The Obama Diaries by Laura Ingraham (2010)

The fact that Vice-President Joe Biden was born in Scranton has been included in a number of recent political books, written by both conservative and liberal authors.

Conservative author and radio host Laura Ingraham's latest book, The Obama Diaries, is a collection of entries from diaries "discovered" at the White House. It includes "diary entries" from Joe Biden as well.

The Scranton references occurs on page 337 from a "diary entry" of Biden dated April 14, 2010:

"But I know how to liven up these meetings. I told 'em a few of my funnier stories about life in Scranton--some of the real knee-slappers that get such a good response on the campaign trail."

"I think it went over very well. Although now that I think about it, the interpreter must have messed up the order of my talk somehow, because they were pretty solemn during the Scranton stuff..."

The Obama Diaries is available to borrow from the Lackawanna County Library System. To place a hold, click here.

Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin (2010)

Over this lovely Memorial Day weekend, I am finishing up the bestselling controversial book Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, the behind-the-scenes peek into the 2008 presidential election. Surprisingly, I came across a Scranton reference; even more surprisingly is that the Scranton reference is attributed not to Scranton native and Vice President Joe Biden, but to Republican Vice President nominee Sarah Palin.

On page 372 of Game Change (in the chapter "Sarahcuda"), the book discusses Palin's speech at the Republican National Convention after accepting the nomination of Vice President from Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

"'I guess a small town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities,' she quipped. She said, 'We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.'"

Game Change is available to borrow from the Lackawanna County Library System. To place a hold on the book, click here; to place a hold on the unabridged CD audiobook, click here.

Guilty: Liberal "Victims" and Their Assault on America by Ann Coulter (2009)

One quick note: This blog is far from being a political forum, and I know that the very mention of Ann Coulter's name seems to bring out such strong reactions from people from both sides of the political spectrum. My opinion on it? Well to quote Linus Van Pelt, "There are three things I've learned never to discuss with people---religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin."

In addition to the John Grisham bestselling novel The Associate, Scranton is also mentioned in the latest book by controversial bestselling political commentator Ann Coulter.

Coulter's latest book, Guilty: Liberal "Victims" and Their Assault on America, is her commentary on liberals who claim to be victims while actually victimizing others.

In Chapter 1, titled "Liberal Motto: Speak Loudly and Carry a Small Victim," Coulter writes the following:

In the 2008 election season...it wasn't the Democratic National Committee but a newspaper reporter, David Singleton of the Scranton Times-Tribune, who invented the story about Republican crowds yelling "Kill him!" about Obama at a Palin rally.

To read the original article, click here.The footnote at the end of the book references an article from the Times Leader by reporter Andrew M. Seder titled "Secret Service Says 'Kill Him' Allegation Unfounded." To read that article, click here.

Guilty: Liberal "Victims" and Their Assault on America is available to borrow in various formats from the Lackawanna County Library System. To reserve the book, click here; to reserve the large print version of the book, click here; and to reserve the audiobook on CD, click here.