Exciting news adventure seekers! Famiglia aficionado Sarah Palin is releasing more than 24,000 emails this afternoon, most from during her tenure as governor of Alaska. It is sure to be an extraordinary excursion into the exceptional world of Alaskan politics and prayer shields! And the NY Times and Washington Post want to invite you to join them on this jubilant journey into the heart of Juneau.
The Times, Post and the Guardian UK are all crowdsourcing as a way to sift through the copious emails: "We’re asking readers to help us identify interesting and newsworthy e-mails, people and events that we may want to highlight," the Times wrote. Participation! Parsing! All for the people!
The email dump is about three years overdue: the public records requests were first made in 2008, before she even resigned as governor of Alaska two years ago. Considering the amount of investigative reports which have focused on her in the years since, at this point, nobody really has any idea what the emails might reveal. Nevertheless, Juneau is packed with salivating reporters today: "The news media have descended here en masse to sift through the trove, with many organizations sending teams of reporters and database specialists to comb the documents and post them online."
Many are wondering how these emails, and the reaction to them, could influence her decision whether to run for president in 2012. But NPR thinks it won't have any effect... because she won't be running anyway: "If the emails prove to be an ammo dump for Palin's rivals and critics, they may well wind up as the scapegoat for a decision already dictated by reality and revealed by any number of signs." They think her poll numbers nationally are too negative, her bus tour polarized too much, and the Paul Revere gaffe was just ugly. And don't even get them started on Pizza-With-Trumpgate. That bruise is still too fresh.
