The Leak of Frank Bailey's Book

We hope that Frank Bailey's book, tentatively titled "Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years," will be published. The book is very much an Alaskan story, albeit with national implications should Palin choose to run for national office, so it's important that it be published. There is some doubt, now, however, that it will ever be published.

Ken Morris has posted "Say it Ain’t So, Joe! Co-Author of Leaked Palin Book Speaks Out" at Mudflats. The post includes a letter sent to Joe McGinniss, author of Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin, which is scheduled to be published on September 20, 2011. The letter accuses McGinniss of two things: 1) Infringing the authors' copyright and 2) Impairing the manuscript's marketability by disseminating it.

We posted an excerpt of the original of Alaska Dispatch's current story about the leak, as well as links to articles where recipients of the manuscript had commented on or quoted from the manuscript. Our only quote from the manuscript, which was attributed to Sarah Palin in the manuscript, was taken from Alaska Dispatch's initial story about the leak. We have reconsidered our use of the quote after reviewing Alaska Dispatch's response to a legal firm representing the manuscript's co-authors. Our quote of the remark attributed to Sarah Palin and our excerpt from Alaska Dispatch's original article have been removed.

Update: There is quite an amusing post -- a laugh-out-loud post -- at the blog of 'a German attorney who will identify himself only as “Patrick.”' He claims to have received a cease and desist letter and treats it very cavalierly, for an attorney. They claim to have removed some things that they claim were obtained from other news outlets, but they have retained quotes from the manuscript's e-mails; e-mails they apparently thought might support their opinions about Trig Palin's birth, but may not. I write "they," because although the response appears to be signed by "Kathleen," the response is preceeded by "Therefore, we inevitably have to give a reply." I seem to recall, from Shakespeare, "'tis but the breath of an unfeed lawyer," and something else -- not from Shakespeare -- something about a fool and a client ... oh, yes, "A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client."

Update: Wonkette has a humorous treatment of the leak, too, at "Leaked Book SHOCKER: Sarah Palin Is Terrible."

Update: A voice from the back seat asks, "Are we there yet?" If you'd like to read about another angle to the manuscript leak story, palingates has posted "Frank Bailey and Sarah Palin's e-mails." If you'd like something different, about a breakthrough in another Palin story, see Malia Litman's "The Anchorage Police Admit Misstatements!" If you're fed-up with all things Palin, you may be able to find something else to read by scrolling down the sidebar, on the left.

Frank Bailey's Manuscript, 'Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin', Leaked

NOTE: Some of the articles at the Alaska Dispatch links have disappeared. This morning, the links were changed, so I updated them. A short while later, a login was required. Later, hitting the links brought up an "Access Denied" page. I'll check, later, to see whether the Alaska Dispatch posts have been moved or restored. The links to articles at other news outlets still appear to be working (1400 PST of February 21, 2011). 1615 PST: The Alaska Dispatch story about the leak is available again; however, it is not the original story.

NOTE: We have another post about the leaked manuscript, here.


Frank Bailey was a key aide to former governor Sarah Palin. He has written a book -- unpublished -- about his time with Palin while she was governor. The book's manuscript was leaked to Alaska Dispatch, which posted "'Tell-all' book by ex-Palin aide leaked to media:"

[We have removed the excerpt of Alaska Dispatch's original story about the leak after reviewing Alaska Dispatch's response to the legal firm that represents the manuscript's co-authors.]

There may be more at the Alaska Dispatch website; see the link, above. They consider this to be a developing story, so they may be updating it.


Updates: Alaska Dispatch has updated with information about how the manuscript came into their hands.

Today: Book News, at NBC, has a story, via Anchorage's KTUU; they have indicated that there will be updates.

The Anchorage NBC affiliate's website is KTUU.com. KTUU's current story is here.

The Anchorage Daily News has a politics blog, which has several posts, here.

Alaska's Andrew Halcro, who ran against Palin in 2006, writes in his blog that Bailey's book validates everything he has written about Palin.

Gryphen has posted "The Leak of Frank Bailey's Book."

The AP has posted a story, "Aide planning tell-all about time with Palin."

Mudflats has a post by one of the authors collaborating on Bailey's book: "Frank Bailey's Memoir Leaked to Press (and a surprise)."

Alaska Dispatch has posted "Frank Bailey: Sarah Palin knowingly broke election law."

Alaska Dispatch has posted "Why did Palin name a pro-choice judge to the Alaska Supreme Court?"


Update of Saturday morning, February 19, 2011:

Sean Cockerham and Kyle Hopkins of The Anchorage Daily News write:

A leaked manuscript by one of Sarah Palin's closest aides from her time as governor charges that Palin broke state election law in her 2006 gubernatorial campaign and was consumed by petty grievances up until she resigned.

The unpublished book by Frank Bailey was leaked to the media and widely circulated on Friday.

The manuscript opens with an account of Palin sending Bailey a message saying "I hate this damn job" shortly before she resigned as Alaska's governor in July 2009, less than three years into her four-year term. The manuscript goes on for nearly 500 pages, a mixture of analysis, gossip and allegation.

