Beck to Publisher: Call Off Palin 'Stalker' or I'll Boycott

Her screed against journalist is 'incredibly irresponsible'

(NEWSER) - Sarah Palin's diatribe on Facebook against her new neighbor in Alaska—author Joe McGinniss, who's writing a book about her—is astonishing, writes David Weigel at his Right Now blog in the Washington Post. "Can somebody explain to me how this isn't a despicable thing for Palin to do?" It's "incredibly irresponsible" for politicians to "sic their fans on journalists they don't like," he says, noting that Glenn Beck is already on the case . More»

Publisher, author printed info they 'knew to be false,' says attorney

(NEWSER) - Here's something that's bound to get more people reading The Rogue. Sarah Palin is threatening to sue author Joe McGinniss and his publisher for his tell-everything tome about the former Alaska governor, which includes gossip about drug use and adultery, reports ABC News . The work was roundly criticized in the press for repeating unsubstantiated rumors . The book "contains a series of lies and rumors presented as fact and combined with 'anonymous' sources," charges Palin attorney John Tiemessen in a letter to the head of the Crown Publishing Group. Tiemessen quotes an attached email apparently written by the author which “clearly describes the fact that Mr. McGinniss researched and investigated many false and scurrilous allegations, and concluded that there was absolutely no evidence anywhere backing these allegations," he writes. More»

Fox News shifts towards center, plays up GOP's 2012 conflict

(NEWSER) - Is Fox News going moderate? Not exactly, but Roger Ailes has consciously made a “course correction” from hyper-partisanship back toward the center, sensing that the public has grown weary of the Tea Party, he tells Howard Kurtz of Newsweek . Glenn Beck’s inflammatory rhetoric in particular “became a bit of a branding issue for us,” he says, as did Sarah Palin's use of her Fox platform to promote herself as a possible GOP savior. More»

Insists Sarah Palin bio is no hatchet job

(NEWSER) - Looks like Joe McGinniss is in full spin mode after reviewers largely decimated his new biography of Sarah Palin. Although The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin depicts her as a racist, bulimic bully who indulges in religious nuttiness and extramarital affairs, 68-year-old McGinniss insists his book is no hatchet job. The Daily Beast serves up these McGinniss gems:

• On The Rogue engendering sympathy for Palin: “I don’t know anyone who’s not a card-carrying member of the Tea Party who would believe something as foolish as that."

McGinnis 'traffics in innuendo and falsehoods,' Palin says

(NEWSER) - Todd Palin was pretty peeved when Joe McGinniss moved in next door, and he's downright furious now that the author's book on his wife has been released, Politico reports. The Rogue—which accuses Sarah Palin of adultery and illegal drug use , among other things—"is full of disgusting lies, innuendo, and smears," Palin told reporters, noting that even the New York Times has called the book "dated" and "petty." More»