Sarah Palin’s Going Rogue goes on sale today. There are tons of excerpts and reviews already out there. But for a quick tour of the book, here is a compendium of Sarah Palin in her own words.
Palin says she tried to change the statement that went out about Bristol’s pregnancy because it suggested she and Todd were happy about the pregnancy. The statement went out anyway. A McCain campaign source says it was an innocent mistake, which Palin says might be possible. However,
Perhaps it was just an honest mistake, and I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. But after a few similar incidents, I questioned [Steve] Schmidt about what headquarters would and would not allow me to say. Schmidt was a busy guy; he didn’t have a lot of time to elaborate, no doubt. He replied coolly, “Just stick with the script.” (p. 235)
The use of the word “bullcrap” is characteristic Palin:
At about the same time as the pregnancy story broke, another bullcrap story entered the wider media bloodstream: “Who Is Trig’s Real Mom?” Formerly reputable outlets like The Atlantic ran with the loony conspiracy theory that I was not Trig’s mother — perhaps it was Bristol or Willow, they suggested. (p. 238)
Before she gave her convention speech, she had a Trig moment:
Just before I left the hotel room to hit the convention stage, on the evening of September 3, I noticed that Trig needed changing. I also noticed that we had run out of diapers. After a frantic, hotel-wide search, someone found a stack, and the last thing I did before heading down to give the biggest speech of my life was to change the baby.
It’s the kind of thing that keeps you grounded. (p. 240)
She describes being deeply moved by “the number of special-needs kids and adults” who would show up — and in increasing numbers — along the trail, inspired by Trig’s presence in her life and the campaign. Of one rally in Pensacola, Fla., she writes:
Up in the stands, I spotted a group of 15 kids with Down syndrome wearing shirts that said, we love trig! and trig in the white house. I thought, Wow! How great that these precious people have someone associated with a national campaign that they can identify with. . . .
She adds:
Down syndrome comes in a range of severities. Some people with Down can live self-sufficient lives. Others may be totally dependent. They spend their lives knowing they are different from other people. So it blessed me in ways I can’t even describe to be able to help bring them from the fringe into the bright spotlight that most often seems reserved only for the privileged.
It was after meeting all these amazing people that Todd and I proudly displayed the bumper sticker a very cool group from Arizona sent us, which read, my kid has more chromosomes than your kid! (p. 251)
Palin bristled at what she considered her media captivity. She says she was kept from the Alaska press and recounts this incident when a reporter from Anchorage tried to talk to her:
He yelled out “Alaska!” But as I tried to holler back, different pairs of hands hustled me into the campaign’s Suburban. It was not a respectful thing to do. I had turned my back on our own local press. Right then and there, I knew it wasn’t going to be good. (p. 255)
CONTINUED 1 2 3 4 Next >
