Frank Bailey's book about his former boss Sarah Palin hits stores Tuesday, and the book will offer primary documents that could shed new light on the possible presidential candidate. Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years is based on tens of thousands of Palin emails Bailey hoarded during his years of service, which began during her 2006 campaign for governor of Alaska. But the major revelations in Bailey's book have already been made public when the manuscript was leaked earlier this year. Bailey is also being investigated by Alaska's attorney general for illegally using state-owned email for personal gain.
Bailey charges that Palin quit as governor to become a national figure--and that she wanted to quit in February 2009, just after she and John McCain lost the election. He accuses her of violating ethic laws in working with the Republican Governor's Association in her gubernatorial campaign. He complains that her staffers had to frequently make excuses for her when she failed to honor commitments. "Getting Sarah to meetings and events was like nailing Jell-O to a tree," he writes, adding that she went through 10 schedulers who lasted just a few months each.
Jezebel's Anna North writes that Bailey's revelations don't seem all that surprising after a couple years of Palin-themed reality shows. "Bailey's book now seems poised not to topple a 'queen on a horse' (which is how he apparently saw her when she entered Alaska politics), but to heap further scorn on someone few people still see as a serious presidential contender," North writes. "This is a relief not just because a Palin presidency would be so awful, but because the Palin rumor mill itself has become incredibly tiresome." North hopes that Bailey's book gets little fanfare, which would show that the country's is tired of the Palin fame machine.
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Elspeth Reeve
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