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.

About those Palin books...

I just returned from visiting my local Barnes & Noble store where I was picking up a hard copy of Frank Bailey's book (There are a couple of intriguing pictures which did not show up on my Nook).

I became a little discouraged when it took me a long time to locate one, and when I did it was tucked almost completely out of sight in the political book section.

When I went to make my purchase I complained about how hard it was to find and asked why there was only the one. 

The nice lady behind the counter said, 'Oh we can't keep that one on the shelves."  She further told me that just as soon as they put them out on the display, they are bought up and they have to order more.

"To be honest," she said. "I am surprised you found that one."

I then decided to ask about Geoffrey's book and was told virtually the same information, however she did point to a display table that had about seven of his books still available for purchase.

I came away feeling very gratified that Alaskans were so interested in finally learning the unvarnished truth about the woman who had redefined our state in a fairly horrific manner to millions of people across the country.

Currently Bailey's book, Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin is ranked number one in Amazon's  Bestsellers in State & Local Government, number five in the category of  Politics, and number twenty five in Memoirs.

Geoffrey Dunn's book, The Lies of Sarah Palin,  has suffered from a much less energetic publicity campaign than Frank Bailey's.  However it is, as of this post, number thirteen on Amazon's  Bestsellers in Political Leader Biographies category, and in the category of Bestsellers in Womens' Biographies it is currently ranked thirty one.

So as you can see despite the desperate attempts by the Palin media trolls to discredit them, these books are really doing pretty well.  Not only that, as Geoffrey Dunn recently pointed out in a phone conversation, these books are really ALL describing "the same person."  Whether it be Baily's book, Dunn's book, or even the book being written by Joe McGinniss, the main character will be easily recognizable from one book to another. (And the same can be said for the upcoming babygate book as well.)

That is the simple truth when revealing the actual facts about somebody.  No matter where those facts are laid out, whether in a book, a movie, a documentary, or even on a blog, that person will always be the same no matter from which angle they are being viewed.  Fake tan, fake glasses, herpes sores, and all.

It is only in the mythological realm where Palin WANTS people to learn about her, such as her book "Going Rogue," her ill fated reality television show, or this ridiculous movie, "The Undefeated," that facts become constantly mutating bits of protozoa, which tend to expand, stretch, or evolve depending through which medium they are observed.

And my friends that is exactly why Sarah Palin does not want to you to read these books, visit this blog, or see her interviewed by a real reporter.  The magic trick only works if you cannot see up the magicians sleeve or what is really happening behind the curtain, because once the smoke and mirrors are removed the magic is all but gone.

In other words Palin-bots, once you finally see Sister Sarah for who she really is, "Poof!" She will be no more.

Good reviews so far on Geoffrey Dunn's book

From McLeans CA

Sfgate.com

I'm still waiting for my copy.  I got it ordered late and now it's on back order.  Ugh!

After a day like today with so much Sarah Palin and Sean Hannity overload, you just need to take a shot of Cafferty. Jack Cafferty that is.

Ahh, that's the stuff!

And did you hear what Jack said?  Geoffrey Dunn's book "ought to be required reading for anybody considering supporting a Presidential run by this woman."

I agree, because if you had even half of a brain, reading what is in that book should send you screaming into the arms of ANY other Republican candidate.

Another Geoffrey Dunn interview!

From Mercury News:

Q. Palin is a pretty well-covered subject, and I think it's difficult to make a case that she's been treated with kid gloves by the mainstream media. Her popularity persists regardless. What does this book add to the conversation?

A. Not kid gloves, but maybe 16-ounce gloves. Part of the problem with mainstream journalism is their 24-hour news cycles and lack of in-depth reporting. The major example is TrooperGate. I turned up several emails and records that never have seen public light. And I've turned up dozens, if not hundreds of documents, that no one had ever seen before. Now, was it because I was a great investigative journalist? Not really. It was because I was persistent, and developed sources.

Q. Could you talk about some of the sources you were able to develop? How did you get that kind of access? Did writing for the Huffington Post help?

