…And with quite the potty mouth and penchant for name calling, to boot! As first reported in the Anchorage Daily News and as featured in today's Politico.com (links to full story at bottom of post), the manuscript was authored by former Palin aide Frank Bailey and contains not only his personal observations and opinions with respect to Palin, but also a bevy of purported e-mails from the "Mama Grizzly" herself.The picture painted is that of a rather loony, shallow, self-absorbed lout who obsessed over her image and media coverage, and who often made bad coverage and rumors worse by focusing on them and thereby exacerbating the situation. And perhaps the most entertaining aspect of it all is Palin's propensity for referring to democrats and the media as "the bad guys" like she's some sort of conservative variant of Tony Montana from Scarface!
Her Public Image
Bailey writes that Palin was obsessed with her image, that she would often write her own letters to the editor with glowing self-praise and then send the letters using someone else's name as the purported author!
When an Alaska TV station had an online poll asking if people agreed with Palin's decision to reject federal stimulus dollars, Bailey writes that Palin and her people tried to sabotage the poll with myriad phony votes from them! Cookin' the ol' votes, you might say!
Bailey writes: "[They] invested time, energy, and emotion into linking our computers and utilizing our software into generating votes in favor." E-mails referred to "refreshing the results [of the poll] to run up the votes."
And reportedly this little charade actually worked for a while, much to Palin's pleasure!: "When an aide said Palin was initially leading the unscientific survey, the governor responded, 'Oh thank God!' "
Her Family
Palin is portrayed by Bailey as obsessing about any and every rumor regarding her family, not matter how obscure or preposterous. He writes that this would lead her to make the issue worse, such as when she repeated the ridiculous "Todd is not Track's dad" rumor in an e-mail to supporters. Palin also fired off an e-mail to an aide describing the rumor as a "dumbass" and "bullshit lie."
Her Job
Palin is depicted as obsessing about her national image rather than Alaska issues in the time period preceding her quitting as Alaska Governor. "I hate this damn job!", she reportedly once proclaimed in an apparent reference to all that damn pesky Alaska business that was always getting in the way!
The Democrats
While still Alaska's governor, and during a time when her poll numbers were dropping, Palin's handlers reportedly tried make in public "the unsubstantiated case that she was being targeted by the Obama White House and the Democratic National Committee." In an e-mail, Palin seemed to acknowledge that such claim had nothing to support it, but she appeared to believe it nonetheless as she dropped her favorite "bad guys" phrase on the democrats, along with other colorful language:
"We have no smoking gun that proves we're being targeted by the bad guys, so it probably sounds to many like I'm a whining bitch who stubbornly refuses to govern in the public's best interest."
The Media
Bailey quotes Palin as promising to avoid appearing on any television network other than Fox News because she thought the people at the other networks were "the bad guys." For good measure, Palin spewed: "I am through with the idiots who use and abuse us . . . I hate giving them ratings boosts."
Now, do those other networks tend to be left-leaning in their slant and have they often seemed obsessed with negative Palin coverage? Yes. But that hardly means every reporter at the other networks is a "bad guy" or an "idiot." That's just ludicrous.
And apparently to Palin, even sometimes Fox News is "the bad guy." Palin reportedly fumed over some people on Fox criticizing her for not saying enough in defense of Carrie Prejean, the beauty pageant winner stripped of her crown for being opposed to gay marriage. In one e-mail, Palin bragged about having "the balls" to say anything in Prejean's defense.
It also reportedly bothered Palin that talking to the media typically meant that the reporter – and not Palin – would control the substance of the questions to her (Imagine That!). Said Palin: "If I call those reporters then I'm on the hook to answer all their other questions they want."
After Palin's poor performance during her now-infamous June 2009 interview with CBS' Katie Couric, Bailey indicates that Palin has continued to hold a "grudge" against Couric. Wrote Palin: "She SUCKED in ratings before she stumbled upon her little gig mocking me." Palin also pats herself on the back for saving Couric's job by giving her the interview: "She did almost lose her job before the VP interview." My, are not we full of ourselves (I think I said that about Lady Gaga recently)!
When daughter Bristol's baby daddy Levi Johnston appeared on the "Today Show," Palin blew her stack yet again. "Sickening, sickening," ranted Palin, further spouting: "Journalism ethics are non-existent. They sat there and let the coached puppet spew one lie after another."
Her Handlers
Palin reportedly made things a nightmare for her schedule staffers (1) by "her frequent backing out of commitments" coupled with (2) eating staffers alive for their difficulties in dealing with the almost impossible situation. Wrote Bailey:
"Getting Sarah to meetings and events was like nailing Jell-O to a tree. On the campaign trail and as governor, Sarah went through at least ten schedulers, with few lasting more than a few months. Nobody wanted the job because Sarah might fail to honor, at the last minute, the smallest commitments, and making excuses for her became a painful burden."
Palin reportedly reduced one schedule staffer to tears, causing the staffer to quit. Still another staffer hit the road after Palin copied the staffer "on an e-mail from Sarah trashing her."
Fellow Republicans
The GOP congressional campaign committees once took back an invitation for Palin to speak at a fundraising dinner when they had trouble confirming with her that she would even attend the event. Newt Gingrich got the invitation instead, and Palin hit the internal e-mail route once again to start blasting away!
First, Palin referred to Gingrich and the GOP as "egotistical, narrow minded machine goons." Next she credited God for seeing to it that she would not have to appear at an event at which she would have to praise Gingrich.
Palin reportedly said that any such praise would have come back to haunt her because Gingrich eventually "would have shown his true colors," and then she'd be accused of "prostituting" herself by "acting like that good ol’ rich white guy is the savior of the party." [That stuff, BTW, just strikes me as completely delusional. Who has ever called Gingrich a "savior" of the GOP, leastways in the past 15 years? Now, is he a typical republican boring white male retread presidential candidate? Most def.]
With respect to thanking God for her not having to go to that GOP fundraiser, Bailey writes that Palin also had another reason that she was greatful "to the almighty." Said Palin in an e-mail: "Plus, I had nothing to wear, and God knew that too"!
http://www.adn.com/2011/02/18/1711185/ex-aide-rips-palin-in-leaked-manuscript.html
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0211/49938.html
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