Sarah Palin, Glen Rice; add an affair and coke

Supposedly, that's one of the things that Joe McGinniss has in his new Palin bio: the Quitter with a Twitter had a 1987 fling with University of Michigan, then NBA, basketball star Glen Rice.

First, there goes the chastity and purity righteousness angle.

Second, yes, there's a black Republican presidential candidate. Nonetheless, tea partiers are older and whiter than the typical GOP, which is certainly white enough. What does Palin having a relationship with a black man do amongst her biggest partisans? I suspect a whole lot of self-delusional denialism is coming down the pike.

Here's the bigger one, though:

According to the publishing source, McGinniss confirms an ENQUIRER exclusive – published in our Oct. 6, 2008 print issue – that Sarah carried on an extramarital affair with Todd’s business partner Brad Hanson, and Todd dissolved their snowmobile dealership after he learned about the affair.McGinniss  writes in the book that the affair lasted six months and he fuels rumors that the couple’s marriage has been on the rocks for decades.

Remember when Enquirer first reported this, that Palin had had an affair long after marrying Todd? Remember the massive follow-up by the mainstream media? Ahh, yeah, right. That's the sound of silence I recall.

That said, I love how, when the Palins refudiated (hey, c'mon, you saw that coming) the book, the AP reports Hanson released a statement through Palin allies. Did they pay him? How much? Can the Enquirer snoop more on that?

And, yeah, per First Dude, the New York Times did say this book "chases caustic, unsubstantiated gossip.” That's to the Times' detriment, not McGinniss'. It's also laughable, at best, hypocritical at worse, for the Old Gray Lady to chastise him for using anonymous sources. And, if it's "easily available to anyone with Internet access," then why didn't the NYT report more of this itself? Or is the "readily available" only the non-"unsubstantiated"? (Paging Judith Miller, paging Judith Miller!)

Ultimately, Janet Maslin's review, by turns tut-tutting, vaguely elitist/snooty, chiding and "inside New Yorkish" ... "yentas" in Palinville? ... says more about her and her paper than about McGinniss.

Having now read and reviewed McGinniss' book, I see the NYT protests WAYYYYY too much. Reality? This is a solid book; everything the Times calls "gossip" actually, per the legal profession, "goes to motive," to establish Palin's character and personality.

And, speaking of .... I think the Trig birth questions that McGinniss brings up are the "gossip" that the NYT abhors. And, McGinniss has a new answer to this: Palin filed to adopt a Down's baby in order to become a symbol for anti-abortion radicals. She had to hightail it back to Mat-Su Regional Hospital from Dallas because the adoption finalized early. It makes as much sense as anything. 

That said, given what he says about her and her parents, I wouldn't be surprised if there were sexual abuse in her background, given that she may well be manic-depressive, have a love-hate attitude about sexuality, and may be anorexic and/or bulimic.

Speaking of, Politico notes how it's not the first time the Times has shown Palin some love. And, I remember that nutbar column from the Aspen Institute person; it showed what was wrong with two institutions at the same time. I also didn't realize the Times' review violated a publisher's embargo. Niccceee ... hypocrisy and self-righteousness together.

More on the book's controversies, etc., below the fold.




Anyway, if even 5 percent of Palinistas question their blind allegiance to her, that's the last brick in the wall of her ever running for president.

And, of course, this also shows that, in the case of Bristol, the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree.

And, it connects to Trig Palin. My final take on why Sarah had to not only have Trig born in Alaska (the cover story being that this was to satisfy Todd) but in Wasilla is because ... the daddy might not be Todd. I even wrote a blog post about a fake email between her and Dr. Kathy Baldwin-Johnson about that.

Or, there's the second option ... she was trying for "abortion by stress." Of course, the two aren't mutually exclusive.

But, given how Andrew Sullivan has been attacked in the past, a magazine like Salon's gone into denialism about anything weird about Trig's birth and the Anchorage Daily News has done nothing in the way of investigative journalism, what will happen today?

Oh, and per Atlantic, let's note her alleged coke use, too. I'll keep a library eye out for this one.

Here's a laugher, now: Breitbart hauls out a nine-month-old email from McGinniss to Jesse Griffin to claim the book's a fraud. It took him more than a week to do even that, eh?

UPDATE: Palin is threatening to sue, but ... she won't. The burden of proof as a public figure is high, first. Second, she'd have to prove McGinniss wrong. On the first, famous people HAVE won suits, topped by Carol Burnett's massive win over ... The National Enquirer, which first reported the affair. Even allowing for the 2008 campaign to end, Palin's had almost two years to sue on that, and hasn't. Just like her latest blathering today (9.26.2011) about how she'll decide soon on entering the presidential race or not, this is more spotlight chasing. And, the MSM is moving on, I think.