NOT THE ONION. I REPEAT: NOT THE ONION. Take appropriate precautions.

[calimary]

94. Probably.

I remember when limbaugh became a "best-selling author." He used to have a TV show. With a set, and a stage, and he'd sit there and fart out the mouth only you could see it as opposed to just hearing it on the radio.

Well... if you DID go see, you might have noticed the backdrop on that set, behind where he'd be onstage, was a wall of his books. Quite literally - a WALL of his books. Stacks upon stacks. They covered the entire camera view behind him - in any shot from any angle. I'd bet hard money that those were all purchased by either his production company or his sponsor or some frickin' wrong-wing "think" tank to create this display. And of course, all those would be credited to him as sales, and even though in bulk-buys, it would still be enough to catapult him artificially to the top of the New York Times bestseller list. That's how it's done with ALL those screeds - ann coulter's, that-guy-whose-name-rhymes-with-VANITY's, dear-darling sarah palin's, EVERYBODY'S.

Just yet another sneaky-ass method of putting a thumb on the scale to create the illusion that these are hot topics and hot authors. And of course then that makes it far easier and more compelling to make the case for booking them on all the talk shows and all the news shows - "NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR dontchaknow?!?!?!" Basically just more mind-fucking. Which begets these snake-oilers getting even MORE exposure on the airwaves and in the review pages and keep them talked about and give them "credibility" so that they can then write columns and op/ed pieces that will get used because, after all, they are "NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHORS dontchaknow?!?!?!" And it's as phony as a three-dollar bill. Or ann romney's or ted cruz's sincerity, whichever comes up (like a hairball) first.