Geoffrey Dunn calls Frank Bailey out over his numerous ommissions of important information in "Blind Allegiance" and the fact that his allegiance to the Palins may continue to this day.

Courtesy of the Anchorage Press:

On July 28, 2009, Lisa Demer of the Anchorage Daily News reported online that "two of former Gov. Sarah Palin's most trusted aides are resigning and won't be part of the new Parnell administration... One is the controversial Frank Bailey, Palin's director of boards and commissions and a central player in the Troopergate case." The other was Kris Perry. According to Demer, Bailey's departure date was set for August 15. Bailey says nothing about this in Blind Allegiance. Nada. 

Once again, the word on the street in Anchorage that summer was that Sean Parnell refused to take on Bailey in his new administration. Bailey was tainted goods. Nor was Bailey offered a position at SarahPAC, Palin's then-recently formed political action committee, for which Stapleton had been hired as a spokesperson. Bailey's rendition of formally breaking his bond with Palin World is either contemptibly disingenuous or tragically pathetic. Palin had tossed Bailey under the bus long before he had his leaving- Palin-World epiphany on August 27, 2009, to which he devotes an entire chapter. By then, Palin had already thrown Bailey away like yesterday's trash. 

More significantly, Bailey's continued demonization in Blind Allegiance of the likes of Mike Wooten, John Bitney and, most significantly, Andree McLeod - all of whom were victimized by the Palin machine and by Bailey himself, and all of whom have had the courage to stand up to Palin in meaningful ways, without benefit of a payday - indicates that Bailey still doesn't fully grasp the political dynamics of what Palin and her administration did to their victims and to the democratic process in Alaska. 

Bailey has the audacity to opine about Wooten that "he is not a sympathetic person, and, arguably, has no place in law enforcement." This, he writes about a guy he has never met, about whom he admits that many of the charges levied against him by the Palins were grossly exaggerated, and against whom he conducted a shameful two-year campaign to have fired. Who is Bailey kidding with such assessments? Let's not forget that Wooten served 10 years in the U.S. Air Force, participated in a trio of U.S. military operations in the Persian Gulf War - Desert Storm, Desert Shield and Restore Hope - served another three years in the Air National Guards Reserves, and - with the exception of his problems with the Palins, her family, her friends and Bailey - served without incident as a State Trooper for roughly a decade. When I interviewed other Troopers about Wooten, all of them said they'd want him at their side in the trenches. Like a lot of other "Fox News conservatives" - Todd and Sarah Palin being at the top of the list - Bailey rendered no such service. Talk about gall. 

Bailey's self-admonitions in Blind Allegiance amount to little more than flagellatory wrist-slaps. Near the end he concedes, "We hadn't been good Christians. Far from it. We were dishonest and behaved in a vindictive and hateful manner." Yuh think? 

In respect to Wooten he writes: 

"And what, I wish to heaven I'd asked myself, was the importance to our job of governing Alaska in destroying Mike Wooten, and how was that remotely worth the hundreds and hundreds of man-hours spent trying to do so? How, for the love of God, would destroying him personally and professionally make the first family safer, as Sarah and Todd swore over and over was their main concern? 

This tale, unfortunately, includes the worst of Sarah's dysfunctional psyche and administration, including the compulsion to attack enemies, deny truth, play victim, and employ outright deception."

It also reveals the level of Bailey's sycophancy. He was riding shotgun with the Palins the entire sordid journey.On a personal level, Bailey, it would seem to me, still has some deeper penance to serve, some deeper encounter with his Christian values to explore. But that's between Bailey and his god. 

Politically, it's time for the former "Hatchet Man" to do the right thing. He knows that the Petumenos investigation was a sham - marred by misinformation, the withholding of critical documents, missing emails and testimony that doesn't fully jibe with the historical record. Never once during the course of his tenure with Palin - not a single time - did he ever register a meaningful protest against any of her actions. Not once. That's the real tragedy of Blind Allegiance. That for all his professed Christian faith and Christian values, Frank Bailey had no spine, no moral center. He was no different than the Palins.

As many of you are aware, I am friends with both Geoffrey Dunn and Joe McGinniss.

During the unfortunate incident which proceeded the publication of Blind Allegiance, Geoffrey and I e-mailed each other back and forth several times, trying to make sense of what had just happened and why.

During those e-mails, and phone calls, Geoffrey (Who had also read the manuscript), clued me in that there were some serious omissions in the manuscript and even blatant attempts by Bailey to polish up his image, and avoid potential legal trouble. He made it clear then that he was not going to let Bailey's version of events go unchallenged.

This article in the Anchorage Press which Geoffrey has written should bring you up to speed as to what he was alluding to back then.  I urge you to read all of it (Believe me there's a lot more), even though it may force you to reexamine what you think you know about Frank Bailey's character, his religious conviction, and his honesty.

