I’ve just finished Sarah Palin’s new book, “America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag.” It offers very, very little about her substantive views (with a few exceptions). The book mostly amounts to a collection of bumper sticker slogans (“freedom isn’t free”) and inspirational quotes from members of the conservative pantheon (“morning in America”).
So perhaps as good a way as any to assess Palin’s book is by the numbers. By my count, the only character (who is not a member of Palin’s family) that is mentioned more times than Ronald Reagan is God.
Reagan gets 33 mentions, which Palin accomplishes by deploying his name at every possible opportunity (eg: ”Ronald Reagan once quoted Abraham Lincoln as saying … “). Here’s a look at some of the other common terms in the book, and let me know if I’m missing any:
God — 100 times
“freedom” — 100 times
Ronald Reagan — 33 times
Barack Obama — 32 times
“abortion” — 28 times
“slavery“ — 25 times
“feminism“ — 18 times
Iraq — 11 times
“flag” — 11 times
“mainstream media” — 10 times
John McCain — 9 times
Martin Luther King Jr. — 9 times
George W. Bush — 8 times
“Tea Party” — 8 times
Calvin Coolidge — 6 times (she calls him “one of our most overlooked presidents”)
John Kerry — 6 times
“city on a hill” — 6 times
Jesus — 5 times
“Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” — 5 times
Hillary Clinton — 4 times
Afghanistan — 4 times
“freedom isn’t free” — 3 times
Booker T. Washington — 2 times
“lame stream media” — 1 time
Levi Johnston — 1 time
Katie Couric — 0 times
