Will Joe McGinniss' 'scathing' expose actually help Sarah Palin?

Salacious excerpts from The Rogue, Joe McGinniss' new tell-all biography of Sarah Palin, are dribbling out a week before the book hits shelves — a seemingly damaging scenario for the former Alaska governor, given that she's supposedly still weighing a presidential bid. Yet it's McGinniss who's facing a backlash. Early leaks from the book are spurring commentators to heap scorn on the mostly anonymously sourced account of marital infidelity, premarital one-night stands, and drug use. Many doubt the book will damage Palin's celebrity, or even her political prospects. Might it, in fact, help her?

Yes. This is just what Palin needed: Judging from the reviews, McGinniss' book sounds "like an unprincipled hatchet job," says Anna North at Jezebel. That's "exactly the kind of thing that the Palin camp expects from the Left, and exactly the kind of thing that they want." By apparently proving Palin's point that the "lamestream media" is out to get her, this "awful" book "can only help her."

"Despite being awful, new Palin book will only help her career"

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Even the "lamestream media" is taking her side: We're in uncharted territory, says Molly Ball at Politico. "The lamestream media is coming to Sarah Palin's defense." In fact — wait for it — The New York Times has "angrily taken Palin's side in a brutal takedown of the McGinniss book," something Todd Palin "trumpeted" in his own McGinniss smackdown. "Now that the enemy has crossed to their side, Palin's fans don't quite seem to know what to do."

"Sarah Palin is defended by 'lamestream media'"

But the Palin "pity party" routine is wearing thin: Some of the "juuuicy details" in the "scathing biography" are sketchy, to say the least, says Nicole Fabian-Weber at The Stir. The book may yield enough credible nuggets, however, to concern Palin's most conservative supporters. Of course, "Palin will turn this whole mess into one giant pity party/I'm-the-victim crusade." But she can only play that card successfully so many times.

"Sarah Palin will use scathing biography to get your sympathy"