Confessions of a Blogger: Why We Can't Resist Sarah Palin Stories

I begin every day at the Politics Daily breaking news desk vowing to stand athwart the tide of pointless blather about the Facebook-happy Sarah Palin and her bitter, Twittering, not-quite-son-in-law Levi Johnston. I finish most every day having caved to the deluge, usually having brought hundreds of thousands of nosy clickers to the site as a result.

I'm not the only one suffering from Palin addiction. Looking over our archives, it's clear that a number of our writers have helped fill the vaults with unimportant details of her life. Despite the fact that she now holds no public office and is not currently seeking one, she is an almost daily presence in our coverage (and almost everyone else's). But the headlines alone hint at a saga so consistently absurd that no one who makes a living presenting information could help reporting them with relish: "Sarah Palin Promises to Be Less Politically Correct on Twitter." "Palin Planned Secret Adoption." "Levi Johnston Says Sarah Resigned for the Money." "Todd Palin Offered Bristol a New Car in Exchange for Dumping Levi Johnston." "Sarah Palin Rips Levi Johnston for Dishing on Sex Life." "Palin Skips Another Speech, Denies Accepting Invitation."

Since her first day in national politics, Palin has been the surest place to look for an explosive headline. Just to recap briefly, she has: been introduced as a vice presidential candidate without full vetting or warning, stammered through a slew of interviews, made the national media a campaign issue, feuded publicly with the campaign that plucked her out of obscurity, repeatedly lashed out at the teenage father of her grandson, resigned from office on a major national holiday, skipped a speech she reportedly agreed to make, and moved up the release of her memoir by months. The disbelief of that August morning when she walked onstage in Ohio with John McCain for the first time hasn't quite worn off. Everything about Palin is sudden, splashy and strange, whipping up a climate where it isn't at all unreasonable to wake up each day wondering what on earth she will do next.

No matter which type of mass media pays your bills, Palin's high profile has been a horn of professional plenty. If you're a political blogger, a Palin tit-for-tat with Levi Johnston will break the monotony of Senate committee hearings and Gallup polls. If you're Us Weekly, there are trashy relatives, dishy ex-boyfriends and custody fights. If you're a conservative columnist, there's a sizzling future candidate to champion. If you're a feminist, there's plenty to debate about whether Palin is good for womankind. If you're Todd Purdum, there's a long arc of push-and-shove politics that ended in a disastrous national candidacy. If you're a liberal essayist with a Palin fetish, The Nation will give a penny for your thoughts. If you're Tina Fey, your uncanny resemblance to Palin will crown your career.

But for all the legitimate political reasons to keep obsessively covering Palin, the truth is that, like most Internet-addled Americans, I have a morbid fascination with the lives of the famous and important, especially those that have spiraled into increasingly bizarre twists of plot. In this case, it's intensified by the fact that millions of people still hope to see Palin running the country someday. Her political career has more closely resembled an American reality show than that of any politician in history. Every Levi Johnston interview is like an exclusive behind-the-scenes clip.

I may just have an unhealthy fixation, but it seems that every Palin utterance manages to prophesy an uncertain future in which she will play a significant role. The first season is over, and a second is clearly in the works. Until the next one begins, I hope you'll excuse my gratuitous enjoyment of the teasers.