I’m not a huge fan of Sarah Palin, even though she does look pretty damn good in running shorts. But I will rush to defend her against the mindless, partisan hypocrisy of the liberal media - this time at the hands of the Associated Press.

Reviewing books and holding ALL public figures accountable is supposed to be at the core of good journalism - but the Associated Press’ treatment of Palin’s book is unprecedented and unfair.

When the former Republican vice presidential candidate and former Alaska governor wrote her autobiography, the AP found a copy before its release and assigned 11 reporters to fact check all 432 pages.

The AP claims Palin misstated her record with regard to travel expenses and taxpayer-funded bailouts, using statements widely reported elsewhere. But it also speculated into Palin’s motives for writing “Going Rogue: An American Life,” stating as fact that the book “has all the characteristics of a pre-campaign manifesto.”

Palin quickly hit back on a Facebook post titled “Really? Still Making Things Up?” ”Imagine that,” the post read. “11 AP reporters dedicating time and resources to tearing up the book, instead of using the time and resources to ‘fact check’ what’s going on with Sheik Mohammed’s trial, Pelosi’s health care takeover costs, Hasan’s associations, etc. Amazing.”

The AP, an organization with over 4,000 employees and 49 Pulitzer Prizes wouldn’t comment on their own reporting for this story.

The treatment Palin’s book received appears to be something new for the AP. The organization did not review for accuracy recent books by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, then-Sen. Joe Biden, either book by Barack Obama released before he was president or autobiographies by Bill or Hillary Clinton. This reminds me of when CNN’s Wolf Blitzer fact-checked a SNL skit on Obama, vigorously defending their anointed one against political satire on a comedy show.  Did they ever fact check skits skewering Bush, Cheney or even the Pope? Of course not.  SNL should have done a skit on CNN’s kneejerk defense of Obama. But would that have been satire or irony? Hmmmm.

Regardless, 11 AP reporters poring over every word of Palin’s book is excessive - and further proof of the media’s maltreatment of the hapless  hockey mom from Wasilla. Again, I am not big supporter of Sarah Palin, but if the partisan media keeps this up, I may end up in the Palin camp after all.