18
Nov
A Note To Our Readers
Using my amazing powers of predicting things that a particle board desk could see coming, I expect Sarah Palin to blame the lies in her book on her ghostwriter. Points will also be awarded for the book editor, fact-checking team (I honestly want to know who served on that chain gang) and her moron-to-English translator.
Col. Klink
Can we consider this an Open Sully Thread?
Tim F.
@Col. Klink: I might as well say yes.
cleek
my vote’s on this:
dmsilev
So, basically Andrew Sullivan is curled up in a ball whispering “the horror, the horror”.
-dms
forked tongue
Uh, when is she going to acknowledge that there are lies in her book to blame on anyone?
Dead Jesus on a stick, I am sick of this beeeeyatch.
SpotWeld
... why wouldn’t she blame the liberal media?
Crashman06
Boy I hope this is some juicy stuff.
@dmsilev: Dave Weigel compared Sullivan’s post to Nicholson finally snapping in The Shining.
All work and no play makes Sully a dull boy.
dr. bloor
Stephen Glass, James Frey and Jayson Blair. Supervised by Judith Miller.
Bubblegum Tate
As an editor/copy editor/proofreader/occasional fact-checker (you’ve gotta wear a lot of hats to keep an editorial job in this day and age), I can’t even imagine the hell that working on this book must’ve been. And after all that hard work, you know damn well your reward is going to be getting demonized by St. Sarah of Mooseville.
The best analog I can think of offhand is when the highly untalented Ashlee Simpson fucked up royally on SNL, then tried to blame it on her band—you know, the people with actual talent.
Scruffy McSnufflepuss
This is certainly good news for McCain!
Stooleo
Sully sounds like one of those characters in an H.P. Lovecraft story. You know, the one who saw Cthulhu and is now in the mental asylum.
dmsilev
@Crashman06: The other movie reference that came to mind is A Clockwork Orange. Visualize Andrew Sullivan tied to a chair with his eyelids strapped open, Beethoven’s Ninth blaring, and a continuous stream of text from the book scrolling across the screen…
-dms
Bubblegum Tate
And of course, it goes without saying that pointing out the lies in her book qualifies as that darn gotcha media hatin’ regular ol’ people like her.
Scribbs
So he says
Could he have definitive proof that trigg isnt her son? Maybe he’ll have evidence that the photo on the cover of the book was taken 8 1/2 months into her “pregnancy”. You never know!
beltane
Sully has been keeping me in suspense. I can’t stand it. Has he scooped an exclusive interview with Levi?
Dreggas
@Col. Klink:
Let’s face it, Sulli has gone all bruce campbell on us and locked himself in a small cabin in the woods to study the necronomicon…errr Going Rogue and will unlock it’s mysteries with the saying “Klatu-Verata-Nickto”
Dreggas
Oh and the LGM take about this not being a book on building an effective rogue was great.
ruemara
Well, of course. Why else do you think she didn’t write her book?
MikeJ
@beltane: Trig.
Leelee for Obama
@Stooleo: I keep picturing Renfield in the Gary Oldman Dracula! From a life sustaining perspective, I think Sarahcuda qualifies, non? The GOP may never recover from the blood-sucking she performed on it.
Zifnab
I’m waiting for her to blame any misinterpretations of her book currently being forwarded by the liberal media on Newsweek, for falsely portraying her as a leggy ski bunny.
If you would just read the book ($27.99 at your local retail store!) you’d be able to see that all of these statements were taken out of context. The coverage of her book is just the continuation of persecution by a group of liberal media actors that want to destroy Sarah Palin before she can officially start the run for President that she may or may not be planning.
I can’t wait for the made-for-TV-movie. Also.
Martin
There are no lies. Truth has a liberal media bias.
Nothing will get blamed on the ghostwriter – just on the media. That’s the heart of the GOP narrative and it’s tried and true. It’s the outward equivalent of ‘I can’t recall’.
Robin G.
I doubt she’s even read the damn book. I’m not positive she can read at all.
(Low blow?)
