HA HA HA! Hilarious.

Here's the problem, Reid.

You know as well as I do, that IN A NON-FEDERAL ELECTION YEAR, there is normally very little expectation that a federal leadership PAC be prodigiously active in making contributions to candidates.

Unless, of course, you're Sarah Palin, in which case journalists like Reid like to apply absurd double standards.

By comparison, Hillary Clinton's leadership PAC made $70,000 in donations to candidates in 2005. Palin's contribution total for all of 2009 -- $64.4K -- is certainly in line with this precedent.

Reid, you raise a good point; I can see why this might look bad on paper. Here's what I think she's doing though: Buying these books to use as a premium for donors. In other words, "Send me 100 bucks today and I'll give you a copy of my book 'Going Rogue' in return." This makes a lot of sense because she probably bought the book for like four bucks a piece.

This is generally a pretty good fund raising technique. I bet if you go back and look next quarter, the numbers will look very different.

So, Robert_Paulson, you're saying what we already know -- that she is exactly like every other Republican career Washington D.C. politician.

Jordan is exactly correct. The book purchases were, in fact, a fundraising expense. But, of course, "Palin PAC Spent More on Fundraising Expenses than Candidates" is not nearly as sexy a headline than the one that Reid opted for in this case.

Ethan -- If, by which, you mean that she does not have the ability to spin money from yarn and must fundraise like all the others? Sure.

You would think that someone who is contributing x dollars to a palin PAC would have already bought the book. I guess it just isn't flying off the shelves anymore.

Buying the books yourself is one way to achieve best seller status. Also Amazon selling it for around $5 bucks a copy helps, too. It's all about appearance --- Sarah didn't even write the book herself but it's made her a lot of money. Isn't that the way?

Alioto

just another right wing neo con teabagger crook. why is it that the right wing neo cons are always trying to make money off of thier movement. there is absolutely nothing in the neo con movement that is grass roots. me thinks that it is just the type of people that the neo con teabaggers appeal to; uneducated, simple minded, never traveled, angry, white supremeist. lets face it all of these neo cons CAREER POLITICIANS are telling these teabaggers they are for small governmnent. Ask them then why are you a CAREER POLITICIAN in government. These teabaggers and neo cons are really quite simple.

Mr. Paulson, surely you know as well as anyone else does that shouting in caps only ever makes a commentator look like an insecure and angry fool. Surely you know as well as anyone else that even in non-election years, people who are interested in running for office start making preparations, including raising money from PACs and other groups, etc. Surely you know as well as anyone else that defending someone on the basis that "so-and-so did the same thing" rather than on the merits of their actions is weak and, more importantly, misses the point. And surely you know as well as anyone else that Sarah Palin is not the victim of "double standards" as much as she is the victim of her own short-sighted, grasping stupidity in aggressively seeking attention and power and then loudly complaining when anyone actually pays attention to the sub-moronic, malevolent, egocentric things she does or the incomprehensible word-salad that comes out of her mouth.

Purchasing her own books with SarahPAC money was a "fundraising expense"? For what? She's not running a campaign and she's allowed to use SarahPAC funds directly for fundraising anyway, Robert, that's what it's for. But the fact is, Sarah Palin transferred your donations to her publishers and her own bank accounts. Maybe you're OK with that.

Dave -- Yes, Dave. A fundraising expense. It's called "incentivizing." Even, Obama knows this.

Would be interesting to know how many bulk sales of her book there were.
you will never know how many PEOPLE actually bought the book. my guess 114. give or take. LOL

Well, that's one way to get your book on the best seller list.

I knew there weren't enough lemmings in this country for it to legitimately make the list.

hmm, I think you hit Mr. Paulson with too many "surely you know" because he seems to be smitten with a twit which means he surely doesn't know. I can’t understand for the life of me why anyone would listen to a damn word out of Palin’s mouth, she quit the tough job!

Well, isn't this just to make ends meet?
Your PAC buys your book and then U use it for heating your house for political reasons...

SarahPAC also paid for $13,000 for that Going Rogue bus wrap for her book tour and more than $27,000 for private jets during the "bus" book tour and a lot more substantial expenses of the book tour. A book tour for the sole purpose of increasing Palin's book sales which drives profits via royalties straight into her personal pocket. Is there a problem with that?

Didn'y former Speaker Jim Wright get chased from office for essentially the same behaviour?

Everything I read about $arah has to do with money,,,,

$arah Palin/Fabio 2012!