Copies of the manuscript were forwarded around Alaska political circles on Friday. The Daily News received copies from multiple sources, the first from author Joe McGinniss, who is working on his own Palin book. McGinniss didn't respond to a message asking where he obtained the manuscript and the reason he circulated it. ...

There is much more at the Daily News' article by Cockerham and Hopkins.

The Daily News' political blog, here, continues to be updated. It includes Becky Bohrer's AP article, along with posts about an "obsession" with punishing Mike Wooten (Sarah Palin's former brother-in-law), about the making of an "illegal" campaign ad (with video), and about Frank Bailey becoming "Todd's go-to guy."


Update of Monday morning, February 21, 2011:

At Mudflats, one of the manuscript's co-authors has posted a letter from the co-authors to Joe McGinniss. The letter claims that McGinniss has violated copyright law and impaired the authors' ability to market the manuscript: "Say it Ain’t So, Joe! Co-Author of Leaked Palin Book Speaks Out." Joe McGinniss is the author of Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin, which, after several delays, is now scheduled to be published on September 20, 2011.

The NY Daily News has "Sarah Palin tell-all written by ex-aide Frank Bailey promises 'revelations and insights' into ex-gov."

The Washington Post has "Ex-aide slams Palin in leaked manuscript."

ABC News has "Sarah Palin Bashed in Former Aide's Leaked Manuscript."

CNN has "Report: Ex-aide slams Palin in leaked book."

The Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan has "More Scoop On Palin: Her Reliable Media Mouthpieces. Sullivan writes: "[...] Bailey was as close to the Palins as anyone from Palin's first race for governor to the bitter end, is a rock-ribbed Fox News Republican, has vast amounts of firsthand data (the emails he has published alone reveal a lot), has contempt for Trig skeptics like yours truly, and comes to a simple conclusion in retrospect: Palin is a dangerous, vindictive, incompetent, congenital liar who has no business in any public office. Any publisher interested in the truth about Palin (Harper Collins therefore need not apply) should fight to publish it." Yes, it is a simple conclusion -- long overdue -- and it's good to see that Sullivan realizes that "Trig skepticism" misses the mark: there were and are real, verfiable issues about Palin's fitness for office. "Trig skepticism" is a Palin-circus sideshow that helps Palin more than it hurts her.

Tom Kavanagh of Politics Daily has served up: "As Governor, Palin Allegedly Told Aide: 'I Hate This Job'." Kavanagh states, concerning "Troopergate:" "The Alaska State Personnel Board investigated the matter and ruled that Palin did not violate state ethics laws;" however, a bi-partisan panel of the Alaska legislature found differently (re: Branchflower).

The Story is in The Story

Paul Jenkins of The Anchorage Daily News has written "Always on the hunt, Palin shown what to do," which ends:

... But the story is in the story. All but [Maureen] Dowd seemed to miss the boatload of delicious allegory about Palin's life and politics wrapped up in the episode. It was Palin on the hunt; on the hunt always. First, it was small-town politicos in Wasilla who befriended her, then GOP Chief Randy Ruedrich, then Frank Murkowski, who appointed her to a cushy job, and finally, a shot at Barack Obama. Older white men carrying her guns, loading them and handing them to her, advising her, telling her when to shoot, showing her how to do the job. Letting them do the work. Out of her element. Indoor girl in an outdoor world. Missed shot after missed shot after missed shot. Blaming someone or something else when it all goes south. Killing a scrawny little caribou to sell the image. Jumping the ship of state after only two disinterested, unengaged years, going for something bigger. Out of her element. Peddling the lie. The mama grizzly. Sarah the Sniper. ...

"Disinterested, unengaged." Perhaps that explains why Craig Medred wrote recently in "Palin's Record vs. Palin's Facebook," which is concerned with the discrepancies between Sarah Palin's record as Governor of Alaska and what she says she did as governor, "Sometimes it's pretty easy to get the impression that what Palin says and what Palin does, or what she believes she's done, are two distinctly different things."

Isn't it possible that Sarah Palin doesn't know what was done by the state's executive branch while she was governor? Wouldn't that explain why "her record" is at variance with what she says she did?

Will the real Governor of Alaska, while Sarah Palin warmed the chair, please stand up.

Maureen Dowd's "Pass the Caribou stew," which was mentioned by Jenkins, is here.

Oops! Sarah 'Pinocchio' Palin's Nose Is Showing

Craig Medred of Alaska Dispatch has written "Palin's Record vs. Palin's Facebook:"

... Sometimes it's pretty easy to get the impression that what Palin says and what Palin does, or what she believes she's done, are two distinctly different things. ...

... Why Palin exaggerates and misleads like this, when the truth might be quite good enough, is hard to know. She doesn't answer questions from the media. She basically only talks to Fox News, which pays her. She doesn't get asked any tough questions by the Fox crowd, and her only other means of direct communication with the public at-large is via Facebook, a one-way street down which Palin can roll her "truth" to the masses. ...

