SHE failed to save John McCain from presidential election doom, but Sarah Palin, the losing Republican senator's controversial running mate, may yet emerge as an unlikely saviour of the US publishing industry.
Literary agents are queueing to sign Ms Palin to a book deal that could earn her up to $US7 million ($10.8 million), The Australian reports.
With Barack Obama's election victory expected to generate dozens of books from politicians, strategists and journalists - and with another shelfload of memoirs expected from outgoing members of President George W. Bush's administration - Ms Palin's personal account of her tumultuous introduction to US politics is widely regarded as the tale most likely to repay a multi-million-dollar advance.
"She's poised to make a ton of money," said Howard Rubenstein, New York's best-known public relations adviser.
And Jeff Klein of Folio Literary management said: "Every publisher and a lot of literary agents have been going after her."
Ms Palin's profile shows no sign of diminishing, despite Senator McCain's defeat and embittered Republicans making her the scapegoat for the party's collapse.
She is now in a position similar to Mr Obama's in 2004, when the then relatively unknown Chicago politician delivered a mesmerising speech to the Democratic convention, was elected to the Senate and swiftly wrote a bestselling book The Audacity of Hope which proved to be the springboard for his presidential launch.
Like Mr Obama, Ms Palin has come from obscurity - in her case Wasilla in Alaska.
She is considered a likely candidate to move to Washington as Alaska's senator if one of the state's two seats falls vacant next year.
Undaunted by her poll defeat, Ms Palin was in fighting form last week, inviting cameras into her home, serving visiting interviewers home-cooked moose chilli, and haddock and salmon casserole.
She scoffed at claims that she thought Africa was a country and did not know the members of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
THE 2008 presidential campaign may be over, but Sarah Palin's moment in the spotlight has yet to run its course.
In a media marathon last week, the Republican Party's vice presidential nominee sat down for interviews with CNN's Larry King and Wolf Blitzer; had Matt Lauer of the "Today" show up to Wasilla for a family dinner; and told Fox News's Greta Van Susteren about getting the call from John McCain on her cellphone while she was admiring the local produce at the Alaska State Fair. She disdained the Republican "jerks" who spread anonymous rumors painting her as geographically illiterate, and vehemently denied the accusation that she had milked the campaign for a $150,000 wardrobe for herself and her family.
All that was a prelude to her star turn at the Republican Governors Association meeting in Miami, where she met reporters at a press conference, drew standing ovations from several hundred GOP donors, and humorously updated her fellow governors on what she'd been doing since last year's meeting.
"I had a baby," she told them. "I did some traveling; I very briefly expanded my wardrobe; I made a few speeches; I met a few VIPs, including those who really impact society, like Tina Fey."
Of course she was asked whether she plans to run for president in 2012, and of course she deflected the question. "The future is not that 2012 presidential race; it's next year and our next budgets," she said. But there can't be much doubt that Palin has become the brightest star in the GOP firmament. A whopping 91 percent of Republicans have a favorable view of her, according to a recent Rasmussen poll, and she is the runaway favorite when they are asked to rank possible contenders for the party's 2012 presidential nominee.
Elsewhere, however, the savaging of Palin continues. In The New York Times, Maureen Dowd devotes yet another column to bashing Alaska's governor ("a shopaholic whack-job diva"). The popular Washington blog Wonkette, characteristically crude, pronounces her "human garbage." At TheAtlantic.com, an obsessed Andrew Sullivan calls her "deluded and delusional . . . clinically unhinged" and describes her as a nitwit with "the educational level of a high school dropout" who "regards ignorance as some kind of achievement."
Not everyone on the left is in a gibbering rage over Palin. The feminist social critic Camille Paglia, a pro-choice Democrat, is appalled by the Democrats' anti-Palin debauch, especially their attacks on her intelligence. "As a career classroom teacher, I can see how smart she is," Paglia writes, "and, quite frankly, I think the people who don't see it are the stupid ones, wrapped in the fuzzy mummy-gauze of their own worn-out partisan dogma."
