Palin Critic Frozen Out of Auction After Identity Revealed

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The best part about my frivolous obsession, is that shortly after I started watching, I became privvy (thanks to a couple of the bidders) to the strange and mysterious back story of the bidding wars. There were seven bidders total. And we know for a fact that at least two of them were not of the “Palinbot” persuasion. And we know that both successfully passed the “pre-approval” process.

First, there’s Ken Morris - Wall Street whiz, trader-turned-financial-thriller-novelist, whose top bid exceeded $50,000. What was he hoping if he won “the experience?” He explained it this way.
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How, I’ll ask Ms. Palin, can we work together (“we” meaning not just her and me, but all people on both sides of the political fence) to begin to fix this? I’ll ask her a few questions that might seem harsh, but aren’t intended to offend—after all, we must be honest, no? Do your regret saying several hundred times that our president “…palled around with terrorists…”? Do you really believe that providing health insurance to all Americans is socialism or fascism or Nazism or that there are truly ‘death squads’ in these proposals?

Wow. So, that pretty much would have ruled him out, even if he had been the top bidder. Why? The auction rules clearly state that:

Governor Palin reserves the right to refuse dinner with a winning bidder if, in her sole discretion, the winning bidder is not a suitable bidder based on her subjective standards of suitability, professionalism, background and other factors. In the event the high bidder is rejected for this reason, the high bidder’s bid will be refunded, if paid, and the next highest bidder shall be notified, and thereafter, until a suitable match is determined.
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That brings us to our second candidate, dubbed c***i by the Ebay alias assignment team, and known to those in the outside world as Joe McGinniss. McGinniss, also an author by trade is best known for his books The Selling of the President about Richard Nixon, and Going to Extremes, about Alaska, oil and the 1970s pipeline boom. McGinniss is an outspoken critic of Palin, evidenced most recently by his article for Conde Nast’s Portfolio entitled Pipe Dreams, which cast a critical eye on Palin’s handling of the ever-elusive Alaska gasline. McGinniss is currently working on a book whose focus will be the ex-governor herself.

McGinniss, hoping to win the auction had the high bid at one point close to the end. The amount was a whopping $60,101.01, and he was willing to go higher. And then something interesting happened. The Alaska Dispatch came out with a story identifying McGinniss as one of the bidders. When the unsuspecting c***i went to place his next bid in the amount of $60,301.01, he was met with this message:

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So, who did win? Cathy Maples, the owner of a defense contracting company in Alabama. She thinks Sarah Palin is pretty swell, and hopes she gets to be president some day.

http://www.themudflats.net/2009/09/19/palin-critic-frozen-out-of-auction-after-identity-revealed/

She wants to be President? She can't even handle a dinner with a critic.

Owner of defense contractor - who made a fortune out of the Iraq War - figures.

It would run contrary to the Palin we know and love to leave loot on the table.

Palin's the type who says "Oh, let me go back for my purse!" and snags the tip money off the table.

I know her type all too well.

Who the hell pays 63 grand for fresh-killed venison anyway.

And does an RSVP from Sarah Palin even mean anything?