Saturday, November 22, 2008

Dear Governor Palin . . .

Every freelancer in the English-speaking world is angling to ghost your book and, of course, I'm available. But I noticed a former intern is also volunteering:
[T]he literary types quoted in this piece talk about how her rough introduction to the national stage will be the biggest selling point of the book. I disagree. If Palin wants a future in politics, she can’t dwell on a grudge match with the national media and various sneering feminist types who greeted the idea of a first female conservative VP with outrage. Her memoirs should serve two more forward looking functions. . . .
Governor Palin, if Laura Vanderkam needs any recommendation, I enthusiastically offer it. Her biography describes her as a "New York-based writer," but don't let that scare you off. She's actually a homeschool alumna from Indiana and a working mom with a 2-year-old. The reason I happened to notice her volunteering for this book gig is that I was Googling to make sure I spelled her name correctly in a blog post at The American Spectator:
"Ivy" and "evil" aren't necessarily synonyms. The very best intern who ever passed through The Washington Times in my 10 years there was Laura Vanderkam of Princeton. Her first day, she got an assignment at 11 a.m. and filed 700 words by 2:30 p.m. Joe Curl -- now a White House correspondent but then an assistant national editor -- opened the story in the queue, read through it and said, "Damn. She can write." The story required almost no editing at all. An astonishing thing to any editor who's ever had to deal with journalism interns.
The girl can flat-out write, Governor Palin, and if you don't want to take my word for it, just ask the managing editor at Human Events.

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