It's been a few days since the Palins learned Joe McGinniss moved in next door. Love thy neighbor as thyself, then build a fence.
"Fences make good neighbors," promised her Facebook blog. Not sure at which of the five colleges Palin studied Robert Frost's Mending Wall , but I think she missed the point. Perhaps it was the, "Something there is that doesn't love a wall" part.
Within a few hours Sarah had launched a "Joe The Stalker/Pervert" campaign. Glenn Beck called for a boycott of Random House publishing, and Random House held their ground. The Paliban swarmed with comments of "stalker", "reload", "let's burn it to the ground", and "get 'em, Todd". The following morning the Palins super-sized their fence. The "waterin' hole" must be defended.
Joe the Neighbor should have told Todd he was writing a book about Russia and heard he could research from his porch. He didn't.
But why the outrage now?
The home Joe McGinniss is renting used to be an Oxford House from 2005 until 2008. The tenants were men recently released from prison who were recovering addicts. What? No fence to protect sexy Sarah in her tank top? Dear God! Who was lurking in that house watching her children play?
The Palins themselves rented the home McGinnis is staying in for six months in 2009, but weren't interested in purchasing it. They didn't want to spend the money. Last October they were "done with the house". During the election, the Secret Service guarded the Palin home from the backyard now occupied by Mr. McGinnis. Here's a hint, Sarah - if you want to dictate who lives in the house, you should have probably bought it first.
It's predictable Palin.
Sarah has a habit of shooting down hill. One of my daughter's friends has a black eye from shooting down hill while bear hunting. It's not just a proverbial lesson, it's a literal one.
Last week, she attended a funeral with her youngest daughter. I called her daughter a "human shield". Sarah validated my metaphor with her attack on Joe McGinnis. She evoked provocative images of herself, then accused a respected journalist of "peering" at her young daughter. "I'm hot! He's a pervert!"
Ask David Letterman how accusations of pedophilia worked out. Initially, Dave looked like he'd gone too far with his tasteless joke. But her strike back about having to protect her fourteen year old daughter from David Letterman? No one was buying her manufactured outrage. She quit three weeks later.
This week, the New York Times quoted Todd Palin, "What goes around comes around".
I'm looking forward to Joe McGinniss's book.