Col. Klink
I see Sully as somewhere half-way between Col. Kurtz and Winston Churchill at this juncture.
On the one hand, should the Daily Dish last a 1000 blog years they may say this was his finest hour.
On the other hand, he may have the heads of his staff stuck on poles at Meridian Hill park as he stalks U street with an elephant gun.
It’s bound to be one of the two.
BeccaM
Pathological Narcissm
An all-pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behaviour), need for admiration or adulation and lack of empathy, usually beginning by early adulthood and present in various contexts. Five (or more) of the following criteria must be met:
Feels grandiose and self-important (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents to the point of lying, demands to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
Is obsessed with fantasies of unlimited success, fame, fearsome power or omnipotence, unequalled brilliance (the cerebral narcissist), bodily beauty or sexual performance (the somatic narcissist), or ideal, everlasting, all-conquering love or passion
Firmly convinced that he or she is unique and, being special, can only be understood by, should only be treated by, or associate with, other special or unique, or high-status people (or institutions)
Requires excessive admiration, adulation, attention and affirmation – or, failing that, wishes to be feared and to be notorious (narcissistic supply)
Feels entitled. Expects unreasonable or special and favorable priority treatment. Demands automatic and full compliance with his or her expectations
Is “interpersonally exploitative”, i.e., uses others to achieve his or her own ends
Devoid of empathy. Is unable or unwilling to identify with or acknowledge the feelings and needs of others
Constantly envious of others or believes that they feel the same about him or her
Arrogant, haughty behaviours or attitudes coupled with rage when frustrated, contradicted, or confronted
Some of the language in the criteria above is based on or summarized from: American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fourth edition, Text Revision (DSM IV-TR). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association. The text in italics is based on: Sam Vaknin. (2003). Malignant Self Love – Narcissism Revisited, fourth, revised, printing. Prague and Skopje: Narcissus Publication.
eemom
sooner or later the toddleresque attention span of the emmessemm is going to move on to something besides this “book,” and the circus will be OVER.
That is what I keep telling myself. It’s the only way I can get through this.
BeccaM
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
An all-pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behaviour), need for admiration or adulation and lack of empathy, usually beginning by early adulthood and present in various contexts. Five (or more) of the following criteria must be met:
Feels grandiose and self-important (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents to the point of lying, demands to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
Is obsessed with fantasies of unlimited success, fame, fearsome power or omnipotence, unequalled brilliance (the cerebral narcissist), bodily beauty or sexual performance (the somatic narcissist), or ideal, everlasting, all-conquering love or passion
Firmly convinced that he or she is unique and, being special, can only be understood by, should only be treated by, or associate with, other special or unique, or high-status people (or institutions)
Requires excessive admiration, adulation, attention and affirmation – or, failing that, wishes to be feared and to be notorious (narcissistic supply)
Feels entitled. Expects unreasonable or special and favorable priority treatment. Demands automatic and full compliance with his or her expectations
Is “interpersonally exploitative”, i.e., uses others to achieve his or her own ends
Devoid of empathy. Is unable or unwilling to identify with or acknowledge the feelings and needs of others
Constantly envious of others or believes that they feel the same about him or her
Arrogant, haughty behaviours or attitudes coupled with rage when frustrated, contradicted, or confronted
Some of the language in the criteria above is based on or summarized from: American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fourth edition, Text Revision (DSM IV-TR). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association and Sam Vaknin. (2003). Malignant Self Love – Narcissism Revisited, fourth, revised, printing. Prague and Skopje: Narcissus Publication.
Crashman06
@Col. Klink: I don’t want to get too excited. It’s probably the second option.
R-Jud
@eemom:
Haven’t you heard of rum?
