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Sarah Palin's book: What's in, what's out

by Mark Silva

If one chapter has ended in Sarah Palin's life, it probably has run about 80 pages.

That's part of the intel from early reads of Palin's memoir, Going Rogue, ready for bookstores next week, with a kickoff on The Oprah Winfrey Show and book-tour starting in Grand Rapids.

. Time magazine's Mark Halperin, who has his own Page, reports that books have been shipped out in advance of the Nov. 17 release date for Palin's book, and some of the associates of the Republican former governor of Alaska have seen copies. Halperin cites "sources who have seen or been briefed on the book's contents'' in reporting that it's:

"Just five chapters--but they are very, very long.'' (Considering that the speed-written memoir, arriving months before originally anticipated for a work that drew a $1.25 million advance for the author is said to exceed 400 pages, that means some long dog-sledding through the chapters of the life of the 2008 GOP nominee for vice president.)

"Ssome score settling with McCain aides she believes ill-served her'' (Considering that she drew the title of this tome from the complaint that some of Sen. John McCain's political advisers had about the running mate, that seems appropriate.)

"A hearty bashing of the national media.'' (Youbetcha, you know, for just sort of "making things up'' like that "Bush Doctrine'' that she was supposed to know about when she sat for one of those national media interviews last year.)

"A testimonial to the importance of faith in her life.'' (It requires a lot of faith to get through Levi Johnston's rhetorical rampage after walking out on Palin's grandbaby, Tripp, or the boy's estranged girlfriend and teenage mother, Bristol Palin, who went on a "just say no'' to teenage pregnancy tour and has written of the travails of a single mother on "Eskimo Bingo Night.'')

"A warm and personal tone, written in Palin's own voice, despite the involvement of a collaborator.'' (Warmth is not the trademark of the professional writer and evangelical magazine editor, San Diego-based Lynn Vincent, whom Palin hired. to help get the book out.)
'
The book is missing an index, however, which, as Halperin notes, is the first place the ever-so-vain Washington set turns to in books such as this "to scan for their own names.'' Halperin suggests: "If they want to know what Sarah Palin has to say about them, they will have to buy the book--and read the whole thing.''

Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa could be among those flipping pages for lack of an index. It is Grassley, a good old-school Republican who has appeared in campaign commercials riding a lawn mower, who tells Time in an article in the new issue this of Palin: ""She's the only thing between 2004 and 2009 that's ever given any energy to the Republican Party -- No. 1, because she's a woman, and No. 2, because she expresses herself well."

And dresses herself well, as Time notes in a photo gallery of "The Fashion Looks of Sarah Paln'' -- with a photo from that collection pictured above: Palin crossing the stage in a dress by Elie Tahari at the 2008 debate for vice presidential candidates with Democrat Joe Biden. Which raises the question of the fashion-gallery treatment that former Vice President Dck Cheney's book might get in Time.
fashion

(Photo of Sarah Palin above by Rick Wilking / Reuters. Appearance of John McCain, speakng of Palin, on Meet the Press in March below: )

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NARAL Pro-Choice To Challenge Moderate Dems?

It's Wednesday, so NPR Political Editor Ken Rudin is here to round up all the latest political news. This week: health care, Afghanistan, and Democratic primaries. Also, Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, discusses whether her group will throw its weight behind challengers to moderate Democrats.