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Margo Howard | 07/05/2009 7:15 am

Margo Howard, Ann Coulter Miraculously Agree: Palin Too Big for Alaska

Margo Howard
Editor’s Note: A longtime journalist, Margo Howard went into the family business (her mother was the fabled Ann Landers) in the 1990s as Dear Prudence. Her broad experience and understanding of human nature provide answers for the troubled — and entertainment for everyone else. Margo’s advice column, Dear Margo, appears twice a week — on Thursdays and Fridays — on wowOwow.com.

To slightly skew an e-mail that was going around a few weeks ago, let me just say that friends said the day I agreed with Ann Coulter pigs would fly. Well, swine flu … and I now find myself in agreement with Coulter. [Click here for Coulter’s post.] Sarah Palin is too big for Alaska. And you know why? She signed a book deal – reportedly for somewhere between $7,000,000 and $11,000,000. In April. I do not know how I missed this news, but I did. Maybe you did, too. In any case, no one is particularly tying this news to her resignation. I mean, wouldn’t you rather earn X millions of dollars than $175,000? The haste with which she made her announcement, however, does nothing to disabuse me of the idea that she and the Mr. might be in some legal trouble.

I think quitting for a big-bucks book deal shows a real lack of character, but a great deal of opportunism. The citizens of Alaska elected her to a term of office and she is skipping out because … well, she is too big for Alaska. People who are lame ducks seldom deal with their duckhood by resigning, so let’s scratch that one.

I do disagree with Coulter (my usual stance) on one point she makes in her post. She writes, "I thought her press conference explained it very clearly – though she couldn’t put it precisely this way without sounding vain, but it’s obvious." She "explained it clearly"? That, my dear, is a stretch. If she had explained it clearly the news outlets and the blogosphere would not be talking about how it could barely qualify as English.

Should you want to read a hilarious entry from Jim Washburn’s blog, here’s the beginning, and the link:
‘Let’s go quit!’ That was CNN’s Candy Crowley Friday night, imagining the decision process that led to Sarah Palin’s resignation, so spontaneous and unplanned did it seem. Nutty, too. It sounded like Richard Nixon if, heading into his Checkers Speech, he’d first taken the edge off by mixing Benzedrex inhalers into his rum and Cokes, the ones Dick Tuck had laced with pure Sandoz LSD, and then Nixon had gone on camera and wrestled an imaginary bear that turned into a black Satan and he’s going to keep that precious baby, no matter what anybody says, even the NBA coaches. That kind of nutty.
Click here for the rest of Jim’s blog.


648 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

rocky rocky

I’m not sure where this idea of "millions" spent on defending Mrs Palin’s alleged ethics violations comes from. Maybe Mrs Palin is thinking/planning ahead? The Anchorage Daily News says that as of July 1, 2009, the state spent $296,042 on her defense. And that figure is published by the governor’s own "Personnel Board," the one she appointed (and can fire) and the one that conducted all the investigations into the ethics charges. One article (link below) also says: "Palin herself reportedly has incurred over $600,000 in personal legal bills defending against complaints, although she won’t provide a breakdown of the expenses or what cases they were for. Palin friends and supporters set up a legal defense fund and are soliciting contributions for her legal bills." If that’s the reason people are donating money to her, I hope that they realize it. 

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/850854.html 

By rocky rocky on 07/06/2009 8:11 am
L P

Long time fan of your writing; my grandmother and mother, long time fans of your mother.

 My problem with much of the online journalism pitched to women—whether here or Slate or whereever—is that it presupposes women can only think about personal issues.   Politics, economics, sociology, forget it.

 I hope you stick with commentary on political matters, even if you get barbed comments.

By L P on 07/05/2009 7:08 pm
Tana Goodwin
Thank you LP, my thoughts exactly. Finally commentaries that give us credit for some intelligence.
By Tana Goodwin on 07/05/2009 8:29 pm
deber B
Margo, please do not take this personally.   Sarah Palin is a mother….first.   Her daughter got pregnant without benefit of marriage.   Unfortunately, having a baby without benefit of marriage is a long gone albatross.   Women, older and younger, face this everyday.   I am a Sarah Palin fan….because I am a woman and a mother with two daughters.   To suggest, in any way, that I would not come to their rescue in this situation would be not recognizing what happens to women.   Men and women enter into the sexual act….and the woman bears the cross….to bring that moment of not thinking clearly to fruition.   A precious child is born.  So, how do we react?   How do we actually react, if, in fact, we are women….first?
By deber B on 07/05/2009 7:32 pm
Andrea Brandon

Margo said: 

~    "Now before the right wing whack jobs go after me for that remark…."

~  " They are either ignorant of or unconcerned with the reality of her situation. I am particularly tired of the woman whose icon is a horse’s head. Actually the hindquarters would be more representative of her posts."

Margo, I’m truly impressed. You set a new bar for distasteful remarks.

By Andrea Brandon on 07/05/2009 10:00 pm
sibelle daubigne
Andrea,  i assume vulgarity is part of her success, what else?
By sibelle daubigne on 07/05/2009 10:41 pm
Andrea Brandon

Sinelle,

Que sera, sera.

By Andrea Brandon on 07/05/2009 11:31 pm
Andrea Brandon

Sibelle,

Whoops, I made a typo with your first name. Sorry.  [By the way, it is a lovely name.]

By Andrea Brandon on 07/05/2009 11:32 pm
Mel Berg
Thank you Margo, well said
By Mel Berg on 07/06/2009 6:57 am
Margo Howard
TO LC: the answer is floating around here somewhere. (It was electronically misplaced.)
By Margo Howard on 07/05/2009 5:54 pm
L. C.

Margo

Thanks  I finally got it and responded. My response is floating around here somewhere.

By L. C. on 07/05/2009 7:32 pm
rocky rocky
Gee, Ms Howard, 7 figures? If that’s her upfront money, then lots of people are planning to make lots of moolah it seems. And thanks for putting into words the body language I read when I watched Ms Palin’s stream-of-consciousness resignation speech. Such things are subjective, of course, but as I watched her, I got the feeling she was kicking sand at all the other girls on the beach. Too big indeed. So much for gravitas.
By rocky rocky on 07/05/2009 6:46 pm
rocky rocky
Looks like this site is having a melt down. Posts are going this way and that but not where they were meant to be placed! Too bad. Finally get a good conversation started and poof! scrambled eggs. oh well.
By rocky rocky on 07/05/2009 6:48 pm
Lin Cercone
WHEW! The beginning of this article scared me almost to death. I thought you’d been taken over by the "pod people’" and gone over to the dark side.  Well, thank goodness, you’re still with the human race.  Re:  Palin book, I wonder whose going to write it for her? 
By Lin Cercone on 07/05/2009 7:40 pm
Margo Howard
Her agent/my agent said they had not selected a writer yet. One thing I’m sure of: it will be someone who is on her side of the spectrum — and there are many such writers for hire, and they are good ones.
By Margo Howard on 07/05/2009 9:55 pm