Sarah Palin Vanity Fair interviewer: 'The worst stuff isn't even in there'

The author of a 'blistering' Vanity Fair profile of former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin has told the hosts of MSNBC's Morning Joe that the 'worst stuff isn't even in' the profile.

"The worst stuff isn't even in there," Michael Joseph Gross said on "Morning Joe" Thursday. "I couldn't believe these stories either when I first heard them, and I started this story with a prejudice in her favor. I have a lot in common with this woman. I'm a small-town person, I'm a Christian, I think that a lot of her criticisms of the media actually have something to them. And I think she got a bum ride, but everybody close to her tells the same story."

He later told the hosts that her political career primarily hinges on her ability to keep on lying and get away with it. "If we decide to let her keep lying and getting away with it, she's gonna still be around," he said. "But if we start returning to the standard that a politician has to talk with people, and a politician has to tell the truth, then she's outta here, because she can't stand up to that." [Via HuffPo]

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Americans agree: 59% say Palin couldn't be president

Any 2012 presidential bid is looking that little bit less viable today for Sarah Palin, the Governor of Alaska and high-profile vice-presidential candidate for the 2008 election. A new poll, released today, reveals that 59% of people who responded believe that she lacks the skills necessary for the job.

In the survey, conducted as a joint venture by 60 Minutes and Vanity Fair, conducted Aug. 3-5 by CBS News among 847 adult respondents, 59% told pollsters that they thought Palin could not be an effective president compared to only 26% who said that she could be.

Eighty percent of liberals reportedly said that Palin couldn't be an effective president, while still under half - 47% - of Republicans believed that she could be.

The latest pollster.com ratings put her in a position where she is '52.7% unfavorable'.

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Levi Johnston regrets apologizing to Sarah Palin: "I've never lied about anything"

The father of Sarah Palin's grandson and former Playgirl model Levi Johnston has said that he regrets apologizing to his mother-in-law, the former Vice Presidential nominee for the 2008 Republican bid for the White House, because he sounded 'like a liar'.

According to CBS News, Johnston says that he regrets having apologized about lying because he's 'never lied about anything'.

"I don't really regret anything," Johnston said, who has appeared nude on the cover of a female-targeted pornographic magazine. "But the only thing I wish I wouldn't have done is put out that apology 'cause it kind of makes me sound like a liar. And I've never lied about anything. So that's probably the only thing. The rest of the stuff I can live with."


Johnston has expressed some interest in politics since becoming part of the Palin's extended family, reports CBS, "While he has not officially declared which political office he aspires to, his manager, Tank Jones, has said Johnston is interested in a run for mayor or city council. Earlier this month, Jones confirmed the 20-year-old Johnston planned to run for office as part of a reality TV show." The network reported. 


"I can't guarantee or promise you anything but I'm gonna try... That's the goal," he said. [CBS News]

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Former Republican chairman comes out of the closet

Former Republican chairman Ken Mehlman says he wishes he had come out of the closet sooner, having told a high-profile magazine in an interview that he is gay.

In an interview with The Atlantic, the former campaign manager for George W. Bush said that he had come to the conclusion recently that he was gay and wished to talk about it with someone, and become an advocate for gay marriage.

He is to participate in a fundraiser supporting a lift on California's ban on gay marriage in the coming months.

“It’s taken me 43 years to get comfortable with that part of my life,” said Mehlman, now working at a highly-respected New York private equity firm. “Everybody has their own path to travel, their own journey, and for me, over the past few months, I’ve told my family, friends, former colleagues and current colleagues and they’ve been wonderful and supportive. The process has been something that has made me a happier and better person. It’s something I wish I had done years ago.”

Finally, he says that he had tried to work within the Republican Party in getting members to more openly reach out to the gay community.

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RNC member: Obama told muslims he was a muslim

In the wake of a number of polls which suggest around one in five Americans incorrectly believe that Obama is a muslim, a Republican National Committee member has criticized the coverage of the issue by online magazine Politico. "BTW he personally told the muslims that he IS a muslim," wrote the Iowa RNC member. "Read his lips."


In addition to this, Kim Lehman, the woman behind the messages, lashed back at an article by the site which, she claims, was trying to 'protect' Obama. 

Several blogs and news websites have since picked up her remarks against the President as a news story. 

When contacted by reporters, Lehman reportedly stuck by her opinion and the views she had expressed online, saying "I was watching television when he was over there talking to the Muslim world and he made it, in my opinion, clear he was partially Muslim," Lehman told the Huffington Post. "The way he was approaching that speech was, 'Hey I'm one of you. I'm with you.' He didn't have to say that... but he did."

"Again, going back to his speech... he would have said I'm a Christian and I'm from the Christian religion and we can work together. It didn't appear to me he said Christianity was part of his religion," she said when asked about Obama's claims that he is a Christian. 

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