I woke up this morning to a Twitter feed full of references to a one-night stand that Sarah Palin allegedly had in 1987 when she was a single woman. Because the tryst supposedly involved former NBA star Glen Rice, the story lit up across the board -- politics, media, sports, and gossip blogs ran it, most of them citing the National Enquirer by way of Joe McGinniss's new book about the ex-governor. Most mainstream sources, to their credit, didn't waste a blurb on this revelation. For those that did, outrage followed.
For the umpteenth time, we find ourselves back here in this very familiar and unsettling spot that forces us to debate the merits of covering what's happening in Sarah Palin's life when anyone can plainly see that the answer is absolutely nothing. Other bits about Palin that leaked reveal she used cocaine, she cheated on her husband with one of his business partners, and that she's mean to her kids. We'll have to wait a week to find out how McGinniss got this information, and why any of it matters. (An early New York Times review says it doesn't.)
Some reporters tried to spin the story to show its significance through portraying Palin as a hypocrite for advocating abstinence only for us to discover she didn't heed her message. This, too, fits a narrative. In the October issue of the Atlantic, David Greenberg says, "Today's scandal-a-month journalism has clearly gotten out of control. Rationalizations abound, many of them quite rickety, for tilting the balance between privacy and exposure ever further from the former and closer to the latter."
Journalists who did report the alleged affair today caught flak for it, but one person who seemed to escape the wrath was the man who started it all: McGinniss. His hope of selling lots of books trumps all, and it appears that his tactics and tips are all but forgotten and forgiven. We expect daily reporters to use good judgment and common sense in a way we don't from writers seeking a best-seller. Once the story was out there today, it was unbelievably hard to pass up.
Why? In short, because Palin absolutely fascinates us. It's why books have been written about her, why movies will follow, and why the Washington Post's Dana Milbank famously took a month reprieve from reporting about her. We all experience Palin fatigue, yet we still can't stay away when the next juicy story drops. Through all of Palin's Fox News appearances, dissection of her emails, bus tour, family saga, there are people wondering aloud "Who Cares?" in hopes that others will back away. Yet, here we are again.
Last night I attended a lecture given by New Yorker movie critic David Denby on the subject of whether movies have a future. Denby questioned how the younger generation of theatergoers today are experiencing cinema. As summer blockbusters have become the norm, Denby said, studios have shied further away from greenlighting arguably more important works built around drama, suspense, wit, irony, and other traditional methods of dynamic storytelling. Younger people are now seeing movies built around franchises like Transformers that they already know and love and crave more of.
Journalism, I believe, sits in the same strange position. Reporters used to inform people about what they needed to know, cultivating the conversation. But journalism today is much more reactive, reflecting what people are already talking about. Who Cares about Palin? It's incredibly obvious that people do care about her. And the discussion of why people do is vastly more interesting than talk of her sexual history. Having that national conversation could go a long way toward fixing this problem for future generations; it would also help children get a glimpse into how thrilling politics can be once you eliminate the explosions and get back to the dialogue that was once so fantastic.
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She is like a accident that you drive by.
You don't want to see anything gory or bad, but you still slow down and look intently when passing.
Who cares? Anyone who is still outraged that McCain put this nasty hypocritical meglomaniac in a position to be a heartbeat from the presidency should care.
The Times and other mainstream media sniffs in disapproval? The Times forfeited its role as the arbiter of journalistic integrity sometime early in the Bush administration. McG did what the Times and others should have done in 2008: Go up to Alaska and come back with the story of the real Sarah Palin, instead of buying her "soccer mom" nonsense hook, line, and sinker.
What is strange, interesting, odd, weird, puzzling -- is that Palin holds her head high, is not laid low, is bloodied but unbowed, no matter what comes her way. You would think, eventually, she would give it up. She seems incredibly thick-skinned, at least in public. She can't help coming back for more, the media can't stop itself, and neither can we. The more we say "Who Cares?" the more we seem to care. Sure, it's a negative kind of caring. But will it sell books?
You cannot campaign against prostitution and sampled the trade with impunity. You cannot publicly declare a campaign against unethical business practices and also been a participant in one. You are free to explain and present proof in your case or cause to refute or mitigate, but it is still a non- privacy issue.
I may have proorly stated the case, and that is probably the case, because I am aware that many, many far more qualified have written more eloquently and convincingly, but it seems they were not read or they were forgotten. Maybe this little attempt to point out some facts, and fundamentals of the issue will stir some to search out those better explanations...I certainly hope so.
Her life as a politician who attacks the legitimacy of a sitting president is another matter.That is of significance.
Palin Supports Education
Outstanding perspectives! Great plans! Bold approach to educational strategies! I believe educational awareness is Mrs. Palin’s true strength. I encourage her to continue to assist the cause of higher-level learning. I also believe that her many talents benefit the highway to consequential life. Now is not a time to give up but thrust the value of learning into the arena of education. Please review the Video and experience the results of the logic of teaching and systematic learning.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Bethchem1121?feature=mhsn
Then is it that journalism?
I will wait for the final facts to be revealed. Palin has been a target for a long, long time. If she did the trip then she should pay the toll meter and lose her popularity. If on the other hand McMouth was lying someone should leave him crying. I'll just wait for all the facts. If the facts are irrefutable, then I will take my hat off to the mouth that drools and say job well done.
M. Watson
Witness Newt Gingrich relentlessly "exposing" Bill Clinton's peccadillos -- all while having his own long-term affair.
Witness the family-values preacher Ted Haggard, who tried to pray the gay away with elaborate purple prose from his televised pulpit, all while meeting secretly with a gay boy-toy, smoking meth no less!!!
Witness the avuncular and "conservative" John McCain -- darling of the family-values people just a few years ago -- who in reality abandoned his faithful and long-suffering wife -- permanently injured from a car wreck -- for a younger, blonder, richer Cindy McCain.
Sarah Palin lectures us all on abstinence-only education and her own daughter is knocked-up at the age of 16. She tells us that she's a righteous follower of the ten commandments, then we find out about affairs and lies and swindles.
We're sick to death of these self-righteous MORONS and we love watching them being taken down off their high horses, inch by inch, until their feet are ankle deep in the mud of life -- just like the rest of us.
were the charges - accusations - of sleeping with Glenn Rice, cheating on her husband or snorting cocaine proven 'true' ... I think most conservatives would dump her back in Alaska and she'd be smacked with tomatoes...
one person's hypocrisy doesn't make folks who believe in her (whoever they are) hypocrites.
I'm curious if it's true...