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The Associated Press was the first to get a hold of Sarah Palin’s upcoming autobiography, “Going Rogue,” and so far it seems that it’s mostly a book of complaints. There are complaints about money, complaints about the way the McCain camp treated Palin and her family, and lots of issues over who paid for what and how much between the two camps. And then of course there are the requisite complaints about the media. She goes on at length about her infamous interview with Katie Couric, claiming that Couric “badgered” her and didn’t include the parts of the interview where Palin came off well.

Palin also writes harshly of CBS anchor Katie Couric, whom she describes as “badgering” and biased. Palin’s series of interviews with Couric were widely regarded as disastrous, leaving the impression of an ill-informed candidate who was unsuited for the job.

In the months leading up to her July resignation as Alaska governor, her legal bills had mounted to more than $500,000, fueled mostly by what she called frivolous ethics complaints. What appeared to upset her most, though, was that about $50,000 of the legal bills was her share of the expenses for being vetted for the VP nod, Palin writes.

She said no one had ever informed her that she would have to personally take care of any expenses related to the selection process. Palin writes that when she asked officials at the Republican National Committee and what was left of the McCain campaign if they would help her financially, she was told the bills would have been paid if McCain had won, but since he lost, the bills were her responsibility.

Trevor Potter, general counsel for the McCain campaign, told the AP the campaign had never asked Palin to pay a legal bill. “To my knowledge, the campaign never billed Gov. Palin for any legal expenses related to her vetting and I am not aware of her ever asking the campaign to pay legal expenses that her own lawyers incurred for the vetting process.” Potter said that if Palin’s personal lawyer billed her for any work related to her vetting, “We are unaware of it. It was never raised with the campaign.”

[From the Huffington Post]

There are two especially interesting things about the book: first, there is no index whatsoever, leaving several commentators to joke that’s perhaps Sarah’s best revenge on people: if they want to see if they’re mentioned, they have to read the entire book.

Second is that she never once mentions Levi Johnston. Yet she obviously talks about daughter Bristol’s pregnancy. That must have been quite the dance, writing about all that without mentioning the baby’s father. Johnston and Palin have been involved in quite the epic feud over the last several months. Right after he broke up with Bristol, Levi said Palin – the abstinence only supporter – probably knew they were having sex. It’s no surprise she doesn’t want to talk about him. Yet in her upcoming interview with Oprah (airing on Monday) Palin says she would invite him to Thanksgiving dinner. She also says he’s a part of the family and she wants to invite him into the fold and take him under her wing and she can tell he needs that. The clip is short, but it’s safe to assume that Levi’s not interested.

“One final question about Levi,” Oprah asks in the first clip: “will he be invited to Thanksgiving dinner?”

Palin laughs. “You know, that’s a great question.” It’s also a question that Palin doesn’t seem to want to answer. “It’s lovely to think that he would ever even consider such a thing,” she says. “Because, of course, you want — he is a part of the family and you want to bring him in the fold and kind of under your wing. And he needs that, too, Oprah. I think he needs to know that he is loved and he has the most beautiful child and this can all work out for good. It really can.” She then segues into a mishmash of statements on how the Palins are “not really into the drama.”

Oprah presses on: “Does that mean yes he is coming or no he’s not?”

[From the Huffington Post]

I really doubt that’s true; it’s just the polite politician response to give. Palin goes so far as to say “Levi is love.” Johnston has made all sorts of accusations about Palin (including that she called her son Trig – who has Down’s Syndrome – “retarded”) basically calling her a bad mother and saying she has all sorts of deep, dark secrets. Which maybe she does, but I doubt Johnston is privy to them. In related news, it’s fun to watch Levi think he’s a big celebrity only to get shot down. He requested $3,000 to appear at a nightclub – they offered him a round of sodas instead.

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