What better way to wind down a long week than with an angry 800-comment thread? MSNBC’s antagonism is predictable, but hearts will break at the thought of one of the few reporters the righty blogosphere respects piling on. Et tu, Tapper? Palin’s spokesman, Bill McAllister, tries to set the record straight:

“Let’s start with the overwhelming mischaracterization of Gov. Palin’s stance on earmarks that has been repeated and repeated since Aug. 29,” McAllister wrote. “The governor never said that earmarks should be abolished or that the State of Alaska wouldn’t seek or accept any. Didn’t happen. What she said well before she was a national candidate (going back at least to October of 2007) was that earmark reform was necessary and the state would need to rely less on federal money than it had been.”

McAllister then pointed out that Palin made 51 earmark requests for the FY 2008 budget, totaling $256 million; and 31 requests totaling $197 million, for the FY 2009 budget.

McAllister said that for next year’s budget, Gov. Palin will only make eight requests, totaling $69 million, which will include “six ongoing federal appropriations and just two new projects: an upgrade at the Kodiak Missile Defense Facility, which is relevant to national security, and a bridge replacement critical to construction of the pending Alaska natural gas pipeline, also in the national interest.”

Follow the link for Tapper’s pungently snarky response. Exit question: Who’s going to be our favorite White House correspondent now? That guy who called the Democrats ugly looks promising.