Newsweek - National News, World News, Health, Technology, Entertainment and more... | Newsweek.com
SPONSORED BY
The Gaggle Blog - Newsweek.com
  • Sarah From Alaska: Election Details Uncovered in New Palin book

    Katie Connolly | Nov 3, 2009 04:32 PM
    A new Palin book hits shelves today, with lots of juicy details on the Alaska governor's accelerated ride to the top of the GOP. In Sarah From Alaska, Scott Conroy and Shushannah Walshe, reporters from CBS and Fox, respectively, who covered her campaign, document Palin's rollercoaster rise and uncover more than a few interesting nuggets along the way. Perhaps their best score was getting their hands on a copy of the speech that Palin would have given on election night had McCain's campaign managers not barred her from doing so. Her desire to introduce McCain at the nationally televised event rankled the McCain campaign, who worried that she was trying to steal his moment or, worse, that she would go off script as she had done before and undermine the gracious tone they hoped to set. But the speech that was written for her was actually quite respectful and complaisant. Here are a few of her choice would-be lines: More
  • Sarah Palin Charging $100K for Iowa Speech? Not Exactly.

    Holly Bailey | Oct 29, 2009 01:27 PM

    Politico's Jonathan Martin has a good story today about an Iowa conservative group's efforts to lure Sarah Palin to a fundraising dinner in Des Moines next month. The Iowa Family Policy Center, according to J-Mart, is trying to come up with Palin's reported $100,000 speaker's fee in hopes of getting the former governor to headline its Nov. 21 banquet—which just so happens to be the same night Vice President Joe Biden will be in town to headline the Iowa Democratic Party's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner. But wait a minute: Paying a White House hopeful to come to Iowa? Seriously? Has anyone ever had to do that? Needless to say, the very prospect has other Iowa Republicans up in arms. "If somebody tells me they want me to pay an appearance fee, it tells me they're not very serious about running for president," Ed Failor Jr., president of Iowans for Tax Relief and an influential GOP insider, tells Politico. "I found it really, really odd."

    But hang on: did Palin actually ask the group to pay $100K for her appearance? An IFPC spokesman tells Martin he's "not personally aware" of a speaker's fee. "There may or may not be, I don't know," he tells Politico. For their part, the Palin camp tells NEWSWEEK there's no fee. Meg Stapleton, Palin's spokeswoman, tells your Gaggler that Palin "has not requested anything" and that she "does not charge people to campaign for them."
    More
  • Advertisement
  • Palin's Book Advance: $1.25 Million. Plus, She Discloses $43k in Gifts.

    Holly Bailey | Oct 27, 2009 04:01 PM
    Remember those rumors that Sarah Palin was asking for an $11 million book advance for her upcoming autobiography? Well, she didn't get that much. According to a newly-filed financial disclosure form, the former Alaska governor was given a $1.25 million advance for Going Rogue. The disclosure doesn’t list when Palin officially inked the book deal or when she received  the money, but the forms, first reported by the Anchorage Daily News, cover from January 1 to July 26, 2009, when she officially resigned from office. How does that compare with what other political hot shots got for their books? Well, former First Lady Laura Bush reportedly received $1.6 million for her memoirs. George W. Bush was rumored to have gotten a $7 million advance for his upcoming book on the toughest decisions he made as president. Hillary Clinton was paid $8 million upfront for her autobiography. Meanwhile, Bill Clinton topped everybody, with a $15 million book advance for My Life. What do Palin and all of these folks have in common? They were all repped by Washington power lawyer Bob Barnett in negotiating their deals.

    When Palin left the governor’s office this summer, one reason circulated was that she needed to make money to pay off her legal fees related to various ethics complaints. While the forms do not list Palin’s debts, she does report that she took a loan out on her home “to fight false allegations while governor.” The amount, however, is not disclosed. She was paid $73,000 for her final seven and a half months in office, not including a $6,371 per diem. The First Dude, Todd Palin, earned $34,086 working at BP and $32,260 from his commercial fishing operation during the same period. According to the forms, Palin also founded a marketing business, Pie Spy LLC—though the form lists no income from the venture.

