Wednesday, November 11, 2009

What's In Sarah Palin's New Book?


"Going Rogue: An American Life" ships out officially on November 17th (it's already a huge bestseller in preorder) but as advance copies are released and Governor Palin's upcoming Oprah interview nears, speculation and leaks from the usual sources abound.

For instanceMark Halperin in Time characterizes Palin and MCcain staffers as being 'nervous and curious' but it's hard for me to imagine why they would be. After all, most of Palin's people have been by the governor's side for a long time and they lived what happened. And if you're one of McCain's people, you also know what happened. If you happen to be someone like Steve Schmidt, who made a mini career for yourself out of bashing Palin after the election to hide your own ineptness, you likewise ought to have a pretty good idea of what to expect. Buy the ticket, take the ride.

According to Halperin, the book also has no index, so any DC insiders who wan ttoknow what she said about them won't be able to flip to the back pages and scan for their own names. If they want to know what Sarah Palin has to say about them, they will have to buy the book—and read it all.

Smart girl, that Sarah Palin...

Here are a few other things Halperin purports to have sources reveal to him about the book.

It's got five long chapters in it.There's some well deserved push back at certain McCain staffers and media figures, and yes, she names names. The book focuses on who she is and how she became that way, including the importance of G-d and faith in her life rather than pages of policy wonkishness, another smart move on her part. She'll have plenty of opportunities for that later anyway.

And most importantly, according to Halperin's sources the book manages to capture Governor Palin's warm, personal and unpretentious tone.

If that last bit is true, there are going to be a lot of people who are going to realize that the real Sarah Palin is very different than the cartoon character portrayed in the media and on Saturday Night Live.



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