Palin's new neighbor turns out to be a legendary journalist

I thought Palin took this in stride, especially in her Facebook post about it. If you came home one day, changed into shorts and a tank top, strapped the baby into his carrier sling and went out in your backyard only to find out the man peering into your yard from his balcony was a reporter who was writing a book about you, what would you do? I agree with Sarah - good fences make good neighbors and she promptly erected one. On the other hand, this fellow who doesn't think he's stalking or prying wasn't as welcoming to reporters as he thinks Palin should be. When ABC news sent a reporter and a cameraman to his door, he refused to talk to them, told them they were trespassing and threatened to call the police. McGinnis can dish it but he can't take it. I think it's also telling that his lease runs through October - you know, right up until the November elections. Let's face it, he's there to dig up dirt or manufacture it to keep Palin from having any influence on the elections or to make her support a liability for candidates. I know someone who received a fundraising call from the DNC and the first item on their appeal was the need to deal with Sarah Palin. The fear runs deep. Imagine, an entire political party worried about the activities of private citizen who is a mother of five. It would be funny if they didn't stoop to such muckraking behavior.

Another ugly side of the American media. This man has taken himself from a respected writer to the celeb chasing paparazzi and slumming it with slanderous material. The Palins have the right to live their lives without people literally spying on them from their homes. I do understand she is a political person in the lime light and yes the media should report on what she does, as a politician her family life is her business, the lives her family members lead is their business, and this man should be charged with stalking of a whole family. There is no reason for some one who is sane to uproot his life and move to Alaska to move into a rented house to spy on her or anyone. I think this is creepy on many levels. As for her reaction, really what was bad about it. She voiced her dislike and put up a fence I don't think that is childish, he's probably lucky she didn't open fire on him, I would have, even if it was only eggs.

I think it would be better if she'd never said anything of it. It's a free country and he is free to rent the property or not. She put up a fence and now should shut her mouth. I would definitely be upset if a hostile journalist moved next door to me in order to write a book about me, especially if he said things like "her ability to incite hate". But I think Palin is over reacting. If this had happened to a liberal and a conservative journalist moved next door under the same circumstances and with the same intent, you can bet there would be a great uprising and indignant protests. But since it's Palin and McGinness, it's only a presence on conservative talk radio. McGinness is showing the quality of his character and it's not pretty.

I see it as tough luck. The house next to her is a rental. Anyone could rent it. It just happens it was rented by someone trying to get the scoop on her.

well i have read somewhere that they put a wooden wall as high as the house to protect themselve from this reporter.

This guy is not exactly a cable news reporter nor is he employed by the National Enquirer. He is a respected writer and has every right to live where he wants as long as he is not envasive, and when is it Ms. Palin is not going to want it both ways. You trot yoursenf out in front of everyone, insult two thirds of your country, you drag your offspring out in front of every camara in the free world and then complain when you get attention or criticism. Ms. Palin, grow up..

Put up a real tall fence so he couldnt see in the yard or my daughters bedroom thats for sure. DOnt sound like he is very trust worthy and I sure would wish he wasnt there.

The moment I first heard this story while lying in my hospital bed following my surgery I KNEW the Palimaniacs and other righties would find a way to make her into a victim and agree with her immature reaction to this situation. As with just about everything else Sister Sarah has gone through since John McCain so generously thrust her upon us in 2008, she's acting as if this is something that nobody else in history has ever endured! Unfortunately for her, she isn't backed up by FACTS, not that they've ever gotten in the way in the past. Here are a few of those pesky things, in no particular order: 1/ Many "important" people have had books written about them, even books that aren't entirely flattering. That goes with the territory of placing oneself into the public eye. 2/ Many writers relocate in order to research a subject for a book they're working on. This guy happened to have been approached by the owner of the house he's renting as opposed to him setting out to live next door to the Palins. 3/ Moving in next to someone DOES NOT CONSTITUTE STALKING! Anyone who happened to live in that house would be able to see onto the Palin property. Standing in one's own yard is not a crime. 4/ The rental home WAS THERE FIRST! 5/ The "family swimming hole" Sarah mentions is actually a lake with public access. 6/ She certainly wasn't "forced" into putting up an ugly fence! If she felt the burning need to put up a fence at all she could easily have chosen something more attractive, couldn't she have? I don't really have an opinion one way or another about Joe McGinniss but I'll betcha he won't be the only one to pen a book about Palin, which we don't even know will be unflattering since it has yet to be written. It might just have a better chance of being accurate since he's living in her hometown and is talking to people who know her, who knew her before she "became a star". I'll admit, if I were in her shoes, which is kind of hard to imagine, I probably wouldn't be very pleased that someone who had previously written articles about me that weren't so nice was going to be my neighbor for the next few months but I THINK my plan would be to "kill him with kindness", to show maturity and the realization that as a public figure it's t be expected that people would want to write about me. I may actually be flattered! I'd simply try to show myself as a good neighbor, make sure to the best of my ability the rest of my family did the same and hope to help shape his opinion and therefore what he ultimately ended up writing about me. Ah, forget that - it's much better to throw a tantrum on Facebook, calling the guy a creepy stalker...lol! For the record, if he DOES do anything inappropriate I'd definitely not let him get away with it. Annie

Do people who act like "adults" about things generally tend to move into a house for the sole purpose of spying on people and write about what they find, and then get pissy when their subject is upset about it? Quite frankly I'd say the Palin's ought to build a tall privacy fence between their houses.

I think the Palin's have every right to be upset about this newest invasion. They have been put in a bad light by so many different groups that if I were in their shoes, I would probably be downright paranoid. I have always thought that the media are unjustified in raking through everyone's private life just because they are famous and in the raking the dirier it gets the better it is. Why are we as a society more interested in the bad rather than the good, and being so interested in the bad reporting are the media actually responsible for encouraging people to do bad things? I happen to like Sarah Palin, maybe for the wrong reasons, but nevertheless I do like her. I hope she can solve this latest problem without too much trouble.

Well, she can start by moving in her father or Todd's father and have him walk around the yard and the house on a regular basis in his whitie tighties...that alone could be enough to discourage someone from peeping...:D

It pains me to say this but I actually feel a little bit sorry for the Palins. Nothing like having a gator hanging around 15 feet from your property, watching your every move and noting every little tidbit he can.

Everybody knows reporters or journalist can't be trusted. They're after a story and the juicier the better. I think the Palins should treat their new neighbor the way they'd want to be treated, but always be on guard.

Kinda creepy. It could almost be called stalking. But I guess sence he is legally renting the house they can't do much. But still creepy. Especially with children being in the house. If I was Palin I would be pissed. I am sure she is. This guy can look in her windows. Go through her trash. Heck...the family can't have a BBQ in the backyard without worry about being watched. They have lost ALL privacy just about. People should have privacy in their own homes at the very least. Time to think about moving in my opinion.

He'd be an adult about it? Yeah, right. If he had someone moved next door to him strictly to spy on him and his family (and yes Palin haters, that is definitely what he is doing), he'd go ballistic. And he has learned things? Like her ability to incite hatred? What kind of journalist is he? I thought they were supposed to be nonbiased.

The guy's a sick, pathetic jerk. If there's any legal thing she can do, she should. I wonder if she can get any kind of "restraining order" or such to keep him from spying into her daughter's bedroom, etc. It's just evil; it's stalking, among other things, violating her personal space. People must really be afraid of her if they attack her so inordinately. I think she's starting to become more of a "politician" then she used to be, but still this is egregious.