Joe McGinniss, author of the controversial new book, The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin, rips the Alaskan Republican's character in an interview with The Today Show on Thursday, claiming that she acts like a “tenth-grade mean girl’’ and that "the people that know her best like her the least."

As we previously reported, the book is already generating heat on its’ claims Palin has used cocaine and had a roll-in-the-hay with former NBA 3-point shooter Glen Rice.

McGinniss, who lived next door to the Palins' Wasila, Alaska home for four months while researching for the book, interviewed hundreds of locals; he said that "the thing that I found that really surprised me, was the people that know her best, like her the least."