As many of us have long suspected, Bailey may very well have purposefully left many damaging things about the Palins out of his book. Perhaps he did so to provide some continued protection for Todd and Sarah (As it seems clear he is not completely deprogrammed yet), but also to resurrect his damaged reputation, and to save himself from possible criminal proceedings.

Another very positive review of Geoffrey Dunn's book "The Lies of Sarah Palin."

Courtesy of The Agony Column:

Dunn's book is pretty simply constructed. We get the life of Sarah Palin, as told by those who know and knew her, in roughly chronological order. It stands in pretty stark contrast to the official version, however, and here's where Dunn shows his ability to write more than news. While carefully documenting everything he writes about Palin, he also manages to give readers a story, to put things in context. Through fine prose, a remarkable job of excavating witnesses and friends from across the years, and the ability to craft character from fact, Dunn tells us the story of Sarah Palin.

This story is not without controversy, and what Dunn presents contradicts much of the publicity associated with Sarah Palin's carefully constructed image. In a sense, this is also a book about the state of news coverage in American media, where competence and coherence compete for our attention with sheer chutzpah, while we select facts to bolster our own opinions from a buffet of boutique made-for-me outlets. Dunn's story is powerful and convincing, no matter what your political inclinations may be. Of course, you'd have to read it, and by virtue of the title alone, many will understandably be disinclined to do so. They'll certainly miss a compelling story of American politics.

Now that the hubbub over Frank Bailey's book has died down, people are really starting to take a much longer, and more significant look at Geoffrey's book.

I know that people have been comparing the two books, and proclaiming which one they like the best, but in my opinion BOTH books have something important to offer. 

In Bailey's book you get the behind the scenes 411 on what was happening in real time during Palin's campaign, her scandalous behavior while she was Governor, and her frame of mind after she returned from the McCain/Palin campaign trail.

In Dunn's book you get just about everything else.

Of course there is STILL much left untold, which leaves plenty of interesting details, and scandalous facts,  for Joe McGinniss to reveal in his book.

The important thing to note as you read these three books is that they ALL describe Sarah Palin as the duplicitous, manipulative, and deeply troubled woman we all know her to be.

Which of course is in stark contrast to the person described in "Going Rogue",  the propaganda laden "The Undefeated," and even Palin's stupid reality show.

By the way, speaking of the REAL Sarah Palin, you would be well served to take a moment and read what Andrew Halcro had to say about Snowdrift Snooki in his Anchorage Press article entitled "We Can't Make These Things Up." He is ALSO describing a woman, very similar to the one in Baily and Dunn's books.
 

Another excellent review of Geoffrey Dunn's book "The Lies of Sarah Palin."

From OpEd News:

Despite the title of the book, to his credit as a journalist, it must be said that this author tried vainly to give a balanced picture of Mrs. Palin's life and professional resume. However, it seemed that at every turn no matter how hard he tried, the facts of her life kept conspiring against a balanced view of her. On the good side of the ledger, he dutifully reported the reasons why the conservative kingmakers were all gushing over her. At first only the friendly conservative media were doing so, but then later on, the "big dog" powerbrokers inside the Republican Party took up the cause and eventually convinced John McCain that she was an "ideological rock star" worthy of being on the Republican ticket.

As the author repeatedly notes, at first glance and on paper, Palin "shows well," and did indeed seem to reflect the quintessential conservative tribal qualifications: a hockey mom who lived on a lake, ice fished, was a snowmobiler, a lily white beauty queen, who had helped her High School win the State basketball championship -- with roots in Idaho, and who was also tough and gutsy. Moreover, it was well known that she was rabidly pro-gun, pro-life, religiously fundamental, and a proponent of American exceptionalism. Along with this stellar conservative ideological resume, it did not hurt her cause at all that she was also (almost predictably) anti-gay, anti-tax, anti-black, and (even in Alaska) anti-Native American. In short, Mrs. Palin viewed herself (and was viewed by others, especially the conservative Republican powers that be) as coming from a different kind of America: the white sub-tribe of "real" Americans.

After a "quick and dirty" vetting process (that would later prove to have been disastrous), Palin was certified as "Grade A" republican material, prancing with the Republican "big dogs on the national stage as John McCain's Vice Presidential candidate. As it turns out, this would be the end of the good news in the book of Sarah Heath Palin. As McCain and others on the national scene would abruptly find out, Ms. Palin was a lot less than meets the eye. In due course, they would discover that she was a lying and deceiving politician as well as a vengeful and hypocritical human being and very much un-Christian like in her behavior -- a fact well known to Alaskans who had dealt with her well before Ms. Palin made her national debut.

This review is DEFINITELY worth the read, in fact it was so good it almost made me want to go back and read Geoffrey's wonderful book again.  And you know, I JUST now finished Bailey's book so you would think I needed a break.

I am very glad to see my friend getting some more attention.  In my opinion his book deserves to be read by EVERYONE with any interest in politics, Sarah Palin, or how the Republican party chooses their candidates.