    But what’s life without getting something for free? According to the disclosure, Palin and her family reported more than $43,000 in gifts
    More
  • Sarah Palin's Book Is Already on Clearance

    Holly Bailey | Oct 23, 2009 01:46 PM

     

     

    With just under a month to go before it’s released to the masses, Sarah Palin’s upcoming autobiography, Going Rogue, has already been near the top of Amazon’s bestseller list for weeks. No surprise, considering the enormous amount of interest—both bad and good—the former Alaska governor has generated since John McCain named her as his vice presidential running mate last year. But there may be more to the story: over the past week or so, Amazon has been steadily dropping the price of Palin’s book to compete with other retailers, including Wal-Mart, which offered it for presale at $10. Amazon, which originally listed it at $28.99, is now basically giving the book away for a measly $9. This, as my fellow NEWSWEEKer Sarah Ball notes, is cheaper than buying a copy of Pat the Bunny. Heck, even How to Win Friends and Influence People is priced higher. Of course, it would be absolutely, positively un-American for Wal-Mart to back down from its promise of offering people the absolute lowest price, and now it's reportedly charging $8.98 for the Palin opus. By your Gaggler’s math, that’s a whopping 2 cents a page, or, as we’d describe it, practically free. Will Amazon go even lower? Could there be a buy-one-get-one-free scenario in the offing? Not likely, now that the trade association representing independent bookstores has gotten involved. It has asked the Justice Department to investigate Amazon, Wal-Mart, and Target (a partner with Amazon) for charging below-cost prices for books in order to dominate the bookselling industry. You know what that means: buy your copies now.


  • The Sarah Palin Show. First Stop: Oprah.

    Howard Fineman | Oct 20, 2009 04:15 PM

    After its modestly successful way-way-out-of-town tryout in Hong Kong, The Sarah Palin Show is getting ready to hit the U.S.A. next month. To coincide with the release of her ghost-assisted book, Going Rogue, Palin and her advisers are planning a careful TV and Web rollout in mid November, to be followed by paid speeches to business, civic, and college groups. Assembled with the advice of her Washington lawyer, Bob Barnett, and her speech agency, Washington Speakers Bureau, Palin's junket will go light on the free-ranging, traditional hard-news venues and heavy on personality: one major stop will be Oprah.

    On speeches, a Palin spokesperson declined to offer details, but other sources tell me that she is asking for $75,000 for a college gig—and three first-class tickets, apparently so she can be accompanied by a press aide and another staffer. Fees for business and corporate groups may be higher. She also is asking that speeches be clustered in one city or other single location so she can do more; two or even three in a day's visit.


  • Time Out of the Spotlight Hasn't Helped Sarah Palin

    Holly Bailey | Oct 19, 2009 01:02 PM
    When Sarah Palin resigned as governor of Alaska last summer, it seemed she was finally taking the advice of many political professionals and retreating from the spotlight to rebuild her brand and find her message. With the exception of a closed-to-the-press speech last month in Hong Kong, she has not been seen in public. Palin has turned down interviews and declined to appear at GOP party events. Aside from the occasional op-ed, like this one published last week by National Review, and messages posted on her Facebook page, Palin has been laying low, no doubt preparing for what will unquestionably be a major publicity push when her autobiography, "Going Rogue," is released next month. But has her time away from the cameras actually done Palin any good politically?

    Two polls released in the last several days suggest Palin might not be in good shape should she seek the GOP presidential nomination in 2012. A new Gallup poll finds that Palin’s approval ratings have taken a serious hit in recent months. According to Gallup, Palin’s favorability rating is currently at 40 percent—the lowest number she’s had since John McCain named her to be his vice presidential running mate in August 2008. After her nomination speech at the Republican National Convention, Palin had a 53 percent approval rating. By the end of the campaign, after a messy back and forth between Palin allies and McCain staff over Palin’s “rogue” behavior, the then-governor had a 42 percent approval rating, and she still hasn’t recovered. While she continues to do well among Republicans—69 percent like her, according to Gallup—Palin’s biggest problem continues to be her ability to woo independent voters. According to Gallup, only 41 percent of independents have a favorable view of Palin, while 48 percent don’t. Those numbers were opposite when she joined the McCain ticket a year ago.

