Sarah Palin (AP photo)

I’m fighting back.

As a member of the self-important media elite, I’m weary of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her supporters pushing me around, tarnishing my good name.

Granted I usually stick to writing sports stories. I have never written a word about Palin and generally save my myriad political opinions for discussions over pints rather than text on your computer screen.

But when I read a headline ^[1] touting the Alaska Governor’s decision to bail on her constituents as “brilliant” on the very Web site I work for, I couldn’t bite my tongue (ahem, my fingertips) anymore.

Palin is one of the nation’s most virulent political lightning rods for a reason. She is the line in the sand that separates America’s out-of-touch, silver-spoon ladling, chardonnay-sipping elite from the good hard-working people of the common class.

At least that’s the story from the Palin camp.

It’s a political strategy perfected and subsequently set back by the Bush Administration that’s morphed into a vocal minority voice on the heels of Obama’s victory last November.

Attack the liberally educated city dwellers and appeal to the “Real America” while actually working for the causes of the true white-collar elite. (And then complain about your $500,000 in legal fees). It’s brilliant.

Except it backfired last November. Joe the Plumber lost.

But Palin, a desperate last-ditch effort to bolster a flailing Republican campaign for the White House, won’t go away.

Her charm and good looks struck a chord with an electorate that will never be large enough to put her anywhere near the White House, but is powerful and vocal enough to keep her in the headlines.

It’s the same quick-trigger voice that’s determined to write off a six-month-old Obama Administration as ineffective and eager to rewrite the recent political history that created the slew of troubles we’re facing today.

It’s a desperate, unfocused Republican movement that’s miles away from its conservative roots and reeling from the failures of the Bobby Jindals and Mark Sanfords of the world to pan out as viable saviors.

Jason Owens

And now Palin has thrown out the wildest of wild cards, forcing her supporters to scramble and spin in the face of one simple fact. She quit. On the very people that elected her. Because of claimed negative outside influences and media scrutiny.

And she wants to be President?!

Maybe she doesn’t. Maybe she just wants to sell books and genuinely wants to escape the pressure. While her tactics are similar to the Karl Rove/Bush machine, her motivations and politics haven’t been shown to be as dishonest.

Whatever the case, her decision has left her supporters stuck to swallow their shock and take on TV cameras fawning admiration for her moxie and political gamble.

Never mind that she was exposed as unprepared and unqualified any time she wasn’t protected by hers or John McCain’s media handlers during the campaign for the White House.

That was a long time ago. File the Katie Couric interviews in the same cabinet with the fact that the outpouring of bailout money actually started with the Bush Administration.

But I digress.

Palin has now disappeared, in hiding from the scrutiny after dropping her bombshell on a Friday of a holiday weekend.

She’s already used her children as a shield, going as far as to poll all five of them on whether she should stop performing her sworn duties as governor.

When she got four yeses and “one hell yeah,” she was a few folksy fishing and basketball analogies away from quitting her job. (By the way — how’s that for a disservice to mothers in the world of politics who draw fire about where their priorities lie… I wanted to keep being your governor, but my kids didn’t think it was a good idea).

Now she’s hiding behind the veil of being the victim of the bulldog media elite. But unlike the pit-bull with lipstick that she claimed to be, she decided to run away from the fight.

I’m aware that this type of criticism fans the flames of elitist criticism. I’m sure any readers of opposing viewpoints chalk this up as another rant from the snarky media.

Well, maybe it is. But that doesn’t make me or any of Palin’s critics out of touch. I come from a humble background, got a public education and make a modest salary as a journalist in an industry struggling as much as any other in this economy.

I also have an educated and vocal point of view. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to apologize for it.

Jason Owens is the SDNN sports editor.