A Very Live Tiger

"If you are trying to sell books or magazines or get clicks for your website, Republican Party star Sarah Palin is the gift that keeps giving." The Christian Science Monitor

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Michael Joseph Gross, a writer for Vanity Fair went up to Alaska to do a profile of former Governor Sarah Palin. More of a hit piece than honest portrayal of his subject Gross's story drew the attention of the Washington Post's The Reliable Source feature, which among other things concluded that the Gross's hatchet job "contains few verifiable revelations." Wrote the Post's Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts "Palin and people near her refused to talk, and those who did demanded anonymity." Gross's story, they added "portrays the former Alaska governor as angry, manipulative and obsessed with money and fame. Plus: tensions in the Palin marriage, tensions with the McCain campaign, tensions with the RNC over the vice presidential candidate's infamous $150,000 designer wardrobe." Gross, admittedly gay, was a curious choice to write about Gov. Palin. He had to have had an axe to grind since he obviously identified with the description Palin uses to identify certain members of the media as "impotent, limp and gutless..." "As a public official, I expect criticism and I expect to be held accountable for how I govern," she has said "But the personal, salacious nature of recent reporting, and often the refusal of the media to correct obvious mistakes, unfortunately discredits too many in journalism today, making it difficult for many Americans to believe what they see in the media." Gross's heavily biased piece is just another example of the current "get Palin" campaign. She scares the pants off the Democratic party and the liberals in and out of the media. It's been said that you do not shoot arrows at dead tigers. Or Barracudas! Gross manages to ignore the genesis of the nickname “Barracuda” implying she earned it from her style of governing. He ignores the fact that it had nothing to do with her political style, but solely with her aggressive behavior on the basketball court years ago while she was still in school. He admits that he couldn’t find anyone close to Sarah Palin, or even her neighbors who would talk about her, implying that they were frightened about the possibility of retaliation from Sarah Barracuda. As the Daily Caller reported, he had instead to rely on such credible but still anonymous sources as “The bellhops in Kansas, The bellman at a mid-western hotel, Themaids, A onetime gubernatorial aide, One close aid, One aid (presumably not so close),A campaign aide (twice), One friend, A woman, who was described by another person with firsthand knowledge of her situation, Personal assistants, Others who have worked with Palin and A bartender at one of the town’s best restaurants.” In other words, nobody who is close to Sarah Palin would talk about her. Ergo they were afraid of her. In his profile of Todd Palin, Sarah’s husband, he quotes some anonymous friend of the couple as saying although she had never seen the couple in bed together, things in the marriage are not all that good. Obviously Todd and Sarah need to open their bedroom to everybody or leave themselves open to rumors of marital discord. And be sure to invite Mr. Gross.