Is this true? Palin's library-gate

zumbamama
Member Offline
TIME magazine is running an article on Presidential VP
nominee Sarah Palin, describing how she tried to fire
librarian Mary Ellen Baker for not removing a list of
"questionable books" from the shelves of the local
library.

Apparently, Palin went to the library and made inquiries
about the procedure for banning certain books, claiming that
some voters thought they had "inappropriate
language" in them.

"The librarian was aghast," claims the article.
The librarian, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for
comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had
threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full
support" to the mayor.

A contributor to http://www.librarian.net/ (scan the
comments to the announcement of the TIME story) names the
books Palin tried to ban from the library. The list
includes:

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer
Confession, by Jean Jacques Rousseau
Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller
Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
Lady Chatterley's Lover, by D.H. Lawrence
Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman
Little Red Riding Hood, by the Grimm Brothers
Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
Lysistrata, by Aristophanes
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
To Kill a Mocking Bird, by Harper Lee
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey
The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
Pigman, by Paul Zindel
Plus:
Anything by Stephen King, everything by J.K. Rowling, just
about everything by Roald Dahl, both of Mark Twain's
major works, most of Judy Blume, most of William
Shakespeare, and (this is truly mind-boggling) Webster's
Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary by the Merriam-Webster
Editorial Staff
Anonymous
Actually they debunked part of this on CNN yesterday as some of the books on the list were written after she allegedly did this. I don't like her but this is half true. I think she asked about process to take books off of the shelves but never went past that...
Anonymous
And by that I mean Harry Potter - most of the rest of the list are old-school.
zumbamama
Member Offline
What in the world is wrong with A Wrinkle in Time or Shakespeare? What is she going to do if she becomes VP, ban these books across the country? Seems so Hitler-esque.
jsteele
Site Admin Offline
At this point, I wouldn't trust any list of books. The Alaskan state government just released a bunch of documents regarding Palin (someone linked to it here, but I don't have the link handy). There was a statement from the library saying they didn't have a list.

The entire story may be wrong. Palin did threaten the librarian's job. The librarian was the girlfriend of the police chief that Palin fired. I believe the story about Palin wanting to ban books came from the librarian. Could be true, but who knows?


Anonymous
Please be careful about promoting this argument. As far as I know there is no list of books. Additionally, Palin apparently discussed this with the librarian but didn't demand she ban the books. Later the librarian was fired along with a bunch of other city staffers. (Apparently these firings also led to Republicans insisting that Palin hire a city manager.) She was rehired after people in the community protested. But there was never an overt link to Palin's interest in removing some books from the library.

Someone on DCUM earlier posted a link to specific documents being made available by the City of Wasilla: http://www.cityofwasilla.com/index.aspx?page=136
There you'll see a statement that in a period of a little over 20 years, only a few books have been officially challenged and they all remained in the library.

I'm quite concerned about how a specific incident that is troubling has been exaggerated to make it look like Palin is out to ban books. I am deeply opposed to Palin and scared about the possibility that she may be president some day but it is deeply counterproductive to spread false information like this about her. It just gives her campaign more ammunition to use against Obama.
zumbamama
Member Offline
OK I was not sure if it was true...and of course do not want to make false assumptions. But apparently a lot of people around me are convinced its true.
Anonymous
zumbamama wrote:OK I was not sure if it was true...and of course do not want to make false assumptions. But apparently a lot of people around me are convinced its true.


According to factcheck it may very well be true, as it hasn't been proven false (except for the silly lists).
Anonymous
I saw an interview last week with the librarian who said that Palin told her she would be fired if she didn't remove some books but then she laughed as if it were just a joke. she's a total nut job.
Anonymous
The librarian's a nut job? Just want to clarify.
zumbamama
Member Offline
If it is true, does it really matter which books are on the list? Why should any library book be banned period?
Anonymous
no of course not the librarian! and you're right OP, it doesn't matter which books! Maybe someone should remind Ms. Palin of this little sacred thing we Americans call our 1st Amendment.
Anonymous
This list of "banned" books is FALSE! Go to www.factcheck.org. No fan of Palin, but let's get our facts straight.
Anonymous
she may have not given a LIST, but she did want to know how to remove some books, so the STORY IS TRUE

"Palin has acknowledged she twice raised the issue in 1996 of how books could be removed from the shelves, but said it was only a "rhetorical question" and that she did not ask for any books to be banned. "

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:she may have not given a LIST, but she did want to know how to remove some books, so the STORY IS TRUE

"Palin has acknowledged she twice raised the issue in 1996 of how books could be removed from the shelves, but said it was only a "rhetorical question" and that she did not ask for any books to be banned. "


I think that indicates either that she does not know what a rhetorical question is, or it was intended as a warning that the librarian should clean up the shelves herself. Does someone have a different interpretation of what her explanation means?
Forum Index » Political Discussion
Go to: