If Sarah Palin thought resigning as Alaska's governor would end the media attacks upon her and her family, she badly underestimated the power of Palin Derangement Syndrome.

Take for example Paul Begala's demented Huffington Post offering Friday in which he referred to the former Vice Presidential candidate as "the bull goose loony of the GOP."

Sadly, that was one of his kinder descriptions:

Sarah Palin makes Mark Foley, the congressman who sent filthy emails to pages look almost normal. She makes David Vitter, the senator who was hanging out with hookers, look almost boring. She makes Larry Craig, caught hitting on a cop in a men's room, look almost stable. She makes John Ensign, the senator who was having an affair with a staffer, look almost humdrum (and compared to the rest of the GOP whack-jobs, he is). And she makes Mark Sanford, the governor with the Latin lover, look positively predictable.

It was an almost impossible mission, but in resigning from office with 17 months to go in her first term, Sarah Palin has made herself the bull goose loony of the GOP. [...]

I'm no latter-day Strunk & White, just a guy who was struck by Palin's spectacularly rambling and infantile prose. It bespeaks a rambling and infantile mind.

What's that expression concerning the pot and the kettle?

On the Saturday Early Show on July 4, anchor Priya David mocked Sarah Palin’s famous phrase, "You betcha," as she introduced a report by correspondent Nancy Cordes on the Alaska governor’s decision to resign from office. David: "Resign from office? You betcha. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin dropped a political bombshell Friday, announcing that she's leaving her post, but her future plans remain a mystery."

Unlike her report from the previous night’s CBS Evening News, in this report Cordes refrained from referring to Palin’s speech as "rambling" and "confusing," but she did run a soundbite of the Politico’s Mike Allen calling Palin’s decision "odd." Allen: "If you’re trying to promote yourself as a steady leader, this is an odd way to run for President." On Friday night, Cordes had run a soundbite of Allen calling the announcement "bizarre." Allen: "This is very unusual, even bizarre. Governors just don't stop in the middle of their terms when there’s no clear reason."

Below is a complete transcript of the relevant report from the July 4 CBS Early Show:

PRIYA DAVID: Resign from office? You betcha. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin dropped a political bombshell Friday, announcing that she’s leaving her post, but her future plans remain a mystery. CBS correspondent Nancy Cordes has the latest.

SARAH PALIN: I will not seek reelection as governor.

NANCY CORDES: In a surprise announcement from her home in Alaska, Governor Palin said she will resign from office in three weeks.

PALIN: I love my job, and I love Alaska, and it hurts to make this choice, but I’m doing what’s best for Alaska.

CORDES: The Governor said she decided not to run for reelection, and that being a lame duck wasn’t for her. Complained that the barrage of ethics complaints against her have been sapping the state’s attention and money.

PALIN: My staff and I spend most of our day, we’re dealing with this stuff instead of progressing our state now.

CORDES: Among supporters, the move has bolstered speculation that John McCain’s former running mate is planning her own run for the White House.

CHERYL JACOBUS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: This is a good thing, it’s a responsible thing, it’s a smart thing, and so the only thing she’s really signaling to the country and to the GOP is, I want to see what’s out there, I want to see what else I can do.

CORDES: But she’ll have to answer questions about why she’s quitting the job she was elected to do.

MIKE ALLEN, POLITICO: If you’re trying to promote yourself as a steady leader, this is an odd way to run for President.

CORDES: The timing of all this is curious. Typically, when politicians make announcements on a Friday at the start of a holiday weekend with no notice, it means they’re trying to bury the news, not herald the onset of an exciting new chapter in their political lives. Nancy Cordes, CBS News, Washington.

In announcing that she was stepping down as Alaska Governor on Friday, Sarah Palin noted the unrelenting hostility of liberal media elites. In the barely ten months since she burst onto the national scene, Palin has been scorned and mocked by journalists — including many supposedly objective reporters — like few other politicians. Here are a few of the choicer attacks, as compiled from MRC's Notable Quotables newsletter:

"She is a far-right conservative who supported Pat Buchanan over George W. Bush in 2000. She thinks global warming is a hoax and backs the teaching of creationism in public schools. Women are not likely to be impressed by her opposition to abortion even in the case of rape and incest."
— Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter in a "Web exclusive" posted on his magazine’s Web site, August 29, 2008.

"McCain has] done it [picked Sarah Palin] at great cost, because the whole Republican convention…was going to be the slogan, ‘He’s not ready to lead,’ meaning Barack Obama. Well, Sarah Palin makes Barack Obama look like John Adams. I mean, it’s just, it’s no contest."
— Newsweek’s Howard Fineman on MSNBC’s Countdown, August 29.

Newsweek’s Eleanor Clift: "This [McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin] is not a serious choice. It makes it look like a made for TV movie. If the media reaction is anything, it’s been literally laughter in many places across news-"
Host John McLaughlin: "Where is that? See that?"
Clift: "In very, very many newsrooms."
— Exchange on The McLaughlin Group, August 31, 2008.