Going Rogue: Gotcha!

Never underestimate how much shear chutzpah, ambition and attractiveness can get a person in this day and age. Try at least $1.2 million.

Take former Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin who stands to make a fortune from her personal memoir, Going Rogue. Meanwhile, a lot of media personalities are capitalizing on her box office drawing power for their own benefit. Only in America!

Palin's 413 page memoir was written at break neck speed with ghostwriter Lynn Vincent, who also helped write Donkey Cons: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Democratic Party. HarperCollins, owned by Rupert Murdoch, will publish a first run of 1.5 million copies.

The Associated Press bought a copy of the book and has printed some of the book's most controversial content. This led Palin to criticize AP for "erroneously reporting the contents of the book" in a Facebook sales pitch Friday, and to ask her fans to "keep your powder dry, read the book."

In Going Rogue Palin writes about her childhood, her family, Alaska and the 2008 presidential campaign. Palin says she did the interview with CBS News anchor Katie Couric as a favor to her because she felt sorry for Couric's low ratings. She was asked to do so by Nicole Wallace, a senior John McCain presidential campaign adviser and former CBS News consultant.

The Couric interview took place over several days and covered a wide range of topics. In her book, Palin describes Couric as condescending, biased and "badgering." And she says CBS News left the most substantive content from the interview on the cutting room floor. Palin says she was taken aback by what she calls Couric's "gothca" questions. For instance, this exchange:

"COURIC: And when it comes to establishing your world view, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this -- to stay informed and to understand the world?

PALIN: I've read most of them again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media --

COURIC: But what ones specifically? I'm curious.

PALIN: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me over all these years.

COURIC: Can you name any of them?

PALIN: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news."

This interview was widely viewed, including by members of the McCain/Palin campaign, as devastating for Palin. Since her selection at the Republican convention her popularity had been soaring. The Couric interview was a critical turning point in the 2008 presidential election.

Friday, CBS News President Sean McManus reacted to Palin's charges, "In this case, I really do think that the quality of the interview and the quality of the questions speak for themselves." He went on, "It's really difficult for me to think that any of the questions were unfair or any of them were questions that a vice presidential candidate shouldn't be expected to receive."

Palin also criticizes ABC News anchor Charlie Gibson for his arrogance and line of questioning. For instance:

"GIBSON: Do you agree with the Bush doctrine?

PALIN: In what respect, Charlie?

GIBSON: The Bush -- well, what do you -- what do you interpret it to be?

PALIN: His world view.

GIBSON: No, the Bush doctrine, enunciated September 2002, before the Iraq war.

PALIN: I believe that what President Bush has attempted to do is rid this world of Islamic extremism, terrorists who are hell bent on destroying our nation. There have been blunders along the way, though. There have been mistakes made. And with new leadership, and that's the beauty of American elections, of course, and democracy, is with new leadership comes opportunity to do things better.

GIBSON: The Bush doctrine, as I understand it, is that we have the right of anticipatory self-defense, that we have the right to a preemptive strike against any other country that we think is going to attack us. Do you agree with that?

PALIN: Charlie, if there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent against American people, we have every right to defend our country. In fact, the president has the obligation, the duty to defend."

Of course, the "Bush doctrine" was well covered by all the newspapers and news magazines for weeks before and after the Iraq war. This wasn't a trick question, nor was the question he asked that led her to observe you can see Russia from Alaska. Nor was the question two weeks later by Couric asking what newspaper's Palin read "to understand the world."

In "Going Rogue" Palin also criticizes the McCain campaign for keeping her bottled up, for making her pay $50,000 in "vetting" expenses, making her wear fancy clothes and mishandling her teen daughter's pregnancy announcement. Particularly noteworthy is that her almost son-in-law, Levi Johnson, is not mentioned in the book.

Now Governor Palin takes her book campaign on the road. Beginning with Grand Rapids, Michigan, she will visit states that any aspiring Republican presidential candidate would target. She has interviews with Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Walters and Rush Limbaugh. And then she runs the gauntlet on Fox News (also owned by Rupert Murdoch), Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Greta Van Susteren.

Remember, no gotcha questions, please!

 

Follow Joe Peyronnin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/joepeyronnin

Comments

[TiredOfTheScareMongerers]

Her SarahPac website is now offering autographed copies of this book for donations of $100 or more. $$$ is the only thing she thinks about.

Her shallowness is appalling - did it never occur to her that there would be fact-checking, or as she phrased it, opposition­-research?

AKMuckraker (Jeanne Devon), a contributor here on HuffPost, has an excellent and entertaining write-up, including a number of links from this page:
http://www.themudflats.net/2009/11/16/rogue-nuggets-from-the-pages-of-going-rogue/

[tmf945]

show us the receipt, canceled check, bank withdrawal or something to show you were charged for your own vetting...­betcha cant

[Marnie1]

The reverse Birther poly. Check but probably not Check mate quite yet.

[Doofus]

This seems like just the place to insert
a shameless plug for 'Going Rouge', the
OTHER Sarah Palin bio due out tomorrow.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/22/going-rouge-ithe-nationi_n_330682.html

I know which one I'll be reading.

[EbonBear]

Standard Republican these days. All her mistakes are someone else's fault, if you fail to comprehend basic policy questions, it's because the interviewer was biased.

[Marnie1]

And Kate wins the Nobel prize for gotcha journalism for asking what newspaper Sarah reads.
"Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman" would have been a correct if not impressive answer for a VP candidate, and she apparently doesn't even know it exists.

Sarah still hasn’t figured out why that stumper was made such a big deal of.