BeccaM
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
An all-pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behaviour), need for admiration or adulation and lack of empathy, usually beginning by early adulthood and present in various contexts. Five (or more) of the following criteria must be met:
Feels grandiose and self-important (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents to the point of lying, demands to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
Is obsessed with fantasies of unlimited success, fame, fearsome power or omnipotence, unequalled brilliance (the cerebral narcissist), bodily beauty or sexual performance (the somatic narcissist), or ideal, everlasting, all-conquering love or passion
Firmly convinced that he or she is unique and, being special, can only be understood by, should only be treated by, or associate with, other special or unique, or high-status people (or institutions)
Requires excessive admiration, adulation, attention and affirmation – or, failing that, wishes to be feared and to be notorious (narcissistic supply)
Feels entitled. Expects unreasonable or special and favorable priority treatment. Demands automatic and full compliance with his or her expectations
Is “interpersonally exploitative”, i.e., uses others to achieve his or her own ends
Devoid of empathy. Is unable or unwilling to identify with or acknowledge the feelings and needs of others
Constantly envious of others or believes that they feel the same about him or her
Arrogant, haughty behaviours or attitudes coupled with rage when frustrated, contradicted, or confronted
Some of the language in the criteria above is based on or summarized from: American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fourth edition, Text Revision (DSM IV-TR). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association and Sam Vaknin. (2003). Malignant Self Love – Narcissism Revisited, fourth, revised, printing. Prague and Skopje: Narcissus Publication.
Bill Arnold
LOL. Read that way, it’s uncanny.
Shawn in ShowMe
It takes a brave man to put himself in the crosshairs of Sarah’s mighty Facebook howitzer. I hope Sully knows what he’s getting into.
Demo Woman
Sully is reading Sarah’s book looking for errors. The AP already did a pretty good analysis and that got very little traction with MSM. I’m not sure what Sully hopes to accomplish. If he is in touch with Levi, then I’ll change my mind.
Col. Klink
I think the Renfield analogy @ 20 by Leelee likely applies to Rich Lowry. I see him cramped up in a corner office at the National Review muttering ‘starbursts’ and ‘the blood is the life’ awaiting for Palin to come and make him
immortalnot a virgin.SpotWeld
Of course there will be the Blogs coughredstate*cougH* that will take this text to be divinely inspired and therefor infallable.
Anything that looks like a “lie” will simply be a “Wasilla-Truth” that is too moosemeaty-truth-laden for veggie eatin liberals to comprehend.
And then Palin shall wink apon them and like tounges of (oil fueled) flame the manly fever of wingnuttism shall be apong them, and they shall go forth to spread the (rogue) Truth. (The kerning falling before them like trees)
You’betcha (otherwise known as an “Alaskan amen”)
SpotWeld
You know, I just realized..
This opens the door to Palin/Twilight crossover fan fic.
dmsilev
@Stooleo:
Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Sarah W’sila wgah’nagl fhtagn,
-dms
Bubblegum Tate
TNR helpfully made an index for this word pile. It’s pretty good. I think this is the best entry:
Mark S.
You honestly think that she had one?
Omnes Omnibus
@SpotWeld:
Just kill me now.
SpotWeld
@Mark S.: You have to assume that “fact-checking” is being used in a more Orwellian sense here.
Jamey
Who are you referring to, Becca, Sully, Palin, or both?
Grumpy Code Monkey
The thing is, I don’t want the scandal to be anything about her personal life; whether she’s really Trig’s mother, or whether she and Levi did a little of the Mrs. Robinson, or anything like that. If that’s Andrew’s bombshell, then a) it’s really nobody else’s business, and b) throwing it will only emphasize her victimhood by the nasty liberal media.
Now, if he has evidence of official malfeasance by her as either mayor or governor (such as new information on the whole state trooper investigation, or maybe just old-fashioned embezzling), bring it on.
Xenos
I am thinking of putting together an annotated version of Palin’s convention speech, with endnotes written in the narrative voice of her speechwriter, with the long sordid tale of her lies and craziness overwhelming the already unreliable narrator until he sinks into the delusion that he is the king of some remote arctic kingdom. Eventually, the narrator will be driven to admit he has tried to kill her, and then will commit suicide.
What, it has been done already? Does that mean I can’t get an advance?
/Palin Fire
joes527
@dmsilev: Just went over to the ‘Dish. Sully is focusing on the pregnancy (as always) ..... No good can come of this.
