Sarah Palin

Palin: Birthers have "fair question" about Obama

Alex Koppelman — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:58:00 PST

During her year in the spotlight, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has jumped on her fair share of conspiracy bandwagons. She's even kickstarted one or two, like the infamous "death panels." But, at least, she'd never joined up with the Birthers, the people who believe President Obama wasn't born in the U.S. and is thus not eligible under the Constitution to hold his office.

Palin's book sales top one million

Alex Koppelman — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:01:00 PST

From the moment it was announced, it was clear that Sarah Palin's memoir "Going Rogue" would be a bestseller. But the size of the book's success is still pretty amazing: According to Greg Sargent, more than one million copies have now been sold. That's after a first week in which 700,000 were bought.

Palin, Prejean: Beastly treatment for beauties

Gene Lyons — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:05:00 PST

Anybody who expects this column to lampoon beauty-pageant contestants has another think coming. Last time I made a satirical thrust in that direction, two women whose friendship I treasure coolly informed me they'd been Rodeo Queens of their respective county fairs. Did I have a problem with that?

Finally: Palin, Bachmann and tea partiers, all together

Alex Koppelman — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:45:00 PST

If you're going to hold something you're billing as the "First National Tea Party Convention," there are a couple things you really have to do. The first is to invite former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin; the second is to invite Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.

McCain comes to Palin's defense

Alex Koppelman — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:26:00 PST

John McCain really can't go anywhere these days without the subject of his old running mate, Sarah Palin, coming up. That's especially true when he's giving an interview with Fox News' Greta Van Susteren, who's been a favorite of Palin's for some time now.

The Annie Oakley of American politics

Amanda Fortini — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:35:00 PST

Sarah Palin’s ascent, not unlike Barack Obama’s, is an American story. The hockey mom becomes the mayor who becomes the governor who becomes the national candidate. She’s a folkloric character: Annie Oakley, Horatio Alger and Gatsby in one. Even her florid self-mythologizing is an accepted cultural tradition. She is the girl from the sticks who made it big. She is a pragmatic, can-do feminist who’s convinced, as she told Oprah, that an American woman can have it all but that “some things might have to be put on the back burner.” Say what you want about Palin or her positions (and, in the past, I have), it takes scrappiness and guts to strike back at the old-boys' network that anointed you by publishing a book, so soon after the campaign, detailing your frustrations and disillusionments. We might want to take a long breath before discounting her. As Gwen Ifill recently said on "This Week": “You can not underestimate the degree that women will be drawn to her story.” We don’t hear many real-life fairy-tales of American female success, which makes the few that exist intrinsically compelling.

Democrat goes rogue, declares Palin's book "great"!

Sandra Tsing-Loh — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:20:00 PST

Now hold your horses, you snarky, lefty, NPR-listening, New York Times-subscribing readers of Salon. I haven't jumped ship to declare Sarah Palin herself "great." I'm from California, after all; I am not a creationist, I am not pro-life, I have never shot a moose. Nor is my culinary specialty an Alaskan dish called "moose chili." Here on the Left Coast, along with our hummus, we prefer "turkey chili," which is perhaps less gamey and lower in fat but in the end, I ask you, is it really more humane? (Who killed the turkey? Was it a person or a corporation? This Trader Joe's we speak of -- is he union? Is his name actually "Joe"? And what is his relation to Big Oil's manipulation of the rising price of Bristol Bay canned fishery salmon to 27 cents a pound?) These are the complexities one ponders at night while falling asleep under the gristly if at times oddly tasty caribou stew that is Sarah Palin's new 400-plus-page memoir.

"Get your pit bull on!"

Edward McClelland — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:20:00 PST

Sarah Palin fans began gathering late Monday night for a book signing that wouldn't begin until 6 o'clock Tuesday evening. The signing fell during Michigan's two most sacred weeks -- firearm deer season. So Ken Bellhorn left his hunting camp at 1 a.m., and showed up at the Barnes & Noble in Woodland Mall still dressed in an orange camo jacket, a John Deere T-shirt, and hunting boots. He got there early enough to claim one of the 940 wristbands that guaranteed him an autographed copy.

Does Sarah Palin make GOP governors nervous?

Mike Madden — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:19:00 PST

Republican governors gathered outside Austin Wednesday to crow about their two newest colleagues in Virginia and New Jersey. But one of their newest ex-colleagues was also busy Wednesday, kicking off her book tour. And like anywhere in politics lately, Sarah Palin was inescapable at the Republican Governors Association meeting.

Palin-Beck 2012? Sarah says maybe

Joan Walsh — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:19:00 PST

First, let me apologize for telling you all I had Palin fatigue on Monday, and then following up by writing about Palin the next two days. I kept one promise; I've kept the term Palinpalooza out of our news coverage.

