Archive for April 2011
THE ROGUE Moves Closer to Sept. 20 Publication
April 15, 2011
FedEx just delivered what are called “first pass” pages of The Rogue. It’s the first time I’ve seen the book set in type, and also (except for a final chapter which I’ll deliver in early June) my last chance to make changes.
As I work through the 322 pages, a professional proofreader and a Random House lawyer are doing the same, the lawyer making sure that changes we agreed on after his legal vetting have been implemented.
I started writing the book in September and finished a draft before Christmas. My wife, Nancy Doherty–a freelance editor of exceptional skill–read it and attached dozens of post-its to pages about which she had comments. I rewrote. She reread. I rewrote. My agent and my personal attorney, Dennis Holahan, also read it. I rewrote and revised.
On Jan. 15 I delivered it to my official editor at Crown Publishing (a division of Random House, Inc.) He read it. I rewrote. Then it went to a copy editor. She read it more carefully than anyone before her. Many more post-its and a lot of her exquisitely clear handwriting in the margins. I revised. Then the lawyer had his crack at it. After an eight-hour meeting at Random House offices, the lawyer, my editor and I worked for three weeks by conference call and email to make the book ready for print.
And now it’s in print, in “first pass” form. I’ll return the corrected pages by April 26, then won’t see them again until the book is published in September.
Not quite the same as blogging.
Cold Water Thrown on Simmering Trig Hoax Allegations?
April 15, 2011
UK’s Daily Mail posts a photo of Sarah at her Dallas speech that shows her with “not only a pregnant stomach but a visibly fuller face and breasts, all signs of late pregnancy.” Case closed, say they.
Hey, none of the pictures of Sarah pregnant-or-not with Trig is the Zapruder film. None of them proves anything. At most, people can use them to support the opinion they already have. I just learned today, for example, that a couple of Brits spotted about-to-be princess Kate Middleton’s face on a mango jelly bean. Truth is as the eye of the beholder sees it.
But a mainstream backlash is developing against impudent suggestions that questions about Trig’s birth are legitimate. MSM news and opinion site Slate (owned by Washington Post Co.) posts an article headlined “Occam’s Razor Says Sarah Palin Is Trig’s Mother.”
Who doesn’t like Occam’s Razor? This is a philosophical principle posited by a 14th Century Franciscan friar called William of Ockham. It says, bottom line, that when there are varying explanations of an occurrence, the simplest is most likely to be true. In this instance, Sarah Palin gave birth to Trig. Period. End of story. That’s the simplest explanation. Occam says, “No story here, move along now.”
But as I just mentioned in a Twitter post, Occam never got to Wasilla. If he had, he might have thrown away his razor and grown a beard.
Sarah Palin’s Fantasy Life: UPDATE
April 14, 2011
When nothing else seems to be working, Sarah can be relied upon to conjure fantasies of older men coveting her daughters.
Palingates asks, “Why are sexual and other threats against her daughters such a recurring theme in Sarah Palin’s life? Why does she repeatedly paint an image where her daughters are the objects of men’s fantasies?…Who is sexualizing Sarah Palin’s underage daughters? Who’s conjuring up images involving sexual violence against her daughters again and again and again?”
Well, we all know that answer to that one: Chuck Heath’s middle daughter, that’s who.
And Papa Chuck makes sure to say, “we armed ourselves.” Just as they did against Trooper Mike Wooten.
As the father of two daughters, I can’t help but feel sorry for Sarah’s. What an atmosphere in which to grow up.
UPDATE: Jesse Griffin at Immoral Minority has spoken to Shawn Christy, the young man against whom Sarah obtained the restraining order.
Posted in Chuck Heath, Joe McGinniss, Mike Wooten, Palin children, Sarah Palin, The Rogue | 
Tags: chuck heath, fantasy, palin children, palin daughters, Sarah Palin, sexualize, wooten | 
32 Comments »
Blodget Pokes a Stick at the Sleeping Bear
April 14, 2011
Henry Blodget, CEO and editor-in-chief of Business Insider, writes that Northern Kentucky University professor Brad Scharlott alleges Sarah Palin “probably staged a gigantic hoax about being Trig’s mother,” but “our media has been too wimpy and pathetic to investigate.”
The sleeping bear is awake now and starting to growl.
To be clear: I am not at this point accusing Sarah of staging a hoax in regard to Trig.
I am, however, like Andrew Sullivan at The Daily Beast and Jesse Griffin at The Immoral Minority, saying that mainstream media, as well as Alaskan media and some otherwise progressive Alaska bloggers, gave Sarah a free pass re Trig in 2008, and have continued to denigrate anyone who suggests that the issue–a cornerstone of her political identity–is worth exploring.
