Yesterday we learned not only that Sarah Palin had completed her memoir in record time, but that it would be called "Going Rogue."
Forget for just a moment what you think or feel about Sarah Palin -- whether she's the MILF you love to hate or the savior of conservative values, crank, hockey mom, or pest -- it makes no difference. She has something you don't -- a book deal. And she turned her book around in four months.
Her publisher Harper, says the former veep candidate and gov threw herself into the project: "Gov. Palin has been unbelievably conscientious and hands-on at every stage, investing herself deeply and passionately in this project. It's her words, her life, and it's all there in full and fascinating detail." All 400 pages in four months flowed through her red tipped fingers. We'll have to wait until November, the new bumped up release date, when we can peruse the volume in Barnes and Noble to see just what's in it, but one thing is certain: The title is pure Palin.
"Going Rogue" must be the all time most stupid title for a political memoir. It could only have come from the woman who stumbled through an interview with that hard-boiled journo Katie Couric, stood in front of a turkey slaughter for a photo op, winked at us during debates and said the word "maverick" often enough not only to inspire a drinking game but also to ensure that the entire nation was completely obliterated by the time she was done speaking.
And that brings us to "rogue." It's almost like she just decided she couldn't call the book "Maverick," because that was McCain's word, so she used a thesaurus. Except look more closely at the definition, governor.
According to the New American Heritage dictionary (figure that would appeal to her more than Mirriam Webster) there's this: "a dishonest or unprincipled man."
And this: "an elephant or other large wild animal driven away or living apart from the herd and having savage or destructive tendencies."
This: "a person or thing that behaves in an aberrant, faulty, or unpredictable way."
And finally this: "an inferior or defective specimen among many satisfactory ones, esp. a seedling or plant deviating from the standard variety."
One can only begin to guess at which definition Palin meant to apply to herself. It should be noted that in the animal kingdom a rogue male lion is one who breaks from the pride and kills and eats the cubs of others. Of course, the first thing that comes to mind may just be George Bush's declaration of "rogue states."
If only Palin had dug a little deeper. Some synonyms for "rogue" suggested by the New American Heritage: "scoundrel, villain, miscreant, reprobate, rascal, good-for-nothing, ne'er-do-well, wretch; informal rat, dog, louse, crook; dated cad; archaic blackguard, picaroon, knave."
