Sarah GivesTakes

World News Australia - Palin slams Koran-burning 'provocation': "'Book burning is antithetical to American ideals,' Palin, a possible Republican contender for the White House in 2012, said in a post on her Facebook page.

'People have a constitutional right to burn a Koran if they want to, but doing so is insensitive and an unnecessary provocation -- much like building a mosque at Ground Zero,' said the former Alaska governor."

Burning a Koran when it will ignite a fire in the theater is hardly the same thing as building an Islamic Center with the blessing of the Jewish Mayor of New York, but so poison is the "locked and loaded" environment that Palin has helped create that she will no doubt get away unscathed.

She wlll win tolerance points and escape hypocrisy points. Such are the wages of a dimming national capacity to distinguish between principle and pandering.

Sarah Palen Giveth and Sarah Palin Taketh Away. One almost thinks Ms. Palin is a bit penitent for her past intolerance, but sadly opportunism still holds sway, unless you want to see it as pandering.