TV station WCBS reports that Sarah Palin doesn't mention Levi Johnston in her book "Going Rogue" at all! - UPDATE: First excerpts from the book!

UPDATE 7: Huffington Post has also obtained a copy of the book and posts new excerpts in which Sarah Palin trashes McCain's campaign Manager Steve Schmidt.

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UPDATE 6 (they just keep coming, I cannot help it...): Politico reports that the tone is becoming more strident:

Former McCain strategist John Weaver was more direct in his criticism, slamming Palin for using the book for “petty and pathetic” score-settling.

“Sarah Palin reminds me of Jimmy Stewart in the movie 'Harvey,' complete with imaginary conversations. All books like these are revisionist and self-serving, by definition,” Weaver wrote in an email to POLITICO. “But the score-settling by someone who wants to be considered a serious national player is petty and pathetic.”

“The problem wasn't who her interview was with, the problem was her interview,” he added. “Couric asked no trick questions. This just seems to be an attempt to obscure as bad a performance since Roger Mudd asked Ted Kennedy that simple question.”

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UPDATE 5: Wonkette has scans of two pages of the book - pages 379 and 380.

Sarah Palin claims that she didn't "dislike her job", but that she "loved" her job as a Governor and goes on to say about her resignation:

The decision wasn't about me. It was about Alaska.

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UPDATE 4: Associated Press starts to fact-check Sarah Palin!

(they should have done this one year ago - but it's not too late yet!)

Example:

PALIN: Writes about a city councilman in Wasilla, Alaska, who owned a garbage truck company and tried to push through an ordinance requiring residents of new subdivisions to pay for trash removal instead of taking it to the dump for free — this to illustrate conflicts of interest she stood against as a public servant.

THE FACTS: As Wasilla mayor, Palin pressed for a special zoning exception so she could sell her family's $327,000 house, then did not keep a promise to remove a potential fire hazard on the property.

She asked the city council to loosen rules for snow machine races when she and her husband owned a snow machine store, and cast a tie-breaking vote to exempt taxes on aircraft when her father-in-law owned one. But she stepped away from the table in 1997 when the council considered a grant for the Iron Dog snow machine race in which her husband competes.

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UPDATE 3:

Former members of the McCain campaign deny that Sarah Palin's description of the events is true, The Plum Line reports.

The adviser also provided more details on the strategy the campaign adopted with Palin and the press, saying they feared making her available to groups of reporters because of her incompetence.

“She lacked the knowledge base to stand in front of the press corps that was traveling with her and answer questions,” the adviser said delicately. “Because of the success of the convention speech, the feeling was that she should be exposed to as many people as possible directly, not through a media filter. The way to do that was to do interviews with the anchors.”

“The truth is, she refused to prepare for the Katie Couric interview,” the adviser continued. “She refused to engage in any preparation. And it was a disaster.”

The adviser also mocked a contradiction at the core of Palin’s claims: She’s simultaneously saying she was muzzled and kept from the press, even as she’s claiming she only did the Couric interview at the urging of McCain aides.

“You were prevented from talking to all these reporters, and you’re mad about that,” the adviser said, chortling incredulously. “But you’re also mad about the interviews you did. It’s so full of contradictions that you don’t know where to begin.”

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UPDATE 2: We have the first excerpts from Sarah's book!

Guess what: Sarah is the victim! It was all the McCain campaign's fault...booo-hooo! Cry me a river!

Here is an insight into the "alternate reality of Sarah Palin" (by the way: Sarah Palin says that her aide Nicolle Wallace has "more experience in national politics" than herself! This from the woman who wanted to become Vice-President!):

From the beginning, Nicolle [Wallace] pushed for Katie Couric and the CBS Evening News. The campaign’s general strategy involved coming out with a network anchor, someone they felt had treated John well on the trail thus far. My suggestion was that we be consistent with that strategy and start talking to outlets like FOX and the Wall Street Journal. I really didn’t have a say in which press I was going to talk to, but for some reason Nicolle seemed compelled to get me on the Katie bandwagon.

“Katie really likes you,” she said to me one day. “she’s a working mom and admires you as a working mom. She has teenage daughter like you. She just relates to you,” Nicolle said. “believe me, I know her very well. I’ve worked with her.” Nicolle had left her gig at CBS just a few months earlier to hook up with the McCain campaign. I had to trust her experience, as she had dealt with national politics more than I had. But something always struck me as peculiar about the way she recalled her days in the White House, when she was speaking on behalf of President George W. Bush. She didn't have much to say that was positive about her former boss or the job in general. Whenever I wanted to give a shout-out to the White House’s homeland security efforts after 9/11, we were told we couldn’t do it. I didn’t know if that was Nicolle’s call.

Nicolle went on to explain that Katie really needed a career boost. “She just has such low self-esteem,” Nicolle said. She added that Katie was going through a tough time. “She just feels she can’t trust anybody.”

I was thinking, And this has to do with John McCain’s campaign how?

Nicolle said. “She wants you to like her.”

Hearing all that, I almost started to feel sorry for her. Katie had tried to make a bold move from lively morning gal to serious anchor, but the new assignment wasn’t going very well.

