# Latest Sarah Palin idiocy: Oh noes, I have neighbors! How awful!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 26, 2010, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-sarah-palin-idiocy-oh-noes-i-have-neighbors-how-awful/540810 "2010-05-26T13:17:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-sarah-palin-idiocy-oh-noes-i-have-neighbors-how-awful/540810/41 "2010-05-26T16:39:17Z")
> [@](#): > > That said, of allllllllllllllllllllll the properties in allllllllllllllllllll of Alaska, this guy happens to rent the one right nextdoor to his subject? C’mon. [Bogart]Of all the rental properties in all Alaska he has to rent next to mine. (takes drink) Play it, Sam.[/Bogart] ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-sarah-palin-idiocy-oh-noes-i-have-neighbors-how-awful/540810/42 "2010-05-26T16:39:54Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > Seriously? Alaska is fucking huge. HUGE. He goes all the way from MA to Alaska, big-ol-giant-Alaska, and just so happens to move in RIGHT NEXT DOOR to Sarah Palin’s family? C’mon. > > Like I said int he MPSIMS thread I posted about this: no doubt this is somewhat Palin’s fault- my friends who live in Alaska don’t have Palin money, but they all own acres and acres. So, there’s no reason she can’t get a more secure “compound” for her family. That said, of allllllllllllllllllllll the properties in allllllllllllllllllll of Alaska, this guy happens to rent the one right nextdoor to his subject? _C’mon._ ORRRRR he decides to move to Alaska, contacts a real estate agent, gets a bunch of listings, see Wasila, laughs, looks at the listings, sees a house next to Palin for sale, and thinks, haha, I could live right next door to Sarah Palin wouldn’t that be a hoot? And buys the house. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-sarah-palin-idiocy-oh-noes-i-have-neighbors-how-awful/540810/43 "2010-05-26T16:41:41Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > It’s possible that McCain’s people told her the media attention wouldn’t be a problem, either because they were too inept to foresee otherwise or because they themselves hoped to benefit from the [Wounded Gazelle Gambit](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WoundedGazelleGambit). And she believed them? They were able to keep “McCain’s Black Baby ™” under wraps so well and that wasn’t even a real scandal. If she doesn’t like the attention, she merely needs to stop attracting it. The other truth about the media circus is when Brittney Spears stops being as crazy as a mad hatter, it changes its focus to someone currently crazier…and there is always someone crazier… ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-sarah-palin-idiocy-oh-noes-i-have-neighbors-how-awful/540810/44 "2010-05-26T16:49:37Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Their swimming hole? What, do they go skinny dipping? Brain bleach in Aisle five! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-sarah-palin-idiocy-oh-noes-i-have-neighbors-how-awful/540810/45 "2010-05-26T16:51:06Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > ORRRRR he decides to move to Alaska, contacts a real estate agent, gets a bunch of listings, see Wasila, laughs, looks at the listings, sees a house next to Palin for sale, and thinks, haha, I could live right next door to Sarah Palin wouldn’t that be a hoot? And buys the house. Or the real estate agent says, “This is a really nice property, but it’s going real cheap, because the next-door neighbour is crazy. However, she’s out of town most of the time…” ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-sarah-palin-idiocy-oh-noes-i-have-neighbors-how-awful/540810/46 "2010-05-26T16:54:11Z")
From the OP: > [@](#): > > Yeah, part of her ire is that the new next-door neighbor is reporter/author Joe McGinniss, who was working on a book about Alaska and the oil industry when McCain chose Palin as his running mate, and who Palin apparently believes may have designs on returning to that particular work, which might well show Palin in an unflattering light. NOWHERE in there do I see anything about the guy writing a book ABOUT PALIN. His book might peripherally involve her, but from that description, she is not the subject of it. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-sarah-palin-idiocy-oh-noes-i-have-neighbors-how-awful/540810/47 "2010-05-26T16:55:04Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > ORRRRR he decides to move to Alaska, contacts a real estate agent, gets a bunch of listings, see Wasila, laughs, looks at the listings, sees a house next to Palin for sale, and thinks, haha, I could live right next door to Sarah Palin wouldn’t that be a hoot? And buys the house. I get that either is possible, but which is statistically more likely? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-sarah-palin-idiocy-oh-noes-i-have-neighbors-how-awful/540810/48 "2010-05-26T17:00:39Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > I get that either is possible, but which is statistically more likely? Since you asked the question, and seem to already know the answer, why don’t you tell us, and show us where you got your information about which is statistically more likely? ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-sarah-palin-idiocy-oh-noes-i-have-neighbors-how-awful/540810/49 "2010-05-26T17:06:21Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Since you asked the question, and seem to already know the answer, why don’t you tell us, and show us where you got your information about which is statistically more likely? I’m terrible at math ☹ I mean really, though, c’mon- you honestly are telling me that it is just as likely that of all the homes in Alaska (or even Wasilla- which is where several of my friends live), he randomly drew the one next door to her house --than him specifically picking that house? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-sarah-palin-idiocy-oh-noes-i-have-neighbors-how-awful/540810/50 "2010-05-26T17:08:12Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > You mean the one in the OP at the top of this page? Specifically, the last link in the OP. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > Is there any information on this that doesn’t come from her blog? Yes; I’ve got three links in the OP, and only one of them is to her Facebook page. But I had two reasons for quoting her FB page: 1. because I wanted to get the parts in there where her complaints really could have been about _anybody_ renting the house next door; and 2. because this way, nobody can complain that I’m misquoting her, or citing a media source or lefty blog that misconstrued her words. Her FB page, her words, she owns them. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-sarah-palin-idiocy-oh-noes-i-have-neighbors-how-awful/540810/51 "2010-05-26T17:13:11Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > NOWHERE in there do I see anything about the guy writing a book ABOUT PALIN. His book might peripherally involve her, but from that description, she is not the subject of it. That. I mean, if I were a well-known author (as McGinniss is), and I came to Alaska to write about oil and corruption, and then I found out my next-door neighbor happened to be the governor…would I have some obligation not to mention that? My book would still be about oil and corruption, but I’d have to be crazy not to mention it. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-sarah-palin-idiocy-oh-noes-i-have-neighbors-how-awful/540810/52 "2010-05-26T17:13:35Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Yes; I’ve got three links in the OP, and only one of them is to her Facebook page. Only two of the three links are about him moving next door, and the sole source of the second link is the blog mentioned in the first link. Are there any other links about this event? ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-sarah-palin-idiocy-oh-noes-i-have-neighbors-how-awful/540810/53 "2010-05-26T17:15:51Z")
The only info I can do with a quick and admittedly shoddy Google search is from [his Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_McGinniss): > [@](#): > > **McGinniss is said to be working on a book, tentatively titled Sarah Palin’s Year of Living Dangerously, which will be published by Broadway/Random House in 2011**. That was up before Palin’s rant, because I remember reading it when looking him up before. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-sarah-palin-idiocy-oh-noes-i-have-neighbors-how-awful/540810/54 "2010-05-26T17:19:43Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > But you would agree that if he were standing on his deck, constantly staring down at her family, that would be creepy - yes? You _really_ enjoy grasping at straws, don’t you? ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-sarah-palin-idiocy-oh-noes-i-have-neighbors-how-awful/540810/55 "2010-05-26T17:24:13Z")
I must say that it’s been fun these last few minutes posting the link to the WaPo piece to the comments section of her “note”, only to have it summarily removed a couple minutes later. Of course, to achieve this, I had to click the “like” button on the SP page. I probably won’t sleep for a week. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-sarah-palin-idiocy-oh-noes-i-have-neighbors-how-awful/540810/56 "2010-05-26T17:27:46Z")
Hey, **MTCicero** , in for a penny, in for a pound. Go repost it, along with a complaint about having it removed the first time. Tell them _“But I said I LIKED the update.”_ ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-sarah-palin-idiocy-oh-noes-i-have-neighbors-how-awful/540810/57 "2010-05-26T17:44:03Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > ORRRRR he decides to move to Alaska, contacts a real estate agent, gets a bunch of listings, see Wasila, laughs, looks at the listings, sees a house next to Palin for sale, and thinks, haha, I could live right next door to Sarah Palin wouldn’t that be a hoot? And buys the house. That must be it. I mean, so many people move to Alaska, Wasilla specifically, so often. It does seem that the more extraordinary claim is being made by you here…that it’s just a coincidence. So, demanding a cite from the more reasonable position stinks of the childish “cite, cite, cite” that so many like to play around here. That said, [here’s some substantiation from a lying right wing site.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/25/sarah-palin-gets-a-new-go_n_588962.html) > [@](#): > > but only one man – author Joe McGinniss – has gone so far as to actually rent the house next door to the Palin’s residence in Wasilla, Alaska. From that perch, McGinniss will study the Palin family’s comings-and-goings for a book he’s writing on the subject, which I guess has sort of taken a “Northern Exposure meets Rear Window” turn? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-sarah-palin-idiocy-oh-noes-i-have-neighbors-how-awful/540810/58 "2010-05-26T17:45:03Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I’m not one to dump on Sarah Palin over every little thing, but this one struck me as an impressively stupid and self-centered use of the victim card. And it’s right from [her Facebook page](http://www.facebook.com/notes/sarah-palin/just-when-ya-think-it-cant-get-any-more-interesting-welcome-neighbor/392687973434). > > Yeah, part of her ire is that the new next-door neighbor is reporter/author Joe McGinniss, who [was working on a book about Alaska and the oil industry when McCain chose Palin as his running mate](http://www.observer.com/2009/books/mcginniss-hops-agents-again-so-whats-he-working), and who Palin apparently believes may have designs on returning to that particular work, which might well show Palin in an unflattering light. Anything to bitch about Palin, right? The guy is stalking her. His own son confirms it: > [@](#): > > UPDATE: I haven’t been able to reach McGinniss, but did send an errant email to his son, the novelist Joe McGinniss Jr., who replied, “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.” [http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0510/Annals\_of\_journalistic\_enterprise.html](http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0510/Annals_of_journalistic_enterprise.html) ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-sarah-palin-idiocy-oh-noes-i-have-neighbors-how-awful/540810/59 "2010-05-26T17:45:45Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > It’s possible that McCain’s people told her the media attention wouldn’t be a problem, either because they were too inept to foresee otherwise or because they themselves hoped to benefit from the [Wounded Gazelle Gambit](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WoundedGazelleGambit). Or it could be that McCain, who had after all been in the spotlight for a long time, didn’t think the media attention was that big a deal and saw it as just a natural extension of working in the political arena. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-sarah-palin-idiocy-oh-noes-i-have-neighbors-how-awful/540810/60 "2010-05-26T17:51:33Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > The guy is stalking her. His own son confirms it: How do you function here with a broken sarcasm sensor? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-sarah-palin-idiocy-oh-noes-i-have-neighbors-how-awful/540810.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-sarah-palin-idiocy-oh-noes-i-have-neighbors-how-awful/540810.md?page=4)