Going Rogue Is A Dangerous Book

Going Rogue, indeed. When it comes to Sarah Palin, her detractors and her supporters number in the millions. Those who know me are quite aware that I number myself among the latter, so why on Earth would I shout out to the world wide web that her recently published memoir is dangerous? Fair question. Let's go back a few days....

As a writer on the Internet, some of my so called free time is spent participating in a number of online forums. On the political side, several of those threads are devoted to the concept that Mrs. Palin's book is definitely not worth reading. Those posting such comments are without exception convinced they have it right: Sarah Palin's book was written to make money, get revenge on various people, whine about the world in general, and/or promote her weird, wacko political theories. I'm used to seeing such opinions in print. Quite frankly, nobody is going to be liked by everybody, and that's fine. Free country (sort of, at least...so far) and all that. Yet over time something startling became glaringly obvious about these AASPS. Um, that's the acronym used to identify members of the Automatically Anti Sarah Palin Society.

Oh, the startling part? Just this: Not a single AASPS writer had actually read the book. Not one!

If they hadn't read it, where were they getting their evidence for the book's extreme worthlessness? Reading and rereading their various forum posts provided that answer: Other people. Mysterious other people. One writer did link to a quotation from the book itself, stating that "excerpts were quite enough" to debunk the book. I checked the quote. A one liner, and out of context to boot.

That was the high point. Mostly, AASPS posts amounted to recycled themes from the 2008 Presidential campaign, to wit:

--Her politics are crazy dangerous.

--She's not fit to be Vice President (or, in 2012, President).

--She's just in it for the (--fill in the blank--).

Not one of these undoubtedly sincere people had done his or her own research. Their lines were parroted "gospel" from some other source or sources they see as authorities. This realization struck me like a thunderbolt, and that's when it became overwhelmingly clear just how dangerous Going Rogue is...to every class of citizen in these United States of America who might cast a vote for President of the United States in 2012.

I'm far from your typical "doubter". When John McCain picked Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008, I missed the original news bulletin by being hard at work, driving a big rig, hauling tankers full of water to gasfield drilling rigs in western Colorado. The moment I got home after work, however, my wife filled me in on the details. My reaction was immediate, powerful, and summed up in one word:

"Brilliant!"

Quite a few of the conservative male voters who favored Sarah Palin were quick to admit being drawn to her as a beautiful woman. Her enemies were even quicker to try using that same beauty against her. After all, good looking females can't be intelligent and effective public servants...can they? None of that mattered to me. Rather, I instantly perceived her inner strength and intelligence. Now that I'm reading Going Rogue, it's nice to be able to tell myself,

"Yes, that makes sense. That would fit the Sarah Palin I've seen from the beginning."

And no matter which type of voter you might be, all of that adds up to the book's danger. Conservative? Independent swing voter? Liberal? Sarah herself? Danger, danger, danger.

Conservative: Despite disliking labels, I'll put myself in this group for the moment. For a reader like me, the trouble comes in two forms: (1) When I should be putting on my hat and getting back to work on the earthbag home I'm building, I'm tempted to take a longer coffee break than usual...in order to read just one more chapter. Not good when you're burning daylight. (2) After dark, when I should be doing any of a dozen other tasks online, I find myself driven to write this Hub. The book--and its nonreading detractors--has me hooked. Like any addiction, that's not necessarily a good thing. Danger.

Independent swing voter: The undecided individual who actually studies Going Rogue will find a wealth of information...enough to possibly make him/her actually think about this Sarah Palin person on the basis of solid data rather than liberal media sound bites. A devoted fence rider might actually decide to take a position, vote for the (as yet undeclared) Alaskan for President in 2012. For those who are horrified by the very idea: Danger.

Liberal: Here the greatest risk is for those who dismiss her book out of hand and do not read it. If you're going to take the field against any opponent, it is wise to know as much as possible about the "enemy". Those who favor enlarged government and eschew the free market will be making a huge mistake if they dismiss this lady as a lightweight, unqualified, no-threat, fuhgeddaboudit half-a-person.

Sarah herself: She uses the memoir to say to the public at large, "This is who I am, what I have done, and what I am about. " That is a huge risk for any politician. Most seekers of high office avoid saying what they really want to say until they've reached retirement. In other words, when votes no longer count. Mrs. Palin has done the opposite. It could turn out well--if enough people like what they see, a groundswell in her support could manifest. But what if AASPS members actually do read the book word for word? Until now, haters have utilized attack ammunition fabricated from hot air and little else. If her enemies study her own words and, rather than pulling a brief quote out of context, actually craft anti-Sarah positions based on what she really is...in her own words...danger. Danger. Danger.

As a Sarah Palin advocate, am I concerned that my revealing this soft underbelly to Going Rogue might actually do damage to her future political chances? No. AASPS members, as noted above, are not even reading Going Rogue. How likely are they, then, to read this little online article by a keyboard-tapping nobody?

Comments (both pro and con) are welcome but will be moderated with some care. If I deny yours, I'll do my best to add my own comment explaining why.