guest: very good question. on the energy bill, there is new legislation from the house which requires energy efficiency labelling for newly constructed homes. existing homes are exempt. host: lawrence yun, national association of realtors chief economist. thank you. guest: thank you. host: there is abuzz this morning about a new "vanity fair" piece of dell server pailin -- article about server oarah palin. what alaskas charismatic gov wants us to know about herself does not always jive.

the author tracks the signs, political and personal, that palin was in big trouble. we will talk about this in just a moment. see you in a minute. >> during his travels next week, president obama is scheduled to meet with russian pres. medvedev. two panels look at the issues

between u.s. and russia, including arms control. live coverage after "washington journal." also at 10:00 a.m., quinnipiac univ. releases the results of a new poll. healthcare is a topic of a town hall meeting this afternoon at northern virginia president obama community president obama will take questions from an audience, and also youtube users, facebook, and twitter. >> this holiday weekend on book tv, discovering an unfamiliar side of her nation's first president. with historian and author john ferling. join our 3 our conversation sunday. it is part of part three-day

holiday weekend, starting friday morning. >> how is c-span funded? >> publicly funded. >> donations? >> government? >> c-span gets its funding through the taxes. >> federal funding? >> 30 years ago, america's cable companies created c-span as a public service, a private business initiative. no government mandate, no government money. >> "washington journal" continues. host: this article in "vanity fair" on sarah palin is getting a lot of attention. the author begins by taking us to a 11th in indiana. -- to an event in indiana. the writing of this article goes

on to say that michael steele introduces the special guest speaker as "the storm that is the hon. governor of the great state of alaska, sarah palin." he goes on to write that just for the storm is heading is one of the most intriguing issues. sarah palin was at once the sexiest and the riskiest brand in the republican party.

host: just part of the 9000 word particle. want to take your calls on the "vanity fair" article on sarah palin. we will link this on our web site. republicans, democrats, independents, separate lines for you. he goes on to write -- why do so many skilled veterans of the republican party keep loyally working for her election even after the privately realized she was casual about the truce and totally unfit for the vice presidency. perhaps most painful, how could john mccain, one of the cages survivors in contemporary politics -- and it overdeveloped

sense of his own integrity of honor -- ever have picked a person whose utter shortage of qualification for her proposed job all but disqualified him for his. merrill lypasadena, md.. caller: what he just wrote about was going to be my question. can i just address just a couple of things very quickly? host: if it can be on governor sarah palin. caller: the lipstick on a pig thing -- i thought that was you cannot make a silk purse. for some reason, they took off with that. president obama explained in

this instant, mccain would be the old ideas and sarah palin would be the lipstick. i remember listening to an interview you had on booknotes. i thought what he had to say was great. he said, compared to sarah palin, [inaudible] host: dayton, ohio, republicans line. caller: this guy does not like sarah palin. you know he is going to be nasty. as far as experience, look what we have in the white house now. he does not have a drop of experience. he is a real loser. host: more of the article -- " the clouds of tabloid conflict and controversy that swirled around her and her extended

clan, the surprise pregnancies, the tawdry and lin-laws selling drugs were poaching game. by comparison, others seem like avatars of circumspection. her life is sometimes played out like a unholy amount of desperate housewives and northern exposure." democrats line, mass. caller: i have a comment about the interview she gave to katie couric. she was asked if she knew of any supreme court decisions and she said no. just before that, the alaska supreme court fined exxon mobil

$1.5 billion. exxon mobil appealed this to the u.s. supreme court. they reduced the fine to $500 million. host: what does that mean to you? caller: she knew about the supreme court decision. she is more for the oil companies then she is for the people of alaska. host: let's hear from a republican caller from maryland. we are talking about sarah palin. have you seen the article? guestcaller: no, and i'm not gog to read it. during the election, she had the most experience of maany of the candidates. we did not want mccain. she is actually a conservative.

