should always support a Christian over a non-Christian. The value of electing a Christian goes beyond public policies. . . . Christians are uniquely favored by God, [while] Mormons, Hindus and Muslims worship a false god. The eternal consequences outweigh political ones. It is worse to legitimize a faith that would lead people to a separation from God.”

A lot of people were uncomfortable with what Dr. Jeffress said about Mormons, but what we were hoping for was something provocative that would get people talking, and certainly this did it.

The news indicates that, if anything, our planet is growing not hotter but colder. Recently, NASA's Ulysses project reported that the intensity of the sun's solar wind -- a flow of charged particles -- is at its lowest point of the Space Age. This adds to the mounting evidence that the Sun's activity is decreasing, and could signal the start of an era of cold weather, as in the Little Ice Age from the mid-16th century to the middle of the 19th century.