Martin Eisenstadt’s Blog

Am I shocked that Sarah Palin’s book “Going Rogue: An American Life” is coming out November 17th? No.  As I warned on July 4 of this year, it’s no surprise that Palin is concerned about upcoming revelations about her in mine and other books that are coming out soon. She’s positively shaking in her Timberlands.  Naturally, she wanted to get a jump on the buzz, and get ahead of the story with her own book. As a political operative who once worked with her, that’s exactly the advice I would have given her. But too bad for her, she missed it by two weeks.

You see, my book about Sarah Palin is coming out exactly two weeks before hers:  on November 3, to be exact. And at less than half the price of her fancy hardcover edition! And here’s the best part: I guarantee that my book will be at least twice as rogue-y as hers. My simple calculation puts that at a total of eight times the value of Gov. Palin’s book. In this economic climate, that’s truly a bargain.

Trust me, if you want unfettered stories about Sarah Palin’s commanding grasp of geography, her $150,000 wardrobe and a prosaic description of the smooth, white small of her naked backside, then you’re going to want to buy a copy of “I Am Martin Eisenstadt: One Man’s (Wildly Inappropriate) Adventures with the Last Republicans” from Faber & Faber (Farrar, Straus, Giroux). Now, to be clear, my book is not just about Sarah Palin. Far from it. As I say in my video promo for the book, it is a mystery, a thriller, a campaign tell-all that stretches from the dark oedipal days of Watergate, to the sexually charged days of Iran-Contra, to the sweaty campaign buses of Joe the Plumber and Meghan McCain. And did I mention the Somali pirates? When all’s said and done, it’ll be a hell of lot more fun to read than Sarah Palin’s ill-timed book!

It’s come to my attention that I am the subject of one of the case studies for the National Ethics Bowl (to wit: #9 - “Imaginary Pundit”). I am very honored that the “think tank” that organizes this event, the grandiosely-named Center for the Study of Ethics in Professions, chose to recognize my work in the think tank community. And I’m especially appreciative that they chose me as the subject of academic study of equal stature with “Synthetic Meat” (#12) and “Sexting”(#1). From John McCain’s hallowed halls of the US Naval Academy to the Ivy-covered fraternity row at Dartmouth College, there are over a 100 colleges and universities participating in this thing.

But upon reading the brief they have prepared for their students, I must take umbrage with their overall premise that I do not exist.  While they cite the so-called “New York Times” article about me from last year, they neglected to quote my own blog wherein I categorically proved that this article was in itself a “hoax.”

But as I’m sure the Ethics Bowlers tell their students, they shouldn’t trust the word of an internet “blog” or a “tweet” or a hastily prepared academic “brief.” Rather, I encourage all of their participating students (and even those NOT participating) to purchase my upcoming book wherein I very carefully and meticulously detail the proof of my own existence. The book comes out Nov. 3, though students can probably get it a bit earlier if they preorder now through Amazon. The book is called “I Am Martin Eisenstadt: One Man’s (wildly inappropriate) Adventures with the Last Republicans” and is being published by Farrar, Straus, Giroux - home of 21 Nobel Prize winners, and an equal number of Pulitzer winners.

It would appear that the book would be essential reading for this so-called “ethics” bowl. (and naturally, being good ethical students, I know that each student will buy nice new copies of the book, and will not pick up some bootleg version on Napster or eBay).  For more information on the book, see this promotional video that my staff prepared. I would also encourage students to wear their own “I Am Martin Eisenstadt” attire while they are in the bowling competitions to show solidarity with my plight.  I believe THAT would be the only ethical response to this situation.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 16, 2009

APOLOGY FOR BOTCHED STEALTH CAMPAIGN ON SARAH PALIN BOOK

Former employee hacked into 35,000 copies of Entertainment Weekly’s video ad for CBS/Pepsi

Washington, D.C. – Former McCain adviser and Senior Fellow at the Washington-based think tank, the Harding Institute for Freedom & Democracy, Martin Eisenstadt today issued a formal apology today for actions taken on his behalf by a former staff member.

“Due to some botched Twittering this morning, it has come to my attention that what was supposed to be an unauthorized ‘stealth’ campaign to promote my book has quickly come undone,” said Eisenstadt. “A former assistant of mine took it upon himself to embed my book trailer into 35,000 copies of Entertainment Weekly. Apparently the magazine had an actual video screen in last week’s issue that played ads for both CBS and Pepsi, but if you hit the right sequence of buttons, my book trailer would start to play instead. If anyone was offended by this childish prank, then I would like to sincerely apologize.”

Eisenstadt’s book, “I Am Martin Eisenstadt: One Man’s (Wildly Inappropriate) Adventures with the Last Republicans” is being published by Faber & Faber, a division of Farrar, Straus, Giroux, and goes on sale November 3. The book is considered the first tell-all campaign book about Sarah Palin, and will include such revelations as her lack of geographical knowledge and who really bought her $150,000 wardrobe.

YouTube videos showing the Eisenstadt book promo embedded into Entertainment Weekly started appearing in recent days, and former Harding Institute employee, Eli Perle (now a manager at the Hollywood production company Provocation Entertainment) took credit on Twitter for the stealth campaign.

“On behalf of all the hard-working employees of the Harding Institute, as well as everyone at Faber & Faber, I would like to express my regret to any families who may have seen the video under false pretenses. For the record, the book is not in any way yet endorsed by Entertainment Weekly, CBS or Pepsi.”