A reader writes:
Good for you in the discussion of the McGinniss book. I'm still barely more than 1/3 into it, but like you, I find the book to be marvelously well written and entertaining. And I feel I am learning something about the subject. She's no lofty intellectual, and indeed, she doesn't give a shit about policy issues–she backs into those issues based on her sense of what position would move her base. Her life is trashy, cheap and genuinely American.
For me the reaction that the McGinniss book spawns is even more entertaining than the book itself, especially the inside-the-Beltway reaction.
This review by Matt Dallek at Salon could almost be a self-parody of Beltway attitudes. McGinniss has done us all a great disservice, it argues, because the book is giving Palin another chance to play victim at the expense of major media, a game she plays so well:
"Palin's defenders have used, and will continue to use, the book as proof that her enemies will not stop in their single-minded quest to destroy Palin. Thus, a book like 'The Rogue' actually helps the former governor, deepens the image of her as a media victim, lending the veneer of credence to her charge that enemies are out to tarnish her reputation at any price."
The smart, liberal Washington set therefore know that the best approach to take with respect to Palin is to ignore her, but perhaps join in with her by suggesting that those who expose the dark underside of her existence are just nutters. What's the matter with this picture?
The people actually do have an interest in knowing something about what drives the people who seek high office and whose banter drives public debate. And in the case of the lady from Wasilla, the distance between her proclaimed values and her actual conduct is enormous. She presents herself as a morally stalwart, family values woman. But her own life is morally compromised at every corner, and her conduct shows that her family is little more than a stage prop. When one wonders will a Palin child ever actually graduate from Wasilla High School? And why shouldn't we know this?
I wish the reviews would actually deal with the compelling narrative McGinniss has provided, instead of constantly positioning themselves among their peers as anti-anti-Palin. In fact, I wish much of the media would stop the positioning and deal with the facts in the book, none of which the Palins have specifically denied. They've just thrown out broad accusations, including the ludicrous one attacking an email that actually demonstrates McGinniss's scrupulousness in not including the countless stories and rumors that abound in Wasilla in the book.
If the Beltway gave McGinniss the same respect they give Bob Woodward – whose sources are just as mysterious but far more powerful – we'd have advanced in our understanding of the Palin disaster in the GOP and America. But liberals more than anyone want this understanding shut down. Because the poor fuckers are afraid of being called lefty haters. What a bunch of cowards and poseurs.
The Dish 