Palin writes grandchild’s father out of memoir
In Going Rogue, which will be released on Tuesday, Palin also laments about everyone in her entourage being forced to wear fancy clothes she couldn’t afford – preferring simpler, cheaper garb. But it’s as if Johnston, who was among those hastily called up to appear at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minnesota, had never left Wasilla.
The tactic does appear to have merit; Johnston, who has sparred repeatedly with his former mother- in-law-to-be, continues to warn that she should leave him alone, or he might dish some serious dirt that “will hurt her”.
While the book – which contains 68 colour photos – stays away from Johnston, the former vice presidential candidate digs in when it comes to those who ran Senator John McCain’s campaign.
Confirming that there was substantial tension between her advisers and McCain’s, Palin bitterly details how she was prevented from delivering a concession speech on election night, how she’d been kept “bottled up” from reporters during the campaign and prevented in many ways from just being herself. She also contends she was prepped to give non-answers during her debate with Joe Biden.
The book, which has a first printing of 1.5 million copies, has been at or near the top of Amazon.com and other bestseller lists for weeks, ever since publisher HarperCollins announced it had been completed ahead of schedule and moved its release date up from next spring.
While the book follows her life from her birth in Sandpoint, Idaho, to wondering about the next stop in her future, Palin, who received an advance of at least $1.25 million, saves her strongest words for run-ins with McCain staffers and her widely panned interview with CBS anchor Katie Couric.
She describes Couric as condescending, biased and “badgering”. She contends the anchor chose “gotcha” moments while leaving the candidate’s more substantive remarks on the cutting room floor.
The closest Palin comes to naming names occurs in the passages about chief McCain campaign strategist Steve Schmidt. Quoting another campaign official, she writes that Schmidt felt she wasn’t preparing enough on policy matters and even wondered if she was suffering from postpartum depression following the April 2008 birth of her son Trig, who has Down’s Syndrome.
Palin comes across as particularly upset about being stuck with $50,000 in legal bills that she says were directly related to the legal vetting process for the VP slot. She says nobody ever informed her that she would have to personally take care of expenses related to the selection process.
She also wondered who was paying for the $150,000 worth of clothes the campaign gave to her and her family. Also, Palin did not like the forced makeover and said she wondered at the time if she and her clan came across as “that” unpresentable.
Palin shares how she rewrote the statement on her daughter’s pregnancy prepared for her by the McCain campaign – only to watch in horror as a TV news anchor read the original statement, which, in Palin’s view, glamorised and endorsed her daughter’s situation.
She said when she tried to find out what the McCain camp would and would not allow her to say, Schmidt told her to simply “stick with the script”.
Palin laments that she wasn’t allowed to bring up lots of family members to the stage while McCain gave his election concession speech, having found out minutes earlier that she wouldn’t be permitted to give her own speech.
