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The Spectacle Blog
Joe McGinnis, author of what I thought was a lousy book on Sarah Palin, has published a defense of his use of anonymous sources.
I don’t have a major problem with most of his arguments for the appropriate use of anonymous sources, though he takes the time to casually smear his subject again. “In Alaska,” McGinnis writes, “people refuse to speak on the record about Palin for fear of losing their livelihoods, and threats of violence.” Later he blames Palin and Glenn Beck for the fact he allegedly “received dozens of death threats and thousands of pieces of hate mail.”
However necessary anonymous sourcing sometimes is — I use it occasionally in my own journalism — the simple fact is readers are going to be suspicious of unsourced quotes. McGinnis’s problem is that he makes a lot of allegations that sound made up, raising questions as to whether he got “the story right.” The more damning a claim, the more substantiation it needs. Maybe he’s right that he needed anonymous quotes to uncover the real story, but if McGinnis thinks it is unreasonable that people are skeptical of book it is he who needs to get real. Readers who don’t already hate the Palins aren’t convinced.
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More Blog Posts by W. James Antle, III
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/10/11/anonymously-quotable-rogue
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Anonymous| 10.11.11 @ 12:42PM
Joe McGinnis is a tax cheat and a liar.
Solo| 10.11.11 @ 12:51PM
What if someone were to quote an "anonymous source" who claimed that Joe McGinnis has sex with animals and masturbates to kiddie porn?
Controse| 10.11.11 @ 1:12PM
The psychological mystery of our age is the hatred for the Palins. Their family is a self-made success story if ever there was one. Could it be that the Palin haters are thinking there can be no such thing as a self-made success story otherwise their life is that of a slacker failure. But that doesn't explain Peggy Noonan does it. Oh well. Even Einstein couldn't come up with an explanation for everything.
Notes From Under The Bridge| 10.11.11 @ 1:58PM
But that doesn't explain Peggy Noonan does it.
No, it doesn't. So maybe your hypothesis is wrong?
It isn't that people hate Palin. They fear the possibility of someone like Palin becoming President. If she'd stick to self-promotion, reality shows, etc., she'd be just another media success story. Like, say, Kim Kardashian. Kim Kardashian is a lot of things, but she isn't scary. The prospect of a President Kardashian, on the other hand, would be very scary.
Noonan is one of the few willing to risk Tea Party wrath and tell the truth about Palin: she's "a nincompoop".
Noonan: Here is an old tradition badly in need of return: You have to earn your way into politics. You should go have a life, build a string of accomplishments, then enter public service. And you need actual talent: You have to be able to bring people in and along. You can't just bully them, you can't just assert and taunt, you have to be able to persuade. Americans don't want, as their representatives, people who seem empty or crazy.
Anon| 10.11.11 @ 2:18PM
Very few politicians fear the Tea Party; fewer still fear the wrath of Sarah Palin.
Spambalaya| 10.11.11 @ 2:28PM
The ones who are worried abouy the teabaggers are mainly Republicans fearful of primary challenges in districts where the electorate is poorly educated and vulnerable to a message of overly simplistic "solutions" that would make no sense to anyone with a college education.
Clint| 10.11.11 @ 5:11PM
That's Good !
The Last Time The " Fearless " Democrats Lost 63 House Seats & 6 Senate Seats.
Spambalaya| 10.11.11 @ 2:23PM
There's no mystery to it. The Palins came to the national stage as the result of a terrible choice for running mate made by John McCain. What annoys most people about Sarah Palin is that it's plain to everyone that's she doesn't possess the requisite intelligence or emotional maturity for national office, and either a) she lacks the self-awareness to recognize it as well or b) she's a cynical grifter who's fully aware of her shortcomings and has no intention of running for office but is still milking millions of dollars from poor credulous rubes who worship at her feet. Either way, she's woefully ignorant and deeply annoying, and we just wish her 15 minutes were up already.
Spambalaya| 10.11.11 @ 2:14PM
Who is Joe McGinnis? Are you by chance referring to the author Joe McGinniss? It would make your claim that you read his book a bit more believable if you wouldn't misspell his name four times in a three-paragraph story.
bobmontgomery| 10.11.11 @ 2:53PM
Who are they fearing"violence" from? Piper? (Well, Bill Keller might). After reading such a drug-addled sentence like that, why would anyone want to read a "defense" of his methods? Maybe we could waste Am Spec time and space on why McGinniss really doesn't deserve a Pulitzer prize.
Paul McGrath| 10.11.11 @ 2:55PM
"Teabagger,", "cynical grifter," "credulous rubes," "woefully ignorant," "deeply annoying," and of course, her "simplistic" solutions, make no sense to "anyone with a college education."
Gee, you sure changed my mind. What a genius you are!
Paul McGrath| 10.11.11 @ 3:44PM
And while we're on the subject, Spamabalaya (ooh, what a clever name!), why don't we talk about Palin's "simplistic" solutions a little bit. You can then explain to me--with your brilliant, college-educated mind--why they won't work.
1. Drill ANWR, build pipeline from Canadian west to Texas, open up American west to "fracking," and expand oil exploration and development in the Gulf. Very simple. Doing this things will reduce American dependence on foreign oil and drastically reduce the price of fuel. As every single aspect of the American economy depends on fuel, the economy will improve.
2. Kill Obamacare. It has rightly been pointed out that American business is sitting on wads of cash. Of course. They do not yet know how detrimental the effect of Obamacare will be on their bottom line. They know it will BE detrimental, they just don't know how much. So, they are playing it safe. Killing Obamacare will bring back a little more confidence in the future, business can start to start to expand, and jobs will be created.
3. Drastically reduce government spending. The American consumer and the world in general are alarmed at our enormous 14.5 trillion dollar debt, and our annual 1.5 trillion dollar deficit. How can the world possibly have confidence in our economic system when we can't seem to get our financial house in order? Do you think this can continue?
4. Cut back on environmental regulations, which are killing growth, killing expansion and killing jobs. A good place to start would be to end any consideratoin for so-called cap and trade solutions.
5. Abolish public employee unions. Our educational system is a disaster, our financial house is chaos, and our politicians are corrupt to a large degree because of the influence public employee unions have over our elected officials. Eliminating public employee unions will allow our elected officials to make sensible spending decisions free from bribery and coercion.
Your move, bright boy.
Solo| 10.11.11 @ 5:11PM
"Noonan: Here is an old tradition badly in need of return: You have to earn your way into politics. You should go have a life, build a string of accomplishments, then enter public service. And you need actual talent: You have to be able to bring people in and along. You can't just bully them, you can't just assert and taunt, you have to be able to persuade. Americans don't want, as their representatives, people who seem empty or crazy."
BUUUWAAAAAHAHAHAHA!
Dude...have you noticed whose sitting in the Oval Office?
Good Grief!
Notes From Under The Bridge| 10.11.11 @ 5:27PM
And if the dude sitting in the oval office is a nincompoop then the GOP might as well nominate a nincompoop of their own!
In fact, why not beat them at their own game and nominate TWO nincompoops!
Palin/O'Donnell 2012!
knows Alaska| 10.11.11 @ 9:34PM
Dear Mr. W. James Antle, III: You can't even spell Joe McGinniss correctly, which undermines any argument you may attempt to put forth, just as it undermined your lazy, smarmy review.
yisong| 10.25.11 @ 1:23AM
slewing ring is a kind of comprehensive load to bear large bearings, because of its appearance resembling plate, so it is also called "slewing bearing". http://www.1stbearing.com