How pervasive is the power of politics? About as pervasive as you can get, as evidenced by word that Sarah Palin is going to be at the local B&N for a book-signing on December 6.
Palin is unquestionably the highest profile “author” to hit the local B&N. At least in my memory (which admittedly gets worse every day), the only other “names” to sign there in the recent past are Mike Farrell in June 2008, George McGovern (who I believe has appeared there a couple times) and Tom Daschle. I think the native son status of the latter two, though, might disqualify them to some extent.
So it takes a quasi-political promotion trip for B&N to get a bestselling author to the city for a signing. I wonder how many people who present books for her to sign will be clutching a receipt for their $8.98 copy from Walmart online?
Celebrity distorts democracy by giving the rich, beautiful and famous more authority than they deserve.
Maureen Dowd, NYT, Sept. 10, 1995