Using liberal twisted math, if she did buy 4,700 books and her royalty is a dollar, she made 4,700 bucks. So if she bought a million books, she would be a millionaire?

I doubt she thinks like the Resident Obama.

Yes, but what's interesting is how much she used her PAC to finance her book tour, too. She paid $13,000 for the "bus wrap" with her picture. Several thousand for autopens. $28,000 for a charter jet during the bus tour. $260 for snacks at the Yankee Stadium!

And, if she is saying that she could use SarahPAC funds for this book tour because they were simultaneously fund raising for the PAC (via the PAC website plastered on the bus wrap, etc.) then how was she allowed to go to four military bases on this book tour? And the PAC claimed no fund raising expenses for this period in the filing. Thus, going around this circle we are back to the PAC paying the expenses of the book tour for the sole purpose of Palin's personal profits.

Sarah Palin is a FRAUD, folks.

SarahPAC paid bloggers to write her Facebook postings and more than likely her op-ed columns.

http://palingates.blogspot.com/2010/02/palingates-exclusive-sarahpac-paid.html

She probably wanted to know what was in "her" memoir.

The purchase of the books is just the tip of the iceberg!

SarahPAC also:

- paid $ 30,000 to Orion Strategies in Washington DC, owned by neocon Randy Scheunemann

- paid $ 65,000 to Sarah Palin's lawyer Van Flein despite having no legal issues - what was the money for?

- secretly employed the founders of "conservatives4palin", Rebecca Mansour and Joseph Russo - their task: Ghostwriting Sarah Palin's facebook!

- paid more than $ 50,000 for the development of a website (!!) to a person in AK who has a paltry track record of developing websites. Although the payments were already made several months ago, but no website has been presented yet...!

http://palingates.blogspot.com/

Does she teabag?

This is all i have to say.People like Palin will be relevant as long as people think like this.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8474611.stm

No surprise here...Anyone who'd charge taxpayers per diem for sleeping in their own bed is a money grubber.

No doubt Palin is using SarahPAC and her legal fund (the disingenuously named Alaska Trust Fund) to fatten her own personal bank account.

Regarding payment to her lawyer, he IS working on keeping Palin's grandkid away from it's father...you know, that guy Levi who said a long time ago that Palin quit being gov. to cash in.

All the conservative think tanks purchase their screed in quantity...how else would Colter, Beck and O'Reilly ever see the best read lists?

Is this the same Sarah Pallin who ranfor Vice President of Massachusetts?

McCain, Now Lynsey Graham. Is it be kind to RINO month?

Amazing that Palin would figure out a legal way to funnel PAC money directly to her pocket through book royalties. Or rather, not amazing.

Sarah's "bestseller" title was the direct result of an old publisher's trick. They get someone to buy a million for cost (Newsmax) Newsmax "gives" the book away for $4.95 plus shipping and handling, which includes a 4 month Newsmax subscription. In reality the $4.95 pays for the subscription, the "handling" portion of the shipping and handling covers the actual cost of the book, so Newsmax gets both the increase in subscriptions on the books and the cost of the book is covered so they lose nothing. Meanwhile the publisher can claim that they "pre-sold" a million books, putting it on the bestseller list. In reality unless she signed at the bookstore, the average bookstore ordered 8 copies. So like everything else that is all things Palin it's more smoke and mirrors to artificially boost the sale of the book. Bet no one will tell you when or how many of the books are returned to the publisher by the bookstores.

The treasuer of SarahPac also found it important to fund Letohiovote. They are a group that is trying to repeal a state law that puts slot machines at racetracks. They are also funded in a large part by casino companies. Why is Sarah and her associates in bed with these casino companies?

What is the big deal about this? The last thing I ever thought I'd do is defend a conservative lunk-head like Palin, but this is absurd. Palin's PAC bought her own book to give it out as a premium for supporting her PAC. PBS has been doing the same thing forever on it's pledge drives. It sends out a premium DVD, CD, or companion book for sending a pledge in support of the program. By your logic, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Suzy Orman, and Deepak Chopra have questionable ethics. Gimme a break.

"I doubt she thinks like the Resident Obama."
idesign | February 1, 2010 2:41 PM

I doubt she thinks...period!

$47,000 to buy her own books...do they come with boxes of crayons or do you have to provide your own?

Ethan...A double standard? But your girl Sarah is suppose to be above this? Once a fake, always a fake!

It explains the uptick in book sales.

PBS has been doing the same thing forever on it's pledge drives. It sends out a premium DVD, CD, or companion book for sending a pledge in support of the program.