    While Palin’s strength has always been her appeal to the GOP base, a second poll raises questions about whether Republicans will actually vote for her
    More
  • The Secret of Levi Johnston's Success

    Katie Connolly | Oct 8, 2009 01:26 PM

    Levi Johnston, the lad most famous for knocking up his high-school sweetheart—who also happened to be Sarah Palin's daughter—is making the most of his fame. He's been made news twice this week already. On Tuesday, we were chattering about his amusing role in a new commercial for nuts. Today, the blogosphere lit up with news of his nude shoot for Playgirl, titillating girls and gay men alike. Apparently Levi has become a work-out machine, toning the love handles he exposed in GQ in preparation for moment in the female erotica spotlight. If he wasn't a liberal pin-up boy before, he certainly is now. Surely Levi's 15 minutes are almost up. And yet there he is again, trending high on Google, and cluttering up gossip blogs. So why the fixation with this unemployed, hockey-playing, high-school dropout?

    Of course, his appeal is partly explained by his looks. The dude is hot. But he also comes across as remarkably normal given his circumstances. His starring turns in GQ and Vanity Fair showed a kid managing to remain relatively down-to-earth amid his swirling fame and personal tumult. Sure he has an agent and talks about landing acting gigs, but one imagines him doing so with the same unaffected nonchalance with which he pops a pistachio, or talks about shooting moose. He seems playful, as though he's not taking this whole caper too seriously. He'll chat about his life as long as people want to listen. And therein lies the secret to his success: Johnston can pan the one of the most criticized women in the world without sounding salacious, nasty, or misogynist. He's not a screeching critic. He's just a guy bitching about the in-laws. It's an entirely unique position in the Palin-sphere. And people love it.

    More
  • McCain Strategist: Palin in 2012 Would Be 'Catastrophic' for GOP

    Holly Bailey | Oct 2, 2009 01:03 PM
    Looks like there’s at least one high-profile Republican who won’t be voting for Sarah Palin should she run in 2012. Steve Schmidt, John McCain’s top political strategist in 2008, told a forum in Washington today that nominating Palin as the party’s next presidential nominee would be “catastrophic” for Republicans. “I think that she has talents, but my honest view is that she would not be a winning candidate,” Schmidt said. “In fact, were she to be the nominee, we would have a catastrophic election result.”

    The comments aren’t necessarily surprising—many prominent Republicans privately share Schmidt’s views. And there’s bad blood between Schmidt and Palin. As has been widely reported, the two clashed repeatedly during the campaign. Palin allies have accused Schmidt of leaking unflattering details about her to reporters. Schmidt allies have accused her of being a diva and unmanageable. Schmidt is the only member of McCain’s inner circle to publicly criticize Palin—something that McCain himself has privately discouraged but seems in no real position to stop any longer. Asked today how he thought he might be portrayed in Palin’s upcoming memoir, Going Rogue, Schmidt replied, “I think it may say I was anti-rogue in the running of the campaign.”

    But even with all the drama, the fact that these comments are coming from Schmidt, who advised McCain to pick Palin as his vice presidential candidate, can’t be overlooked. 
    More
  • Tim Pawlenty Joins the 2012 Fray

    Katie Connolly | Oct 1, 2009 11:40 AM

    Looks like Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has finally bitten the bullet and has submitted papers to register a PAC—usually the first step in any presidential bid—thus ending the most predictable speculation in the 2012 race so far. Pawlenty will call his PAC Freedom First, continuing the GOP trend of corny freedom-themed PAC names. (Mitt Romney's is called Free and Strong America.) Over at Politico, J-Mart reports that Pawlenty has been quietly collecting high-profile campaign staff and supporters, including Vin Weber to co-chair his campaign. Weber, a former Minnesota congressman and a prominent GOP player, threw his weight behind Romney in 2008. Pawlenty has wrapped up a few other big names from the 2008 cycle, including RNC communications director Alex Conant and McCain campaign manager Terry Nelson, who will be big assets to his bid.

    While anything could happen between now and the 2012 primaries (remember when Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani were the presumptive 2008 nominees?), there's no harm in speculating, right? Pawlenty has a couple of disadvantages going in. He has lower national name recognition than three of his key rivals—Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee. He hasn't run in a presidential election before, and many Republican strategists will tell you that the experience of having done it once is enormously advantageous. (Democrats, on the other hand, are far less supportive of repeat candidates.) He's also behind in the fundraising stakes, which is a big challenge when facing the likes of Palin and Romney, both of whom are fundraising powerhouses.
    More
  • Palin Can't Get Domestic Speaking Gigs? That's Not Unusual.

