Political Hotsheet
November 3, 2009 7:54 AM

Sarah Palin: The Inside Story

(CBS)
Former Alaska Governor and Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin is one of the most polarizing figures in politics today. Love her or hate her, when Sarah Palin speaks, people pay attention.

New revelations about her life from the campaign that made her an overnight sensation are now coming to light in a new book, "Sarah from Alaska," jointly authored by CBS News' own Scott Conroy and Shushannah Walshe.

The book, based on the two authors' experience covering the campaign from within Palin's inner circle, shines a unique light on the new Republican superstar's meteoric rise.

Click here for an exclusive excerpt from "Sarah from Alaska"

Conroy tells CBS "Early Show" co-anchor Harry Smith that he and Walshe bore witness to a "remarkable internal war" between Palin's staff and that of her boss, former Presidential Candidate John McCain.

Walshe tells Smith that McCain's campaign leaders were "terrified that she would embarrass John McCain, even after the campaign had officially ended."

Another revelation in the book; the authors allege that Palin didn't tell her daughters she was running for vice president, instead leaving it to a staffer to deliver the news.

Walshe said Palin's claim that she had asked her family to vote on whether she should run, if chosen by McCain, came later, "after she already shook hands with John McCain and accepted that offer."

On Palin's much-publicized, top-dollar campaign wardrobe, Conroy and Walshe say the former Alaska governor was actually duped in some cases into wearing clothes she was uncomfortable in.

"People blamed her for all the spending that went on. But really, she was one of the only people in the room that said, hey, this stuff is too expensive," says Walshe.

Tags:
sarah palin ,
sarah from alaska ,
mccain ,
presidential ,
campaign
Topics:
Sarah Palin
Share:
  • Share
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Mixx
Add a Comment See all 98 Comments
by noloyalisti November 5, 2009 4:28 PM EST
Is this a preview of her porn film: The Inside Story? Remember she ran as the Maverick and the MILF. And I was pullin' for Palin.
Reply to this comment
by nirak2-2009 November 5, 2009 3:13 PM EST
When Palin speaks people pay attention?
Wrong!
I don't know anyone who would listen!
Reply to this comment
by milty5 November 5, 2009 3:47 PM EST
Yet you are reading an article about her? Pot, meet kettle...
by sunmantis November 5, 2009 4:45 PM EST
I listen...I need all the laughs I can get:)
by daws711 November 5, 2009 2:42 PM EST
Could you guys please report on some real news ? This woman has no hope of winning anything, except maybe her sanity !!! It's no wonder McCain became a laughing stock when he picked her...
Reply to this comment
by american_artist November 5, 2009 11:46 AM EST
McCain's campaign leaders were "terrified that she would embarrass John McCain, even after the campaign had officially ended."

Well, at least they got one thing right.
Reply to this comment
by josangalang November 3, 2009 9:04 PM EST
You can continue publish unflattering photos continue trying to vilify Palin, but the fact remains, she is the best representative of conservative values. Reading comments here shows me how leftists can't see beyond their own elitist, constricted and intolerant paradigm. The liberal party has become intolerant, cruel, racist and sexist.
Reply to this comment
by Free_Thinking_Patriot November 5, 2009 4:34 PM EST
Sarah Palin is the best representative of conservative values? That's almost - ALMOST - enough to make me feel sorry for conservatives. And exactly what "unflattering photos" are you referring to specifically? If you're referring to that at the top of this page of Palin speaking at the podium, what about it do you find unflattering? The fact that she's got her mouth open speaking?
by 7deane November 3, 2009 9:04 PM EST
Liberals always make such disgusting comments. I always know the political party of a person when i read their comments. Liberals have no manners. They don't know the issues and they are crass.
Reply to this comment
by trijul November 3, 2009 7:19 PM EST
All everyone is doing is making her richer!!!!! more power to her she knows how to make money in this country she's no different than Benny Hinn or any other preacher out there.looking for a quick buck !!!!!

