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This is a genuine question. Robert Draper has a long profile of Sarah Palin in the New York Times Magazine this week, but although it’s interesting here and there, I can’t make sense out of this passage:

I brought up her past efforts at bipartisanship [as governor of Alaska] to Palin. “I was so innocent and naïve to believe that I would be able to govern for four years and if I ever moved on beyond the governorship I could carry that with me nationally,” Palin said. “And it was proven when John McCain chose me for the nomination for vice president; what it showed me about the left: they go home. It doesn’t matter what you do. It was the left that came out attacking me. They showed me their hypocrisy; they showed me they weren’t willing to work in a bipartisan way. I learned my lesson. Once bitten, twice shy. I will never trust that they are not hypocrites until they show me they’re sincere.”

What does this mean? Wouldn’t you expect the left to attack a Republican vice presidential candidate? Bipartisanship isn’t really a factor in a political campaign. Do you suppose she’s referring just to attacks from Democrats that she had worked with in Alaska? Or to all Democrats? Or just certain bloggers? Or what?

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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