PrintNovember 16, 2009
Here comes the Sarahlanche
Class warfare is breaking out as Sarah Palin begins promoting her book. The left is already hard at work finding passages in Going Rogue to make fun of. On MSNBC this morning, the Morning Joe crew cited a passage mentioning hunky Todd as worthy of a Harlequin Romance, playing schmaltzy music and laughing.
Take that, Harlequin readers! You are not cool enough to vote for Obama -- or liberal Dems for that matter. You are not worthy of swells like Katrina Vanden Heuvel, the wealthy heiress who favors leather jackets, long hair and radical leftism, and could not contain her contempt for Sarah on GE's cable news outlet.
Meanwhile, Sarah Palin rolls out her promotion tour starting with Oprah, a shrewd move for a woman who still inspires terror in the hearts of her enemies. Their principal defense is the sneer. But the problem with that weapon is that such snobbery is that by definition it appeals mostly to those who think they are better than most ordinary people. That's not a winning coalition.
I fully expect Going Rogue to sell millions of copies. It may even top the sales of Mark Levin's landmark book, Liberty & Tyranny, which is the bestselling nonfiction book of the year so far. The conservative base is not just fired up, it is educating itself, and buying lots of books in the process. The success of Liberty & Tyranny reflects favorably not just on Mark Levin, but on conservatives. How many books of political theory have been so widely embraced? It is a foundation stone for a rising political movement, and that makes it important.
Now comes Sarah Palin, who, despite an unprecedented smear campaign, can speak over the heads of the media to a public which pays close attention to her views. Whether or not she runs for president, her stature as a major conservative voice will be enhanced by the coming Sarahlanche.
Keep your eyes open for criticism of Sarah for using a ghostwriter. She is not concealing this fact. Jack Cashill has provided highly persuasive evidence that Bill Ayers was Obama's ghostwriter for his first book (despite his claim that he wrote it himself), so public discussion of ghostwriting has the potential to backfire for the left.
