Blind Allegiance To Sarah Palin: A Memoir Of Our Tumultuous Years (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
Throughout the annuls of history there were some people who took great joy in destroying other peoples' livelihoods. This book was about a small group of them and how an individual tried to make it look like he was an innocent man in all of the mess that he proactively and aggressively created.Frank Bailey repeatedly asserts that it was The Palins that made him take the punitive, slanderous and libelous courses of action against innocent people. His stories make it seem like he enjoys the "thrill of the kill" by escalating little situations into enormous ones. I should have know that this was the case when I first started reading "Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin." The author wasted no time in advising his reader(s) that a competing writer, an investigative reporter by the name of Joe McGinniss, had hijacked the first draft of Frank Bailey's book and rushed the piece into production. An ironic twist was that McGinniss' book lead me to read Frank Bailey's "Blind Allegiance," not the other way around. Except for a few people in the tangled web of stories contained in both books, there is no way that the two compilations seem similar...neither in their style, relationships, perspective, grammar, spelling, character development, Alaskan history and culture, nor individual author's stance. When the books are compared to one another, "Blind Allegiance" is a poorly written piece verses McGinniss' page-turning read. The subject of "Trooper-gate" is covered in both books, but in vastly different ways. Frank Bailey has it as the subject of many chapters, and I stress this because he uses his book to repeatedly abuse the defendants of "Trooper-gate:" Trooper Wooten and Walt Monegan, both highly respected (not perfect) people in their field(s). Bailey tries to claim how sorry he is about what he has done to wrongfully destroy the personal and professional lives of these men, but he spends so much time re-iterating what he has done that it comes across as though he is proud of his actions. It is deplorable behavior, every step of the way.Let the readers be clear about something else as well: Frank Bailey pursued Sarah Palin. He begged to be part of her team in any capacity and didn't stop pursuing her until she accepted him. Why wouldn't she! Frank made it easy to understand why he was working in the gopher-type of roles to be supportive of Sarah Palin's campaign, but that was never what he really wanted: it was the esteemed position of Campaign Director or Manager. This role was always the goal, and he was going to do anything (to anybody) to get that post.The deeper into the "trouble" he created the more he utilized biblical quotes and stories, as though they would make him a more likeable guy. The trend was obivious and parallelled someone who enjoyed quoting The Bible out of context (ie: "Thou shalt not kill," but does this apply to self-defense?). Where was the rest of the paragraph or story? Bailey continued this pattern with Emails and, in some cases, blamed the Alaska General's office for having to delete content; so, once again, the reader must understand a message only in the context of Frank Bailey. Joe McGinniss didn't seem to have that challenge.This book clearly showed how disingenuous of a human being Frank Bailey was and that he was as much of a traitor to the people of Alaska as he described The Palins to be. If Frank Bailey was truly sorry for his actions, all of the proceeds from this book would go to the two slandered men of "Trooper-gate." However, Frank won't do that, because this book is more about trying to make the readers feel sorry for him. Therefore, I found it a challenge to view this book as nothing more than a device with which to further victimize Wooten and Monegan while trying to curry some sort of favor with the public in order to secure a successful future for himself without any real consequences. Mr. Bailey delineates his relationship with Sarah Palin from the time she became a candidate for the governorship of Alaska to the period after her failed attempt at the vicepresidency.Throughout hefound that as one lie proceeded another,his loyalty was tested to the point that the strain caused himto end the relationship. Thus, he finally quit serving Palin and returned to his former ethical self.
What do You think about Blind Allegiance To Sarah Palin: A Memoir Of Our Tumultuous Years (2011)?
Read only if you are a sucker for "bad Sarah Palin" stories. Otherwise there's nothing of interest.
—AstridGeraldine
Anyone who voted in 2008 should read this book. Very courageous personal memoir.
—Nicola
