Matt Lewis has a column today over at the Daily Beast headlined, “You Betcha I Was Wrong About Sarah Palin: It’s time to admit that, whatever their motivation was at the time, the Alaska governor’s critics always had a point.” I don’t really disagree with much of what Matt says when it comes to noting that Palin’s speaker-circuit pandering and Hee-Haw witticisms have become cringe-worthy—speaking as a Christian, I was pretty dissappointed last year when Palin referred to waterboarding as baptism for terrorists. As usual, Matt makes some very good points so I encourage you to read his column.

However, I am interested in why Matt felt he needed to offer up a personal mea culpa here. Despite her recent and much criticized speech in Iowa and feint at presidential ambitions, it’s not really news the epitaph to her political career has been written. And yet, the gratuitous media persecution of her and her family has, and continues to be, entirely shameful and unjustified. See the CNN anchor mocking her daughter’s assault, as recently as this October.