“You know what? We’ll schedule a segment with her,” Nicolle said. “If it doesn’t go well, if there’s no chemistry, we won’t do any others.”

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UPDATE: Gawker confirms that Levi Johnston is not mentioned in her book. So it seems as if it can be true! Don't slap me, Levi, I am nice to you...

Anchorage Daily News and The Independent (UK) also confirm this fact!

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Can it be true? (UPDATE: YES, IT'S TRUE!) According to a report from the New York TV station WCBS, Sarah Palin's autobiographical book "Going Rogue" doesn't contain a single reference to Levi Johnston! This despite the fact that she does write about Bristol's teen pregnancy in poignant detail, describing "heart-wrenching anguish", says WCBS. You would think that Sarah would at least allude to the fact that Levi Johnston was the father of her grandson, wouldn't you? After all she was said to have dragged him away from his hunting trip to appear on stage at the Republican National Convention so why completely ignore him in her book?

In contrast, the National Enquirer reported on October 7, 2009 that Sarah Palin had ripped Levi to pieces in her book (the link to the National Enquirer for readers outside the USA is HERE). According to the National Enquirer in her memoirs "Sarah writes that he is a 'bald-face liar.' She says he's bitter at the dissolution of his relationship with her daughter, and is trying to earn a fast buck at the ex-governor's expense." Did the National Enquirer get it wrong or has Sarah, perhaps on advice from Harper Collins lawyers, opted to omit the information regarding Levi just in case?

So why wouldn't Sarah mention him? Is Sarah afraid of Levi Johnston?

I think that this oversight is remarkable. It is as if he never existed. Could it be because Levi has repeatedly reminded Sarah of the huge and devastating facts that he knows about her? Facts that are likely to cause her and her family serious damage? Did she then pay attention to his warnings and does this mean that we are even further from discovering what those facts are? I would say that Palin has backed off from including any mention of him in the book because she hopes that her doing so will persuade Levi to back down from his threats.

My assessment of the present situation is that it is possibly too late now for any resolution to the problems that exist between Levi and the Palin family. The damage has been done and Levi seems to realise that his only recourse is to take legal action to ensure that he gains access to his child. He has tried the non legal route and it has not worked. Without a legal resolution the Palins can withdraw access to Tripp from Levi any time that there is tension between Bristol and Levi or if they do not approve of the ways in which he is conducting his life.

I'm not sure how public such legal action will be. Perhaps some of our readers can give some insight into the legal jargon surrounding such child custody cases and whether or not they are matters for public record. If it is a matter of public record it may be possible that such a court case may reveal hidden secrets that have been kept under wraps up until this point. It seems as if we are still waiting, waiting, waiting.

In addition, WCBS reports more juicy facts:

In "Going Rogue," which will be released Tuesday, Palin also laments about everyone in her entourage being forced to wear fancy clothes she couldn't afford -- preferring simpler, cheaper garb. But it's as if Johnston, who was among those hastily spiffed up to appear at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., had never left Wasilla.

The tactic does appear to have merit; Johnston, who has sparred repeatedly with his former mother-in-law-to-be, continues to warn that she should leave him alone, or he might dish some serious dirt that "will hurt her."

While the book -- which contains 68 color photos but no index -- stays away from Johnston, the former vice presidential candidate digs in when it comes to those who ran Sen. John McCain's campaign.

Confirming that there was substantial tension between her advisers and McCain's, Palin bitterly details how she was prevented from delivering a concession speech on election night, how she'd been kept "bottled up" from reporters during the campaign and prevented in many ways from just being herself. She also contends she was prepped to give non-answers during her debate with Joe Biden.

While the book follows her life from birth in Sandpoint, Idaho, to wondering about the next stop in her future, Palin, who received an advance of at least $1.25 million, saves her strongest words for run-ins with McCain staffers and her widely-panned interview with CBS anchor Katie Couric.

She describes Couric as condescending, biased and "badgering." She contends the anchor chose "gotcha" moments while leaving the candidate's more substantive remarks on the cutting room floor.

Palin takes another dig at Couric while asserting her expertise on energy matters. She writes that she was shocked Couric had asked her which newspapers and magazines she read; given what she called Couric's lack of knowledge about energy issues, Palin wondered whether she should have asked the news anchor what she read.

The closest Palin comes to naming names occurs in the passages about chief McCain campaign strategist Steve Schmidt. Quoting another campaign official, she writes that Schmidt felt she wasn't preparing enough on policy matters and even wondered if she was suffering from postpartum depression following the April 2008 birth of her son Trig, who has Down Syndrome.

She says Schmidt also was upset if anyone in her personal circle tried to correct -- without approval from the McCain camp -- what they perceived to be incorrect portrayals of Palin's record as Alaska governor.

Palin comes across as particularly upset about being stuck with $50,000 in legal bills that she says were directly related to the legal vetting process for the VP slot. She says nobody ever informed her that she would have to personally take care of expenses related to the selection process, and jokes that if she'd known she was going to get stuck with the bill, she would have given shorter responses.

According to the book, Palin asked officials at the Republican National Committee and what was left of the McCain campaign if they would help her financially. She says she was told that if McCain had won, the bills would have been paid, but since he lost, the bills were her responsibility.

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