Palin Lashes Out at New Journalist Neighbor

Sarah Palin is fond of telling her avid followers, "don't retreat: reload!" Palin took her own advice this week upon discovering that journalist Joe McGinniss, best known for his account of Richard Nixon's presidential campaign, had rented a house adjacent to her property in Wasilla, Alaska. Playing the role of momma bear protecting her cubs, Palin took to her bully pulpit of choice--her Facebook page--to lambaste the author, suggesting that, as Politico's Ben Smith writes, McGinniss is there "to peep at her young daughters":

Joe announced to Todd that he’s moved in right next door to us. He’s rented the place for the next five months or so. He moved up all the way from Massachusetts to live right next to us – while he writes a book about me. Knowing of his many other scathing pieces of “journalism” (including the bizarre anti-Palin administration oil development pieces that resulted in my Department of Natural Resources announcing that his work is the most twisted energy-related yellow journalism they’d ever encountered), we’re sure to have a doozey to look forward to with this treasure he’s penning. Wonder what kind of material he’ll gather while overlooking Piper’s bedroom, my little garden, and the family’s swimming hole?

While the blogosphere buzzed about McGinniss's move, many were more fixated on Palin's strong response.

• 'Strange, Unprofessional, and Paranoid'  The Washington Post's Dave Weigel scoffs at Palin's reaction to her new neighbor, defending McGinniss's integrity. "McGinniss is an investigative journalist who wrote his first best-seller at age 26 and was shopping a book about Alaska'bizarre' pieces and the oil industry when Palin was named John McCain's running mate," notes Weigel. "And another way of describing those is that no one has ever challenged the facts in them. Palin, who has an undergraduate degree in journalism, should understand that articles don't become untrue when the subjects don't agree with them." Palin's Facebook outburst speaks to larger issues with the former governor, now dazzlingly clear to Wiegel: "This is really the ultimate example of the way Palin manipulates the press and inverts the relationship between reporters and politicians, turning the former into "stalkers," and the latter -- as long as they're Republicans or members of her family -- into saints whom no one can criticize. No one in the media should reward Palin for this irresponsible and pathetic bullying."
  

• 'Neighbor From Hell' Tongue firmly planted in cheek, FireDogLake contributor TBogg decries the invasion of poor Palin's privacy:

Traveling snowbilly grifter Sarah Palin just returned to her humble ice shack in Wasilla only to find out that smartypants author person Joe McGinnis (who had already written a book about Alaska back when Todd Palin was still exploring a high school-aged Sarah Heath’s northern territories, if you know what I mean ) has moved in next door. This is very frightening thing because the house that McGinnis has rented has a ginormous observation deck which overlooks the private portions of the modest and unassuming Palin household where the most innocent members of the Palin family live their idyllic childhood when they are not being hauled around the lower forty-eight as props for mommy while she shakes down an even lower strata of rubes

• How Creepy Daniel Foster at the National Review sees nothing unreasonable about Palin's outrage. "There has always been a certain creepiness associated with the left's coverage of Sarah Palin," muses Foster "If it didn't reach its nadir with Andrew Sullivan's obstetrical obsession, it has surely — one hopes — reached it now, with the news that pulp journalist Joe McGinniss, who is working on a critical book about Palin, has moved into the house next door to the family's Alaska home. Palin announced on her facebook page that McGinniss' new digs overlook daughter Piper's bedroom and the family swimming pool. Great."

• 'The Heart Wants What It Wants' Ben Smith snags a quote from McGinniss' son, Joe Jr.: "Sadly, she's right. We tried our best to intervene, but alas, the heart wants what it wants. We can only pray for him now. He's convinced that Todd will step aside and when the time is right, he'll be there, right next door, to pick up the pieces."