A. The fact that I knew Alaska, that I had a history in the state really helped me. I knew my way around the state, and I knew my way around the culture, helped me. The fact that I came from a fishing family here in Santa Cruz helped me. That I had family members that had been going up there to fish for years. But I didn't just do this as a fly-by-night reporter. I developed friendships; people had a confidence in me. In addition to that, the fact that I was breaking stories for the Huffington Post, gave people confidence that I could, one, respect confidentiality, and two, do a good job with it. They worked hand in hand. I thought I was going to have to tell the story of the election through the eyes of Democrats, that the only people that were ever going to talk to me were Democratic operatives who were following Palin around, so that's how I was going to tell the story. In fact, the Republicans leaked me everything. There are documents and emails in the book from Republican operatives during the McCain campaign, and no one's ever seen those. And they really tell the story on the ground of what it was like to work for Sarah Palin.

What's fascinating to me is the reaction of two people to her selection as vice-presidential candidate: George Bush and Barack Obama. Both said she'll never get up to speed. There's no way she can ever get up to speed. This is unfair to her and unfair to her family.

Two national figures who know how hard that road is, knew she wasn't ready for it.

I am sorry I am posting this so late.  I tried to put put up yesterday, but you all know what yesterday was like.

Anyhow click the link and give it a read, it has more interesting information about Dunn's research and his opinion of her political future.

 I REALLY hope that Geoffrey gets much more attention in the near future.  His book is really quite good.

Geoffrey Dunn, the author of "The Lies of Sarah Palin," in his own words.



Geoffrey Dunn and Gryphen in Alaska

Below is my interview with author, and my good friend, Geoffrey Dunn.

I attempted to ask Geoffrey questions that perhaps others would not think to ask him, as well as those to which I already knew the answers, but thought all of you might enjoy learning about as well.

Hopefully this interview will clear up some of the misconceptions that are swirling about concerning the research done for this book, and provide some insight into just what a herculean task writing a book which reveals the truth about such a secretive person can turn out to be.

So get a cup of your favorite beverage, sit back, and enjoy the conversation.

Gryphen: What was your very initial impression of Sarah Palin, when she first came onto the scene?

Geoffrey Dunn: I felt like I saw right through her from the get-go. I never felt, to steal a phrase from Gertrude Stein, like there was a there there. I knew people in the Mat-Su who said that her mayorship in Wasilla had been a disaster. I just never bought into the hype. When she was nominated for vice-president, I knew there was trouble ahead, and I was right.

Gryphen: How long did it take for you to start thinking there might be a problem with her ability to tell the truth?

Dunn: You know, there’s a fascinating editorial from the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman that was written in 1996. And it’s devoted to Palin’s inability to tell the truth. It’s stunning. It’s been part of her M.O. from the beginning. In November of last year my friends in Alaska all emailed me about her lying about the weather in Juneau when she was on Fox News. She lies about the weather. She lies about everything. As I say in the book, it’s a pathology.

Gryphen: When did you first decide to write a book about her, and what was the impetus of that idea?

Dunn: I had no intention of ever writing a book about Palin when I first started writing about her for the Huffington Post. None. Nada. I assumed that someone would grab a book deal about her and run with it. Plus, I didn’t want to spend a couple of years working on a book about her. But then several people started encouraging me to write a book – this was near the end of the 2008 campaign – and remember, she was coming back to Alaska to finish out her term for governor —and so the first idea for a book was that it would be a reflection on the interface between Alaska politics and the Outside. That has always fascinated me since my first trip to Alaska in 1974. Most people Outside have no clue about what is going on in Alaska. And then of course, she came back to Alaska and clearly had no interest in being governor anymore – none – she absolutely hated it. She’d seen the lights of the big city and wasn’t going to be kept down on the farm. So the book changed because her position in American political discourse changed. She became a national icon and she has stayed a national icon.

Gryphen: Did you find it easy to locate people in Alaska who were willing to go on the record about Sarah Palin?

Dunn: Nothing was “easy” about this book. Nothing. You know, Michael Paul Gross came to Alaska and said that no one would speak to him on the record. Ditto with several other reporters. I built up trust over two years with several people and the vast majority went on-the-record with their comments. But nothing was easy. And the Palin supporters have always attacked anyone who goes on the record. Viciously.

Gryphen: Did you make contact with any of the Palins close friends or associates? If you did what were your impressions?

Dunn: Yes, of course I made contact with several people who were at one time close to the Palins, and some who still claimed to be close. All good people. But it’s a fascinating river of human carnage that have been thrown under the bus by Palin—from Wasilla to Juneau to the McCain campaign, and now, even to SarahPAC. And they all draw the same portrait of Sarah Palin – and a pretty portrait it is not. Next week there will be another book out by one of her closest supporters – someone who was one of her closest confidantes, Frank Bailey. And he draws the same portrait.

Gryphen: What shocking bit of information about Sarah most surprised you while researching this book?

Dunn: The fact that she clearly and openly betrayed John McCain during the 2008 campaign. Now you can say, well, of course, everyone knew that. But when I stepped back from my book and looked at the whole story, that really hit me: she openly and willfully betrayed John McCain in the middle of the campaign. Wow. Think about it.

Gryphen: There have been some allegations from a few readers who claim that your sources were lying. How do you answer such charges?

Dunn: I checked up on the stories that were told and got confirmation from others. And I will forever stand by my sources. But look, one doesn’t need to question their rendition of events. The most devastating revelations in my book are those that are unchallenged, for which Sarah Palin is herself the source. And the most ringing is Palin’s tone-deaf and morally bereft response to the shooting of Gabby Giffords and the killing of six innocent bystanders in Tucson. Watch that tape again. It’s a shameful moment in American history. Appalling. And the commentators I cite in response to Palin’s speech are Republican and conservative commentators, not liberal ones. Watching Palin’s response made me sick to my stomach. It still does. That’s why I call the Epilogue to my book, “Crosshairs.”

Let me also add this—whenever someone attacks Palin, the minions circle the wagons and attack the messenger. They’ve done it every time. It’s soooo predictable. And when you watch it enough, the Palin inner-circle takes on all the qualities of a cult. And these people are cultish in their behavior. If you read the Bailey book, one reading is that those in the inner-circle were like cult members. It required an unquestioning dedication to Palin. The all drank the Koo-Aid.

Gryphen: Did you have to pay anybody to get them to speak with you?

Dunn: That’s a joke. No one was paid. The fact that anyone would claim that is another Palin scam and lie. Add it to the list. And it’s a very long list. The only one who has ever made money off the Palin scam is Palin herself.

Gryphen: Did anybody you interviewed have only positive things to say about Sarah Palin? And if so did they appear impaired in some way?

Dunn: Two people I interviewed only had positive things to say about Palin. And I included their comments in the book. I would like to spend more time with each and push them on their perceptions. But I like them both very much. They like me. Or they did. And they probably think my book is too hard on her. Which is funny, because a few people have thought I was too easy on her. Which proves, for anyone considering writing yet another book on her, that you need to be true to yourself in the portrait you draw. You can’t worry what anyone else thinks. And I don’t.

Gryphen: Have you had any bad experiences with Palin supporters?

Dunn: Yes, plenty. They’re entitled to their opinions. But I don’t really give them any juice and I refuse to engage it. And I’m not going to here.

Gryphen: Joe McGinniss is also writing a book about Sarah Palin, are you friends or mortal foes?

Dunn: I have to chuckle at that. It was you and other Alaska bloggers who informally introduced me to Joe last summer, through mutual emails and the like. And we have struck up a friendship that has become very important in my life. We have many things in common and he has been a mentor to me. One thing is that I’m Italian (on my mother’s side) and I lived in Italy during the mid-1980s. And he wrote a great book about Italian soccer, The Miracle of Castel di Sangro. He speaks Italian and has an Italian sensibility. Who would have thought? Two writers with Irish names speaking Italian to one another. He is il mio fratello negro. I’ll let you figure out what it means. And I think in the end, our books will complement one another. And I am really looking forward to reading his book— though I simply will never embrace his passion for soccer. But the Palin sand box is big enough for plenty of shovels and pails. And I am sure there will be more.

Gryphen: Do you think Sarah Palin will run for President in 2012? If not, why not?

