Dead trees tell no tales
: Can’t find the exact AP story I found in various papers today (I’m on a slow connection at the O’Hare lounge right now) but I find it hilarious that Barnes & Noble and other booksellers say they’re being accused of bias for not having enough copies of the Swifties’ tome when, of course, that is the fault of the Swifties’ right-wing publisher, who clearly didn’t believe in this enough to print enough copies.
See also Amazon’s shift of its review policy on this book, giving into the mudslinging that has become the standard of this campaign:
“We’ve decided to suspend our normal customer review policies and rules for this title,” according to the notice. “For example, we usually prohibit ad hominem attacks. That policy in particular seems to be incompatible with presidential election year politics. Therefore, short of obscenities, reviews on this book are now a free-for-all. We take no responsibility for the following discussion. Aren’t presidential election years great? Have fun!”
Yes, what fun: democracy as a contact sport. Whippee!
: UPDATE: The Reuters story:
Barnes & Noble, the world’s largest bookseller, on Monday issued a statement saying it had sold out of the book and, in effect, held up its hands in surrender to what it called “thousands of complaints” from both supporters and detractors of the book.
Supporters, Barnes & Noble said, are claiming the bookseller has intentionally not stocked the title or is hiding it, while detractors are asking stores to remove it altogether.
“(Complaints) started in the stores, and the home office has been inundated as well,” said a company spokeswoman.
And the AP:
Its publisher, Regnery Publishing Inc., won’t have more books available until later this week, and that order also will not be able to meet demand, Barnes & Noble CEO Steve Riggio said in a release.
Riggio said Barnes & Noble has no political agenda.
“The fact is Regnery has not been able to keep up with customer demand for this title,” he said. “Further, the publisher cut our original order for the book in half. We’ve been put in the difficult position of having to defend ourselves over a title we can’t seem to get enough copies of from the publisher.”
Well, gee, if the Swifties think this is so damned important, maybe they should just put it up on the web… for free.
