HANNITY: Let's talk a little bit about the vice presidential choice, Sarah Palin, and your thoughts on her. I can tell you every person that I have met here -- there is an energy. Conservatives, they love her. And there have been numerous attacks by different liberal organizations -- National Organization for Women and some others against her. How do you think they're going to stand up?

MATALIN: Well, you know that there were -- the Democrats are worried by this choice, because they don't know how to attack her. They've tried every which way. They've tried the kitchen sink, but all it's done is revealed their elitism, their sexism, their hypocrisy. They're not going to make it stick. And it's not just about conservatives, although that's a big chunk of it and her position on life, and the obvious talking the talk, not just walking the walk. It's regular mainstream women who've prioritized their families, but wanting to have good jobs, don't want to be overtaxed, get the energy issue.

HANNITY: We're running out of time, but they tried to make the attack that she has a young daughter, pregnant and engaged. Is that fair that they would attack that? I mean, I don't remember Chelsea Clinton being attacked. I don't remember Al Gore's children being attacked. I thought there was a general rule that children of candidates ought to be left alone. And Alan knows I've said that many times.

Earlier this month, at a Republican Senate fund-raiser, McCain told a downright nasty joke making fun of Janet Reno, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton.

The fact that McCain had made the tasteless joke was reported in major newspapers, as was the vain attempt by his press secretary to initially deny what McCain had done. But in several major newspapers, the joke itself was kept a secret. When McCain subsequently apologized to President Clinton, the Washington Post, in its personality section, noted the apology but said the joke "was too vicious to print."

The Los Angeles Times, in its Life & Style section, provided an oblique rendering of the joke that did not fully convey its ugliness. When Maureen Dowd penned a column in the New York Times about the joke, she wrote that McCain "is so revered by the press that his disgusting jape was largely nudged under the rug." But Dowd chose not to relay the joke, either.

The joke did appear in McCain's hometown paper, the Arizona Republic, and the Associated Press did report the joke in full, so everyone in the press had access to McCain's words. But by censoring themselves, the Post, the Times and others helped McCain deflect flak and preserved his status as a Republican presidential contender.

Salon feels its readers deserve the unadulterated truth. Though no tape of McCain's quip has yet emerged, this is what he reportedly said:

"Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?
Because her father is Janet Reno."