Palin's Book Soars on Inflated Sales Receipts, But Her Poll Numbers Are Nosediving

BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Meg White

I sincerely doubt that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has checked out eHow.com's list of ten steps to becoming president of the United States. But if she had, she'd know she's a little behind the curve. While she is over 35 years old and a citizen born in the U.S. who has been a resident for the past 14 years, anyone can tell you there's more to it than that.

While she hasn't quite started step two -- "hold a law degree" -- she is coming out with a memoir (which is not on the list). She's also working on making that ghostwritten book a bestseller, even if she has to give it away.

As BuzzFlash editor Mark Karlin pointed out last week, Palin is selling her new book, Going Rogue: An American Life at a whopping 69 percent discount, even though it won't be officially released until mid-November. As a veteran of both the right-wing industrial complex and the book-selling industry, he notes that giving it away is a classic strategy to appear more popular than you are. It's easy to have a best seller, in other words, when your product is always on sale.

As of Thursday afternoon the book was still available for pre-sale at Amazon.com for $9. If you pair it with Glenn Beck's new tome, Arguing With Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government as Amazon suggests, you could be eligible for FREE super saver shipping! Whoopie! Or, you can get a membership to Newsmax with this special Palin book deal, which markets itself as "much cheaper than Amazon" (using the full price of "almost $29" to make $10.92 cheaper than $9.

Of course, the memoir's impending release has sparked some unwanted parody.

One example is the work of husband-and-wife team Julie Sigwart (also an IT consultant to BuzzFlash, in interest of full disclosure) and Michael Stinson. Their version, titled Going Rouge – The Sarah Palin Rogue Coloring & Activity Book. While it may cost a little bit more at $12, it comes with the assurance that "Sarah didn’t write this book either." There are a couple of pages available online, but my favorite is the word find where guesses at Palin's running mate in 2012 are hidden. Among them: baby Jesus, Tina Fey and Joe the Plumber.

And of course, there's the other parody being offered by OR Books titled Going Rouge: An American Nightmare. This is a compendium of articles written by left-leaning writers on Palin's effect on everything from the American political landscape to fashion.

But all press is good press, right?

Signs appear that Palin is moving on to step three on eHow's list: "Start raising money -- lots of it." She's being paid anywhere from $1.25 million to $7 million in advance of her memoir's release. Aside from HarperCollins, however, she's also squeezing the political classes for cash.

Politico reports today that Palin again is "breaking the mold" by trying to get Iowans to pay her a speaker's fee. The article itself wanders around the subject, unable to confirm or deny anything. But the $100,000 that Team Sarah (an unaffiliated pro-Palin group) is trying to raise, along with help from the local Republican group that invited her, is unprecedented in a state where at least one politician with presidential aspirations moved his whole family to Iowa during caucus season.

But even if they do raise the money, it might end up being more trouble for Palin than it's worth. Politico goes on to note a vocal opposition to paying Palin to speak at the Nov. 21 fundraiser:

But representatives from other Iowa-based political advocacy groups said they would never consider shelling out money for what many politicians see as a privilege: the opportunity to speak to a room full of sure-fire caucus-goers who often serve as precinct captains and can be instrumental to a presidential candidate’s success.

"If somebody tells me they want me to pay an appearance fee, it tells me they’re not very serious about running for president," said Ed Failor, Jr., president of Iowans for Tax Relief and an influential GOP insider.

So how serious is Palin about running for president?

Well, regarding step number four ("gather a bright, devoted and tireless campaign staff, including strategists, spokespeople and speechwriters"), her personnel list seems a little thin (she's still relying on good ol' Meg Stapleton to get the words right). But Palin has already gotten someone to blackmail her. Her grandson's father Levi Johnston reappeared on national television to say he has "things that can, you know -- that would get her in trouble, and could hurt her. Will hurt her." Johnston seems to be saving up for the right moment, however. So, those "things" will remain a mystery, probably until Johnston gets a good offer.

What is not a mystery, however, is her resume. And so far, that's not doing her any favors with the American people either. A CNN poll released Wednesday reveals that 71 percent of respondents do not think Palin is qualified to be president. Even among Republicans she doesn't fare too well, with nearly half agreeing with the characterization of Palin as unqualified for the job.

CNN notes that it's still "pre-season" in terms of the 2012 race, and a lot can change before prime time. But what Americans seem to be telling Palin she needs to change is her level of experience. There's something that tells me a book tour for a self-serving manuscript written by someone else combined with being so arrogant/ignorant of routine political practices as to attempt to extort money from kingmakers in Iowa are not actions that will make Palin appear as more qualified to serve as the nation's first female president.

Maybe she should consider that step two suggestion. After all, at least one of the four higher-learning institutions she attended in her quest for a BA has a law school. And 2012 is father away than you'd think, especially for Palin.

BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

Image courtesy of Julie Sigwart.