Tonight I received my copy of Going Rogue, which I pre-ordered from Amazon the day it was available. I won’t be reviewing it tonight, because unlike Ana Marie Cox, who defrauded the Washington Post and its readers with a review wherein she admits to not having read a third of the book, I fully intend to read this book.

I have no illusions about the book at all. While Althouse may think it’s pablum (etymology and definition on Wikipedia), I know it’s a memoir, ferChrissakes. You know what memoirs are? They tend to be self-serving narratives. There is power in a story. Just ask Tyler Cowen, who warned us about the power of stories at TEDx MidAtlantic (video). I fully intend to read it as a memoir, not a policy manifesto, which for some reason is the expectation that her opponents are trying to press.

I don’t think I heard a peep from Conservatives complaining that the (seemingly!!!) Ayers-authored Dreams from my Father was “lacking in policy substance,” because unlike people blinded by Palin Derangement Syndrome, we know what this “autobiography” was about. The only reason critics complain about the book lacking in “policy material” is that as a memoir, it’s most likely unassailable (the way Barry’s book is unassailable). And unlike Ayers, we don’t need a literary analysis to know that yes, there is some ghost-writing from Lynn Vincent.

Dr. Joyner may believe the word of a HuffPo writer—thus using the phrase “outright lies—with screenshots of emails that were given to them in confidence, but I won’t. Screenshots of emails don’t cut it in authenticating their provenance. I may not have the privelege to ask Sam Stein to prove that the gossip he’s peddling is more than that, but I have the privelege to disbelieve him. Recall that McCain staffers have worked long and hard following their defeat last year to malign Palin.

I have always liked Sarah Palin: back when she was a governor, when she was running for veep, and today. I find it interesting that highbrow Conservatives can’t look past the woman and go for the policy. I’m a little disappointed when Poliblogger agrees with Marc Ambinder when the latter said that Palin herself is promoting Palinism, or when other Conservatives accuse her of “milking her popularity.”

Her views may be a little plainspoken, but they are not dissimilar to what Conservatives believe. Right now there is a Leftist in the White House so extreme that some have described him as Marxist. We have a Speaker Of The House that desecrates the institution whenever she holds court. We have plenty of enemies. It is disappointing for a Conservative who shares even half of her views on matters politic to wash his hands of Palin for whatever fear he perceives in embracing her. She isn’t promoting Palnism, she is promoting Conservatism. She may not be preaching the intricacies of Conservative policy, but have any of her naysayers taken a look at what is coalescing around her movements? She is not alone. The Tea Party movement, the 912 project, and other folks are riding her coattails. There are people preparing to aid her in the caucuses and primaries without her even announcing her desire to be president. There are intellectuals who support her and have ideas. I heard some of them write for the Facebook page that bears her imprimatur.

I do not want to accuse highbrow Conservatives of being sour. I understand what it’s like to be left behind by what seems to be an angry mob. There is a time and place for everything, and this is all part of a cycle. I also understand that others are wary about the cult of personality building around her, but what leader doesn’t have that? The only question I would ask Conservatives of any brow level: between Sarah Palin and another four years of a professional politician from Chicago who has dismantled our economy, addled our grandchildren with debt, and is slogging away at taking over our healthcare system, will you at least come to her aid? And if not her, will you at least work to prevent that second term?