Is Palin Selling Books or Settling Scores?

(CBS)  Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is coming out Tuesday with her account of the 2008 presidential campaign.

And her book, "Going Rogue," is putting her at odds - again - with former officials of the McCain campaign, as CBS News senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield reports.

From an appearance Oprah Monday, to Barbara Walters Tuesday, to a three-week long blitz starting with a bus tour through much of middle America, Palin is in full-fledged campaign mode. This time the goal is not to win votes, but to sell books. A million-and-a-half them are now in print. But based on what she's written, she may be selling books while settling scores.

Again and again, Sen. John McCain's one-time running mate takes direct aim at the people at the top of McCain's campaign, including campaign chief Steve Schmidt and senior adviser Nicole Wallace.

She charges they micro-managed her; wouldn't let her talk to the press; lulled her into a damaging series of interviews with Katie Couric.

Katie Couric interviews Sarah Palin

While post-campaign backbiting is not unusual in losing campaigns, this, says longtime Washington Post reporter Dan Balz, is in a whole different class.

"This was an absolute, total breakdown within the McCain-Palin camps," Balz said. "And I know that a lot of people, whichever side they were on, felt that it left a stain on the campaign."

The McCain camp has begun to fire back in recent days -- on background, and on the record. Schmidt, for example, has said of Palin's accounts, "it's fiction and it's not true."

Shushannah Walshe, who covered Palin's campaign for FOX News, and who co-authored a book on her, says Palin's account doesn't square with reality.

"This is her truth and this is her reality, but through some rigorous reporting, the scenes are very different," Walshe said.

Some of Palin's toughest words concern the interviews she did with Katie Couric. She writes that Wallace, who had worked with CBS News as a Republican analyst before joining the McCain campaign, convinced her to do the interview, assuring her it would be favorable.

In an interview with CBS News, Wallace said none of the conversations Palin quotes in the book ever took place. McCain aides say the strategy was always for Palin to do network interviews - with Couric coming third, after Charles Gibson and Sean Hannity.

Palin also charges the interviews were unfairly edited - a charge those who ran McCain's campaign dispute.

But no debate about the book, or about Palin's sudden resignation as Alaska governor last summer, will have much impact among her admirers, who are many and ardent.

"Even when people in the Beltway want to dismiss her because of some of these allegations in the book or her resigning her Alaska governorship, they're not going anywhere," Walshe said. "They love her for those 'maverick moves.'"

As for her political future, a new CBS poll suggests she has an uphill climb. Just 23 percent of voters view her favorably, compared with 38 percent who don't. And more than 6 in 10 say she lacks the ability to be an effective president.

But Palin has two years to work on those numbers, and right now, most Republicans view her favorably - many with an intensity no other politician can match.

[50BMS13]

THIS BOOK IS HOTTER THAN A FIRECRACKER! Sold out first print. Already in second print. Way to go Sarah!

[mazal74]

if sarah palin wants to sell books she should do hustler or something. her assets definitely isn't her brains. she would probably make the best seller of the year without any critics. if we want a real intelligent book we can get jenna jameson to write one.

[mazal74]

if sarah palin wants to sell books she should do hustler or something. her assets definitely isn't her brains. she would probably make the best seller of the year without any critics. if we want a real intelligent book we can get jenna jameson to write one.

[Duchessdana]

I would have FINALLY had some respect for this woman if she would have taken a smidgen of blame for McCain's failed presidential bid, but from what I heard, EVERYTHING was someone's else's fault! Take about a narcassitic airhead. She wasn't ready to take on the responsibilities of 2nd head of the free world! And, instead of, perhaps, educating herself for higher office over the next four years, she traveling all over the country and is becoming just what she accused others of being...a rock star (without the talent). I'm sorry, but I don't want an average person running the country. I want exceptional people running an exceptional country (or will be again). And, if that mean's I'm an elistist, then so be it! What happened to being the best you can be? When did being "good enough" become something to aspire to? We want our children to be the best, so they can compete in a competitive world. If this is the best we can do, we're in serious, serious trouble!

[margaretfaith]

She was all-so-willing to ride on the coattails of John McCain until it no longer served her purpose. Does Palin fail to grasp that the issues she points to in her book should have been raised during the Presidential Campaign? That her rabble-rousing only draws attention to the fact that she now profits from the same hypocrisy she lavishes on others? Point one finger...

[NowBeWithThat]

Meanwhile, our Whiner-in-chief has enlisted the military to bar media coverage of Palin's book signing at Ft. Bragg, even though she had already agreed not to give a speech.

Why? Someone other than Sarah Palin might say something not nice about him, heaven forfend. Free speech? Yes, we can't.

Lock out the media, but let lunatics like Hasan spout all the fundamentalist islamic garbage he wants to while he kills our troops.

[heavynne]

The reason the media was banned, for your information, is because regardless to what you and anyone else thinks or says about Obama, the military men and women still respect him as their commander in chief. They unlike you mere civilians have loyalty to their country as well as their leaders. My son has been to Iraq 3 times and would go again in a heartbeat even though it is a bogus war. The ones actually putting their lives on the line have more honor and respect for country and leadership, be it Republican or Democrat. You civilians have so much lip service, but no loyalty to country or leadership, only to party.

[NowBeWithThat]

Books are written and sold to make money duh!

That Sarah Palin's book and story have mass appeal is to her benefit and an enormous thorn in the side to liberal lefties.

This is a good thing.

[culturechang]

The book is just a money maker for her.

The purchasers, who are mostly extreme right wingers, are just donating to a charity, in drag, to support Palin's easement from politics. She is a cooked political goose.

[NowBeWithThat]

Sarah Palin is a private citizen. She has just as much right as anyone else in this nation to write a book that tells HER story.

That the AP hired 11 fact checkers to go through every line of her book just shows how negatively biased and sexist certain sectors of the media are toward Mrs. Palin.

Good news is that her book will stay on best seller lists, regardless of the alleged "facts" uncovered by the AP.

[noloyalisti]

After all, she is a Republican and that is what they do, lie. Given that, she can lie and fantasize all she wants.

And the problem with the media is that they question and investigate ANYTHING. Even if what they find is true, the problem is they tell the truth. Darn.

As long as the Faux News Channel and wacko right wing organizations like the Heritage Foundation buy all the books it will remain a best seller. What kind of fool would actually waste their time reading such rubbish and lies?

[Fake_Independent]

The reality is, that outside of Fox News, no one asks Democrats the tough questions and stories like John Kerry's daughter's DUI arrest get buried on the back pages.

Palin realized awhile back that as long as she relies on the Lame Stream media to get her message out it will always come back garbled.

Even the 11 Dwarves from AP could only come up with he said/she said arguments and rely totally on believing McCain staffers over Palin's own account of the incident.

As with observers of any event, 2 or 3 people can and will tell different stories about that event and neither side is lying. McCain himself came out and stood up for the characters of BOTH sides and refused to acknowledge either side as right or wrong.

Palin has a right to air her side of the story as it was clear that the major media outlets had not interest in letting that side of the story out. CNN itself does a daily hit-piece on Palin called "Political Ticker" but has a negative slant to almost everything she does.

Reading the majority of posts her, it's clear that CBS is bringing in a large number of left-wingers who can only attack Fox News.

Palin is very popular among thinking Americans who go beyond what any given "news" site will have to say.

Sarah Palin doesn't follow the rules of PC speech and unless Obama institutes his version of "hate speech" Sarah will continue to call it like she sees it.

The scary part is that Democrats are masters of lies and no morals, yet their followers seem to project all these things onto conservatives and and all of sudden being gay, having sex outside marriage, lying are OK for their party but not OK in the GOP. While if you vote GOP, you want all the corruption out, even if it means losing an election to send your party a message.

Good luck, PDS strikes again. Notice as well that all the attacks on Palin are either ad hominem attack on her personally (Politics of Personal Destruction anyone) or are HuffPo's talking points.

[noloyalisti]

The only good thing about Palin is that she gives us a constant reminder of just how failed her party is and how close America was to catastrophe. She is a constant reminder of really how embarrassing those people are who were and maybe are supporting the bimbo.