So you go girl make your money you won't get a penny out of me but their are plenty a fools out there......
Reply to this comment
by P0STING_AWAY November 3, 2009 7:00 PM EST
BTW - All of you TeaBaggers, have I found a deal for you!!!
Newsmax, a right-wing-idiot website/magazine is offering Sarah
Palin's book for $4.95 if you subscribe to their blather rag.
Between them and Rupert Murdoch, they have purchased one
kajillion (a million times a billion) copies of Sarah's book ....
So buy one to wrap fish with .... and buy one to steady any
wobbly furniture you might have.
Reply to this comment
by sunmantis November 5, 2009 4:47 PM EST
I'll take 2! One to get sick on, one to cover it up with. HeHEEEE
by P0STING_AWAY November 3, 2009 6:54 PM EST
by 57vw November 3, 2009 5:27 PM EST
People keep forgetting the Democrats were in charge of congress starting in 2007. So in reality it was the Bush and Democrat congress that got us into this mess. Both parties were to blame, no doubt about it.
==================================================================
No, Mr. Doofy-dude. The Repugs (namely Phil Gramm of Texas) are
largely to blame. Remember Glass-Steagall ???? The Repug congress
repealed it. Google it!!! It was put into law originally to stop the kind of financial monkey business that got us into this mess.
Reply to this comment
by Susanmg November 3, 2009 8:35 PM EST
I don't think that having a TINY majority in Congress in 2007 enabled Dems to do anything, since Bush vetoed every bill they sent him. Not exactly control, but it makes you feel better about bashing Dems, I guess.
by houengr November 3, 2009 6:02 PM EST
Let me see if I understand? Palin is a backwater, uneducated country bumpkin. Biden is a sophisticated, well educated statesman. Both Buss and Obama went to Harvard. One is not real smart and the other is closest to a Marxist. Maybe a common sense candidate is what we need. What we have sure isn't working! Maybe not Palin, but we won't see another if everyone is attacked by the media.
Reply to this comment
by hungry1968-17 November 3, 2009 5:35 PM EST
by 57vw November 3, 2009 5:27 PM EST
People keep forgetting the Democrats were in charge of congress starting in 2007. So in reality it was the Bush and Democrat congress that got us into this mess. Both parties were to blame, no doubt about it.







Perhaps you would care to explain to u, how the democrats time traveled back to 2002, when all of these garbage mortgages and "credit default swaps" were created.
Reply to this comment
by dwilson59 November 3, 2009 8:20 PM EST
hungry1968-17

I had a friend selling mortgages and every one was banking on the homes going up. In FL the homes were going up 35% per a year. Alot of my friends were buying 750k homes on interest only loans then the value droped. If you made 25k a year you could get a 200k home loan.
by kevjustice November 3, 2009 4:41 PM EST
Is she going to do another movie after "Nalin Palin"?
Reply to this comment
by bubba1zfg November 3, 2009 3:59 PM EST
Let's discuss the last 10 months - Cash for Clunkers, TARP, bailouts, czars, Afghanistan, Iraq, Healthcare, Cap and Trade, 10% Unemployment. Other than spending money that we do not have, what have they accomplished? Who really is out of their league? It is easy to continue to shine the light on Sarah Palin and continue to blame President Bush instead of at our present administration. But at the end of the day, there is little hope and change!
Reply to this comment
by us_1776 November 3, 2009 5:04 PM EST
The Bush/Cheney crime syndicate got us into this MASSIVE mess over eight years ending with the BUSH T.A.R.P. bailout of the ultra-wealthy CEO's and their financial institution fraud-schemes.

