It is not a fact in evidence that Joe McGuinness has tried to observe them and study them, or has so much as looked in their direction.
So far, the only people doing any observing and peeking and picture taking are the Palins.
Of course not, and I seriously doubt you do as well. At least not in any meaningful definition of the words “observe” and “study”. Scientists “observe” and “study” lab animals. You almost certainly merely “notice” and “consider” your neighbors.
A fair point, but I don’t fault the Palin’s for making the reasonable assumption that McGuinness moved into the house he did because it was next door to the Palin’s. I think that’s over the line for a journalist/author, and I can see why the Palins are upset.
It still needs to be explained why it’s over the line. It does not affect the Palins in the least
I don’t think it needs to be explained to anyone but the willfully obtuse. Everyone desires privacy in their home. Being observed in your home by a reporter who intends to write a public book about what he finds is an objectionable invasion of that privacy.
Perhaps McGuinness will be a perfect neighbor. Just as though a drug dealer, pimp, or the KKK might be as well. As in the latter cases, the Palin’s don’t need to wait until an actual problem to make an objection. It’s pretty clear that shenanigans are afoot.
You’re comparing being a journalist to being a drug dealer or a pimp? It’s funny that you say that because those are the people who DID live in the house before McGuinness, and the Palins weren’t too concerned about it.
Having said that, yes, they DO need to wait until McGuinness actually does something illegal or inappropriate to make an objection, and it is not at ALL clear that there are “shenanigans afoot.” That is simply not a reasonable assumption to make. The evidence is all to the contrary.
McGuinness himself has reason to complain, though, since the Palins are harrassing him, surveilling his home and posting pictures on the internet. That’s some pretty creepy scary shit right there, especially with the lunatic fans that Palin has. The paper whispering in the Palins’ ears to kill Joe McGuinness is the creepiest part of this whole story.
Palin handled this the wrong way. She needs better PR people. She should have just showed up on his doorstep with a plate of cookies and welcomed him to the neighborhood.
And then quietly increased the size of her privacy fence to 14ft. like she did, if she was that concerned with him watching them in their back yard.
She can’t stop him from writing his book. She can’t stop him from interviewing people in her hometown. But her antics of how she approached his being there, comes off a bit whiney for someone that’s in the public spotlight.
Exactly!! I still do not know why it is not a violation of the law to be inciting others into trying to force a person who legitimately rented a house next to you into moving out. She knew exactly what she was doing when she was trying to get rid of him by posting that crap on FaceBook.
With her posting a citizen is getting death threats and is in fear of his life. What law was this guy breaking other than wishing to know more and write about a woman who almost became Vice-President of the United States.
Whether she likes it or not, she has made herself into a VIP and folks are interested in knowing more.
Hey, she’s kept her name in the spotlight and garnered a lot of sympathy from the type of people who sympathize with Sarah to start with. He’s probably quadrupled his future book sales, and a lot more likely to get a guest spot on the top talk shows… Win-win.
The whole controversy reminds of the totally contrived “lipstick on a pig” fuss during the campaign. Nobody thought Obama meant she was a pig until she accused him of meaning that. Make something up and accuse someone else of it.
Which reminds me of the Haiku:
Pig,
Lipstick,
Still a pig…
I think she’s blown it up to serve her own ends, absent any evidence that he’s doing anything nefarious. Face it, if you want to write a book that includes an analysis of her early career, you have to spend some time getting friendly with some of the locals before they will open up and tell you what they think, for example, of her fiscal management of the town or the ban-the-library-books episode.
I think he chose/accepted the house precisely for what it’s done - turned another ho-hum book project into front-page news and increased sales.
Neither of them is blameless, but SP is the one raising the biggest stink, so she must be the bigger publicity hound. No surprise.
Isn’t it the truth though, that, at this very moment, our immediate neighbours may well be planning to write a book about us?
Seriously, this woman has raised victimhood to an art.
Should we expect that some random neighbor might be writing about us? Obviously not.
McGinnis is not some random neighbor, though. He has already written about Sarah Palin in the pages of the now-defunct Portfolio. He also bid heavily on Ebay for the chance to have dinner with the ex-governor. With that in mind, I think it’s a bit willfully obtuse to insist that Sarah Palin’s is simply pulling these concerns out of the ether.
Its also a free country, and a person, whoever they may be, has a right to live anywhere they please.
You don’t, however, have the right to insinuate to millions of people that said person is a pedophile without anything to back it up.
That is disgusting. Renting a house is not.
What concerns? That he is spying on her kids? Yes, she is fabricating that from whole cloth.
Prove it. Prove that he isn’t spying on her kids.
“Wait a minute!” you might object. “The burden of proof is on her.” That may be true, but since you specifically said that she is lying (not merely mistaken, but lying), then the burden of proof for that specific claim is on you as well. So please prove that she is indeed fabricating this claim, and that McGinnis is not spying on her in any way whatsoever.
If the guy who lives on the heat grate downtown didn’t think the CIA was beaming voices into his head, I doubt he’d be bitching about it.
Well, then, she ought to sue whoever advertised an auction for dinner with her without getting her approval and agreement that she would, in fact, dine with the highest bidder.
Oh, wait…
Nope. The fact that the students in The Music Man ended up learning to play in a band doesn’t change the fact that Professor Harold Hill was a lying con artist.
She has the burden of proof.
Palin took pictures of McGinniss. What did he do to her? She does not seem to respect his privacy.
She is assuming he is after her kids? What proof does she have for that? She is making stuff up again to get her followers all fired up. That seems to be easy to do. I doubt he will write a book about her kids.
And if you had bothered to read my post, you would note that I explicitly acknowledged that.
By the same token, you have the burden of proof for your claim – namely, that she is making all of this up. Not merely mistaken, not merely overreacting, but lying outright. So please, where is your proof? Or are you once again dodging the question?