It is amazing. He has been the source of some of the most fact based reporting about Palin. He has also been the source of the longest running PDS based spew in history. I’m thinking it is a plot to discredit fact based reporting on Palin by linking it to his ab-so-fucking-lutlely batshit insane drivel.
BeccaM
@Jamey:
Sarah, of course. Only one or two of the indicators on that NPD list are even questionable, given her behavior.
Alex S.
@Stooleo:
Great post, I really fear for his mental health. He strikes me as an obsessive blogger already. And Palin is literally driving him crazy.
valdivia
@Crashman06:
where did Wiegel say this?
I am sure she will find someone to blame for the ‘inaccuracies’ in the book.
Alex S.
By the way, I love that singled out sentence:
“There are only three of us.”
JGabriel
John Cole @ Top:
Yes. Great (or middling) minds think alike — I had the same thought this morning.
OTOH, it’s possible that Palin will never concede that there are any factual errors in her book. It’s not as if she’s ever done it before.
.
camchuck
re: Sully
I’m picturing Frost/Nixon.
Sully finding out that Palin monitors his blog was akin to Nixon’s drunk call to Frost. He realizes the stakes and has a renewed sense of purpose.
Now Sully’s hunkered down with his team combing all available information for the missing piece that will finally sink her.
WereBear
Is Sully a conservative scorned, or what?
A mass of lies is a mass of lies. It doesn’t make any sense. It was never meant to make any sense.
shpx.ohfu
official malfeasance by her as either mayor or governor
She really wasn’t either one of these long enough to do much malfeasin’ that we don’t already know about.
kay
@eemom:
This is different, because it’s a long term obsession.
Andrew Sullivan doesn’t just dabble in Palin. He’s really going to be the Palin Expert, whether he intended that or not.
It’s probably useful to have one, just in case.
Robin G.
@SpotWeld:
I just threw up so hard I saw starbursts.
greennotGreen
Although I suspect that BeccaM @28 is spot-on, there is another possibility. Palin is a member of an evangelical subculture that eschews rational examination of reality. Therefore, the events that we the reality-based consider to be observable phenomena are unimportant to her. The fact that in one interview she says, for example, that a particular person made a particular phone call and in another interview she says the phone call never took place is beneath consideration, no more important than if you insisted upon knowing what I ate for breakfast June 6, 2003 and I told you “cereal” because it did not and does not matter.
So, she may not be terribly disturbed, or at least no more than a member of a non-technological tribe who kills a chicken to drive out the demons that are causing his toothache. I accept that both of them are sane, but I don’t want either of them to be President.
Crashman06
@valdivia: It was on his twitter feed a couple hours ago.
gex
@BeccaM: Is this posted as a commentary on Palin, Sullivan, or both?
woody
Surprise surprise surprise…
The book is published by HarperCollins, which is owned by
wait for it…
Rupert Murdoch!
McGeorge Bundy
Sully’s gone off the deep end. Hope he finds something interesting there.
Elie
Becca@27
I agree that she is a narcissist. She is also not very bright, and like most narcissists, she has a big blind spot for her own vulnerabilities – which leaves her open to damage, which of course she never anticipates and is never her fault.
Most narcissists run out of runway, sooner or later. She got close with quiting the Governorship – and it damaged her more than even her most ardent supporters will acknowledge..but she has no internal censors about when to stop, so she will go and go until…
Its always fascinating what does these folks in…. many times a banal oversight due to just not caring about anyone else on any level deeply. Would not be surprised at all if it were from within the ol family circle…
woody
Probabbly the BEST thing about Sully’s taking a predatory interest in La Palin (anagram: Lapin, ‘rabbit’ in French) is that he assuredly will NOT be beguiled by her gams or her come-hither smiles…
Why oh why
This thread is hilarious.
I can’t wait to read the apoplectic explosion of outrage that Sullivan is now writing as his next post.
Comrade Jake
I love this blog. Did anyone say that yet?
Sully’s post today really did make me laugh. Then I come here, read the comments, and can’t stop laughing.