Until she has grown the capacity to figure out why, at least one of the two, above mentioned issues are still issues, she will remain a very nasty cold and not a pandemic.

Unless Murdoch or the Rev Moon, or some such nasty desease, decide to pimp her into the WH. Then things will get dicy.

[Mugzi]

The title of her book is interesting. According to Webster's Dictionary the definition of rogue "1: vagrant, tramp, 2: a worthless or dishonest person, 3: a mischievious person: scamp, 4: a horse inclined to shirk or misbehave, 5: an individual exhibiting a chance and usu. inferior biological variation.­"
rogue (adj) being vicious and destructive

Maybe the title is accurate after all!

[jbeeaz]

I saw that and wondered about spell checking then decided it was sarcasm intended for the deluded sheep that bought and will buy, believe and will quote from her book as 'Gospel'.

[S1m0n]

Leaving Levi out could be tact. I wouldn't fault her book for that, but the rest is devestating.

[sjones66]

He threatened her -- he said he knew "stuff" and low and behold, sections of the book are missing. Or, if you believe the leaked reports from last month, sections on Levi are missing.

At any rate, she certainly wasn't being gracious today on Oprah when she dogged Levi in front of Piper, saying he is busy doing "p0rn" . It turns out he's only showing his backside -- but that's irrelevant. Tripp will see that on youtube one day. Petty. She's supposed to be the adult here.

Not so much.

[kdlaiusa]

This woman should devote the entire book to thank the McCain campaign. It's them who brought her out of nowhere and now she's enjoying her extended 15 minutes of fame.

Ripping the McCain people? That tells you everything about this woman.

[gurukalehuru]

If the Gibson and Couric interviews had been job interviews, Sarah Palin would have failed them.

[S1m0n]

They were and she did.

[gurukalehuru]

Suggested alternate title: Bring On The Horseflies! (p. 279)

[mcmutter]

Sarah got her $1.2 million from a FOX subsidiary. It must have been a tough sell (sarcasm intended).

[Smithn]

So far we have: Katie Couric, Charlie Gibson, All of McCain's people, No media allowed speech in a foreign country, No media allowed speech to conservative base, Murdoch is taking down all his video stuff, and now the Associated Press!

[Rmath]

Repubs, you can run, but you can't hide.

[Philclock]

Hillary got much more than that for her ghost-written "autobiography", didn't she?

[blizb]

God I sure hope so, at least Hillary is intelligent and well educated.

Sarah is an aging beauty queen cashing in while she can willing to take money wherever it comes from.

[Rmath]

God help us all if Palin was ever sent overseas to talk to a foreign leader. Most would think we had completely lost our minds for selecting her to represent this country.

[Rmath]

Hillary can read and write. Hillary understands the issues facing the nation. Hillary is bright and articulate and able to think on her feet. Hillary is willing to be interviewed on the fly, without a nice, sanitary, "no trick questions" framework (like Palin demands).

[Gidster]

Like all conservatives that find what they say embarrassing, they deny saying it, even though there is audio or video recordings!
She is now suggesting that the AP is misrepresenting her book, by printing excerpts from it?!?!?!?

[alumtrix]

I've never understood the line of questioning about what she reads. I guess it's because my answer would be similar. I read what pops up on the internet regardless of who the source is.

[sjones66]

And so.... it's OK for the leader of the free world to do the same? Is there really an excuse for not knowing what one reads to stay informed? Sure, you might stumble upon things, but you have your daily sources. And if you don't, maybe that;s the problem.

Let's not forget that Sarah Palin said she didn't know anything about the war in Iraq because she was focused on state issues. What "leader" ,let alone citizen, chooses to remain uninformed about the war their country is currently engaged in?

[Gidster]

Yet you are not the Governor of a state, running fro the office one heartbeat away from President.

Her knowledge or lack of it is relevant. Her claim that Gibson was arrogant and did not know about Alaska matters, was also irrelevant, she was attempting to enter the national stage, her knowledge or again obvious lack of it was relevant there as well.

Did we set the bar so low with GW Bush that Palin rates national office with no knowledge or interest in national affairs?

[blizb]

It was a standard question, when getting elected people are interested to know what education, what influences are part of a candidate's background.

The books and publication she reads may influence what kind of person she is and she couldn't answer a simple standard question regarding her own background as to what she reads.

Even is she answered "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" because I read it to my kids would have been a better answer than "all of 'em".

A person who SERIOUSLY wants to be considered for the highest office in the land should at the very least know how to answer a question regarding what she likes to read.

[TremoluxMan]

Oftentimes, a person and their outlook and philosophy is shaped by what they read. In data processing, we have an old saying, GIGO, or 'Garbage In, Garbage Out'. If you put faulty data in, you get faulty results out.
If a person feeds their mind on junk, or nothing at all, then what comes out is gibberish. That's why it it was an innocuous and legitimate question to ask what she reads. Knowing that, a questioner can get an idea of a person's perspective and world view. Further, what influences a person's thinking.
Palin, if she reads anything at all,could have cited many sources, from home-town papers to national publications. Yet, a simple question stumped her and caught her flat-footed. If something so basic had her flummoxed, how could legitimately be considered for the second highest office or potentially highest office in the country?
Evidently, she feeds her mind on nothing.

[10cats4me]

She could have answered that questions a lot of ways differently than she did. Like

"I prefer non-fiction. I have been keeping up with the biography books about Republican politicians"
OR:
" I really enjoy reading about Ronald Reagan. His books have done a lot for me."

She doesn't like when anyone won't accept her obfusive answers.

Like Oprah and the Levi question about Thanksgiving dinner:
OPRAH: "Well, is that a yes or no about him coming?"