Palin to Biden: 'Drill, baby, drill' not that complicated

(UPDATE: 1:28 p.m. An additional quote from the program and a link to the full transcript has been added below.)

Rush Limbaugh has said of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's new book, "Going Rogue," that it is "truly one of the most substantive policy books I've read."

So the conservative icon was determined not to follow the media herd. In a half-hour interview with the Republican Party's hottest commodity, Limbaugh did not ask Palin about her quarrels with John McCain's presidential campaign, her interview with CBS' Katie Couric, her clothes, her husband or her ambitions.

Instead, he offered her a platform for policy, a chance to burnish her credentials, to add gravitas to the resume.

On the green revolution: "A lot of snake-oil science. ... Somebody's making an awful lot of money" from the fear of global warming.

On healthcare: "There are lots of common-sense solutions before we get the federal government involved."

And, finally, on the "drill, baby, drill" chant that defined her appearance before the Republican National Convention last summer: "What is complicated about tapping into safe supplies" of oil?

Responding to Vice President Biden's recent comment that addressing environmental issues is more complicated then just drilling, Palin said, "It's not that complicated, it's political."

(UPDATE: The full Limbaugh-Palin transcript is now available here. He also asked Palin about the loss of her endorsed Conservative Party candidate, Doug Hoffman, in New York's 23d District:

Well, I think what you saw there is -- and of course it's not just the Republican machine, it's the Democrat machine, too.  You know, if you're not the anointed one within the machine, sometimes you have a much tougher row to hoe and that's what Hoffman faced. He was the underdog. 

I think great timing for him, though, to stand strong on his conservative credentials and essentially come out of nowhere and prove that an American without that resume, without that machine backing can truly make a difference in an election like this.

RUSH:  Well, now, you used the term, "If you're not the anointed one by the party machine, you're the underdog and you have a tough row to hoe."  Based on things that I read, the Republican establishment would not anoint you to be a nominee of their party should you choose to go that way. 

Palin, who upset the entrenched GOP establishment in Alaska to win the gubernatorial primary, chuckled.

-- Johanna Neuman

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Palin's book sparks attack on vegetarians

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has never made any bones, if you will, about her culinary preferences. She's a carnivore, a hunter and proud of both.

So it's not really a surprise that her book, "Going Rogue," published today, extols the virtues of eating meat.

"If any vegans came over for dinner, I could whip them up a salad, then explain my philosophy on being a carnivore," she wrote. "If God had not intended for us to eat animals, how come He made them out of meat?”

But the former Republican vice presidential candidate did not stop there.

“I love meat," she writes. "I eat pork chops, thick bacon burgers, and the seared fatty edges of a medium-well-done steak. But I especially love moose and caribou. I always remind people from outside our state that there's plenty of room for all Alaska's animals -- right next to the mashed potatoes.”

A vegetarian from Cleveland took issue with Palin. In a blog on the Examiner, Daelyn Fourtney wrote that Palin's remarks "will surely receive a chuckle and thumbs up from many avid hunters and steak house patrons. It is a sad statement on our society when we applaud those who refer to animals as the centerpiece of their dinner plate."

Now, Fourtney is reporting that she has received a lot of hostile e-mails from conservatives assuming her to be a left-wing pinko. A sampling of her inbox:

* “The liberal/socialist media elites are terrified of America's new Reagan and it's so much fun to see their PDS (Palin Derangement Syndrome) on display...including this Fortney writer.” –freeperjim

“Politicizing Food now?...is nothing sacred? ... off, Alinksy Vegan Radicals.” – Tyler

“You liberals and militant vegs. apparently need a humor transplant.” –Keith

The Cleveland food writer -- in some quarters now known as the "Rogue Vegetarian" -- said her politics are separate from her eating habits.

"I have chosen to live a vegetarian lifestyle because I believe in the sanctity of life for all creatures," she said. "Assuming that one is left or right based on what they choose to eat is a dangerous road to travel."

Still, she said, she's not counting on a Christmas card from the Republican Party this year.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Sarah Palin with a caribou she shot in Alaska. Credit: Associated Press

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Oprah's Sarah Palin interview incites 'perky' reactions

Sarah Palin's rogue book tour made a pre-taped stop in Chicago today for the former Alaska governor's much-hyped appearance on "Oprah."

Palin dropped some doggone fascinating tidbits during the interview. She said she has no plans to run for president in 2012. Well, actually she said it's "not on my radar," which is Politician for "It might be over the horizon."

That might ease the worries of conspiracy theorists convinced that the adorable political celebrity could ring in the 2012 apocalypse. On second thought, no, it won't convince the "anti-" crowd of anything.

Oprah Winfrey, who supported her hometown senator, Barack Obama, in the election, questioned Palin about her unintentionally hilarious interviews with Katie Couric. Palin refused to refer to Couric by name, instead calling her "the perky one." Gosh!

Don't worry, plenty more to come after the book's official release tomorrow. There's a five-part Barbara Walters chat on ABC and a long radio conversation with Rush Limbaugh on Tuesday at 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. Eastern.

