The Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen is set for Monday night. The last roast before Charlie was Donald Trump; will the next roastee be Sarah Palin? If so, the writers are already scouring through Joe McGinniss's book "The Rogue, The Search for the Real Sarah Palin." As this is the allegedly the Celebrity Legal Issues column, those comedy writers might have to wait for the Palin lawyers to get through first.
McGinnis's book is set to come out this week. David Weigel of Slate magazine reports that a blogger named Stacy McCain has already started a legal fund for the Palins, asking for twenty five dollar donations to Palin's SarahPac. My computer is freezing and won't provide the link.
In Weigel's Slate article, he writes: "some of this stuff is so outrageous as to be unbelievable—c'mon, snorting cocaine off an oil drum in the great Alaskan wilderness?—and no doubt the fact-checkers and Palin partisans of the Internet will have a few thousand words to say about it over the coming weeks. But as McGinniss ruefully acknowledges in his final chapter, anything that has to do with Palin gets people chattering. Or, at least, starting legal-defense funds."
We won't repeat some of McGinniss's other claims concerning faith and family. Last night, I watched Bill Maher's Real Time on HBO, and even Keith Olbermann was rushing to Palin's defense. Let me repeat that--Keith Olberman was rushing to Palin's defense.
Will there be a lawsuit? My gut instinct is that there WON'T be. The book will have a big first week, and then fade. A lot depends on whether Palin runs for President in 2012 or 2016. Still, it is unlikely that Palin's politicial rivals will risk quoting from the book in their talking points.
As for the comedic material, Tina Fey has a goldmine here, assuming she does a Palin imitation. If Comedy Central ever does do a Palin roast, they will probably focus on the alleged Glen Rice incident and leave some of McGinniss's other claims on the cutting room floor.
