Leaving to one side the 2 books to have hit the US bookstores these last days - Sarah Palin's Going Rogue and The Nation's Going Rouge: An American Nightmare - by all accounts the hype surrounding the woman has been extra-ordinary. She is being touted as the leader of the GOP and 2012 presidential candidate.
Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish on The Atlantic says this:
"This is only the second time in its nearly ten-year history that the Dish has gone silent. The reason now is the same as the reason then. When dealing with a delusional fantasist like Sarah Palin, it takes time to absorb and make sense of the various competing narratives that she tells about her life. There are so many fabrications and delusions in the book, mixed in with facts, that just making sense of it - and comparing it with objective reality as we know it, and the subjective reality she has previously provided - is a bewildering task. She is a deeply disturbed person which makes this work of fiction and fact all the more challenging to read. And the fact that she is now the leader of the Republican party and a potential presidential candidate, makes this process of deconstruction an important civil responsibility. We take this seriously as we always have. We want to be fair to her, and to her family, and to the innocent people she has brought into the spotlight. And we are not reporters. We are merely analysts trying to make sense of evidence already in the public domain, evidence that points in all sorts of directions, only one of which can be true.
Since the Dish has tried to be rigorous and careful in analyzing Palin's unhinged grip on reality from the very beginning - specifically her fantastic story of her fifth pregnancy - we feel it's vital that we grapple with this new data as fairly and as rigorously as possible. That takes time to get right. And it is so complicated we simply cannot focus on anything else."
Contrast this with The Guardian's report of Palin's attendance at a book-signing:
"In launching one of the most remarkable book tours in American political and publishing history, Palin is becoming a dizzying mix of celebrity and politician. Her folksy blend of right-wing rhetoric, uber-patriotism and winning smile is as heady a brew as ever for those millions – and they do number in the millions – of Americans for whom she is a hero.
For them Palin is not a liberal media joke or a stumbling backwoods politician who fluffed her chance at the big time. She is a truth-teller and their last best hope against the encroaching horrors of socialism. She is St Sarah of American Capitalism.
Nothing else could explain the utter devotion and enthusiasm of the thousands of people (almost all of them white) who showed up at the first stop of Palin's 14-state, three-week tour of the American heartland.
They queued for 24 hours just to be first in line, bringing tents and camp chairs to a gigantic mall on Grand Rapids' outskirts.
They braved rain and cold for Palin's signature on a book and an estimated 5 seconds each of face-time with their idol."
Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish on The Atlantic says this:
"This is only the second time in its nearly ten-year history that the Dish has gone silent. The reason now is the same as the reason then. When dealing with a delusional fantasist like Sarah Palin, it takes time to absorb and make sense of the various competing narratives that she tells about her life. There are so many fabrications and delusions in the book, mixed in with facts, that just making sense of it - and comparing it with objective reality as we know it, and the subjective reality she has previously provided - is a bewildering task. She is a deeply disturbed person which makes this work of fiction and fact all the more challenging to read. And the fact that she is now the leader of the Republican party and a potential presidential candidate, makes this process of deconstruction an important civil responsibility. We take this seriously as we always have. We want to be fair to her, and to her family, and to the innocent people she has brought into the spotlight. And we are not reporters. We are merely analysts trying to make sense of evidence already in the public domain, evidence that points in all sorts of directions, only one of which can be true.
Since the Dish has tried to be rigorous and careful in analyzing Palin's unhinged grip on reality from the very beginning - specifically her fantastic story of her fifth pregnancy - we feel it's vital that we grapple with this new data as fairly and as rigorously as possible. That takes time to get right. And it is so complicated we simply cannot focus on anything else."
Contrast this with The Guardian's report of Palin's attendance at a book-signing:
"In launching one of the most remarkable book tours in American political and publishing history, Palin is becoming a dizzying mix of celebrity and politician. Her folksy blend of right-wing rhetoric, uber-patriotism and winning smile is as heady a brew as ever for those millions – and they do number in the millions – of Americans for whom she is a hero.
For them Palin is not a liberal media joke or a stumbling backwoods politician who fluffed her chance at the big time. She is a truth-teller and their last best hope against the encroaching horrors of socialism. She is St Sarah of American Capitalism.
Nothing else could explain the utter devotion and enthusiasm of the thousands of people (almost all of them white) who showed up at the first stop of Palin's 14-state, three-week tour of the American heartland.
They queued for 24 hours just to be first in line, bringing tents and camp chairs to a gigantic mall on Grand Rapids' outskirts.
They braved rain and cold for Palin's signature on a book and an estimated 5 seconds each of face-time with their idol."
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