Dunn: You know, several of my friends in Alaska, from across the political spectrum, made bets with me that Palin would win the presidency in 2012. Well her response to Tucson put a major damper on that dream. And I still think I will collect on that bet. Because let me say this to all her supporters: Sarah Palin cannot win the American presidency. Ever. She’s hated now Outside as much as she is hated in Alaska. Here’s my favorite graph about Palin:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/13/fav-palin_n_725513.html

The numbers tell the tale. And what’s fascinating is that ever since the Katie Couric interview, her favorability rating has been in steady descent. It has never moved the other direction once. And since Tucson it has been in even sharper decline. So the question is, even with those numbers will she run?

All of a sudden the planets have once again aligned in her favor. Trump got thrown out of the race. Huckabee dropped out, which creates a huge hole for Palin. Gingrich has self-immolated. Romney is made of cardboard. Pawlenty of recycled cardboard. Palin is the only one with any charisma or juice.

 The Gallup poll indicated that she has the most name recognition of any candidate. I mean, how many people know who Mitch Daniels is? She will no doubt see this as a sign from God that a door has opened. Also.

The fact that she just sent out 400,000 letters to South Carolina this week indicates that she is still positioning herself for a run. She can’t win Iowa—she has no organization there—and she can’t win New Hampshire –where she is disliked by Republicans (see my book, wink)—but she can win in South Carolina, so if she enters the race there, well it’s a free for all, and with Huckabee out, well she can roll in the South…she plays to the Southern conservative evangelicals who have a real problem with a black president. And she is dynamic on the stump where she has a well-scripted speech that she can deliver to the throngs. So that’s a possible scenario where she winds up running. She is the anti-Obama. And she has a shot, albeit a long one, to win the Republican nomination. But the presidency? Never.

Gryphen: Do you intend to write more about Palin?

Dunn: Right now, like most Alaskans, I am suffering from Palin fatigue. She may be suffering from Palin fatigue, too. So I may or may not. I was at work on a book about Bohemian culture in American history when I started the Palin book and I have already returned to working on it. But I am also considering writing a similar book about Palin’s buddy Glen Beck called “Snake Oil Man.” A couple of people have come to me with stories about him and I view him as a malignancy in American political discourse. So, too, do most credible Republican operatives. They can’t stand him. He and Palin tap into the same dark American sinister underbelly of fear and hatred and racism that fuels their huckster politics. And, of course, they snicker all the way to the bank. Theirs is really a disgusting presence in American political history.

Thanks for your time Geoffrey.  You are a true journalist in the best sense of the word, and you have done a great service to your country with this book.  The more light we shine on Sarah Palin the easier it will be for people to see her for what she really is, a very dangerous fraud.

Oh, and before I forget, thank you for the kind words that you wrote about me in "The Lies of Sarah Palin: The Untold Story Behind Her Relentless Quest for Power."  I felt truly honored to be included among such an impressive cast of characters.

And folks, if you have not ordered Geoffrey's book, what are you waiting for?

As of this writing it is number two on the Amazon "Hot New Releases in Political People Biographies" section. But with your help we can make it number one, as well as in a number of other categories too.

Here is a VERY positive review of Geoffrey Dunn's book, "The Lies of Sarah Palin." Leave it up to the Canadians to do it right.

From Macleans:

As the title makes very clear, this is no “on the one hand, on the other hand” summation of the 2012 Republican presidential prospect. For Dunn, an award-winning investigative reporter who is a frequent contributor to the liberal Huffington Post, there is no other hand to Palin. (Except for one acknowledged factor, with which any fervent Palinite could agree. That sine qua non of presidency seekers, that all-consuming drive? She has it in spades.) Dunn has that quality too: his 400-plus pages setting up the case for Palin as a pathological liar, an “approval-seeker on steroids” and someone almost universally considered—by former supporters, let alone enemies—to have some sort of mental disorder, is backed by more than 100 in-depth interviews. It’s probably more than he needs; Dunn’s subject, after all, is the woman who signed her email announcing the birth of her fifth child, Trig, not with her name but with “Trig’s Creator, Your Heavenly Father.”

I am working on an interview with Geoffrey in the very near future.  It should prove very interesting.

If any of you have ideas for questions you would like asked please leave your suggestions in the comments section.  I cannot promise he will answer all of them, but you never know.

(BTW if you have NOT ordered yours, you can do so here.)

