The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

How to Write an Anti-Palin Hit Piece

Posted on | September 3, 2010 | 35 Comments

WASILLA, Alaska — I’m about to make the mad dash back to Anchorage, then will be making my way homeward for a couple days of rest before trying to explain to Mrs. Other McCain why I need to go to Delaware.

But I thought I might share another point about those “impotent, limp and gutless” reporters: It’s not really hard to do what they do.  A pro-Palin friend e-mailed me:

The root of the VF-style hit pieces can be found with a handful of Alaska characters. A journalist on assignment to write a hit piece will ring up Shannyn Moore, and she’ll put this person in touch with a slate of people who have an obvious axe to grind . . . or just a tenuous connection to Sarah Palin. We can always tell who the “anonymous” sources are.

Exactly: “The Real, Hidden Scary TRUTH About Sarah Palin” is a color-by-numbers exercise that has been done to death by now. Every liberal journalist on the planet either already has a deal for that kind of book or is trying to hustle a deal for that kind of book, sort of the way 2006-07 was the era of right-wingers hustling The Great Anti-Hillary Book.

Some people in the journalism racket really need to re-consider their career strategies. Being a dime-a-dozen cliché-peddler just isn’t very smart in the long term.

Hit the tip jar, people, I’m moving on.

PREVIOUSLY:

Category: Alaska, Delaware, Election, Sarah Palin, Shoe Leather Fund

Comments

35 Responses to “How to Write an Anti-Palin Hit Piece”

  1. Randy Rager
    September 3rd, 2010 @ 3:59 pm

    Already hit it. Have a safe trip home.

  2. Bob Belvedere
    September 3rd, 2010 @ 4:32 pm

    Methinks you’ve found the perfect theme song for the Fear And Loathing 2010 Tour.

  3. JeffS
    September 3rd, 2010 @ 4:33 pm

    “The Real, Hidden Scary TRUTH About Sarah Palin” is a color-by-numbers exercise that has been done to death by now.

    And not just by journalists. I met one (non-journalist) woman who said that she had lived in Alaska, and “knows all about the Palins”. She was sincere, in the sense that an actor playing the part is sincere. It was clear that she wanted to scare me about the Palins, not tell me “The Truth”.

  4. Fear And Loathing 2010: Just A Little Southeast Of Nome [Updated Below] « The Camp Of The Saints
    September 3rd, 2010 @ 4:45 pm

    […] about to make the mad dash from Wasilla to Anchorage in order to catch a flight home [well after Earl has passed Maryland…hmmm], but he leaves us with a song that I think makes the […]

  5. Bob Belvedere
    September 3rd, 2010 @ 4:49 pm

    Should the title of this post be:
    How To Write An Anti-Palin Hit Piece If You Must?

  6. Joe
    September 3rd, 2010 @ 4:51 pm

    Don’t limit yourself to Delaware, there is the Nutmeg State (McMahon is starting to look almost competative) and West Virginia.

    And while a long shot, Jim Huffman would be a great senator if he could gain some traction in Oregon (a property rights republican). And you could support Dino Rossi taking on Patty Sneakers in Washington.

  7. kansas
    September 3rd, 2010 @ 5:44 pm

    Some slimy green blog whore is pimping for hits again. I hate to say it, but I wish you would slap his ass down again.

  8. Andrew Sullivan
    September 3rd, 2010 @ 6:24 pm

    How to Write an Anti-Palin Hit Piece:

    “It was a dark and stormy night when I first learned of Sarah Palin’s uterus…”

  9. section9
    September 3rd, 2010 @ 6:31 pm

    Aside from the DEAD-ON description of Shannyn Moore, Linda Kellen Biegel, teh Griffen, and the entire Eurotrash Palingates crew, this email probably describes best how Gross put together his piece.

    Oh, and aside from the Palingates troll who decided to come over and try to get a link to his site, it appears that Sir Charles has accused Todd Palin of hanging around with a certain white supremacist in a Fedora!

    See what you get for rooting for Alabama?

    Not me! Go Canes!

  10. Charles Johnson
    September 3rd, 2010 @ 6:31 pm

    “It was a dark and stormy night when I first learned of Sarah Palin’s uterus…”

    She’s got nothing on me. I have a uterus.And I know how to use it.

  11. Thomas L. Knapp
    September 3rd, 2010 @ 6:37 pm

    Well, some Palin hit pieces are worse (so bad that they’d be deleted if the author didn’t have a “warts and all” non-deletion policy) and some are better (although perhaps not tough enough — sometimes the rap sheet needs to be more rap than sheet).

    Hey, if there’s going to be pimping for hits, might as well turn this thing into 42nd Street, pre-Giuliani.

  12. RonM
    September 3rd, 2010 @ 6:58 pm

    Oh, you had me going there. I thought Mrs. Other McCain, was your other wife. 🙂

  13. jefferson101
    September 3rd, 2010 @ 8:45 pm

    Since I encouraged you to go up there, I have to help you get home, too. I can’t imagine your Karioki version of Lodi, and don’t want to, if you sing like I do.

    Whatever…..I’ve been redressing the balance of trade a bit the last couple of weeks, and since it’s all on the Chinese, I have to toss some of it your direction.

    (Long involved story, but the Chinese have paid me a good chunk, the past couple of years, and this one is looking to be a good one too.)

    Great on the ground reporting, and I’m glad you went!

  14. Charles Johnson
    September 3rd, 2010 @ 8:50 pm

    STOP MOCKING ME!

    Get Off My Internets!

  15. Alan Kellogg
    September 4th, 2010 @ 5:54 am

    How horrid, Sarah Palin has a temper. How dare she, when we all do them wimminfolk are supposed to be meek and mild and self-effacing. Why next we’ll learn she stands up for herself.

    Make you wonder if their mothers ever disciplined some people.

  16. Labor Day Robo-Love
    September 4th, 2010 @ 1:30 pm

    […] up is the blogosphere’s very own Stacy McCain, who truly earns the  title of “Roving Reporter” this week by traveling all the way to Alaska to cover some Republican primary or something. I think Joe […]

  17. Charles Johnson
    September 4th, 2010 @ 3:13 pm

    I tried to get all my muslim posters to retweet about Robert S.McCain and how he hates Abe Lincoln. But once they get out of my sight they are hard to contain.But I will get you Robert S.McCain you rednek racist bigot.

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    […] up." — Arthur KoestlerA Smear Too FarPosted on | September 8, 2010 | 2 CommentsIn “How to Write an Anti-Palin Hit Piece,” I quoted a source who described the cheap-and-easy method by which reporters get those […]

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