And President Obama has the HUGE task of trying to extract us from the abyss that we were left in by the Republicans. So far he has stemmed the economic decline and has managed to turn things around. So it will be a long long way back out of this but at least the president has saved us from the Great Depression II. For that I give him an A.
by marcodele November 3, 2009 5:05 PM EST
What were we supposed to do... continue the downhill run of Bush and Cheney? Something had to be done, and in case you haven't noticed, the economy and auto industry is better off, and the stock market has gone up 14% since Junior and his Neocon Idiot Friends were in control.
by 57vw November 3, 2009 5:27 PM EST
People keep forgetting the Democrats were in charge of congress starting in 2007. So in reality it was the Bush and Democrat congress that got us into this mess. Both parties were to blame, no doubt about it.
by pluckerup November 3, 2009 5:43 PM EST
Just remember Bush and Cheney and their approval ratings when they left office. It wasn't just Democrats that were unhappy.
by Sharonkathleen November 3, 2009 3:43 PM EST
Sarah Palin's family warmed my heart. I loved the way they took care of Trig, and they seemed to be a close family. I didn't really care how much money had to be spent on her wardrobe. It only proved to me that she didn't spend money on clothes for herself and needed to be dressed up. That's fine. However, I never would vote for her. She doesn't have the experience nor the intellect to handle the office of Vice President or President. Every time I see her face I am reminded of the tape in which she complained that Hillary Clinton was a whiner. When things got tough all she did was whine. Hillary Clinton is experienced, tough, very intelligent, very hard worker, and represents this country and women in a way I want us to represented. Sarah Palin just doesn't have it.
Reply to this comment
by stuart-johns2 November 3, 2009 4:06 PM EST
I agree with you.
by Susanmg November 3, 2009 8:33 PM EST
Me, too, except for the family thing...I saw Trig screaming in the arms of little Piper while their mother was giving her resignation speech and Todd was off to the side grinning. What kind of family values is it to drag your young children on and off airplanes for 4 months and basically ignore them ever since? They weren't with her in Asia, and I doubt they were with her in CA while and and her co-writer were doing the book. And now she's caught in another lie? She didn't let the family vote until AFTER she had decided to run. What were they supposed to do, say, "Um, Mom, I'm 17 and pregnant...this might not be a good idea?"
by PVperson2 November 3, 2009 3:20 PM EST
"Sarah Palin: The Inside Story", isn't that what Levi Johnson has been giving us for months?
Reply to this comment
by alaskan2008 November 3, 2009 2:42 PM EST
ps. It wasn't mentioned in the article that, Shushannah Walshe, the co author & Palin clothes apologist is a Fox news producer...duh!
Reply to this comment
by pluckerup November 3, 2009 2:37 PM EST
I like Palin. Of course, I like a good train wreck too!
Reply to this comment
by alaskan2008 November 3, 2009 2:27 PM EST
the notion that palin was duped about getting all those expensive clothes is pure hogwash. she purchased the clothes herself! this is a documented fact. it's comforting to know that lying & blaming others...her modus operandi...is still ever present with Palin and her lackeys. Thank goodness this character flaw will prevent furthering any serious chance she has in politics!
Reply to this comment
by hike14 November 3, 2009 2:23 PM EST
Sarah is the best thing to happen to the Democratic party since Watergate. The Republican party has shrunk to 20%, and once Sarah is the presidential candidate she'll have that down to single digits! The new Republican admission policy: Only Wingnuts Allowed.
Reply to this comment
by freddyfrugag November 3, 2009 2:11 PM EST
Uh, this article makes the erroneous claim: "Love her or hate her, when Sarah Palin speaks, people pay attention."

I can tell you that when Sarah Palin speaks, I definitely make it a point to NOT pay attention, for fear of vomiting.
Reply to this comment
by nirak2-2009 November 5, 2009 3:14 PM EST
ROFL
You took the words right out of my mouth
by Free_Thinking_Patriot November 5, 2009 4:36 PM EST
When Sarah Palin speaks, some of us start looking for the vomit bags...
See all 98 Comments

About Political Hotsheet

Stay up to the minute on the latest news and developments from Washington, from the White House to Congress and everything in-between with the best political reporters from CBS News and CBSNews.com.

E-Mail Political Hotsheet
Follow On Twitter

Add to your favorite news reader
google
yahoo
msn
  • MOST POPULAR
HOTSHEET ON TWITTER