After witnessing the poise, energy, and panache with which John McCain's 44-year-old running mate handled herself on the national stage, can the backbiters working overtime to trash her intellect really believe she is nothing but a vain and ignorant airhead? Well, maybe; partisans and ideologues are good at seeing only what they want to see. But they might want to recall that the last Republican to inspire such ardor and admiration among the party faithful - Ronald Reagan - was also derided as a dim bulb. Diplomat Clark Clifford called Reagan an "amiable dunce." The New Republic's Robert Wright viewed him as "virtually brain dead." Nicholas von Hoffman lamented that it was "humiliating to think of this unlettered, self-assured bumpkin being our president." That "bumpkin" became one of the greatest presidents of the 20th century.
I suspect that the loathing of Palin by so much of the opinion elite is driven not by contempt for her brainpower but by fear of her political potential. She is cheerful and charismatic, an unabashed and likable conservative who generates extraordinary grassroots enthusiasm. Tens of thousands of voters showed up at her campaign rallies, and even now, when she appears on TV, record-breaking numbers of viewers tune in. "Her politics aren't my politics," said Lorne Michaels, the creator and executive producer of "Saturday Night Live," after Palin's appearance on the show. But "I watched the way she connected with people, and she's powerful."
Whether Palin has the skill and stamina it would take to win a presidential nomination, let alone capture the White House, it is way too early to tell. But the smart money says she is a force to be reckoned with. That may be just what her critics are afraid of.
She sure can't leave the midgets can she? Plus, we found this video fo Britney Spears goofing around in between takes of her music video set Womanizer where she imitates her father. We really have not welcome back Britney Spears Enough. We love you BRITNEY SPEARS
Due to release On the December 2nd 08 Thanks to Zomba Records, Britney Herself.
*World Premier* No Stealing Thanks.
1. Womanizer 2. Circus 3. Out From Under 4. Kill The Lights 5. Shattered Glass 6. If U Seek Amy 7. Unusual You 8. Blur 10. Mannequin 11. Lace and Leather 12. My Baby Bonus Track 13. Radar 14.Rock Me In 15.Phonography
Pink reader Tori sends in a bunch of photos of the CD booklet artwork for Britney Spears’s new album Circus (which isn’t due for release until December 2). Here are a couple of the pics that will be included in the booklet … including a close-up of Britney from the album’s backcover photo (which we got to see on Friday):
I do like the top photo … but I’m still a bit creeped out by the backcover photo. I had to cut out the scary-ass little clown, tho. I’m having a hard time with him. After the jump, check out a few more photos from the Circus CD booklet …
Yeah, there’s a lot of hardware going on in these pics. It kinda looks like the stylist stole a bunch of tiaras from various children’s beauty pageants and put them together to craft the jewelry for this photoshoot. I gotta be honest … I don’t love these pics … but, as I’ve said before, I’ve never been that impressed with the album artwork from any of Britney’s releases. It’s all about the music, y’all. But, I could be in the minority here … do any of y’all like these photos?
While the beauties of Victoria’s Secret took over the newly renovated Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel this weekend for the 2008 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, they had plenty of famous faces on hand cheering them on.
Celebrities spotted on the pink carpet included Paris Hilton, who was accompanied by a few of her “My New BFF” contestant pals, as well as reality star siblings Kim Kardashian and her sister Kourtney.
“We watch the show every year on TV, so it’s really cool to see it in person,” Kim told press as she mingled with fellow guests at the show, which will air December 3 at 10PM on CBS.
Other celebs making their way to South Beach for the show included “90210” star Jessica Lowndes, the always-lovely Molly Sims, former “Danity Kane” singer Aubrey O’Day, as well as “Hairspray” hottie Amanda Bynes, among many others.
SHE failed to save John McCain from presidential election doom, but Sarah Palin, the losing Republican senator's controversial running mate, may yet emerge as an unlikely saviour of the US publishing industry.