Sarah Palin's Version Of Trig's Birth May Be More Troubling than the Hoax

From Business Insider

This past week, the draft of an academic paper that focuses on the 2008 birth of Sarah Palin's son, Trig Paxson Van Palin, and the various theories that surround his birth, was made public prior to publication through a university newspaper and then exploded, quite predictably, on the Palin-centric blogosphere, where Trig's birth remains a cause célèbre and the source of considerable controversy. It has now spilled over into the mainstream media as well.
"Palin, the Press, and the Fake Pregnancy Rumor: Did a Spiral of Silence Shut Down the Story?" written by Bradford W. Scharlott, Ph.D., an associate professor at Northern Kentucky University, comes to two primary conclusions: 1) that Palin "likely" staged "a hoax" concerning the birth of her son Trig; and 2) that "a spiral of silence" prevented the mainstream U.S. media from adequately investigating the circumstances of Trig's birth.

As both a life-long journalist and an academic--and perhaps most importantly, as the author of the forthcoming book, The Lies of Sarah Palin: The Untold Story Behind Her Relentless Quest for Power--I read Scharlott's draft thesis with considerable interest and anticipation.

Scharlott's initial contention that Palin orchestrated an elaborate "hoax" around the birth of Trig does not hold up to close scrutiny. It remains a premise, not a fact. That said, his second assertion about "the spiral of silence" raises several issues about Palin, her birth story and the mainstream media that must be scrutinized fully as Palin continues to position herself for a run in the 2012 Republican primaries.

In the end--as is the case with virtually all things Palin--the most troubling scenario regarding Trig's birth is the one proffered by Palin herself--a scenario that has been largely muted, or disregarded, by the focus on Trig's birth as being a "hoax."

Let me acknowledge that while researching my book I spent a considerable amount of time and resources trying to sort out the facts of Trig's birth. As with many elements of Palin's life story, there are disquieting discrepancies between what actually happened and Palin's version of events. Her capacity for deceit simply knows no bounds, and this duplicity has contributed significantly to the atmosphere of doubt regarding the details of Trig's birth. Contrary to Palin's contention otherwise, the rumors that Trig was not her son originated long before she was named as John McCain's running mate, commencing immediately upon her public acknowledgment, in March of 2008, that she was pregnant.

Palin, by her own account in Going Rogue, did not tell anyone but her husband Todd that she was pregnant with what would be the couple's fifth child. She kept the news from her parents, siblings, children and her closest staff--odd behavior under any circumstances. Moreover, she did not tell members of her family that the child she was carrying had been diagnosed with Down syndrome. So when Palin announced being seven months pregnant--to a handful of reporters in Juneau on March 5, 2008--the rumor mill went into overtime.

Hoping to disprove the conspiracy theory when I initiated work on my book--and to put the story to bed once and for all--I interviewed several close associates of Palin's, including her friends and political allies. I was anticipating, perhaps even hoping, that they would tell me conclusively that Trig was her child.

I was shocked by the response. One close friend of Palin's--a widely respected woman who had given birth to several children as well and who had close contact with Palin in Juneau up until the time of Trig's birth--told me that "Palin did not look like she was pregnant. Ever. Even when she had the bulging belly, I never felt that the rest of her body, her face especially, looked like she was pregnant." When I asked her point-blank if she was certain the baby was Palin's, she said, "No. I don't know what to believe."

The news of Palin's pregnancy came as a complete surprise to Palin's State Trooper security detail Gary
Wheeler, a well-liked, 26-year veteran of the Alaska State Troopers who worked under several administrations in Alaska state government, both Republicans and Democrats. Only two weeks earlier, in late February of 2008, Wheeler had accompanied Palin back to Washington, D.C. for a Republican Governors Association Conference, where she had just met John McCain and his campaign manager Rick Davis, who was to be in charge of the vice-presidential nomination selection process. Wheeler remembers that Palin had changed into jeans upon her arrival in Washington, with no apparent revelation of pregnancy.

Wheeler also said that his wife, Corky, actually made fun of him when the news came out because he was supposed to be a "trained observer." Wheeler simply shakes his head: "I had nary an idea she was packin'."

As Wesley Loy of the Anchorage Daily News reported it at the time, Governor Palin "shocked and awed just about everybody around the Capitol" with her announcement.

This is at seven months.