Wrong, Doug, PBS doesn't hold pledge drives, its affiliate TV stations do. These affiliates are independent non-profits that pay PBS and other organizations such as American Public Television for broadcast rights to the programs they distribute. If you call one of these stations to order a CD for $60.00, a good portion of that amount is a tax-deductible contribution to that station. PBS and APT set the pledge levels for premiums, but don't sell them. Most PBS affiliates purchase their premiums wholesale from companies such as Forest Incentives.

Signed, Pledge Promotions employee from a TV station you've probably never heard of.

Robert Paulson- Are you trying to say 64,000 in 2009 is "in line" with 70,000 in 2005?

By comparison, Hillary Clinton's leadership PAC made $70,000 in donations to candidates in 2005. Palin's contribution total for all of 2009 -- $64.4K -- is certainly in line with this precedent.

There's a great blog working on Palin's problems.
It even debunks the myths, like "hockey mom," "star basketball player," and "frontierswoman." You can read it: Palin's Q&A + fun.

It's a serious blog and asks questions that Sarah Palin should be able to easily answer in a news conference or interview. When is she going to meet the press? Face the nation?

I see no wrong doing...the Palingates blog ladies posting here numerous times are a crude bunch of NUTS...whackjobs..! !

Looks like the HATE BLOGGERS have officially attacked your comment section. We all know who the Alaska mean spirited crew are... they use many fake names to spew their hate. pitifull people with pitifull lives

I strongly recommend the hottest dating cite. PlusFlirt____ CooM. .nice and free place. Your NO.1 source for for BBWs and BHM to interact with each other.many friends of my have fun on that sit. Maybe you wanna check out or tell your friends. OO.......

Sarah's booktour was really a booktour/mission from God/let's fleece the simple-minded/"Oh myGod look at me! Whoop! Whoop!Whoop! When will people realize they've been duped by a narcissist?

For those of you who can't see why this is nothing more than a money laundering scam, think of it this way.

-People donate money to the PAC-- not Sarah's money
-Sarah writes a book. -- profits to Sarah
-Sarah uses PAC money to buy books -- not her money
-- Sarah gets royalty from bought books-- her money
-- Sarah spends PAC money to promote book-- not her money but she gets royalties on sales
--- Sarah takes PAC bought books (which she got royalties fr0m) and gives them out for bigger PAC donations

It's a money laundering scam. She gets PAC money to use for personal gain, then uses PAC money to promote herself for personal gain.

If you can't see the difference, you must be a Palin-nut.

Sarah could buy a few thousand copies of this song for her 2012 Presidential gambit:

www.youtube.com/rantcaster

It is hard to believe tht you Damn IDIOTS exist. Who pays you to make such stupid comments? You are going to burn in hell!!!!

I inadvertantely omitted "a" in "that"

Hey, ediesue! Learn to spell "inadvertently."
Palin is a grifter.
Palin is a fraud.
Palin is an aging, two-faced, two-bit politician.

Please, let's try to have an intelligent conversation. I don't pretent to know it all. I live in Alaska, and I am very sad that Sarah Palin has thrust herself onto the national scene. .Please try to keep an open mind. Not that I think she could in her wildest dream ever make a difference in the politiical landscape of this country, I beseech you,in the name of Jesus,pray for her mental well being, her physical health,her family,and above all pray that she will not burn in the everlasting fire

I used to think that the comment sections were a good idea because the helped folks toss out new/different ideas that perhaps hadn't been considered. However, I've come to believe that most folks have usually made up their minds about an issue before they even read a story. They like. They hate. End of story.

Folks, we've got to aim just a bit higher if we are going to make it as a country. EVERYONE has something to contribute to the discussion. Yes, even Palin. The resonates with MANY. So either all of those folks are idiots... or perhaps there is something worth looking at more closely.

I'm not a huge Palin fan. I think she tends to be a bit of a lightning rod and that distracts from her own message at times. But I think she brings a valuable perspective to the table. One that deserves a voice and consideration.

Articles like this generally twist the truth and then spin it in a way that makes things look worse than they really are. Weak journalism.

We can do better folks... yes we can. But we won't unless we are willing to commit to critical thinking about issues and not be lead around like sheep by headlines.

PEACE

I think it's time I straightened thing out, okay? Quitting the governor's gig was a no-brainer for me - oops, did I say that? I simply do what God tells me to.

