Overheard in a Barnes & Noble in Cuyahoga County, Ohio yesterday...

[Berry Cool]

...I was looking over the current-events books, and there before me were two elderly women, marveling over the fact that in the center of the top shelf of the New Releases was a glossy, brightly colored paperback about...Sarah Palin.

"Ooh! LOOK!" one cried. "There's already a BOOK about her!"

"How did they DO that?" said the other. "Why, it was only--two weeks ago!"

"Isn't she just the cutest thing?"

"Yes, isn't she adorable?"

Finally, they decided together that this book HAD to have been out for some time. After all, there was NO POSSIBLE WAY that anyone could research and publish a book on Sarah Palin THAT quickly. They just must not have noticed it before.

I stood there and realized I was listening to yet another example of the American voter caught off guard.

There you have it: two prime examples of the kind of person who's going to vote for McCain--even in this heavily blue county. Elderly, female, and easily swayed by a brand-new VP candidate they don't even know, provided she spouts nonsense they'll believe in and is as cute as a bug's ear to boot. Also, not exactly up to date on modern printing technology or marketing techniques--otherwise, they'd realize that it's completely possible in today's world to churn out a thick, glossy, four-color-cover paperback on a previously un-written-about person within only a couple of weeks, and that a publisher will gladly do so if it thinks there's money to be made in doing such a thing. The information in it doesn't have to be balanced, it doesn't have to be verified, it doesn't have to even be spelled correctly (editing is usually one thing there ISN'T time for when churning out a quickie paperback designed to capitalize on a current event)--it just has to take a boatload of factoids, rumors, innuendos, hearsay and half-truths, organize it into chapters and a table of contents, and bind it between two covers with a pretty picture.

This kind of stuff was already being done even back when the news headlines were full of Tonya Harding and OJ Simpson. And that was BEFORE you could turn to the Internet and collect enough information to write such a book (a poorly sourced one, perhaps, but a book nonetheless) on any given topic with only a few hours invested in tapping keys and clicking a mouse.

And that's when it hit me. Sarah Palin is exactly like that book we saw.

Glossy, slick, attractive appearance. A surprise find. Full of all kinds of "facts" and "information," grabbed and thrown together in some semblance of order by someone who specializes in assembing such stuff and doing it quickly.

But is it all verified?

No. None of it is. Because fact-checking and verification were the least important part of the process. The important part of the process was making the product look good and appealing to the consumer and getting it out there on the shelves ASAP, so that people would purchase it while it was still "hot."

So there you have it: Sarah Palin, the quickie paperback. Glossy and attractive on the outside, but nothing whose veracity you can be sure of on the inside.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Equivalent to voting for Kathie Lee Gifford with a gun.

[Cougar]

3. Palin's a hypocrite

Funny how she claims to be so "pro life" but has a hobby of killing and gutting animals for fun.:crazy:

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Welcome to DU, Cougar!

:hi:

[Cougar]

2. After she loses, Palin's next career

Will be as a model for Vision World.

[AngryOldDem]

5. And how long is it before those books find their way to the remainders bins?

There's an analogy in that as well.

[zbdent]

8. Half price day at second-hand store where paperbacks are normally 3 for a dollar

and you're still getting ripped off ...

[Canuckistanian]

6. They can crank those books out pretty fast

Anyone can do a cut'n'paste from Internet articles, padded with lots of drivel commentary and large pictures.

There are people who actually specialize in "quickie" books like that.

[Berry Cool]

9. Precisely my point.

For them, whipping out a book on someone nobody was even interested in reading about three weeks ago is a piece of cake. But if you're someone who grew up in an era of big, slow printing presses, hot lead type and books that were laid out on boards on a graphic designer's drawing table, you don't necessarily realize that. Therefore, you are gullible and easy to impress.

This tells us something, also, about why Palin was trotted out to the public with a few speeches and then whisked back behind the curtain to receive her "training." McCain's people had no choice but to trot her out when they did, because the hour had grown so late and the convention was almost upon them and he still had nothing. They had to come up with someone who looked good, a tabula rasa upon which all kinds of great things could be projected, in time for that person to make an appearance at the convention, deliver a speech, and be nominated. Mission accomplished.

But they knew that ultimately that wouldn't be enough. They'd eventually have to put some flesh on their skeleton of a candidate--but that would take longer and require the work of many professionals. So, they whisked her back out of the limelight in order to take time to "work" on her. They won't let their Alaskan Eliza Doolittle back out until Henry Higgins is done making her look like a proper English lady. Then, and only then, will she appear at the Ascot Races and at the ball.

[Canuckistanian]

17. I see her more of a "Frankenstein" candidate

She's on the operating table as we speak, being stuffed with the usual half-baked schemes and pre-approved talking points and attitudes.

I'm sure she has no clue about the finer points of economic theory, foreign relations or technology, let alone an intelligent position on them.

And THIS is what's going to get her into trouble with the debates.

[Vinca]

7. You should have tapped them on the shoulder and said,

"It's a shame about social security, isn't it ladies?"

[Berry Cool]

10. Oh, that's a good one.

As it was, I was just getting a phone call from a sister I was meeting elsewhere in the mall and I had a couple of books I wanted to buy before meeting her. Ah, but what a great example of the Parting Shot You Wish You Could Have Thought Of At The Time!

[democrattotheend]

11. How do you know they planned to vote for McCain?

Did they say so, or did you just get that feeling after listening to them talk?

[Berry Cool]

13. It was a feeling I got.

Their voices sounded so flattering as they talked about how cute Palin was. Otherwise I think they would have spoken more cynically. "Hmpf. She's cute, but who is she?"

[Bernardo de La Paz]

12. There is a pre-existing book on Palin, even though new books can be cranked out quickly.

[Berry Cool]

14. This might have been that book, but it didn't have to be.

These women had convinced themselves the book HAD to have been pre-existing, because there was JUST NO WAY it could have been produced in a couple of weeks. And I stood there thinking, "Way."

[ensho]

15. Palin is religiously insane and dangerous

she is neo con

[WCGreen]

16. At my B&N here in Cuyahoga County, I am surrounded by Red...

I don't even venture up to the Current Issues bins anymore.

But they also seem to be buying a lot of Obama's books here. One was down on the front table for a few months over the early part of the summer...