# Why is Sarah Palin complaining so hard about Joe McGinniss? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 1, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-complaining-so-hard-about-joe-mcginniss/541508 "2010-06-01T15:45:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Clu-Me-In](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@Clu-Me-In](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clu-Me-In)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-complaining-so-hard-about-joe-mcginniss/541508/41 "2010-06-02T00:18:04Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > It’s certainly possible, but not likely. I mean, it’s a pretty big coincidence to “just happen” to end up living next-door to the person you’re writing a book about. He didn’t just happen to be living there. He was looking for a place in Wasila, and the owner of the house, offered him the place at a reduced rent of $1,500. Joe McGinniss is from Massachusetts. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-complaining-so-hard-about-joe-mcginniss/541508/42 "2010-06-02T00:41:23Z")
> [@Clu-Me-In](#): > > He didn’t just happen to be living there. He was looking for a place in Wasila, and the owner of the house, offered him the place at a reduced rent of $1,500. Joe McGinniss is from Massachusetts. Even in a city of only 10,000 people, that’s still only going to be something like a 1-in-1,000 chance, unless the owner offered the lower price specifically because the house was next to Palin’s. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-complaining-so-hard-about-joe-mcginniss/541508/43 "2010-06-02T01:13:41Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > So now you have psychic powers, and know exactly what is on Sarah Palin’s mind? Because otherwise, you have no way of knowing she does not see it the way I said she might. It’s irrelevant how she sees it. the FACT is that living next door to someone is not an invasion of their privacy. I’d say her personal delusions are neither here nor there, but that would be giving her too much credit. She’s just straight up lying. She doesn’t believe for a second that her privacy’s being invaded. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-complaining-so-hard-about-joe-mcginniss/541508/44 "2010-06-02T01:17:52Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > It’s irrelevant how she sees it. the FACT is that living next door to someone is not an invasion of their privacy. I’d say her personal delusions are neither here nor there, but that would be giving her too much credit. She’s just straight up lying. She doesn’t believe for a second that her privacy’s being invaded. So now you get to decide when people are and are not allowed to get annoyed? And you get the uncanny psychic knowledge of what she believes? I’m impressed. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-complaining-so-hard-about-joe-mcginniss/541508/45 "2010-06-02T01:19:43Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > If she didn’t think it was invasive of her privacy, I doubt she’d be bitching about it. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Self-victimization is what she lives for (that and pretending that her kids are being victimized). The real reason she’s LYING about McGuinness (and you need to acknowledge that she is indeed LYING about the guy if you expect to maintain any credibility at all) is because he’s a journalist who wrote truthful things about her, and she’s a psychpoath and a narcissist who can’t tolerate criticism. Pretending to be victimized is her primary mode of character assasination. At the end of the day, Sarah Palin is the political version of the Duke rape accuser. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-complaining-so-hard-about-joe-mcginniss/541508/46 "2010-06-02T01:27:18Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > You need to ask yourself _why_ you think it’s a good place. It’s good sheerly because it’s a great deal on a house. Would you rather stay in a Best Western for 6 months, or stay in a 6 bdroom house on a lake for half the price? He’d have had to be an idiot not to take the house, and the proximity of the Palins is irrelevant. It’s none of their fucking business where he lives, the end. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-complaining-so-hard-about-joe-mcginniss/541508/47 "2010-06-02T01:32:53Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > To what purpose? Not that it’s anyone’s business but his own (certainly not Sarah Palin’s), but the “purpose” is to live comfortably and work in a cheap house. The fact that the Palins live next door is just an unhappy coincidence for McGuinness. There’s a reason that properties get discounted. Obviously, the house McGuinness is renting is in a shitty neighborhood, but a bargain is a bargain. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-complaining-so-hard-about-joe-mcginniss/541508/48 "2010-06-02T01:38:24Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > It’s certainly possible, but not likely. I mean, it’s a pretty big coincidence to “just happen” to end up living next-door to the person you’re writing a book about. He didn’t “just happen” to end up there. The owner of the proerty sought him out. It was either that or a hotel. The hosue was a lot cheaper and nice,. The choice was a no brainer. Unless somebody can actually demonstrate some specific way in which Joe McGuinness has invaded Sarah Palin’s property there’s no legitimate gripe here. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-complaining-so-hard-about-joe-mcginniss/541508/49 "2010-06-02T01:40:20Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > The real reason she’s LYING about McGuinness (and you need to acknowledge that she is indeed LYING about the guy if you expect to maintain any credibility at all) is because he’s a journalist who wrote truthful things about her, and she’s a psychpoath and a narcissist who can’t tolerate criticism. Pretending to be victimized is her primary mode of character assasination. At the end of the day, Sarah Palin is the political version of the Duke rape accuser. Actually, I’m requesting cites for factual assertions Palin has made about McGuiness and cites that she knows those factual assertions are untrue. Reputable, non-blog sources, please. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-complaining-so-hard-about-joe-mcginniss/541508/50 "2010-06-02T01:42:05Z")
> [@DtC](#): > > He’d have had to be an idiot not to take the house, and the proximity of the Palins is irrelevant. Oh, I’m sure the proximity of the Palins is actually a handy perk. It’ll make a great book-jacket blurb: “The famous (notorious?) Sarah Palin and her family were the author’s next-door neighbors during the half-year that he spent in Wasilla meticulously researching…” blah blah blah. The guy would have had to be stupid not to realize that the situation would be good publicity for him. However, that’s absolutely no justification for insinuating that he was planning to be a Peeping Tom, IMO. If Palin had had the sense to stick to ruefully amused griping about the burdens of celebrity, and how it’s bad enough to have those librul journalists complaining about you in the Main Stream Media without one of them moving in next door to write a book about you, she would have won sympathy from her base without disgusting everybody else. But, unable to resist indulging in the shrillest and whiniest forms of self-pity, she had to make nasty and AFAICT completely unfounded insinuations about expecting illegal invasions of her family’s privacy, and worries about him peeking in on her daughter, etc. Typical Palin pitbullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-complaining-so-hard-about-joe-mcginniss/541508/51 "2010-06-02T01:43:41Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > Even in a city of only 10,000 people, that’s still only going to be something like a 1-in-1,000 chance, unless the owner offered the lower price specifically because the house was next to Palin’s. She offered the lower price because the Palins had previously fucked her over (asking her to make renovations to her house, and then not paying her), but she also said she sought out McGuinness because he would be respectful of the Palins’ privacy while the other suitors for the property (tabloids) would not be. She should have fucking rented to the tabloids. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-complaining-so-hard-about-joe-mcginniss/541508/52 "2010-06-02T01:49:23Z")
> [@Clu-Me-In](#): > > A smart person would go over with cookies and a bottle of wine and welcome him to the neighborhood. Kill him with kindness. She went about this the completely wrong way is what I’m saying. As a new neighbour, she should at least have invited him to her key party. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-complaining-so-hard-about-joe-mcginniss/541508/53 "2010-06-02T01:50:25Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Actually, I’m requesting cites for factual assertions Palin has made about McGuiness and cites that she knows those factual assertions are untrue. Reputable, non-blog sources, please. The cites for the lies are on Sarah Palin’s facebook page which I refuse to link to. the nature of the lies are in proximity of the properties, what McGunness could see, and more significantly, the insinuations that McGuinness was spying on her and her children. I’m not going to play some fatuous cite game with you about whether I can prove he wasn’t. I’m sure you’ll agree that implying that a person is a pedophile is a slimy thing to do without backing it up, and McGuinness is not the one with the burden to prove his innocence. One demonstrable, factual, indisputable lie, though, is that she claimed the lake as her own personal “family swimming hole.” ---