I really don't have much to contribute, even though I have a really, really big perspective - all the way to Russia, for sure. But fortunately my great handlers - my photographer, my stylist, my shopper and uh, yes my speech and book writers - we all sit down around the fire and decide what I oughta say.

Then I practice, and practice, and practice...

Thats not right pretending to be Sarah. I tend to agree with the last couple of post. A few loud mouthed people hate Sarah, and they are quick to bash her. Sounds like either fear or jealousy to me. Can you or have you done half of what she as?? NO?? then what puts you the position to run your mouth and judge her?
So what she is making money. Last time I checked this is a free country (no thanks to Pelosi/Obama bunch) If this is all you have to do is worry about how and where Palin makes and spends money, then you really need to get out of your mommy's basement and get a life.

I used to be a Sarah Fan but as time goes on and she reveals more and more of the real Sarah, I sadly haved pulled all support for her and her PAC from our Site. I was at a book signing and camera's were not allowed, but her photographer is more then Happy to SELL you a Picture of your visit. Just as in the Tea Party Convention, I can clearly see that the profiteering Sarah has taken has been for her enrichment as well as the enrichment of her buddies. I fear to say, what every other (ex)fan of Sarahs wont say and that is that she is indeed a fraud. This became very obvious with her campainging for McCain. So I urge the folks that still are Sarah Fans to get over the infactuation and start caring more about the health and direction of our country.

To be honest, I think the tea party movement was grassroots initially and those that wish to keep it so are ardently for keeping it local. I actually like the idea of the tea party - the practice leaves bit to be desired if you ask me.

I don't think that it is accurate to say that this is a republican, tea party, neocon affliction. This is a power and access to cash issue. I don't pretend to know what it must be like to be continuously tempted with gifts, access, and influence from every angle. But I do know that I wouldn't last a month in Washington. I would have my integrity challenged constantly and I would not be able to abide others' indescretions. With that said, I think Palin has always been about Palin. Those that knew her best have nothing good to say. I appreciate the image of her as being someone that speaks to power, that says it like it is. Unfortunately because she is unwilling and undisciplined, she refuses to educate herself resulting in her coming across as shrill and clueless.

Most of you people I do not understand...LOOK at the other Pac...Huck bought 5000 of his books paid for by his Pac...if you want to be honest please review Hucks,Mitt, Pawlenty's Pac's and when you to you will find they are all about the same...After you do this then write your story...But that would be the right way to do it...and that we all know you will not do....

Penny, if you think the Tea Parties were grass roots initially, I urge you to do some reading on Dick Armey, Rick Santelli, and Freedom Works. Also, do not overlook the coverage given by Fox (compared, for example to the coverage of anti-war demonstrations or gay rights demonstrations).

I want to teabag Sarah Palin.

She didn't give the books to donors...she sold the books to donors. She took money donors were giving to enhance political campaigns to which they were sympathetic and channeled it instead into something that increased her own personal profits.

Rupert Murdoch's GOP pin-up doll/fembot/televangelist/grifter is being sold to proudly ignorant in twangville as a modern day Esther -- NewsCorp owns HarperCollins, FOX News/Business, WSJ, Weekly Standard (Bill Kristol) -- these are the folks who package/market the "Sarah Palin brand" whose franchise incl. Todd,Bristol,Levi,Willow, Piper & prop baby Trig (his treatment/handling borders on child abuse) -- thrills n chills, something for everyone – watch Americas hottest reality show, as Wasilla snowbillies loot America...while country continues to slide into depression, as political class mortgages our futures, shortens your parents retirement, ships more young people off to unwinnable wars and prepares for yet another illusion of inclusion, called Election 2012 -- are we having fun yet?

Isn't this commonly called MONEY LAUNDERING?

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smc wrote; But I think she brings a valuable perspective to the table. One that deserves a voice and consideration----Palin is a pretty face that sometimes can remember talking points of others--Palin is a simpletion who got caught up in the spotlight--bless her heart towards the end of her life she'd probably come to grips with this affair and wish she should have just said---thanks--but no thanks to McCain!!!!

Sarah Palin won't run for President in 2012. The Republican conservatives are not happy with Palin right now because she is going to campaigning for Sen. McCain of Arizona in March. Mr. McCain is a liberal Republican. For example, Palin endorsed Rand Paul who is running for US Senate from Kentucky other day. It is something to do with the Tea Party. I still don't know what is about this Tea Party means. I prefered to see Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana or Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota run for President in 2012.

I'm not sure if i entirely agree with the fact. Regardless, you do make some great points. What if I could produce a response opposing your assertions.

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