Today's required reading is Frank Rich's column in this morning's New York Times. Rich offers a sage analysis of the former Alaska governor's role in American politics and a dissection of her memoir, Going Rogue — which Rich has, unlike many pundits, actually read cover to cover. (Poor guy.)

After noting Palin's name-dropping of celebrities in the book, the absence of a mention of her former future son-in-law Levi Johnston, and her frequent mentions of God, Rich gets to the point — that Palin's influence is strong, and "Those who wishfully think her 15 minutes are up are deluding themselves."

Palin is at the red-hot center of age-old American resentments that have boiled up both from the ascent of our first black president and from the intractability of the Great Recession for those Americans who haven’t benefited from bailouts. As Palin thrives on the ire of the left, so she does from the disdain of Republican leaders who, with a condescension rivaling the sexism they decry in liberals, belittle her as a lightweight or instruct her to eat think-tank spinach.

Meanwhile, Joe Wurzelbacher — a k a "Joe the Plumber" — put in a word about Palin on Thursday while in Logan, Utah, campaigning for U.S. Senate candidate Cherilyn Eagar.

According to this dispatch in Editor & Publisher by Charles Geraci (who also covered Wurzelbacher's visit for the Logan Herald-Journal), Mr. The Plumber would rather not see Palin run for president in 2012.

"I hope she doesn't [run] because I think she could do a lot for America outside of office," Wurzelbacher said. "And I think she could rally Americans to get together and make some changes from the grassroots level. I think she could be an incredible rallying point, and I think that's where she could serve America best."

Political popularity is a fickle thing — and a little thing like stiffing your audience, especially if they waited in the rain for hours for an autograph, can sour your followers pretty quick.

That happened on Ms. Palin's tour stop in Noblesville, Indiana, on Thursday. More than 1,000 people showed up at the Borders book store for Palin's event, where the former half-term governor of Alaska appeared for just over three hours.

But — as reported on Indianapolis' WRTV 6News — several hundred fans, who bought Palin's memoir Going Rogue and waited in the rain, didn't get autographs by the time Palin boarded her bus and headed out.

Here, via the YouTube, is a clip of the angry shouting that followed:

One man in line told 6News: ""We gave up our entire workday, stayed in the cold. My kids were crying. They went home with my wife. She was out here in the freezing cold all day. I feel like I don't want to support Sarah."

Folks waiting in line at the Salt Lake City Costco on Dec. 9 might want to brace for similar disappointment, because Palin's tour bus is making a stop in Reno later the same day.

• Prog-rockers Thrice play tonight at In the Venue, 579 W. 200 South, Salt Lake City. Opening acts: The Deer Hunter and Polar Bear Club. Show starts at 6:30. Tickets are $21, at SmithsTix and 24Tix.

• Singer-songwriter Joshua James (pictured), the pride of American Fork, plays tonight at The State Room, 638 S. State St., Salt Lake City. Opening act: Moses (though probably not that Moses). Show starts at 8. Tickets are $15, at the door or the State Room web site.

• Kathy Griffin — comedian, "D-List" TV star and now published author — performs Saturday at Abravanel Hall, 123 W. South Temple, Salt Lake City. Show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets, from $35 to $50, available at ArtTix.

• Shock-metal band GWAR — the scourge of Tipper Gore and the PRMC in the '80s — performs Saturday at Saltair, 12408 W. Saltair Drive, Magna. Opening acts: Job for a Cowboy, The Red Chord. Show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $22 in advance, $24 on day of show, at SmithsTix.

• Marcus, the self-proclaimed "mayor of comedy," will perform his latest material for a taping Sunday at Wiseguys Trolley Square (in the old Hard Rock Cafe), 505 S. 600 East, Salt Lake City. (The tape is an audition of sorts for Comedy Central, Marcus told X96's "Radio From Hell" this morning.) The show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20, and will be available only at the door starting at 5 p.m. Sunday.

Each day until her Dec. 9 visit to Costco, I'll bring you something news about Ms. Palin. (That is, unless it gets boring, then I'll quit halfway through.)

Today's nugget is this clip from Thursday's "Hardball" on MSNBC, when host Chris Matthews tries to buttonhole Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour on whether Ms. Palin is qualified to be president — and Gov. Barbour refuses to give a straight answer.

(HT: Think Progress)

Here's the quote again (which has gone national, thanks to this item on ThinkProgress.org):

I meet with the gays here and there. They were in my house two weeks ago. I don’t mind gays. But I don’t want ‘em stuffing it down my throat all the time. Certainly not in my kid’s face.

Who wants to explain to Buttars why he should rephrase?

Tonight's show was postponed because Joel is ill, according to the Tribune's David Burger. Previous shows on the tour were rescheduled when John got sick.

This also means, presumably, that those ubiquitous billboards for the show — in which John and Joel pose in what many observers have compared to a gay-wedding photo — will remain along I-15 for a few more months.

Specifically, she'll be at the Costco in Salt Lake City (1818 S. 300 West) on Dec. 9, according to the Tribune's Cathy McKitrick, who cites the web site of HarperCollins — the publisher of her new memoir, Going Rogue: An American Life.

It'll be a quick visit, since she's scheduled to be in Reno the same day.

If you want to get a head start on studying up on Palin, test your skills with this handy quiz, courtesy of The Atlantic Monthly.

• Attack Attack! — all the way from Cardiff, Wales — plays the Murray Theater, 4961 S. State St., Salt Lake City. Opening acts: I Set My Friends On Fire, Miss May I, Our Last Night and The Color Morale. Show starts at 7. Tickets are $12, at the door.