The story of how she does it is on the front page of the New York Times:

Fusing Politics and Motherhood in New Way

Ms. Palin’s three-day maternity leave has now become legend among mothers. But aides say she eased back into work, first stopping by her office in Anchorage for a meeting, bringing not only the baby but also her husband to look after him.

Many high-powered parents separate work and children; Ms. Palin takes a wholly different approach. “She’s the mom and the governor, and they’re not separate,” Ms. Cole said. Around the governor’s offices, it was not uncommon to get on the elevator and discover Piper, smothering her puppy with kisses.

“She’ll be with Piper or Trig, then she’s got a press conference or negotiations about the natural gas pipeline or a bill to sign, and it’s all business,” Ms. Burney, who works across the hall, said. “She just says, ‘Mommy’s got to do this press conference.’ ”

Ms. Palin installed a travel crib in her Anchorage office and a baby swing in her Juneau one. For much of the summer, she carried Trig in a sling as she signed bills and sat through hearings, even nursing him unseen during conference calls.

Todd Palin took a leave from his job as an oil field production operator, and campaign aides said he was doing the same now. [e.a.]

How she does it is simple: she has a supportive husband.

That is the essential ingredient in such an arrangement.

The pinched faces of the “feminist” talking heads on TV who criticized Palin this past week indicate that unlike Sarah, they don’t get the same kind of support at home.

Sally Quinn, I’m talking to you-–especially after your embarrassing appearance on Reliable Sources:

SALLY QUINN, “WASHINGTON POST”: No, I was not unfair about that. I went on Bill O’Reilly twice, the second time to say that I had underestimated her, I was wrong about her. I think that she is a formidable candidate.

But I do still have grave doubts about whether a mother of five, soon to be six, with a special needs child and a child who is pregnant, is going to be able to put her country first. I think we heard McCain say 100 times, “I’m going to put my country first.” …

And I think men and women who go to war, men and women who are in a position of vice president, president, have to assure the voters that they are going to put their country first. …

What I’m saying is you can’t do it all. … Not with this large a family and these problems that she has. So what I need to know as a voter, I need to be reassured that she will put her country first because I need a president and a vice president who will do that.

It was nice to hear CNN’s Ed Henry light into Quinn

KURTZ: But Ed Henry, does any of this make you cringe? I mean, when Joe Biden tragically three decades ago was in a car accident where his wife and one of his kids was killed, nobody said, oh, how could he take his Senate seat because he’s got two young kids at home who need a father? I mean, these are questions that seem to be asked of women.

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right. I think you’re absolutely right.

I don’t think Sally’s a pinhead, just for the record, and I have admired her work for a long time.

QUINN: Thank you so much.

HENRY: But I can’t believe what I’m hearing from you though, Sally, and I can’t believe what Emily said, basically that, you know, how could she be a mother and be vice president? Why are you not saying the same thing about Barack Obama? He’s a father of two young daughters who look quite beautiful.

How could he possibly, then, by this standard you’re creating, go to Washington and be president, which I assume is more important than vice president, we would all agree or just as important? And why are you not questioning whether he could be a good father?

I just think there’s a double standard. And I thought the whole point of women having equal rights was that they could have a family and a career. And secondly, that men, as fathers — and I’m a father — should be just as active as the moms are. So I don’t understand.

…

But you’re questioning whether or not she can be vice president.

QUINN: No, I didn’t say not be able to serve. Every woman — I have women friends who are CEOs, who are senators, who are — Nancy Pelosi, although she waited until her children were older to take on her job as speaker of the House. I have women friends who are directors.

I have — all of my friends are working in high-powered jobs, but we’re talking about the presidency of the United States. We are talking about the commander in chief here.

I’m only guessing, but it’s an educated guess. I’ll bet that all of Quinn’s “high-powered” friends have extremely unhelpful husbands.

Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews are finally shoved aside by the NBC brass:

After months of accusations of political bias and simmering animosity between MSNBC and its parent network NBC, the channel decided over the weekend that the NBC News correspondent and MSNBC host David Gregory would anchor news coverage of the coming debates and election night. Mr. Olbermann and Mr. Matthews will remain as analysts during the coverage.

The change — which comes in the home stretch of the long election cycle — is a direct result of tensions associated with the channel’s perceived shift to the political left.

“The most disappointing shift is to see the partisan attitude move from prime time into what’s supposed to be straight news programming,” said Davidson Goldin, formerly the editorial director of MSNBC and a co-founder of the reputation management firm DolceGoldin. [e.a.]

So finally someone noticed that news and views don’t mix! That paying someone explicitly to provoke gets a TV network in hot water.

I’ve been hatin’ on Olbermann for a long time, ever since I read that he considers himself brave and courageous and that some people consider him knowledgeable. Here’s what I wrote in 2006:

I don’t know whom to loathe more—Olbermann or the “journalist” who is the author of this celebrity profile. He is oh-so-impressed that Olbermann throws around some WWII buzzwords:

Conservatives may hate his attacks, but no one doubts that he comes across as one of the smarter guys in the room. When he laid into then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on Aug. 30, he threw in references to Neville Chamberlain and the policy of appeasement. Let’s see NBC network anchor Brian Williams pull that off.

A long time ago, I wrote on this blog that you’ll never hear me complaining about the dumbing-down of the culture:

You will rarely hear me complain about the dumbing-down of culture. All that worried talk about the sorry state of TV, the movies, music videos, video games, hip-hop, whatever. My position on this is: that’s not culture–that’s pop culture. And it’s supposed to be dumb, or dumb enough for a mass audience to get it

In principle, someone who calls her blog Infotainment Rules shouldn’t complain about the dumbing-down of the news, either. Yeah? You think? Well, I’m complaining. But it’s not the infotainment format and packaging that’s the problem. It’s the fucking ignorance of our “journalists”—from Olbermann, who seems to be riding high (I’m doubtful) to the sycophants who profile him—that’s got me down.

Meanwhile, it appears I was wrong. I predicted it would be curtains at MSNBC for Olbermann, who was so grotesquely partisan for the Democrats. Instead, the cable network rewarded him with a seat at the anchor desk on election night. That counts as a trend I’ll have to watch.

So: I was spectacularly wrong in predicting Olbermann’s imminent demise in 2006. And I would be an idiot to predict it now. I’m sure we’ll soon be hearing about how “dissent” is being “stifled” by NBC. That will be  Olbermann’s “argument,” and he’ll have many supporters, I’m sure. But he has been shoved aside—and not a moment too soon.

I’ll keep watching his career, though, and you should too—because he’s a bellwether of the trend toward open partisanship in the newsbiz. That trend will not diminish. It will grow. But probably not at NBC.