As entertaining as the Oprah chat was, we also like to watch the comments from fans and haters. Did Oprah go too easy on Palin? Some said, You betcha. But others admitted that Palin is starting to grow on them.

We grabbed some of the best we found on Twitter. Here they are (unedited):

Rogue rage: Team McCain strikes back at Palin

Arizona Sen. John McCain has been a gentleman abut the whole thing, artfully dodging questions, urging his staffers to hold their tongues too.

But for many of the top political names who worked on McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, "Going Rogue," by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is just too much to take quietly.

In the book, Palin attacks campaign manager Steve Schmidt for silencing her. She accuses communications aide Nicolle Wallace of forcing designer clothes on her and cajoling her into doing that disastrous interview with CBS' Katie Couric out of pity for the anchor's low ratings. She complains that the McCain campaign charged her $50K for her own vetting.

Schmidt calls Palin's memoir "total fiction." He added: "Why is the bald guy always the villain?"

As for the allegation about Wallace, former campaign manager Mark Salter told Politico that was unlikely.  Wallace "did not decide which interview requests the candidates would accept," Salter said. "Nor was she tasked with securing the candidates’ agreement." Wallace said the account was "totally fabricated."

As for the vetting accusation, campaign counsel Trevor Potter told the Atlantic, "I can confirm that she was not billed for any vetting costs by the campaign."

Using the book for "petty and pathetic" score-settling, said former McCain strategist John Weaver, belittles Palin's own stature.

"Sarah Palin reminds me of Jimmy Stewart in the movie 'Harvey,' complete with imaginary conversations," he said. " The score-settling by someone who wants to be considered a serious national player is petty and pathetic. The problem wasn't who her interview was with, the problem was her interview," he added.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Brian Adams / Runner's World

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Sarah Palin creates new Twitter acct, ditches old one 4 no apparnt reason

Sarah Palin recently started a new Twitter account to promote her new book. But what about her old one?

As Alaska's governor, @AKGovSarahPalin sent updates regularly and built a large following.

The profile has more than 152,000 followers and has made its way onto more than 1,500 lists. The latter is perhaps more impressive because that feature didn't even exist until about three months after she stopped tweeting there.

The @AKGovSarahPalin page also has the "verified account" tag, which means Twitter Inc. authorized it as a legitimate user.

But Palin has inexplicably started from scratch. The new page, @SarahPalinUSA, quickly drummed up 14,700 followers despite not having a single update or following anyone -- not even her 2008 GOP presidential partner Sen. John McCain.

But still, there's 152,000 people on that other account. Just sitting there.

On Facebook, Palin kept her old fan page, which is nearing a million fans. She simply dropped any mention of being governor from the "current office" section. Rather than promoting Alaskan legislation, it now mentions TV appearances and, uh, her new Twitter page.

Did nobody tell Palin that she can click on "settings" in Twitter and change the name of an account?

She could have easily switched the name of @AKGovSarahPalin to @SarahPalinUSA or @SarahPalinRocks or @QTPiSarahPalin or whatever she wanted.

Then, swap out the profile picture and background image, and she's set. Bonus: She gets to keep all of her followers.

Websites like Facebook and Twitter are a book publisher's dream because they let authors and promoters connect directly with fans. But they're only valuable when the pages have a lot of people paying attention to them.

Related items:

Video clips of Sarah Palin with Oprah

Oprah talks about what Sarah Palin talks about

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Palin's roguish book tour schedule details

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Sarah Palin breaks with GOP to endorse Conservative

-- Mark Milian

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Book jacket: HarperCollins

Video clips of Sarah Palin with Oprah

As you may have heard mentioned somewhere, Sarah Palin has a book coming out next week, called "Going Rogue: An American Life."

HarperCollins says it has printed 1.5 million copies, which is a lot of books to sell, even at Amazon.com's deeply discounted $9 price. So the successful Alaska governor and unsuccessful Republican vice presidential candidate starts her promotional tour with a coolly polite interrogation by one of the president's biggest boosters, another big O -- Oprah. 

Here, courtesy of CBS, are two video clips from the interview, which was taped Wednesday in Chicago and will be aired nationally Monday. First, Palin's thoughts on the PR disaster of her campaign interviews with a CBS News anchor.

Also below is a list of our recent items on this subject.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

And then, of course, the obligatory question about the father of her grandchild who's selling his nude pictures to a magazine since the electrician apprentice thing didn't work out.

Talk about going rogue!

Watch CBS News Videos Online

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-- Andrew Malcolm

Be your own independent roguish person. Click here to get Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or follow us @latimestot. And we're also over here on Facebook.

Palin book tour will look a lot like a presidential bid launch ... Hmmm, a coincidence?

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin plans to launch her book tour next week with an appearance on "Oprah" and a book signing at a Barnes & Noble in Grand Rapids, Mich.

With a memoir called "Going Rogue," Palin returns to the place where she earned that title, parting company with the decision by Republican John McCain's presidential campaign to write off Michigan, conceding the economically depressed state to Democrat Barack Obama.

Like any good presidential campaign, Palin's book tour will be conducted from a bus painted with the cover of the book and will be making two to three stops a day.