The question now is whether the mainstreamers will revoke the pass, given that they’ve written Sarah off for 2012.
“Ultimate Makeover” for Sarah Palin on Friday?
April 13, 2011
Sarah’s next speech will be at a Women of Joy gathering in Oklahoma City on Friday. Women of Joy is an evangelical organization that’s part of Phil Waldrep Ministries. In its mission statement, the Phil Waldrep Evangelistic Association says it seeks “to spread the gospel to all of the world.”
Sarah spoke to a Women of Joy conference in Louisville in spring of 2010, urging her audience not to “let anyone try to convince you that God should be separated from the State.” Transcript of her speech available here.
It seems to me that Sarah has been badly wounded by her precipitous drop in popularity and relevance. Seeking solace, and trying to rebuild her self-confidence, which has always been far more fragile than her public appearances would suggest, she’s returning to her evangelical–Christian Dominionist roots.
The degree to which she’s wedded to Dominionist beliefs is something into which I delve deepy in The Rogue.
What better place for Sarah to lick her recent wounds than at a “Women of Joy” gathering in Oklahoma City? There’s no indication that Phil Waldrep will be there himself–he’s busy building his own evangelical radio network–but no doubt someone will be there, like Thomas Muthee was in Wasilla, to pray that Sarah remains impervious to infiltration by devils.
And if she’s really lucky, she might get nominated–if not by the GOP for president–at least by the Women of Joy for the “Girls Night Out Ultimate Makeover,” offered by Phil Waldrep’s organization.
Posted in evangelical, Joe McGinniss, Sarah Palin, The Rogue | Tags: christian, dominionist, evangelical, phil waldrep, Sarah Palin, the rogue, women of joy | 16 Comments »
Let Sleeping Bears Lie
April 12, 2011
You would think that just as Slate, Salon and The Daily Beast are concluding that Sarah Palin has become yesterday’s breakfast, the last thing in the world she would want is to re-raise the question of whether she actually did give birth to Trig. Yet, with the help of ex-spokesman Bill McAllister, that’s exactly what she has done.
Sarah’s contribution was to endorse Donald Trump’s wacky foray into the question of President Obama’s natural born citizenship. Then McAllister launched a ballistic attack against a journalism professor from Northern Kentucky University who wrote an unpublished paper suggesting that mainstream media have given Sarah a free pass on the matter of Trig’s parentage. Absent McAllister’s tirade, it’s unlikely that Brad Scharlott’s paper would ever have reached a readership outside Highland Heights, Ky.
But now an issue that was dead and buried is alive again, with Andrew Sullivan posting about it at The Daily Beast today.
The revival of questions about Trig will make it difficult for Sarah to launch a presidential campaign without addressing the issue, which to this point she has steadfastly refused to do.
Sometimes it’s better to let the sleeping bear lie.
Re: Pandora’s Box
April 11, 2011
When I wrote that Sarah might think Pandora’s Box is a basketball defense, it was because I thought she might have confused it with the box-and-one, which was no doubt employed against her during her days as a Wasilla High point guard.
“The box-and-one defense is a great way to stop an offensive player.”
“The box-and-one zone is an extremely effective way to shut down a team that has one main scoring threat. As a defense, it is not as commonly used as other zones, but that does not mean it is not as efficient. It can really shut down a one-dimensional team and give your own squad a real boost. Here is how to run the box-and-one zone defense in basketball…”
Read more: How to Run a Zone Box-and-One basketball defense | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2330634_run-zone-boxandone-basketball-defense.html#ixzz1JG9aTElR
Sarah Palin hearts Trump: she once yearned for Ivana
April 11, 2011
As I mention in The Rogue, Sarah once drove from Wasilla to J.C. Penney in Anchorage to get a glimpse of Ivana Trump as she promoted a new line of perfumes. She told Todd she was going to Costco to buy groceries. But she was really going to J.C. Penney to see Ivana because, as she told the Anchorage Daily News, she was “so starved for any semblance of glamor and culture.”
Now that she’s toeing his birther line, maybe The Donald will let her sit on his lap.
Posted in Anchorage Daily News, Sarah Palin, The Rogue, Todd Palin | Tags: anchorage, costco, culture, donald trump, glamor, ivana trump, j.c. penney, Sarah Palin, the donald, wasilla | 32 Comments »
Amazon.com
April 10, 2011
Amazon now has a Joe McGinniss page
Posted in Joe McGinniss, Sarah Palin, The Rogue | Tags: amazon.com, joe mcginniss, joemcginniss, new book, rogue, Sarah Palin, the rogue | 1 Comment »