mccain was not. i have friends that when she was put on the ticket, they called me and said they hated her. i ask what they knew about her. they said nothing. that is typical of liberals. this woman has an amazing story. it is amazing to me that all the sexist articles on -- like the one you just spoke about. it is just a big double standard. that's just the way things are. host: thank you. you can read the piece at our web site now, c-span.org. he goes on to write, "she is a cipher by choice. when she reveals is not always the same thing as the truth. her refusal to have in-depth conversations with the national media -- they each submitted

countless and amuinterviews ovee years. there's also this article in the politico. we will read from that in a couple of minutes. a couple more calls. brunswick, ga., democrat. what do you said? caller: when sarah palin first came out in the media, there was a lot of attention about a few things. one thing that was constantly overlooked, which was easy to find on youtube, which was strange religious video. they're still there if anyone wants to see them. she is saying things that are stranger than george bush said. what america does not need is someone who is so religious. the thing about sarah palin is about distraction. it is about making america more

dumb. the big banks can continue to get away with the robbing of the american people. that guy a minute ago avoided the question twice about the 30- year loans. the federal reserve is applying its right to the banks, why does the fair reserve not give it directly to the american people? host: independent line, mass. what do you think? caller: i have been watching politics for a long time. just recently, it looks like the democrats have a parentapre-empe strike. they tried to kill any of them, from the get go. sarah palin is a prime example. any person who is going to look like a player as far as the republicans are concerned, they strike them out from the get go. host: here is the article by

jonathan martin. insults among high public profile republicans tearing open fresh was about leaks surrounding sarah palin and brief during -- rival factions close to the mccain campaign have been feuding since last fall over sarah palin usually waging the battle in the shadows.

host: we will tell you what steve schmidt said in just a moment. caller: it is sad to see a gray station like cnn -- great station like cnn getting so hung up on sarah palin she is one of the most intelligent people will run for office. she was not born in kenya like the one you all elected. you went to her background and her garbage and everything else. you never ask a question about

this so-called friends that we have, where his half brother lives. host: back to politico. here's what steve schmidt said. he fired back in an e-mail -- host: michigan, you are on the line for democrats. have you seen the "vanity fair" article? caller: no, i have not, although i have followed sarah palin very closely during the campaign and i remember the rumors never coming out of alaska. remember, when she was first nominated, hardly anybody knew she was. then there were a bunch of rumors about what she did with

the mayor's and though library, and there were rumors about the family. i think she is not capable of being president. i think she is mediocre. the best you can say about her is she is inexperienced. the people who are supporting her are supporting her based on the personality rather than the qualifications for ability. host: illinois, independent line. caller: thank you. host: any reaction to this? caller: they trasher because the democrats are definitely afraid of her. i am shocked. women's groups of this country do not stick up for her at all. if this had been a democrat women, they would have been screaming at the top of their lungs.

john mccain's people have to blame someone for the reason they lost. so let's blame sarah palin. everybody is trashing her because they're afraid of her. host: more of the "vanity fair" article by todd purdum. "it seems to have been will deter and of that the next day she openly voiced disagreement with the mccain team decision to pull out of active competition in michigan. reporters from the headquarters began to complete with her own impulses. aides told me she simply did what she wanted to do. she basically came from alaska with todd. one mccain advisor said she was given a staff of 20, but it was probably too big of a staff. to be honest with you, she could not figure out who to trust.

also, with young children traveling with her." arkansas, a republican line. caller: i enjoy c-span and it is the most information that you can get about everything that is going on in the united states. sarah palin would have made a wonderful president. why have heard other people say, she did not really have a chance. if she had been president, she would have never considered what obama has considered in medicare. i heard them say yesterday that anybody that is 70 years old, that was going to be the cutoff line for dialysis. that is horrible. there's no telling what else is in there.

