Lecture Series Subscribers Suffer Palin Derangement Syndrome
posted at 9:21 pm on October 2, 2009 by J.E. Dyer
[ Politics ] printer-friendly
Or, as I like to call it, Sarahnoia.
I wasn’t paying much attention to the creeping viral squib about how Sarah Palin can’t get herself booked on the lecture circuit. Then I took the 30 seconds to read the original New York Post piece on the matter, and discovered that, as usual, the headline theme favored by the left is tendentious to the point of misleading. Shock, shock.
The Post itself reported, a shade more fairly than left-wing blog-n-news outlets, that “Sarah’s lectures” are “a tough sell.” Fair enough. The Post backs this statement up with facts. Here are the facts:
Many big lecture venues are subscription series, “and they don’t want to tick people off,” said our source. “Palin is polarizing, and some subscribers might cancel if she’s on the lineup.” Other lecture buyers are universities, which have a leftist slant, and corporations, which dislike controversy.
So the ground truth here is that subscription lecture audiences – the go-to venues for organizations like the Washington Speakers Bureau, which Palin has signed with – like to book more mainstream political figures. Actually, I could have told you that. I’ve never encountered a subscription lecture series that didn’t diligently ensure a sort of unrelieved homeostasis in the political character of its political speakers. Up with David Gergen! Down with Douglas Feith!
Folks can spend their money any way they want. More power to them. But let’s be clear about what the Palin avoidance, such as it may be, is based on. Fear of controversy and fear of hearing stuff people don’t agree with (especially in the case of the universities). What the left is crowing over as Palin’s inability to get work is actually a crystalline reflection on what people with institutional money are willing to hear – or, more accurately, are not willing to hear.
Palin’s supporters are, unquestionably, more the type who do not donate hundreds or thousands of dollars a year to sponsor lecture series, or even the type who spend $75 a couple to attend individual lectures. So what we’ve learned here is that among the Newport Beach Republicans and the Saddle River Democrats, Palin’s not a big draw.
But I think we knew that already. Palin’s supporters apparently plan to read her book, however, and in droves. Ah, the crude honesty of the market. So much harder to spin than the preferences of the minor-demographic lecture series audience. The real “headline” is pretty clear here.
P.S. Sarah will be laughing all the way to the bank, with the revenues rolling in from her book.
J.E. Dyer blogs at The Optimistic Conservative and “contentions“.
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It will be interesting to see how Palin’s drawing power in during the 2010 election cycle if she agrees to appear at fundraisers for GOP candidates of conservative special interest groups. Not the same as the lecture series, but it will be pay-to-hear, and my guess is she’s going to end up as the biggest source of fundraising among all the GOP notables (Huck, Mitt, Rudy, etc.) during next year’s campaign period.
jon1979 on October 2, 2009 at 10:12 PM
For all of the left’s self proclaimed open mindness, they work very hard to stay in a cocoon were non-leftist voices are not heard.
18-1 on October 2, 2009 at 10:23 PM
I’m so pleased that she is going to be in such great financial shape from this.
capitalist piglet on October 2, 2009 at 11:10 PM
Fear of being called out on the carpet by someone with moral integrity and a backbone of titanium.
jimmy2shoes on October 3, 2009 at 10:39 AM
Excuse me but this POV doesn’t square with the almost 1100 requests she has ALREADY received to come and speak. This is a very large number and was in part the reason she had to hire a firm like the Washington Speakers Bureau to manage these requests and to represent her in this arena. By hiring this blue ribbon speakers bureau it also undercuts those with an axe to grind who have more than once tried to make her look bad by advertising her attendance at an event even though she hasn’t agreed to come yet. Now they have to go through the Wash. Speakers Bureau to book her so they can’t blame her or her staff for any foul ups. It’s just like resigning the governorship and turning it over to her trusted lieutenant. It neuters all the ankle biters and allows her and her staff to concentrate on more important matters.
shmendrick on October 3, 2009 at 11:36 AM
Plus that NY Post page 6 (gossip page) article was written by (or should I say “forwarded” by?) none other than Victoria Gotti, the daughter of NY mob boss John Gotti. A family never known in NYC circles as being a font of intellectual acumen. It would seem to be nothing to take seriously. The real question is why it was even printed in the Post to begin with.
shmendrick on October 3, 2009 at 11:41 AM
She said she’d speak to us then backed out!
Nobody wants to hear her speak!
Consistency? Nah.
cs89 on October 3, 2009 at 12:13 PM
cs89 on October 3, 2009 at 12:13 PM
Oh, a paid troll moron. You mean your bosses don’t want to hear her speak. That’s true, that’s why they sent a lame-o to sing their laments. Well clueless, that’s why she now has a speakers bureau to handle her 1100 requests to speak (nobody?). She is now immune from your attempts to make it look like she backed out of events when the reality is that some people were trying to set it up to look that way and never had a proper commitment from her in the first place. That dog won’t hunt anymore. Sorry, you lose.
shmendrick on October 3, 2009 at 1:26 PM
Shmendrick — I wasn’t aware of the 1100 speaking requests Palin had received, although it doesn’t surprise me. I don’t suppose you have a link on that?
I do know that there two local organizations (LA suburban area) that were claiming to have Palin booked to speak this fall, and then had to ‘fess up that her office had never actually confirmed the booking. These were pro-Palin organizations, they were just trying to drum up interest and (probably) trying to get so many prospective attendees that Palin would simply have to go ahead and come.
J.E. Dyer on October 3, 2009 at 1:56 PM
JED – Palin’s speaking requests article – http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26604.html
Not a long article.
The content doesn’t really contradict your observations: Universities and subscription series gigs aren’t the whole universe of paid and unpaid speaking opportunities.
The Page Six “insider” is such an obviously malicious Sarahnoid that his or her statements are laughable: They read as though pre-recorded by some DNC operative a few months ago.
CK MacLeod on October 3, 2009 at 2:48 PM
Thanks, CKM. That’s hilarious. Other than the 1070+ speaking invitations, the Washington Speakers Bureau is having trouble booking Palin.
I do commend the WSB for trying to expand her booking options and potential audiences. One should at least make a push to introduce new ideas to the complacent.
Well, it wouldn’t be the USA in 2009 if Sarahnoiacs weren’t trying to find a fresh bit of superficial context in which to quote someone calling her a “blithering idiot.”
J.E. Dyer on October 3, 2009 at 3:06 PM
I’m confused, the left is saying she doesn’t get enough speaking requests, but during the election they tried to say that with some younger kids, including a special needs child, she wouldn’t have the time to devote what was needed to both family and job.
Which is it?
Jeff from WI on October 4, 2009 at 5:58 AM
Let not forget Sarah just gave a speech in Hong Kong of all places to international investors. I just wish a speech like that was made here soon.
Common Sense Conservatism.
Clyde5445 on October 4, 2009 at 10:25 AM
shmendrick on October 3, 2009 at 1:26 PM
Huh?
I like Palin. Many of my comments in the Palin threads are critical of what I perceive as AP’s very one-sided bias against her.
On this thread, I was trying (maybe not clearly?) to point out the inconsistency of this article (nobody wants to hear her!) and the previous multiple posts/articles about how “Palin agreed to come, but then backed out.”
cs89 on October 4, 2009 at 12:40 PM
Speak, Sarah! Speak!
TheAlamos on October 5, 2009 at 1:26 AM