Actress Julianne Moore will play former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in HBO’s adaptation of John Heilemann and Mark Halperin‘s book, Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jay Roach will direct and Danny Strong will write the script. Here’s more from TVNewser: “HBO optioned Game Change last January. No word yet on who will play the other TV news personalities mentioned in the book.”

Anybody wish they picked Saturday Night Live veteran Tina Fey? Heilemann and Halperin interviewed more than 300 people to write Game Change (2010). The book had three parts: part one covered the Democratic primaries, part two looked at the Republican primaries, and part three examined the race between Barack Obama and John McCain.

In a sprawling manuscript, it’s easy to forget how often you repeat your favorite phrases. Using the Phrase Frequency Counter online, you can actually track what phrases you abuse.

For instance, we used the online tool with a recent essay by author Sarah Palin. Turns out she used the phrase “big government” eight times in the 1,700-word piece of writing.

The website also offers a Word Frequency Counter to map your most overused words. In the same essay, Palin used the word “big” 18 times and the word “spending” 14 times. What words do you abuse in your writing?

In a video message (embedded above), author and politician Sarah Palin compared negative media attention to “blood libel.” The phrase refers to historical myths that Jews kidnap and murder Christian children.

Here’s the controversial passage: “If you don’t like a person’s vision for the country, you’re free to debate that vision. If you don’t like their ideas, you’re free to propose better ideas. But, especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible.”

The phrase “blood libel” exploded on Twitter as people scrambled to decode the speech. Andrew Breitbart circulated the phrase on Twitter: “And to the gutless GOP establishment who watches in silence the blood libel against @SarahPalinUSA. We will remember.”  Below, we’ve included digital links to three scholarly books about the terrible legacy of blood libel in history.

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Issue #616 and #617 of Archie Comics will feature two very special guests: President Barack Obama and former governor Sarah Palin.

When Archie Andrews and Reggie Mantle are opponents in the race for student body president, each candidate channels one of the most well-known figures in American politics: Archie goes blue with Obama while Reggie goes red for Palin. Soon the real life politicians visit the young politicians.

In an interview with The Huffington Post, co-CEO of Archie Comics, John Goldwater said: “Archie’s adventures are happening now, in a world where Obama is president and Sarah Palin is the de facto leader of the Republican Party. Bringing Obama and Palin to Riverdale sprung from a great idea we had and rolled from there … It’s simple – even people with opposing views can find common ground if they truly want what is best for this country.”

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On Twitter yesterday, author and reality television star Sarah Palin compared the WikiLeaks exposure of diplomatic cables to the leak of her embargoed memoir.

She tweeted: “Inexplicable: I recently won in court to stop my book ‘America by Heart’ from being leaked,but US Govt can’t stop Wikileaks’ treasonous act?”

What do you think? The comment has already generated hundreds of comments on Politico.

Last week, HarperCollins resolved their lawsuit against Gawker over a post containing photographed excerpts from Sarah Palin‘s memoir, America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag. A federal judge ordered Gawker to remove the excerpts before the out of court settlement. When asked about “financial settlement,” a HarperCollins spokesperson “declined to comment.“

In a statement, HarperCollins revealed they have resolved their lawsuit against Gawker over a post containing photographed excerpts from Sarah Palin‘s memoir, America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag.

Over the weekend, a federal judge ordered Gawker to remove the excerpts. UPDATE: The New York Times has more, including a statement from Gawker. Asked about “financial settlement,” a HarperCollins spokesperson “declined to comment.”

The complete statement follows below, but here is an excerpt: “HarperCollins has reached an agreement with Gawker resolving the lawsuit it filed against Gawker on Friday over Gawker’s unauthorized posting of pages from Sarah Palin’s then-unpublished book, America by Heart … In settling the case, Gawker has agreed to keep the posted material off its web site and not to post the material again in the future. HarperCollins is gratified that it was able to resolve the dispute in this way.  HarperCollins does welcome public commentary on its books so long as any book content is utilized in a manner that is consistent with the law.”

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Last week, Gawker posted photographs of Sarah Palin‘s embargoed memoir–prompting HarperCollins to sue the popular website. U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Griesa ordered Gawker to remove the pages on Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The matter will be revisited at a hearing on November 30th. Gawker has removed the pages of America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag, and so far, no commentary has been posted on the site. Over at TechCrunch, author Paul Carr explored the controversy, arguing that HarperCollins is clinging to an outdated model of publicity. What do you think?

Here’s an excerpt: “[P]ublishers simply don’t have the luxury of controlling the flow of information any more. The idea that they can release thousands of preview copies of a new title, in electronic form, weeks (or even months) ahead of publication and rely on a gentleman’s agreement with the press that their embargo will be respected is simply laughable. Wholesale piracy is one thing, and if Gawker were offering the complete downloadable pdf (or even a full chapter) then the lawsuit would be both right and proper.”

After the company’s first Sarah Palin biographical comic sold out, Blue Water Productions will release a sequel entitled Female Force: Sarah Palin, Act 2. The comic will follow Palin’s life after the 2008 election and “the threat that she might pose to both Democrats and mainstream Republicans.”

Written by Dan Rafter and drawn by Nathan Carson, the comic will be released in December. It will sell for $3.99. Pop artist Lady Gaga has also received the Blue Water comic book treatment.

The press release revealed one scene from the comic: “[The] comic references the speech in which Palin had jotted notes on her palm. Her critics savaged her. But Palin, much like Ronald Reagan did throughout his political career, used humor to turn a potential mistake into a victory when she showed up at a later speech with the words ‘Hi, Mom’ written on her palm.” (Via Forbes)

Former John McCain campaign adviser Nicole Wallace used the frustrations resulting from her work on the McCain-Palin campaign to write her debut novel, Eighteen Acres. The embedded video from Simon & Schuster’s Atria imprint shows a scene from the book launch party at SoHo House.

Wallace began writing her novel immediately after Barack Obama‘s win ended the McCain and Sarah Palin‘s campaign. The novel explores the ups and downs faced by the first female president and her two female staff members during a re-election battle.

Here’ s more from Publisher’s Weekly: “The book is ‘partly an emotional response to the election’ admitted Wallace, whose contentious relationship with Sarah Palin was spotlighted in Going Rogue. Yet it is not a retaliation (as fun as that sounds). Wallace instead toyed with the genre of political fiction as a medium for exploring the complexity or ‘indignities’ of woman’s role in politics. Drawing mainly from her six years as a senior aid with the George W. Bush administration, she offers a glimpse into the inner workings of the White House from an ambitious female’s perspective.”
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A Politico article recently pointed out that Fox News has four serious Republican contenders for the 2012 Presidential election on its payroll: Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Mike Huckabee. What do you think?

In addition to being Fox News contributors, all four political figures are authors as well. Palin wrote the bestselling memoir, Going Rogue. Huckabee most recently wrote A Simple Christmas. Santorum wrote It Takes a Family. Gingrich most recently wrote To Save America.

Politico explored the tricky problem: “With the exception of Mitt Romney, Fox now has deals with every major potential Republican presidential candidate not currently in elected office … At issue are basic matters of political and journalistic fairness and propriety. With Fox effectively becoming the flagship network of the right and, more specifically, the tea party movement, the four Republicans it employs enjoy an unparalleled platform from which to speak directly to primary voters who will determine the party’s next nominee.”