    Holly Bailey | Sep 30, 2009 11:59 AM
    Is Sarah Palin having trouble landing speaking gigs? Citing an anonymous “industry expert,” the New York Post’s Page Six reports today that Palin isn’t attracting much interest on the lecture circuit. The reason: she’s so polarizing. “The big lecture-buyers in the U.S. are paralyzed with fear about booking her, basically because she’s a blithering idiot,” the unnamed source tells Page Six. “Palin is so uninteresting to so many groups—unless they are interested in moose hunting … What does she have to say? She can’t even describe what she reads.” Ouch.

    But in Palin’s defense, is she actually trying to book gigs in the U.S. anyway? It’s worth noting that plenty of current and former polarizing political types on the lecture circuit usually make most of their money speaking in other countries—especially their first year out.
    More
  • Who Is Advising Sarah Palin?

    Holly Bailey | Sep 29, 2009 05:44 PM
    When it comes to Sarah Palin, there are two big questions that everybody in Washington wants to know. Is she going to run for president in 2012? And who exactly is working for her these days? Since she resigned as governor of Alaska in July, Palin has been uncharacteristically quiet. She’s stayed largely out of the public eye—though she’s been posting messages on her official Facebook page and wrote an op-ed on health care for The Wall Street Journal. Last week she earned her first check as a paid speaker, receiving a reported low six figures for addressing a Hong Kong business group—a speech that was closed to the public. Yesterday, word broke that the publication of Palin’s memoir, Going Rogue, had been pushed up from next spring to this November, just in time for the holidays. According to reports, Palin worked on the book with a ghostwriter, conservative journalist Lynn Vincent. The big mystery, even to those who once worked closely with the former VP candidate: besides Vincent, who is working with Palin to keep her brand alive?
    More
  • Sarah Palin 2.0

    Katie Connolly | Sep 23, 2009 12:51 PM
    Sarah Palin 2.0 was unveiled last night at a speech to Asian bankers and investors in Hong Kong. The event was closed to the media, which is perhaps unsurprising. She's made no secret of her disdain for the press, and if she's testing out new ideas she won't want them mercilessly picked apart by a news media which is admittedly prone to criticizing her. But of course audio from the speech has emerged, so we have a pretty good idea of what she said. She covered a range of topics including the financial meltdown - "We got into this mess because of government interference in the first place...We're not interested in government fixes, we're interested in freedom" - and the rise of China,which she said "rightfully makes a lot of people nervous". She also spoke extensively about cultural and economic links between Alaska and the Pacific Rim and about the need for a rebirth of the GOP. There was no mention of death panels or lies about her. Instead she positioned herself as someone from "Main Street USA". According the the WSJ, her speech was met with strong applause. More
  • Another Blockbuster Bush Tell-All

    David A. Graham | Sep 15, 2009 05:44 PM
    In an article in this month’s issue of GQ, ex-presidential speechwriter Matt Latimer becomes the latest former George W. Bush aide to publish embarrassing revelationsabout life in the Bush White House. Some of those who have kissed andtold ranked higher than Latimer, but he is the first to illuminate whatwas going on in the Oval Office during the financial crisis. Thejuiciest material comes when he dishes on what Bush thought of JohnMcCain’s presidential run (“a five-spiral crash”), Barack Obama ("Thisis a dangerous world and this cat isn’t remotely qualified to handleit"), and Sarah Palin (“What is she, the governor of Guam?”). More
  • Gaffe by Tweet: Top 10 Social-Media Slip-Ups

    Newsweek | Sep 8, 2009 11:32 AM

    By David A. Graham

    Sooner or later, anything trendy makesits way to the world of politics. This year, it's been the advent ofthe microblog. Hundreds of politicians have flocked to themicroblogging services like Facebook and Twitter over the past fewmonths, heralding it's ability to help them keep in touch with folksback home. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger even dropped byTwitter's headquarters last month to praise it for the services thesite offers politicians to communicate with constituents. But for everypol that's mastered the art of the status update, others (includingSchwarzenegger) have watched it backfire, earning them far moreunflattering press than they bargained for. We bring you the 10 biggestsocial media gaffes we’ve seen from politicos this year—at least so far.

     

    More
  • Fox Viewers More Likely to Believe Death Panel Myth

    Katie Connolly | Aug 20, 2009 05:55 PM
    For the second time this week, polling shows that a concerning number of people believe that health care reform legislation will create so-called death panels. The NBC/WSJ poll released Tuesday found that 45% of respondents believe that the proposals would allow government to make end of life decisions on behalf of Americans. Pew's poll isn't quite as shocking - only 30% of those polled believed the myth. But here's where it gets interesting. More