(CNN) - Sarah Palin's image is everywhere as she launches a highly-anticipated book tour this week, but the former Alaska governor is unhappy with at least one media organization's depiction of her.
Palin took aim at Newsweek's eye-catching cover this week that shows the former vice presidential candidate in her running outfit - an image that was apparently lifted from a Runner's World photo shoot months ago. Writing on her Facebook page Monday night, Palin said the depiction is flat out "sexist, and oh-so-expected."
"The choice of photo for the cover of this week's Newsweek is unfortunate. When it comes to Sarah Palin, this 'news' magazine has relished focusing on the irrelevant rather than the relevant," Palin wrote. "The out-of-context Newsweek approach is sexist, and oh-so-expected by now."
"If anyone can learn anything from it: it shows why you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, gender, or color of skin. The media will do anything to draw attention – even if out of context," Palin also said.
The photo is accompanied by text that states "How Do You Solve A Problem Like Sarah? She's bad news for the GOP - and for everybody else too."
Palin has held back few punches at the media in the initial stages of her publicity tour. The former governor slammed the Associated Press for its recent fact check that took issue with several of the memoir's contentions and, in her Oprah appearance that aired Monday, Palin slammed the way the media treated her family during the campaign.
The Alaska Republican also doesn't hold back in her book, writing at one point, "I had been out of journalism for a long time, and it was pretty obvious the rules had changed. I felt sick about the depths to which some in the press had apparently sunk, not because it was unfair to me and John, but because it was unfair to the American electorate."
UPDATE: Newsweek editor Jon Meacham is defending the image the magazine chose for its cover.
"We chose the most interesting image available to us to illustrate the theme of the cover, which is what we always try to do," he told CNN Tuesday. "We apply the same test to photographs of any public figure, male or female: does the image convey what we are saying? That is a gender-neutral standard."
Follow Alex Mooney on Twitter: @awmooneycnn
From CNN Politics
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertising practices | Advertise with us | About us | Work for us | Help
Obama was in only a swimsuit on a magazine cover.
Was that sexist? I never heard her complain about it then.
Why didn't Palin think about how this image could be used when she posed for the photo? It's not like they forced her to dress like that. Palin can't take responsibility for her actions and can't weigh the consequences of what she does either. Fit to be President? I don't think so.
How is it sexist if she posed for the photo? Regardless if it was shot for a running magazine. It isn't sexist when the running magazine used it? She is such an opportunist.
You mean, Sarah Palin didn't pose for this photo and someone Photoshopped her head on another body? I'm confused.
So it's ok to pose for a provacative photo for a public magazine (Runners World) but it's not ok for her dirt bag son-in-law to pose nude? What a hypocrite! This family values schtick is a load of garbage!~
I'm so liberal I make Michael Moore look like Sean Hannity, but yeah, that cover is a bit silly for a news magazine. But let's face it, the line between hard news and shallow entertainment has been completely obliterated for years.
Nothing sexy or sexist about a middle aged woman in a workout outfit.
didn't she pose, sounds hypocritical
I blame the media for hyping this individual to presidential heights when there is nothing there but "B-movie drama" and foisting her on th rest of us. The media is to blame for this sharade. It laughable, pathetic, typical.
Sarah, you twit. If you don't think people will take you seriously after seeing a photo like this, stop posing for photos like this.
I wonder if it occurs to her that she posed for it?
Probably not.
Why would she be so updet about the picture? After all her good looks are part of her appeal, because God knows it's not her knowledge, experience, or grasp of the facts. It's the wording under it, and presumably the article inside about her, that should be upsetting her.
Why did she pose for the photo? Is she so stupid to not realize that it would show up somewhere? Anyone up for a Palin book burning?
Does this woman take responsibility/ownership for ANY of her actions? FAILED MEDIA PERCEPTIONS
Why would a woman wear tight shorts and pose in a cheesecake photo for a magazine in the first place if she wants to be considered a serious, respected national political figure? She promoted herself in a sexist manner. It appears to be a tease on her part– "Look how sexy I am, you Sexist you!" She's doesn't present a good image for women in high positions in our country.
I don't know the woman personally but through observation and listening to her throughout her campaign for the vice-presidency I have formed this opinion. "I am truly happy and relieved she is not my wife, I do however feel deep sympathy for her husband." I also feel it would be a tragic error for the American people to elect this woman to any office where she might be in a position to affect National or regional policies. She should return to Alaska and remain silent for the remainder of her life!! And Sarah, should you become aware of these comments, be assured that the media had absolutely no part in influencing my thoughts, you did it on your own!!
How does this moron have the brass ones to call a picture she POSED for SEXIST!??! As a runner, you don't HAVE to wear shorts that barely cover your nether-regions – it's not a requirement. She chose to wear the Daisy Dukes and is now crying foul because the picture's being used in another context. You know what's actually sexist? Sarah Palin's anti-women's rights agenda.
Sorry, I don't see any sexism here. She chose to be photographed in that outfit. She's just whining because of the headline. The big bad liberal media has, once again, slammed poor little Sarah. Have a nice day!
This is be coming a little too much blame everyone else for yhe problem that you created in the first place. She took the picture they had to show her the proof and she pick out one now she wants to blame the photo this is no no who can handle pessure.
I guess she doesn't understand she should make friends with the media..Politics 101 girlfriend!
It's funny that a political party that (rightfully so) criticizes the Democrats for playing the race card are rallying behind a woman who will very easily throw out the gender card.
Just goes to show that EVERYONE will play the victim any time they are given the opportunity.
She says she's been "out of journalism for so long, obviously, the rules have changed."
What the....?
She was a television weather girl, folks. Television! Weather girl! That is not journalism, not by anyone's definition, except maybe Palin's.
And no, at the reputable outlets (I'm looking at you, Rupert Murdoch, and at Fox and at the Wall Street Journal) the rules have not changed at all. Anything you say in public, anything you wear in public, that's all fair game. So clearly there's lots to work with when it comes to this ditz.
Palin takes herself way too seriously. She should be happy enough that the ignorant masses on the right will gladly hand over their hard earned money for some of her intellectual drivel, much the same way the ignorant masses on the left hand their money to Mike Moore for his intellectually dishonest docutainment. These two are proof that you don't have to be an intellectual, or even that intelligent, to earn a fantastic amount of money in the US, even when your product is supposedly intellectually grounded.
What scares me about Palin, is that if the Democrats continue down the road they are on, the one of assured destruction, this dimwit may actually get into the executive office someday. That thought should scare the heck out of any reasonable person.
Um, as she says, herself: "you shouldn't judge a book by its cover." So, I'm assuming she's a hypocrite. She's judging Newsweek by its cover. Literally.
The beauty with no brains, how cute, but we need women in power who have a clue!