The rest of the book tour mimics an announcement schedule for a presidential candidate, taking Palin to places she is likely to attract friendly book buyers -- and voters. The highlight reel: Roanoke, Va.; Sioux Falls, S.D.; Sioux City, Iowa; Noblesville, Ind.; Washington, Pa. and Ft. Bragg, N.C.

Big city voters? Forgetaboutit. No L.A., no N.Y., no Chicago, no D.C.

"From Michigan, the 'Going Rogue' tour will cover as much of the country as possible," Palin said this week on her Facebook page. "I've decided to stop in cities that are not usually included in a typical book tour." Translation: places with pockets of red-state voters, oops, make that readers.

"These are the places where she had her biggest fans and where we think we will sell the most books," said Tina Andreadis of HarperCollins, owned by conservative Rupert Murdoch..

Speaking of presidential campaigns, the Detroit News reports that Palin could just miss crossing paths with another candidate for the 2012 Republican nomination, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. The day before Palin's book signing, Huckabee will also be in Grand Rapids, at rival Schuler Books, pitching his book, "A Simple Christmas."

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo credit: HarperCollins

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Oprah talks about what Sarah Palin talks about

As we pointed out here last week when the manager of Barack Obama's never-ending presidential campaign agreed to go on the dreaded Fox News Channel to sell his book, book tours have a way of making superficial friends out of past opponents.

Thus, we will be treated Nov. 16 to the sight of Oprah Winfrey, arguably Obama's biggest celebrity booster, chatting up Sarah Palin, arguably America's most argued- over celebrity politician in recent years.

The subject, of course, is Palin's new book -- "Going Rogue: An American Life" -- which goes on sale the next day, with 1.5 million copies in print so far.

Palin took Piper and Willow with her to Chicago for the interview, which was taped at Oprah's studio Wednesday.

As The Ticket reported Wednesday night, Palin wrote on her Facebook page that the unlikely pair had such a great conversation that they ran overtime.

Which, goldarnit, means that Oprah will have extra exclusive minutes of video she'll simply have to post on Oprah.com for folks to click on. One thing exiting audience members said was that when asked if she wanted her own TV show, Palin did not say no.

And then, of course, Barbara Walters gets second crack at Palin, which will be broken into five parts on various ABC platforms midweek. What's-her-name and what's-his-name over at CBS don't seem to be on the Palin schedule just yet.

Right after Palin left the studio, Oprah (who looks shorter without makeup) made a short video here to....

...describe the O-P encounter and what all they talked about: inside the campaign, The Pregnancy, both babies and, well, pretty much everything.

Related items:

What's actually in Sarah Palin's book

Palin's roguish book tour schedule details

The secret Sarah Palin speeches we never heard

Sarah Palin breaks with GOP to endorse Conservative Party candidate

-- Andrew Malcolm

Be your own independent roguish person. Click here to get Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or follow us @latimestot. And we're also over here on Facebook.

Photo: Joe Burbank / campaign pool.

First peek: What's in Sarah Palin's new book

(UPDATE: An updated paragraph has been added below.)

Not that anybody even cares or clicked here on purpose or will gobble up every word because Sarah Palin isn't even Alaska's Republican governor anymore and her GOP presidential ticket lost last year big-time and critics made a lot of fun of her habits and family and her clothing and the way she talks and didn't get an abortion and then quit as Alaska's governor.

And she's got no chance of succeeding in national politics because she's a dim conservative and no one cares anything about her to the point that her book publisher, HarperCollins, only printed 1.5 million advance copies of "Going Rogue," coming out next week.

But first Monday comes an appearance on TV with Oprah, who became a media billionairess by simply boring her audience with what they didn't want to see. (BTW, that interview was taped in Chicago today and Palin reportedly did not say no when asked if she wanted to do a TV show.)

(UPDATE: 7:18 p.m. On her Facebook page tonight Palin reported that Oprah was "hospitable and gracious," the audience "warm, energized and (no doubt) curious"" and the two women enjoyed the "great conversation" so much they went over time; the extra chatter will go on Oprah.com.)

However, just in case there are one or two people out there who remain interested in the ...

Sarah Palin's roguish book tour: The details seep out

It starts in Michigan.

Our good buddy Josh Painter over at the Texas for Salin Palin blog, a must-bookmark for SP fans, has assembled the schedule for the ex-gov's upcoming book sales/autographing tour and we have some of it below.

You'll note that the tour starts in Michigan. Get it? Oh, c'mon, sure you do!

Longtime Ticket readers will recall it was the stumbling McCain campaign's decision to, in effect, forfeit Michigan to the Obama Democrats a year ago and stop campaigning there.

Which caused McCain's Republican pitbull partner to grumble about giving up anywhere so easily.

Which caused those brave McCain staffers to anonymously leak their own grumblings that Palin was "going rogue."

Which provided the rebounding political celebrity with her best-selling book title -- "Going Rogue: An American Life" -- which so far has 1.5 million copies in print.

And that's before the Oprah show on Nov. 16. There'll be a five-part interview with....