PHOTO Natalie Portman as The Swan Queen Amidala or “The Black Swanidala”

The HBO film Game Change has rekindled America’s interest in the self-proclaimed “pit bull with lipstick” and former governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, whose nomination as John McCain’s Vice Presidential running mate in 2008 took the political world, and the nation, by surprise. She then became an overnight political superstar after making her national stage debut with a dynamic 40-minute speech at the Republican National Convention.

Keep reading to relive the highlights of our coverage of Palin’s meteoric rise to fame that includes numerous silly Photoshopped images and even a couple pen and ink drawings from our “early early years.”