More Fudgie the Clown Follies...

I'm kicking myself today. We all should be kicking ourselves today.

Ol' Andrew Sullivan managed to pull a fast one, and it should have been obvious to us all the moment he set it up. Here's the set up, from yesterday's Daily Dish:

This Dish will resume as normal tomorrow morning. We apologize for the lacuna. And I suppose some will say we've gotten this book and the issues it raises out of perspective. But since the last campaign, we have raised many questions about Palin to which we have been given no incontestable answers (and still haven't) and the only real evidence we have are news stories, interviews and now, critically this book.

In his hagiography of Palin, Matt Continetti accuses yours truly of earnestness about all this. I am grateful for his not accusing me of cynicism. I remain earnest in both suspecting every word she says but also in trying to find out the truth as best we can. It's not that Palin cannot tell the truth; it is that it is so mixed up with lies and delusions that separating them all out is not a quick or easy task. The Dish, meanwhile, has aired a whole range of views about her various 33 and counting verified lies, and the Dish's own Patrick Appel has weighed in independently on the whole, bizarre pregnancy/labor story, which has mystified me from Day One. So I feel obliged to do the homework properly - to be fair to Palin and to our readers as much as anything else. 

Anyway, we're done now. And I hope to be up half the night trying to write a post on the great mystery of the stories about Trig, stories that have bedeviled the blogosphere and many others for months. There is no proof here of anything, but there is a much more nuanced and detailed narrative of the events (especially now we have Palin's first considered version of the events since the campaign) that when taken together has definitely helped illuminate what was once obscure and, well, bizarre. Believe it or not, it makes a little more sense now.

Stay tuned. And then the Dish will return to its normal programming.

Given just how batshit crazy Sullivan has been on all matters Palin, we all assumed that what we would get today was something really, well, batshit crazy regarding pregnancies, Trig and/or Levi. What we ended up with was, sadly, this:

Apologies for the belated update, especially to the 1000+ readers last week who pledged to purchase at least one Window View book. (Total pledges: nearly 1400). Negotiating the final price with Blurb - the print-on-demand company publishing the book - took a bit longer than expected, and the Dish was preoccupied with Palin coverage this week.

But we are very proud to announce that you can now purchase the first edition of "The View From Your Window" for only $16.25 (plus shipping). That's a nearly 50% discount off the regular print-on-demand price of $29.95.

How did we get the price down by half? We did it the way publishing houses do it - with a twist. We didn't guess the demand or market test it, we simply asked for pledges. We crowd-sourced the price. We got enough pledges to do a print run of 2,000 which brought the price down to $16.25. But unlike the publishing houses, we're not pocketing the difference. We're handing it over to you in a lower price. Blurb will make some money - they're a business, after all, and they're doing the heavy lifting - but apart from that, you are merely paying for the actual materials of the book. Since the pictures are yours, and this blog is yours, that seems fair.

A catch: Once those 2000 copies are bought up, however, the price will return to $29.95, so secure one today. They make fantastic gifts for the holidays, which of course will be at our throats soon enough.

Though the books will not be ready to ship until December 3rd, pre-ordering before then will ensure that the book will make it to you by December 25.  (Click here for a full list of holiday shipping deadlines.)

If the new demand exceeds what we've printed, we may try for a second printing. But that may not be in time for Christmas. But who knows? This experiment is an experiment, and we're prepared to improvise as we go along.

I do want to say something personal here: if you love the View From Your Window feature as much as I do, then the book really is more than the sum of its parts. It travels the world, in chronological order, from dawn to dusk. The images placed together create a whole different feel, and the photos also reflect on each other. Chris Bodenner did a great job editing, placing and adding new layers to the whole thing. It's a beautiful, captivating four color 200-page, soft cover coffee table book - and it's only $16.25.

To preview the book and see for yourself, click here. To get an even better sense of what's inside, after the jump we listed the locations of all 190 window views, taken from more than 80 countries and all 50 US states, in the order they appear in the book:

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Jalalabad, Afghanistan

Nairobi, Kenya

Geumgangsan, North Korea

Rosso, Mauritania

Beijing, China

Havana, Cuba

La Grande, Oregon

San Jose, Costa Rica

Yokohama, Japan

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Chicago, Illinois

Oxfordshire, England

Freetown, Sierra Leone

Madison, New Jersey

Kassel, Germany

Huntington, New York

Charlotte, North Carolina

McGregor, Iowa

Yosemite, California

Stillwater, Minnesota

Basel, Switzerland

Rangpur, Bangladesh

Brussels, Belgium

Silver Spring, Maryland

Basata, Egypt

Dallas, Texas

Venice, Italy

Incline Village, Nevada

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Coimbatore, India

North Wilmington, Delaware

Amman, Jordan

Pebble Beach, California

Signal Mountain, Tennessee

Batac, Philippines

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Ulaanbaater, Mongolia

Lviv, Ukraine

Houston, Texas

Wawizaght, Morocco

Jaisalmar, India

Wick, Scotland

Clarkdale, Arizona

El Paso, Texas

Lima, Peru

Northfield, Minnesota

Queens, New York

Paia, Hawaii

West Hollywood, California

New York, New York

Oslo, Norway

Counce, Tennessee

Istanbul, Turkey

Newton, Kansas

Tehran, Iran

Ketchum, Idaho

Reykjavik, Iceland

Belgrade, Serbia

Stockholm, Sweden

Swift Creek Reservoir, Washington

New York, New York

Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Kootenay Lake, British Columbia