i am 72. i do not need dialysis yet. it is painful. host: you can read the article at "vanity fair" website for our web site, c-span.org. it is called "it came from wasilla." . it is by todd purdum. there is some infighting among the gop on it. caller: when you said sarah palin was the sexiest of whatever of the republican party, that's a pretty sad thought. they have lost so much of their luster. they're down to the bottom of the barrel. i never thought i would say this. i almost feel sorry for the

republican party at this point. when they ruled out several pailin -- when they ruled out sarah palin -- her big line was the bridge to nowhere. it was a lie. she started with a live. -- that was a lie. how can republicans be so stupid? host: independent caller from katy, texas. caller: my reaction to "vanity fair" -- i guess you guys do not want to sell your magazine across the country. i have called a lot of magazines recently and told them do not send it to the house. these are publications that i have taken for 10 years or 20

years. host: which ones? caller: newsweek, time. host: what are you reading regularly? caller: i read the economist, the patriot post online, and the christian science monitor. i have switched what i buy as a consumer because of the vicious stories like this one in "vanity fair." to these people want to make money or go broke? 40 percent of the country is pretty conservative. host: "sarah palin decided she would make her own speech at the arizona meeting. aides found a concession speech for sarah palin written by the bush speech writer, who had also

been the principal drafter of the convention speech. palin was told there was no tradition of election night speeches by running mates and she would not be given one. palin was an assistaninsistence. she took the issue to mccain himself. again, the answer was no." florida, good morning. caller: what i have to say about sarah palin -- i am a republican. listen to this. the best thing that barack obama and joe biden had going for them is they are males. tina fey made a career of knocking sarah palin.

i think that puts sarah palin in perspective for everybody. if the republican party wants to downgrade and put the republican party in a worse position than it is now, promoting sarah palin. host: this is the photo that "vanity fair" decided to put with the article. it says they were never soulmates. boston on the democrats' line. caller: good morning. i enjoyed reading all kinds of articles about different people who run for office. what sarah pailin did -- i am a mother and a grandfather. i feel that what she did as a mother, as a woman, to her children -- i do not the mother's parade their daughters on the public stage like she did

and not protect their child. she chose to run for office and not protect her children. i think that's what brought sarah palin down. host: next call, independent caller, north carolina. what do you think about the "vanity fair" profile? caller: i have not read it yet, but i can validate a lot of what i've heard that sarah palin is one way in front of the public and one way behind the public. i went to a rally and took my daughter and another handicap to grow with us. i am handicapped also. we were in long lines waiting to get in to see the palin-mccain thing. we were pulled out of the line by the coliseum in policemployeo

pulled out all the handicapped people. we were pulled out of the line and told to get in another line. as we approach the main doors, the main entrance, all the people that were waiting in line that were not handicapped, they started screaming and hollering at us. host: what does all this mean to you? caller: we were told as we were coming in, you guys believe in taking out handicaps' that did not have a wheelchair. all the heart attacks and scoliosis, we were told we could di not get in. all the ones in will shares were

standing in for a photo opportunity. host: "the washington times" writes today -- host: "saying she was an impressive and capable candidate." host: a few more calls. the augusta, georgia, republican

line. caller: i watch c-span religiously. i love to hear all of the freedom of speech, different views. the paragraph you just read -- i watched the palin-biden debate in its entirety and i agree with the article. i was very proud of her that night, as a christian and a woman, and a voter. nobody said a word about the so- called first lady's behavior. and in the classroom, they just a dore her. i saw her say the only way she made it to where she is today is because she knew she was black

and she had to work harder. no one jumped on that terrible american remarque. caller: a little bit more -- host: a little bit more from the peice. "in the wall street mean, in the national security wing, in which she cuts no ice." caller: gov. palin -- i am looking forward to getting this copy of "vanity fair" this month for this article. i found -- i was proud of the fact that a woman made it so far, however, i do think that

she was too polarizing of a figure to bring it all together for mccain's campaign. just listening to her speeches since the election has bolster the fed that she was totally unqualified for the position. that is all i have to say. host: north carolina, independent caller. caller: good morning. i love c-span. it is not good for my blood pressure, but i love watching. host: hit the mute. caller: the fact that everybody's still feels this way about sarah palin ought to tell you something about her relevance. most people i know were not voting for mccain and the only reason they voted for the republicans was because of sarah palin. i ul