Joe McGinniss is wrong to move next door to Sarah Palin in Alaska in order to gather material for his book on her due out in 2011.

McGinniss is well known for pushing the envelope when it comes to his subjects.

His 1983 book on the Jeffrey MacDonald murder trial result ended in a lawsuit by MacDonald alleging he had been set up by McGinniss. There was an out of court settlement.

His next book on the Kennedy's brought similar reaction from that clan who felt that McGinniss had greatly altered the key facts.

Now Palin is his subject and he is clearly enjoying himself .

“I am writing a book about Sarah Palin,” he said. “Why not live right next to the story? Unless I do something that is an active violation of their privacy, where is the harm?”

Not true. Sarah Palin has a large young family and she and her husband, Todd are entitled to the privacy at their family home in Wasilla.

The very idea of having muckraking journalist living next door, trying to peer into every aspect of their lives must be horrifying, especially as far as their children are concerned.

My sympathy is all with Palin on this given the reputation that McGinniss has for sharp practice when it comes to his writing.

McGinniss said he had glimpsed Ms. Palin for “about three seconds” and that he doesn’t expect to get a lot of material from living there but he has already had a nasty encounter with Todd Palin and there could be more standoffs.


As Palin explains it her desire for privacy when away from the political trail reads true:

“None of our houses have ever had air conditioning, and so you leave your windows open all summer long,” she said. “It’s the only way to keep cool in the midnight sun because the sun essentially doesn’t set for many of the days in the summer, leaving the windows wide open. Well, now, things like that, that’s got to change because the guy’s sitting right there.”

McGinniss is clearly enjoying the publicity stunt but he should move along.

There is nothing to see.