Real Alaskans Don't Hunt Like Sarah Palin

From Alaska Dispatch:

Real Alaskans must envy the way former, half-term Gov. Sarah Palin hunts on her TV reality show, "Sarah Palin's Alaska.'' All real Alaskans, excepting the comparative few who still live in rural Alaska, scrimp and save and finagle to try to find a way to make work the economics of hunting in the 49th state. Alaska is the most expensive place in America to hunt big game, which makes hunting complicated for the poor and average folk.

Not so for Palin. When she goes to the freezer and finds it low on vittles, she decides to take "a couple of days'' to fly from Wasilla to the Brooks Range to shoot a caribou. Most Alaskans would spend a couple of days just driving from Wasilla or Anchorage to Deadhorse on the Dalton Highway, a road distance of about 850 miles, to save money to be able to afford a charter flight back into the country.

Not Palin. She charters a twin-engine DeHavilland Dash, a much more comfortable way to travel, to the tune of more than $35,000. ...

There is much more in the story, "Palin's big game hunt not reality for most Alaskans", by Craig Medred of Alaska Dispatch. Don't miss it.


Hollywood Life is reporting:

... The grand Palin total to bag a caribou and get it back to the Palin homestead added up to $42,400, or $141.33 per lb. of caribou meat. Sarah shot and killed a female cow which may have weighed up to 300 lbs.

Just to put this in perspective, the Palins could have filled their freezer with ribeye steak at $10.99 a lb. from Alaska’s Mr. Prime Beef, which is based in Anchorage and ships anywhere in the state. ...

However, Craig Medred noted: "Palin's caribou was estimated to cost more than $140 per pound, but that figure is surely low, given that it calculated only the costs of lodging and transportation and assumed she got 300 pounds of meat off the little caribou cow she shot."

Update: Gryphen has posted "Take a moment to watch what a REAL Alaskan subsistence lifestyle is all about."

Alaska's Republican, Tea Party Candidate for U.S. Senate Violated 'Alaska Dispatch' Editor's Constitutional Rights

Guards for Alaskan Senate candidate Joe Miller, a self-proclaimed Constitutional Law expert, detained Tony Hopfinger, editor of The Alaska Dispatch, while he was attempting to ask Miller questions at a town hall meeting, which was held last night at Anchorage's Central Middle School. From The Alaska Dispatch:

... Anchorage Police freed Alaska Dispatcher editor Tony Hopfinger from Senate candidate Joe Mlller's body guards at Central Middle School early Sunday evening. Sergeant Mark Rein of the Anchorage Police Department said Hopfinger is not in custody or under arrest.

Hopfinger had been trying to ask Miller questions when two or three guards told him to leave or risk being charged with trespassing.

When Hopfinger continued to try to ask questions, one of the guards put the reporter in an arm-bar and then handcuffed him.

Hopfinger was released after police arrived.

The reporter was on public property where a public event was being held at the time of the incident. ...

Another Alaska Dispatch story has more of what happened, directly from its editor, Hopfinger, and the security guard, William Fulton. That story notes:

... Despite Fulton telling Alaska Dispatch and various other media outlets that he knew he was dealing with a reporter, the Joe Miller campaign promptly put out a press release saying, "It is also important to note that the security personnel did not know that the individual they detained was a blogger who reporting on the campaign [sic]."

The press release was headlined "Liberal Blogger Loses it at Town Hall Meeting," although Miller knows well that Dispatch, which is involved in a lawsuit to obtain Miller's Fairbanks personnel records, is not a "blog" but an established online news magazine.

Video footage from Central Middle School cameras may have captured the incident, and Alaska Dispatch will be asking the Anchorage School District to release it.

It is not known at this time whether Hopfinger will be filing charges against the men who detained him. ...

Alaska Dispatch, as well as the Fairbanks News Miner and Anchorage's Daily News have all gone to court to obtain Miller's record as a public employee in Fairbanks in order to learn why his employement there ended.


Gryphen of IM went to the Town Hall meeting and has a report, here. Shannyn Moore has posted about the incident at The Huffington Post, here.

Politico has a report, here. CNN's report is here. Anchorage's KTVA has a report, here. The Anchorage Daily News' report is here.

Beck/Palin Anchorage Show: Big Nothing Burger

Craig Medred's story, "With special guest Sarah Palin, the Glenn Beck show rolled into Anchorage," comes with an interesting slideshow and begins:

Fresh from the Capitol Mall in Washington, D.C., the Glenn Beck American revival show rolled into Anchorage Saturday night with special guest Sarah Palin.

What little real news there was came quickly. Palin, the half-term former governor of Alaska and unsuccessful though much-loved Republican candidate for vice-president, will keep the country waiting on whether she plans a bid for the presidency in 2012. Not so for Fox News star Beck. "No, I'm not going to run," he said point blank when asked by Palin, on the stage, about his presidential aspirations. ...

So, it was a nothing burger in terms of an announcement. Nobody should have had to ask Beck whether he was going to run -- Hello, Sarah? -- because he very clearly said -- last month! -- that he wouldn't run. Beck went to Alaska for a vacation and to raise some money by selling expensive tickets to his show.

Alaska Dispatch's story is interesting, nonetheless. Did you know that Glenn Beck was once a girl?


Update: Mudflats has a story about Palin's appearance in Anchorage, and Grypen has a story about her appearance in Wasilla.