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Budapest, Hungary

Paris, France

Camp X-Ray, Guantanamo Bay

Cairo, Egypt

Windsor, England

St. Quentin du Dropt, France

Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Aksai, Kazakhstan

Palaung Village, Thailand

Istanbul, Turkey

Barcelona, Spain

Prague, Czech Republic

Ajijic, Mexico

Ashfield, Massachusetts

San Gabriel, California

Baghdad, Iraq

Sister Bay, Wisconsin

Charleston, South Carolina

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Seattle, Washington

Washington, Georgia

Butuan, Philippines

Bridgeville, Pennsylvania

Denver, Colorado

Port of Djibouti, Djibouti

San Francisco, California

Telavi, Republic of Georgia

Cincinnati, Ohio

Gingerland, Nevis

Corralito, Paraguay

Cusco, Peru

Wanaka, New Zealand

Gjilan, Kosovo

Cape Town, South Africa

Birmingham, Alabama

Pueblo, Colorado

Northport, Michigan

West Lafayette, Indiana

Shrewsbury, England

Grand Forks, North Dakota

Clyde, North Carolina

Kuwait City, Kuwait

Berthoud, Colorado

Haifa, Israel

Juba, Sudan

Lexington, Kentucky

Ames, Iowa

Stepaside, Ireland

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Reykjavik, Iceland

Nakhal, Oman

Wauwatosa, Wisconsin

New York, New York

Tokyo, Japan

Obertraun, Austria

Annaba, Algeria

Amsterdam, Netherlands

North Little Rock, Arkansas

Admiralty Bay, Saint Vincent

Bretton Woods, New Hampshire

Salvador da Bahia, Brazil

Lewiston, Maine

Saint Louis, Missouri

Portland, Oregon

Miami Beach, Florida

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Snohomish, Washington

Copenhagen, Denmark

Rome, Italy

Lisbon, Portugal

Washington, District of Columbia

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Crane Hill, Alabama

Burlington, Vermont

Norfolk, Connecticut

Hooks Mills, West Virginia

Prudhoe Bay, Alaska

Williams, Arizona

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

Santa Barbara, Honduras

Cairo, Egypt

Sanibel Island, Florida

Jakarta, Indonesia

Sumgayit, Azerbaijan

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Canandaigua, New York

Gharghur, Malta

Toledo, Spain

Unawatuna, Sri Lanka

Gloucester, England

Mainz, Germany

Brooklyn, New York

New Orleans, Louisiana

Rogue River, Oregon

New Castle, Pennsylvania

Casper, Wyoming

Billings, Montana

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Xin Zhuang, Taiwan

Yangon, Burma

Kobe, Japan

Capixaba, Brazil

Tirana, Albania

Kangaroo Flats, Australia

Taipa, Macau

Sonoma, California

Iqaluit, Nunavut Territory

Jurong Shipyard, Singapore

Mykonos, Greece

Bogota, Colombia

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Chicago, Illinois

Yerevan, Armenia

Charlottesville, Virginia

Oxford, Mississippi

Los Angeles, California

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Charlestown, Rhode Island

Popoyo, Nicaragua

Sao Paulo, Brazil

Omaha, Nebraska

Salt Lake City, Utah

Austin, Texas

Casablanca, Morocco

Cheektowaga, New York

Yep. That's right, Fudgie the Clown set us all up with the implied promise of serious Palin craziness so he could try to rope us into buying his shitty new book. And we fell for it. Hook, line and sinker.

Every one of us should have known better. This is the same Andrew Sullivan who, back when he was writing at his own site, ran a beg-a-thon asking his readers to pony up $75,000 and then upon completion of said beg-a-thon immediately (and I do mean immediately) took off for an extensive non-blogging vacation which was followed, in short order, by Sullivan's decision to blog for Time magazine.

The first thing we forgot was that Andrew Sullivan is, above all other things, a huckster. The second thing we forgot is that he's also a greedy little fuck. And you know what? The price of Arkansas Polio Weed being what it is, who can blame him? It's not like he can go out and get a real job, you know...

Fudgie says, "Buy my book!"

Comments

[Simon]

You're absolutely right. He kept his readers on tenterhooks that he will provide lurid revelations on Palin during his 'site shutdown' and has come up with nil.

Here is his last post - http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/11/deconstructing-sarah-ctd-2.html#more

In it he promises to keep on digging and asks for reader tips. It's like the old soap operas where the hero is poised at the edge of a cliff at the end of each episode.

I loved the site shutdown by the way - he said -

This is only the second time in its nearly ten-year history that the Dish has gone silent. The reason now is the same as the reason then. When dealing with a delusional fantasist like Sarah Palin, it takes time to absorb and make sense of the various competing narratives that she tells about her life.

Conveniently failing to mention that the first 'silence' was caused by his editors effectively suspending him because of his Palin mania.

And now he's flogging a Christmas book.

When is a major news org going to do a little digging on the little deal he was given in relation to his dope charge ?

[Mike C.]

"When is a major news org going to do a little digging on the little deal he was given in relation to his dope charge ?"

Are you fucking kidding ? Who gives a shit ? He's racing Chaz to see who can be the Guiness-certified most irrelevant person on the planet. The very thought of him having avid followers is as frightening a concept as I have ever run across. And I'll include nuclear Armageddon and complete planetary destruction in there.

[Simon]

Mike if Glutes had gone down on that dope charge (instead of being given a best friend of Baracky special deal) he may well have got deported back to blighty.

Would I have liked to see that ?

Yes I would.

[Maxx]

Some of these douchebags just need to be ignored. Sullivan is one. Quit with the Sullivan posts already!
All of you! Let him drift off into obscurity and fucking die!

[badanov]

Dennis: Lookie

And here

For the inner accountant...

[Randy]

Nice trick that: Publishing a book of 200 photos he didn't take and the photographers don't have to be paid a cent.