More significantly--and thus begins the troubling nature of even Palin's own account--according to Wheeler, Palin did not tell the Alaska State Troopers who were assigned to protect her that she was pregnant, even though her age and the fact that she was carrying a child with Down syndrome presented potential health complications. All of this both foreshadows and serves as an important prelude to Palin's troubling journey from Texas to Alaska, during which she was experiencing--again by her own account--early signs of childbirth, including the so-called breaking of her waters.

Palin was scheduled to make a speech at an RGA energy conference in Dallas on April 17, slightly less than eight months into her pregnancy. At the last moment before her trip to Texas--which involved a stopover in Seattle--Wheeler says that Palin made an "out-of-the-ordinary" announcement that she wouldn't be needing a Trooper to accompany her on her junket, and that her husband Todd would be traveling with her instead. An email written by Palin--obtained through a Alaska Public Records Act request--confirms Wheeler's recollection. At 9:26 on the morning of April 14, 2008, only a day before her scheduled departure, Palin sent the following email to her administrative assistant, Janice Mason:

J- instead of rga paying for staff, and/or rga (or state) paying for Security on this Texas trip, pis let them know First Spouse is available to travel instead - they can pay for Todd. Pls chk on flt availability for him (on my flts). [sic] Thanks

I cover the ensuing details of Palin's so-called "wild ride" from Texas back to Alaska in considerable detail in my book, but in short--according to information she gave at a news conference immediately following her return--Palin claimed that she called her physician in the middle of the night from her hotel room in Texas to discuss what Palin referred to as "amniotic fluid leaking." Despite the presence of this fluid--a strong indicator of impending birth and which potentially exposed Palin and her child to infection--Palin stayed in Dallas and delivered her speech later that day.

Rather than getting checked at a nearby hospital in Dallas before her departure (Baylor Medical Center was less than ten minutes away), Palin and her husband commenced on their return flight home to Anchorage via Seattle. They did not tell flight attendants of Palin's medical situation. The failure of the Palins to inform airline personnel of her impending medical situation not only put her infant and herself at risk, it also potentially put all passengers and staff on the two flights at risk as well. As The Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan (who deserves a commendation for keeping this story from being buried completely) dubbed it, Palin's decisions were "reckless beyond measure."

Once returning to Anchorage late in the evening of April 17, Palin claims to have bypassed the Providence Hospital in Anchorage (which has a neonatal intensive-care unit and is located only a few minutes from the Ted Stevens International Airport) for the roughly hour-long drive to the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, located just off the Parks Highway, roughly seven miles outside of Wasilla (and which has no neonatal intensive-care unit).

Three days after Trig's birth, Palin and her husband held a news conference in Anchorage, with Trig joining them. The audio recording of the news conference provides a fascinating glimpse into the Palins' mindset at the time of Trig's birth and their chafing at criticism of their decision to fly back to Alaska. Again, I cite several passages from the press conference in my book, but what follows are some highlights:

Sarah Palin: Well that was again if, if I must get personal, technical about this at the same time, um, it was one, it was a sign that I knew, um, could lead to uh, labor being uh kind of kicked in there was any kind of, um, amniotic leaking, amniotic fluid leaking, so when, when that happened we decided OK let's call her [her physician, Cathy Baldwin-Johnson].

The answer was classic Palin--evasive, circuitous, garbled and indirect. In fact, The Anchorage Daily News story the following day, by Kyle Hopkins, reported that Palin had not asked her physician "for a medical OK to fly."

Hopkins also contacted an obstetrician in California, Dr. Laurie Gregg, active in the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, who said that "when a pregnant woman's water breaks, she should go right to the hospital because of the risk of infection. That's true even if the amniotic fluid simply leaks out.

As for the distinction that Palin was trying to make between "breaking" and "leaking," Gregg was not buying into it. "To us, leaking and broken, we are talking the same thing," Gregg asserted. "We are talking doctor-speak."

The Palins were clearly irritated by the direction of the questioning. "There's a lot of new doctors out there on the streets in the last couple of days," Todd Palin asserted irritably.

An aide to the Palins decided it was time to wrap things up. One final question was allowed.

Reporter: Was it important to you to have the baby in Alaska?