SiubhanDuinne
@Robin G.:
(Low blow?)
Well, she can, but her lips get really tired.
SiubhanDuinne
@SiubhanDuinne:
FYWP
SiubhanDuinne
@woody:
Hence “ski bunny,” yes?
cleek
when can we stop talking about Palin?
Jay in Oregon
When your other options are pushing a large boulder uphill for all eternity or having your liver torn out by a giant eagle every morning, you take what you can get…
Paul in KY
Great thread guys n gals. Gotta disagree with the esteemed poster up above who wanted the uberscandal to be about something official & not her personal life.
I think the really juicy personal life scandal (boffing whathisname, etc.) could be the thing that turns her into a pariah among those who are currently infatuated with her.
They think she is goodness & wholsomeness & light & seeing that she is just another run-of-the-mill molesting Republican will just crush them (rubbing hands together & cackling with glee).
Stooleo
So, does anyone have any theories as to what information that Levi Johnston is holding back? My own personal one is that he is not only the father of Bristol’s child, but also the father of Sarah’s child Trig. That would be awesome.
Jeff
I’m sorry. It’ll come out sooner or later.
I did it. Also. too.
Deborah
@Grumpy Code Monkey: Yeah, I’m worried that he no longer sees a distinction between telling tall tales about her pregnancy and, say, embezzling.
@Alex S.: One of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ commenters had a great analogy, that Andrew has become like his beagles. He gets hold of something (Thatcher, Iraq War, Obama, Palin) and then he keeps hold and digs and digs and digs and finds out every possible thing. Palin had the misfortune to be more like the Iraq War, in which the more you learn the more you realize you were conned.
Crashman06
@Stooleo:
If this happens, my head would explode in a moment of unmatched schadenfreudistic ecstasy. It’d be a good way to go out.
Elie
cleek:
You know the game: Kick the Dummy and kick the dummy hard again…
The answer is: not for a long time
Midnight Marauder
@cleek:
Do you want us to stop breathing, cleek? Also? DO YOU WANT THAT?!
cleek
OK, fine. let’s talk about Palin.
a bit more from that Lowry interview:
Sarah Death Panel complains that there’s too much negativity on the internet.
whew.
time for more vicodin.
Deborah
@Stooleo: That she took the name of the Lord in vain. I really think Andrew is way, way off in his assessment of Levi as critical linchpin to some tyrranical scheme to defraud the Alaskan state government. What could he know? (If Trig is not her kid and she covered up for some female relative—don’t know how to break it to Andrew, but it doesn’t make her look that bad. Anyone still a fan will not leave the fanclub.)
Notorious P.A.T.
@Stooleo:
Hahaha )
Deborah
Cleek, we’ll stop talking about Palin when Mark Sanford does something sufficiently embarrassing to distract us.
Andre
I think we’re going to see a whole lot of fudgery and not much debate. Sully will dig up random, possibly misread or misinterpreted factoids and spin an enormous conspiracy out of it that completely backs up his previous convictions.
Meanwhile, other fact checkers will identify “problematic” statements in the book, ask for clarification from SarPalz, and get a whole lot of windbaggery.
Notorious P.A.T.
Here’s some of the “mistakes” from her book. Anyone else know of others, please post them also:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_.....fact_check
Jeff
@Deborah:
The misfortune isn’t hers, but ours.
Dreggas
@Paul in KY:
even better (and more of a springer episode) it was a menage-e-trois.
truculent and unreliable
@Bubblegum Tate: Holy crap: “Baby shower at a shooting range 76”
HA HA HA HA.
When I heard it didn’t have an index, I wasn’t surprised. Most of those folks are freelancers and probably refused to take the job unless they were paid eleventy-million dollars for the brain damage that they would suffer.
EconWatcher
I’m not saying Sully’s got it, but something tells me she does have a skeleton in the closet big enough to bring this charade to an end.
truculent and unreliable
@EconWatcher: I’m not sure Sully has it, either, but I still think there was something really fishy about her resignation speech. She seemed terrified and/or speeded out.
