McGinniss Defends Palin Screed

Joe McGinniss's new book, The Rogue, alleges that Sarah Palin is a bully, religious nut, racist, bulimic, bad mother, and that she occasionally snorted cocaine and had an affair. The book was trashed by critics like Janet Maslin of The New York Times. But McGinniss tells Lloyd Grove in the upcoming issue of Newsweek that he dismisses the notion that the book will engender sympathy for Palin as a defenseless target. “I wrote the best book about her I was able to write,” McGinniss says. “Now if that causes people to feel sorry for her, I would suggest they might be missing the point." He says he's satisfied with the accuracy of his information, which he got by moving next door to the Palins in Alaska.