Ratcheting up her offensive against the news media, Gov. Sarah Palin’s attorney threatened Saturday to sue mainstream news organizations if they publish “defamatory” stories relating to whether Palin is under federal investigation.

In an extraordinary four-page letter, Alaska-based attorney Thomas Van Flein warns of severe consequences should speculation that until now has largely been confined to blogs about whether Palin embezzled funds in the construction of a Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena find its way into print.

“This is to provide notice to Ms. Moore, and those who re-publish the defamation, such as Huffington Post, MSNBC, the New York Times and The Washington Post, that the Palins will not allow them to propagate defamatory material without answering to this in a court of law,” Van Flein warned, citing Alaska liberal blogger Shannyn Moore.
Much like Palin did in her Facebook statement Saturday, Van Flein savages the news media in his letter.

“Just as power abhors a vacuum, modern journalism apparently abhors any type of due diligence and fact checking before scurrilous allegations are repeated as fact,” the Anchorage attorney wrote.

Neither the Times or the Post made any mention of the embezzlement rumors in their Saturday editions, but sources close to Palin consider the letter a warning shot to stay away from the topic.

Yes, you liberal media scoundrels, you watch out about… um… continuing… to not say anything… about something you already weren’t saying anything about. Um, right.  If this is “crazy like a fox,” then I’m going to be staying the hell away from foxes.

MEANWHILE, part of me hopes that Palin really does start suing people for saying things about her without having concrete evidence because this would be excellent news for Barack Obama, who could win millions off of anyone who ever said he is a Muslim, isn’t American, doesn’t have a birth certificate, pals around with terrorists, etc.

[5:40 pm]: I’m done with this freakshow, since clearly nobody has any idea what’s going on or why. Here’s the transcript of her speech. Good luck making sense of it!

[5:36 pm]: Somehow, this is David Letterman’s fault, I guess.

[5:35 pm]: Oh good, we’re at the part where the ducks start quacking over her.

[5:33 pm]: Here’s the “point guard” analogy. Still doesn’t make much sense the second time. This isn’t “passing the ball”–she’s forfeiting the match!

[5:32 pm]: “I promised efficiencies and effectiveness.” How do you fulfill either of thse by resigning? Also, how is serving the full term she was elected to “politics as usual?”

[5:30 pm]: MSNBC replaying resignation speech now.

[5:28 pm]: RGA statement… looks like they were caught off-guard too.

[5:26 pm]: Apparently no one in Sarah Palin’s administration knew this was happening. Neither did Sen. Mark Begich, who spoke to her two days ago.

[5:23 pm]: Palin: “Don’t explain. Your friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe you anyway.”

[5:22 pm]: It’s fun to watch MSNBC’s entire political staff completely unable to explain what’s going on.

[5:20 pm]: They are now explaining Palin’s “basketball point guard” metaphor in great detail. What is this, ESPN?

[5:18 pm]: “Only two-and-a-half years as governor.” That’s who I want answering the phone at 3am.

[5:17 pm]: CNN Headline News is reporting on… Michael Jackson’s funeral?! WTF?

[5:16 pm]: Via DKos, missed this from the beginning of the speech:

As I thought about this announcement that I wouldn’t run for re-election, and what that means for Alaska, I thought about how, well, how much fun some Governors have as lame ducks. They maybe travel around their state, travel to other states, maybe take their overseas international trade missions.

[5:14 pm]: I’m glad David Gregory Shuster (woops) isn’t buying this “getting out of the spotlight” nonsense when Palin clearly intends to stay on the conservative speaking circuit.

[5:12 pm]: Haha, TPM calls Palin’s resignation speech a modern-day Checkers speech.

[5:11 pm]: Why is Politico’s Mike Allen going on about how Palin could recover from this in about two years? She wasn’t even governor for two years.

[5:10 pm]: My mom wonders if maybe Palin wasn’t “hiking” in Denali National Park?

[5:07 pm]: MSNBC’s crawl at the bottom of the screen: “Sources tell NBC’s Andrea Mitchell Palin is out of politics for good.” No confirmation of what this means from David Gregory.

Update 4: Now liveblogging MSNBC (Hardball w/ David Gregory) coverage.

Update 3: The DNC responds to Sarah Palin’s surprise resignation:

“Either Sarah Palin is leaving the people of Alaska high and dry to pursue her long shot national political ambitions or she simply can’t handle the job now that her popularity has dimmed and oil revenues are down. Either way – her decision to abandon her post and the people of Alaska who elected her continues a pattern of bizarre behavior that more than anything else may explain the decision she made today.”

Update 2: Here’s the video of what has apparently become Sarah Palin’s resignation announcement. See if you can figure out why she’s stepping down, because I can’t. At least, not through all the rambling about her family, and her son, and the troops, and Alaska, and basketball, and everything else.

Update: Wait, what?

At an 11:00 a.m. press conference today, Governor Sarah Palin announced that she would not seek a second term as governor. The governor continued, saying that by the end of the month she would resign from the governorship.

Her decision to not even stay in office until 2010 makes this a whole new ballgame.

Original Post: Sarah Palin will not run for re-election, i.e. she is almost certainly running for president. Let the games begin.

For your viewing pleasure, Sarah Palin’s greatest hits: