Noting Fox News contributor Sarah Palin's “undergraduate degree in journalism” WashingtonPost.com's David Weigel takes the half-term governor of Alaska to task in a post about her Facebook screed against investigative reporter Joe McGinniss:

Weigel writes (emphasis added):

Sarah Palin took to her Facebook account today to inform her readers that Joe McGinniss, an award-winning reporter and author, had rented the house next door.

I saw Ben Smith flag this earlier today but did not really appreciate how strange and, frankly, immature Palin's post was until I read it.

Palin informs her readers that McGinniss is “overlooking my children's play area” and “overlooking Piper's bedroom.” Alternately sounding angry and mocking, she refers to “the family's swimming hole,” which at first reference sounds like she's accusing McGinniss of checking out the Palins in their bathing suits, until you realize the family's “swimming hole” is Lake Lucille. And she posts a photo of the space McGinniss is renting, captioning it, “Can I call you Joe?”

Can somebody explain to me how this isn't a despicable thing for Palin to do? She describes McGinniss as the author of “the bizarre anti-Palin administration oil development pieces that resulted in my Department of Natural Resources announcing that his work is the most twisted energy-related yellow journalism they'd ever encountered.”

Another way of putting it would be that McGinniss is an investigative journalist who wrote his first best-seller at age 26 and was shopping a book about Alaska and the oil industry when Palin was named John McCain's running mate. And another way of describing those “bizarre” pieces is that no one has ever challenged the facts in them.

Palin, who has an undergraduate degree in journalism, should understand that articles don't become untrue when the subjects don't agree with them.

[…]

Politicians don't have veto power over who gets to write about them, or how they research their stories, as long as they're within the bounds of the law. It's incredibly irresponsible for them to sic their fans on journalists they don't like. And that's what Palin is doing here -- she has already inspired Glenn Beck to accuse McGinniss of “stalking” Palin and issuing a threat to boycott his publisher.

Weigel's entire piece is well worth a read, as is his follow-up on the emails he received following its posting.

Related:

• Doocy warns McGinniss, who is writing a book about Palin, to “be very careful wearing hats” in Wasilla because they “could appear to be antlers”
• Sarah Palin's New Neighbor