Fourteen minutes and one second … 14 minutes and two seconds … 14 minutes and three seconds … . Sarah Palin‘s 15 minutes of fame are just about up, but she’s going to sprint to the finish line. Her memoir, Going Rogue, hits the bookstores today, but most of the juicy stuff had already been leaked. And it really wasn’t that juicy. John McCain’s aides were mean to her. Boo-hoo. Katie Couric was mean to her. Sob.
Static commends her for leaving near-miss-son-in-law Levi Johnston out of the book altogether. Johnston would have provided a Jerry Springer-ish element that might have helped book sales. Power to Palin for resisting the urge to sell out on that point (though, of course, she already sold out in a major way by resigning as Alaska governor in order to score a book deal).
A year ago when Palin was riding the crest of her popularity, she reportedly sought an advance of $7 million to $11 million to write her book, roughly the same advance money that was paid to Hillary Clinton for her memoirs. Once reality set in, Palin settled for $1.25 million in the hopes that she could earn some real cash if the book takes off. And it just might.
After all, Rush Limbaugh has a large, creepy following of fanatics, and he’s loving on this book. “You’ve got enough in here that people who get hold of this, like the AP or any of the state-controlled media, they’re going to focus on the soap opera aspects of your book, and they’re going to ignore what is truly one of the most substantive policy books I’ve read,” Limbaugh told his followers. “This woman, Gov. Palin, clearly is jazzed by policy.” (Which leaves one wondering whether Rush gets his own policy thrills by reading right-wing comic books.)
The Tina Fey clone is also jazzed by her God-fearing love of all things American and chatting about it on her Facebook page. “The book tour starts this week, and I look forward to it!” she wrote at 4:43 a.m. on Sunday. (When Static is up at 4:43 a.m. on Sunday, it’s a continuation of the partying from Saturday night; Sarah you naughty wench!)
“I’m most looking forward to meeting many of you, shaking your hands, and telling you, ‘Thanks for loving America,’ ” she continued. “I’ll give you a scoop here and tell you what’s on the book’s Dedication Page – it’s dedicated to you – Patriots – who love the U.S.A. as much as I do.”
Thank God for patriots. Without them, we wouldn’t have the USA Patriot Act that spat on the U.S. Constitution and allowed law enforcement agencies to nab people without charging them for crimes, put them in jail for months or years on end, and refuse them access to family, friends, or attorneys. Go patriots!
The Associated Press assigned a stable of reporters to double-check the information in Palin’s tome, and they spotlighted some loosey-goosey playing with the facts. Palin responded on Facebook by dissing them without addressing the errors they spotted. It was a classic Palin tactic: If you don’t like the questions raised, blather on in some other direction.
“Amazingly, but not surprisingly, the AP somehow nabbed a copy of the book before it was released,” she said on Facebook. “They’re now erroneously reporting on the book’s contents and are repeating many of the same things they spewed during the campaign and afterwards. We’ve heard 11 writers are engaged in this opposition research, er, ‘fact checking’ research! Imagine that – 11 AP reporters dedicating time and resources to tearing up the book, instead of using the time and resources to ‘fact check’ what’s going on with Sheik Mohammed’s trial, Pelosi’s healthcare takeover costs, Hasan’s associations, etc. Amazing.”
You betcha!