McCain defends former aides from Palin's criticism

Alex Koppelman — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:40:00 PST

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has been facing a conundrum lately: Sarah Palin's new book is filled with explicit criticism of his campaign staff, and in some cases even implicit criticism of him personally. But it wouldn't look good for him to lock horns with her publicly, and the Republican base clearly favors Palin anyway. Last week, McCain reportedly asked former senior staffers not to publicly respond to her charges.

How do you solve a problem like Jon Meacham?

Joan Walsh — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:18:00 PST

I mentioned it in passing yesterday, but Newsweek's Jon Meacham gets America's Top Clueless Male award for taking a photo Sarah Palin shot for Runner's World, and using it on a serious news story about her role in the GOP. Palin denounced the photo selection as "sexist and degrading" on her Facebook page, and she's right.

Going "rouge" with Sarah Palin

Tracy Clark-Flory — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:12:00 PST

I know, we're all experiencing some degree of Sarah Palin fatigue -- but we can never get enough of Salon's very own Rebecca Traister, who went on GRITtv with Laura Flanders on Monday to chat about the former vice presidential candidate. Along with Richard Kim, Max Blumenthal and Shannyn Moore, fellow contributors to the cheekily titled anthology "Going Rouge: Sarah Palin, An American Nightmare," Traister talked about sexism, sex appeal and the ex-governor's particular brand of feminism. It's worth watching the video below of the entire show, but here's a standout comment from Traister, who is currently working on a book about the role of women in the 2008 presidential election:

"Going Rogue" -- the shorter version

Thomas Rogers — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:18:00 PST

Sarah Palin's memoir, "Going Rogue," finally goes on sale today, after already producing an avalanche of criticism worthy of Proust. (Rush Limbaugh proclaims it "one of the most substantive policy books I've read.")

Palin gets her dream interview

Tracy Clark-Flory — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:09:00 PST

Sarah Palin has finally gotten the interview to which she felt so entitled. On Monday, ahead of the release of her new book, “Going Rogue," Oprah Winfrey delivered the “lighthearted” chat the former vice-presidential candidate says she was led to expect from her infamous sit-down with Katie Couric. Sure, there were some obligatory questions about her vice-presidential run, but she wasn’t pressed on political strategy, policy or even what newspaper she reads. It wasn't so much a campaign retrospective as it was a soft-focus Lifetime biopic.

I have Palin fatigue already

Joan Walsh — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:17:00 PST

I've gotten e-mail and Twitter messages begging me to ignore Sarah Palin's return to the national conversation, from her Oprah appearance to her book debut to the icky, Sarah-in-shorts Newsweek cover (I sure am glad Jon Meacham decided to make his mag the classy one, all about ideas!) and everything in between. I can't make Salon a Palin-free zone (nor do I want to). All I can do is promise to ban the term "Palinpalooza" from the pages of Salon. Done.

Palin faces off with Oprah, sort of

Alex Koppelman — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:25:00 PST

Whatever it is, it is not Sarah Palin's fault. Whether it's the emotional damage her daughter suffered as a result of her pregnancy becoming national news, the wardrobe she and her family were given during last year's presidential campaign, her slamming her own campaign over its decision to pull out of Michigan or anything else, someone else is to blame.

Sarah Palin not anti-choice enough?

Kate Harding — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:17:00 PST

In Salon today, Max Blumenthal writes of Sarah Palin, "her career has become a vehicle through which the right-wing evangelical movement feels it can express its deepest identity in opposition both to secular society and to its representatives in the Obama White House. Palin is perceived by its leaders -- and followers -- not as another cynical politician or even as a self-promoting celebrity, but as a kind of magical helper, the God-fearing glamour girl who parachuted into their backwater towns to lift them from the drudgery of everyday life, assuring them that they represented the 'Real America.'" That's an astute (and incredibly disturbing) assessment of how many right-wing evangelicals perceive Palin -- but some of them aren't so impressed. The 527 group American Right to Life has compiled a "prolife profile" of Sarah Palin that describes her as a cynical politician indeed, a fake anti-choicer whose "words and actions prove that she is officially pro-choice and stands against the God-given right to life of the unborn."

Quote of the day

Alex Koppelman — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:55:00 PST

John Ziegler, a conservative former radio host, has, since President Obama's victory last fall, been on a crusade on Sarah Palin's behalf. Much of his battle has been about protecting her from a media he portrays as biased against the former governor of Alaska, and countering that slant. Thing is, it would probably be a lot more believable if he weren't so unashamed to be biased in the other direction.

Why Palin's media strategy is likely to hurt her

Alex Koppelman — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:15:00 PST

No matter what the situation, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin seems to have a very definite idea of which media figures should be interviewing her. On her Facebook page earlier this month, announcing part of her book tour, Palin wrote, "An interview with Oprah Winfrey is already scheduled, and I’m also hoping to have the opportunity to talk with Bill O’Reilly, Barbara Walters, Sean Hannity, Greta Van Susteren, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham, Dennis Miller, Tammy Bruce, and others."