Despite a new poll that shows Sarah Palin with a solid if utterly polarized level of support, some pundits have already decided that her political career is toast. But what those naysayers didn’t realize is that Palin may be studying up on how to succeed at this very moment with a book called Knowledge in a Nutshell on Success, one title in a series by Charles Reichblum that also offers condensed wisdom and trivia on topics such as sports, movies, and presidents. Are we sure she’s referencing this book? Not at all. But here’s why we think it’s possible: Today, on a beautiful, bright Alaskan morn, Palin tweeted a couple of “thoughts for the day,” including the quote, “You have to sacrifice to win. That’s my philosophy in 6 words.” The quote is attributed to George Allen, though we can’t tell if that’s George “Macaca” Allen (hardly someone whose advice on success should be emulated) or one of the other many George Allens who have existed in this world. That’s because the quote doesn’t really show up anywhere in a Google or Nexis search. Google the exact words Palin uses, as we did, and you’ll only find links referring to her own tweet. But replace the number 6 with the word “six”, and you will be directed to a single link the Google book of Knowledge in a Nutshell on Success, the 52nd page of which holds the elusive George Allen quote. It’s still certainly possible she knows the quote from some other source a different book, or oral folklore, perhaps. But if she does possess this book, she might also consider this Mark Twain quote on page 21: “The person who is good at making excuses is seldom good for anything else.”
