Joe McGinniss lived next door to the former Alaskan governor as part of his research of her.
By Beth Fouhy
This “investigative chronicle” of the former Alaska governor will be catnip for Palin haters hoping to see her discredited as a potential presidential candidate. But the gossipy tale provides little new information on its subject and draws too much of its material from unnamed sources or avowed Palin critics with axes to grind.
Joe McGinniss, a veteran journalist and author of several critically acclaimed political tomes, created a stir in 2010 when he moved into a rental property next door to the Palin home in Wasilla to conduct his research. His anecdotes about life as Palin’s unwanted neighbor are hilarious, riveting and the most enjoyable part of the book.
McGinniss paints a deeply unflattering portrait of Palin, casting her as ill-informed, coldblooded, narcissistic and vengeful. Others have offered a similar view of the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, from John Heilemann and Mark Halperin’s bestselling Game Change to Levi Johnston, the former fiance of Palin’s eldest daughter, Bristol, who has given many interviews about the Palin family and whose own book about them comes out Tuesday.
McGinnis also throws in some new and prurient details, suggesting Palin and husband Todd used cocaine and that she booted a pair of house guests after finding baby oil in their bedroom.
“Todd says, ‘Sarah wants you out. She’s really upset thinkin’ you’re in there having sex with baby oil.’ We left. We went to a motel,” the unnamed guest told McGinniss.
McGinniss’ reliance on such unnamed sources and quotes weakens the book’s credibility. Too often, his most titillating or revealing material comes from mysterious people identified as “an old friend,” “a friend of Todd” or “a lawyer in Wasilla.” Most of those willing to be quoted by name are former Palin loyalists who have broken with her, including John Stein, whom Palin defeated in 1996 to become Wasilla mayor, and John Bitney, who helped steer her campaign for governor in 2006 but whom she later ousted as legislative director.
The most sensational passage in the book deals with Glen Rice, a former NBA basketball star whom McGinniss claims had a brief sexual relationship with Palin in 1987, before she and Todd were married. But Rice never fully confirms McGinniss’ story.
The book’s most serious chapters pertain to Palin’s record in Wasilla and later as governor. McGinniss debunks her image as a fiscal conservative, noting that she left Wasilla with almost $20 million in bonded debt when she left office and lobbied for millions in federal earmarks for the town and later the state — the kind of “pork barrel” spending conservatives typically deplore.
But McGinniss’ experience living next door to the Palins for five months offers the most telling portrait of Sarah Palin’s style and personality. McGinniss claims he merely took the house because it was one of few rental properties available in the area. He promised Todd Palin he would not spy on their family and would not publish anything he learned from living next door.
But Palin went to war nonetheless, trashing McGinniss on Fox News and posting on Facebook shortly after his arrival that he was an unwanted stalker “peering” at her and her children, including her then 9-year-old daughter, Piper.
Verne Rupright, who succeeded Palin as Wasilla mayor, offered McGinniss a handgun when the two sat for an interview and told him, “People around here don’t (care) about Sarah anymore. They’re burned out on all her drama.”
With his book so suffused with Palin drama, McGinniss had better hope that’s not an accurate assessment.
Beth Fouhy reviewed this book for The Associated Press.
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