**Author:** ![Clu-Me-In](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@Clu-Me-In](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clu-Me-In)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-complaining-so-hard-about-joe-mcginniss/541508/54 "2010-06-02T01:57:24Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > As a new neighbour, she should at least have invited him to her key party. Somebody said… > [@](#): > > **Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.** > Sun-tzu ~~Chinese general & military strategist (~400 BC) ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-complaining-so-hard-about-joe-mcginniss/541508/55 "2010-06-02T02:02:49Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > The cites for the lies are on Sarah Palin’s facebook page which I refuse to link to. the nature of the lies are in proximity of the properties, what McGunness could see, and more significantly, the insinuations that McGuinness was spying on her and her children. I’m not going to play some fatuous cite game with you about whether I can prove he wasn’t. I’m sure you’ll agree that implying that a person is a pedophile is a slimy thing to do without backing it up, and McGuinness is not the one with the burden to prove his innocence. So you [del]can’t[/del] won’t provide any cite to back up your assertions, and expect me to just accept your completely unbiased interpretation of what Palin allegedly said? Um, no. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-complaining-so-hard-about-joe-mcginniss/541508/56 "2010-06-02T02:05:01Z")
What Palin actually said is easily googleable, and you’ve probably already read it. I even told you what the website is, so I did give you the cite, just not the link. This is just an evasive tactic for you because you can’t really address my points. Go ahead with your Chris Crocker act, I don’t care. I’ll send you a box of tissues so you can cry your eyes out about poor Sarah. ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-complaining-so-hard-about-joe-mcginniss/541508/57 "2010-06-02T02:42:24Z")
The [Mudflats](http://www.themudflats.net/2010/06/01/palins-new-neighbor-joe-mcginniss-talks-to-matt-lauer-on-the-today-show/) posted a video interview with McGinniss and some sensible Wassilans today. Neat stuff. His house is pretty small and it is pretty close. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-complaining-so-hard-about-joe-mcginniss/541508/58 "2010-06-02T03:25:07Z")
[Palin sez](http://www.facebook.com/notes/sarah-palin/is-it-any-wonder-why-we-call-them-lame/394979258434): > [@](#): > > He has a right to pursue his subject, I suppose, and certainly has a right to live wherever he wants, but my family also has a right to expect privacy, and hopefully to enjoy peace this summer. Good fences do make for good neighbors. The fence is now up, and I hope that we can enjoy peace. The media sensationalizes the recent McGinniss’ tactic so the public will tune in to whatever the latest episode is, always with ratings in mind, and that’s unfortunate. :dubious: The _MEDIA_ “sensationalizes” this? Wasn’t it Palin herself who caused all the fuss by whining about it on Facebook in the first place? > [@](#): > > When I say or write “leave my kids alone,” it means simply that: let my kids have a fun summer without having a “journalist” 15 ft from their play area. Sarah honey, if the journalist isn’t on your property and isn’t invading your privacy, then as you just noted above, the journalist “has a right to live wherever he wants”, even if it **is** 15 feet from your kids’ play area. If you don’t like law-abiding neighbors living in the house next door and not intruding upon you or interfering with you, it’s on you to either suck it up or move somewhere else. If the neighbor does something illegal, sic the cops on him. In the meantime, you can take your sulking and pouting and whining and stick them in the dark and smelly recess where you keep what passes for your brain. Sheee- **ee** sh. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-complaining-so-hard-about-joe-mcginniss/541508/59 "2010-06-02T04:48:42Z")
> [@Clu-Me-In](#): > > What better place to observe and study a figure you want to write about than to rent a cheap house next door. You honestly can’t see why someone would have a problem with their neighbors observing and studying them? ---
**Author:** ![Clu-Me-In](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@Clu-Me-In](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clu-Me-In)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-complaining-so-hard-about-joe-mcginniss/541508/60 "2010-06-02T05:17:16Z")
> [@treis](#): > > You honestly can’t see why someone would have a problem with their neighbors observing and studying them? No I can’t. I observe and study my neighbors every time they’re around. Don’t you? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-complaining-so-hard-about-joe-mcginniss/541508.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-complaining-so-hard-about-joe-mcginniss/541508.md?page=4)