There’s something, and she’s trying to cash in before her adoring fans find out.
Pasquinade
@Grumpy Code Monkey
Palin still hasn’t released those emails that she has/had on her Yahoo account, has she?
Randy P
Could there be any clearer evidence that Sully is not a card-carrying neocon?
Sarah would insist that they all are true.
RememberNovember
@dmsilev: Sully is an alum from Miskatonic U.
Pangloss
I blame the Germanic invaders of Britain in the 8th and 9th that brought with them the Anglo-Frisian dialects that later became the language that Sarah Palin uses to lie.
arguingwithsignposts
@cleek:
I think they’ll have to dig up Michael Jackson and let him die again.
Xenos
@truculent and unreliable:
I would have guessed prescription drugs, but which? I agree there is definitely a Lady Dedlock air to her.
Peter J
Peter J:
My powers are super duper amazing. ;)
(Obviously, she could ignore the facts and in that case my powers are super duper worthless.)
The Moar You Know
I hate to break it to everyone, but Sullivan is a paranoiac drama queen whose obsession with Sarah Palin can be most easily explained that he is almost exactly like her. Bitchy, vengeful, nitpicky and obsessive.
There is no “there” there. Sullivan isn’t going to find out anything we don’t already know.
Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)
@The Moar You Know:
I think you’re way off. Say what you will about Sully, but of this I’m sure: her closet has skeletons.
robertdsc
If only he’d been as rigorous for Iraqi WMD. Shame on you, Sully.
EconWatcher
@The Moar You Know:
Look, this kid Levi says he’s got something. He could just be bluffing. But I don’t think so.
I used to do white-collar criminal defense. You know what brings most of those guys down? You can rarely pull stuff without some of your employees finding out about it. And that means they have something on you. Always. They have the power. You can’t fire them. You have to keep them happy. They can turn any minute.
Doesn’t this Sarah-Levi feud have that feel to you? She didn’t keep him in the fold, and now she’s running scared. It’s just a matter of time.
truculent and unreliable
@EconWatcher: Yeah, I mean, Levi’s a bit of a douche, but I don’t think he’s fucking around.
Bubblegum Tate
Prepare for your head to go all ‘splodey:
Media discusses media coverage of Palin’s scrawlings: Is the media being too unfair?
Fuck you, media.
Comrade Darkness
@arguingwithsignposts: It would be kind of appropriate to dig him up and auction his bones off though…
Stooleo
Awesome quote from Steve Benen.
.
The Moar You Know
@EconWatcher: No, it doesn’t. They’re both grifters, that’s all.
AlanDean
Donald G
My wife thought last night that perhaps Sully’s interns staged an intervention. Reading today’s post, I’m wondering if The Atlantic’s lawyers have said that he’d better be able to back up his speculations, so he’s gone all radio-silence for the nonce.
Then again, he may actually be on to something and he’s waiting til he’s got all his ducks in a row before shooting.
JackHughes
Using my amazing powers of predicting things that a particle board desk could see coming, I expect Sarah Palin to blame the lies in her book on her ghostwriter. Points will also be awarded for the book editor, fact-checking team (I honestly want to know who served on that chain gang) and her moron-to-English translator.
I’m waiting for Katie Couric to roll the outtakes of her interview with Sarah Palin—destroying Palin’s claims about “Couric’s hatchet job.”
kommrade reproductive vigor
Someone here was spot on when he (?) compared Prejean to SheBilly. Of course, hypoChristians who can’t open their mouths without lying have never been what you’d call rare, but I can’t recall a time when it was so frequent and blatant.
Lexiconable Phrase o’ the Day. It doesn’t even need a definition.
Chaz
The idea that Levi’s got something amazing on Sarah sounds kind of hollow to me. I want it to be true, but suspect that his handlers are just working to crank up that publicity. Any really juicy stuff would be in the political sphere of her life and Levi’s window into that had to have been pretty slim.
mandarama
@Robin G.:
Yeah, I just threw up so hard I saw vampire sparkles.