The place has gone downhill since Harry Callahan and Mike Stone retired.

Dr. ZhivBlago on November 21, 2009 at 11:32 AM

The place has disembled into muck since the day of Harry Callahan and Mike Stone.

One of the defining characteristics of Bay Area liberals is their firm belief that they are gigantically smart and intellectual. In reality, closed-minded stupidity and repressed, rigid, dogmatic thinking are pandemic.

Django on November 20, 2009 at 5:32 PM

Those are my reflections as well. I thank God daily that I don’t live there…

Blacksmith8 on November 20, 2009 at 6:55 PM

Agree with you both.

“San Francisco book sellers” — I’m getting a sad laugh out of their suppression of option to their alleged “consumers”.

The area includes just about anything and everything from sleeping with animals and marrying your toes while worshipping Beezelbub, but they’re scared witless about Sarah Palin’s book and that it just might contain some family values and endearing sentiments.

I think that’s what they’re afraid of, that someone just might read Palin’s book and realize out of their San Francisco Bay Area Fog that Palin has written a readable and moving book.

voxpopuli on November 21, 2009 at 6:06 AM

And you chose that name to troll about the #1 selling book in America?

Irony much?

McCain, whom you all hate, picked her for VP. That’s it.

Yes I am a conservative.

Perhaps one reason she did NOT carry it was that she feared it would alienate a key portion of her known customer base. … if that was the case — that she heard or sensed bell-weather rumblings of hostility about the book from her customer base, and decided that discretion was the better part of valor, then it was indeed a business-based decision that she made.

But she would never, ever tell you that!

Trochilus on November 21, 2009 at 11:57 AM

To which I’d want to ask said seller(s): might you be thinking of stocking it “under the counter”, out of sight but available for actual buyers?

Seems to me the way to handle this is to keep the book out of sight at all times, yet agree “reluctantly” to carry it “in the name of free speech” and so on, climbing onto the 1st Amendment and playing Dr. Principles. Might this be a way to accomplish both, or is this just idle fantasy?

All this Prohibition-related thema is enough to make one wonder if there are going to be any “book-easys”, or “read-easys” springing up soon in the Bay city. ;)

http://jammiewearingfool.blogspot.com/2009/11/roguish-liberal-behavior.html

Don’t believe everything people!!!! If there are trolls here, why oh why wouldn’t be trolls mixed in with the good, honest folks that are in line for the book tour?

Opposite Day on November 20, 2009 at 6:41 PM

Alan,

Something about that explanation she gave you simply does not wash. Now, I don’t like to presume that I know what is in another person’s head, but what she told you makes no sense.

My guess would be that she now either knows that she made a mistake and attempted to rationalize it with you by framing it as a sensible business decision, or that she made a business decision based on some other factor which she felt no obligation to share with you.

No one in her position wants to come off as petty or vindictive, especially when conversing with someone she does not know. You called her out of the blue. For all she knew, you were a reporter searching for a follow-up story. Or, you could have been a potentially troublesome customer, fishing for grounds to make her life miserable by filing some complaint somewhere.

As for her explanation, booksellers know full well that they cannot make a sensible business decision based on what they would or would not make on ONE book. They are in the business of carrying thousands of titles, and one secret to success is correctly guessing how many of various books to carry. They have to compete with Amazon by somehow making customers believe that it is convenient for them to buy a title from them, even if it is a few bucks more than they would pay on line, or down the road.

But when a book is this hot, they should want to have it because, among other things, it brings people into the store. This is especially true as the holiday season starts heating up. Impulse buying occurs; and it occurs most frequently during the holiday season. That is a fact of retail business. So I don’t buy her explanation to you at all.

Perhaps one reason she did NOY carry it was that she feared it would alienate a key portion of her known customer base. She certainly knows that base better than you or I do. Let’s face it. San Francisco Bay area “progressives,” even ones who actually DO read, instead of just acquire books, rank way up there among the nastiest and most closed-minded people you can find anywhere in the United States.

So, if that was the case — that she heard or sensed bell-weather rumblings of hostility about the book from her customer base, and decided that discretion was the better part of valor, then it was indeed a business-based decision that she made.

But she would never, ever tell you that!

That’s too bad, two men in San Fran could multitask and read the book at the same time….
(sorry, that was tacky, but it had to be done)

Hog Wild on November 20, 2009

Like Rush says, for humor to work there has to be an element of truth.

A lot of bookstores didn’t carry Ron Paul’s latest book, even though the Dr. polls as well against Obama as Palin. (Link)

The Dean on November 20, 2009 at 5:26 PM

Thank you for that facepalm moment.

rebuttal at: http://jammiewearingfool.blogspot.com/2009/11/ro
guish-liberal-behavior.html

complainers have been certified as NObama supporters

There were what, 3 people heckling?
Conservative Voice on November 20, 2009 at 5:22 PM

And they were all white? Hummmmmmmmmm?

That settles it ALL Anti-Palin whacko’s are White Neo-Nazis.

Strait up, no way around it.

I heard a couple of months ago that Pelosi’s book sold a staggering 2800 copies to date.
antisocial on November 20, 2009 at 5:15 PM

Don’t know the actual numbers sold but…………..

Know Your Power: A Message to America’s Daughters (Paperback) ~ Nancy Pelosi
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #451,820 in Books

The Worst Person In the World: And 202 Strong Contenders (Paperback) ~ Keith Olbermann
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #112,453 in Books

Truth and Consequences: Special Comments on the Bush Administration’s War on American Values ~ Keith Olbermann
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #85,084 in Books

Glenn Beck’s Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government, Inspired by Thomas Paine
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #50 in Books

The Christmas Sweater: A Picture Book (Hardcover) ~ Glenn Beck
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #43 in Books

A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity (Hardcover) ~ Bill O’Reilly
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #42 in Books

Arguing with Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government ~ Glenn Beck
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8 in Books

And at #1?

Going Rogue: An American Life ~ Sarah Palin
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1 in Books

Oh, by the way, regarding J.Lo: The Secret Behind Jennifer Lopez’s Rise to the Top (Paperback) By National Enquirer, Sarah Gallick – shouldn’t that be The Secret Behind: Jennifer Lopez’s Rise to the Top?

Borders released a statement Friday evening saying they had planned carefully for the event, but that three hours was not a long enough timeframe in the end.

“Former Gov. Palin was extremely gracious, and engaged with our customers and unfortunately, when the event time concluded, about 300 customers remained in line, unable to meet her,” spokeswoman Mary Davis said in the statement. “We regret that any customers were unhappy with this event, as customer satisfaction is a priority.”

Those who didn’t get to greet Palin personally were offered an autographed book plate, which Davis was “satisfactory to the vast majority of those who did not have the opportunity to meet her.”
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/21681305/detail.html

Also, according to the local paper, Palin arrived early and stayed late. http://tinyurl.com/yf396dt

We need a day (or month) off from this woman.

voxpopuli on November 20, 2009 at 6:23 PM

No one’s forcing you to keep up.

“Anyone who claims they can monitor national security by looking out their window toward Russia is a little off base,” the bookstore’s manager Casey Coonerty-Protti said of her dislike for the former GOP vice presidential candidate. “The nuts are a perfect statement for the politics of Sarah Palin.”

Those hyphenated women are just so much smarter than the rest of us knuckle draggers.

http://jammiewearingfool.blogspot.com/2009/11/roguish-liberal-behavior.html