Sarah Palin: It was very important that we have...it was more important that, that Trig arrive safely and healthy and um, and that is exactly what happened. The extra blessing was that Trig was able to be born into this great state, you know, kind of like, I feel like this extended Alaskan family, that he was here, for that.

Todd Palin: Can't have a fish-picker from Texas.

That became the family mantra.

There have also been a number of discrepancies in Palin's story. In Going Rogue, for instance, she makes no mention of her waters breaking. At a speech delivered in Waco, Texas, last year, Palin claimed that she delivered Trig in Anchorage. (Note the passage at 16:55 into her speech.)

The response to Scharlott's paper has been both troubling and predictable. On the one hand, those who continue to subscribe to the "hoax" theory have championed it as a work of academic brilliance. On the other hand, Palin's former flack Bill McAllister threatened to "slap" Scharlott and said that in "a different era," he'd have challenged Scharlott to "a duel." Salon's Justin Elliot used the occasion to take a cheap shot at Andrew

Sullivan by describing him as a practitioner of "Trug Trutherism" -- the belief "that Sarah Palin faked her 2008 pregnancy because Trig is actually the son of Bristol Palin"--when, in fact, all Sullivan has ever asserted is the absence of "easily available and definitive" evidence that Palin is the mother of Trig.

And in what can be described only as  pathetic response to Scharlott's paper, Anchorage Daily News columnist Julia O'Malley contradicted her own newspaper's body of work on this matter by invoking a "spiral of silence" perspective and demanding that "someone" should "Make. It. Stop." She doesn't say who and she doesn't say how. What she means is that she doesn't want the issue even discussed.

Perhaps O'Malley was too high on her horse to recall that in December of 2008, in the aftermath of the national election, the Anchorage Daily News tried to confirm once and for all--as did I--that Sarah Palin was the mother of Trig, only to be rebuffed by Palin herself. The ADN's executive editor Pat Dougherty assigned his fine reporter Lisa Demer to the task of investigating the rumor. But a story was never published.

On December 31, Palin sent Dougherty an email attacking him for the line of questioning:

And is your paper really still pursuing the sensational lie that I am not Trig's mother? Is it true you have a reporter still bothering my state office, my very busy doctor (who's already set the record straight for you), and the school district, in pursuit of your ridiculous conspiracy?

Dougherty's response should be of particular interest given O'Malley's commentary. He said that his goal was "to let a reporter try to do a story about the 'conspiracy theory that would not die' and, possibly, report the facts of Trig's birth thoroughly enough to kill the nonsense once and for all." Dougherty said that Demer received "very little cooperation" from Palin or her family. He killed the story. But he made a telling observation to Palin:

It strikes me that if there is never a clear, contemporaneous public record of what transpired with Trig's birth, that may actually ensure that the conspiracy theory never dies.

And there's the rub. O'Malley's own editor did not Make It Stop because Sarah Palin has never provided sufficient concrete evidence to put the conspiracy theories to bed. She hadn't in 2009, and she hasn't now.

The problem is rooted not in the wild imaginations of bloggers, as O'Malley would have us believe, but in the calculated obfuscation of the issue by Sarah Palin herself.

A week after her email to Dougherty, Palin issued a formal State of Alaska press release from the Governor's office. "As a public official, I expect criticism and I expect to be held accountable for how I govern," Gov. Palin said. "But the personal, salacious nature of recent reporting, and often the refusal of the media to correct obvious mistakes, unfortunately discredits too many in journalism today, making it difficult for many Americans to believe what they see in the media."

Held accountable? Throughout her political career, Sarah Palin has been the master of the dodge. She has never held herself accountable. At one point she claimed that she had made Trig's birth certificate public; she did not. The hospital has never issued a formal birth notice. She said that she would make her health records public. She did not. It was another lie.

This past week Palin had the gall to giggle and smirk her way through an interview on Fox News in which she supported Donald Trump's investigation of President Obama's birth certificate in Hawaii: "Well, uh, I appreciate that 'The Donald' wants to spend his resources in getting to the bottom of something that so interests him and many Americansm," Palin opined. "You know, more power to him."

The hypocrisy is staggering. There is one person who can put an end to the Trig matter immediately and instantly, and that is Sarah Palin. Before she takes another step in what has been a hapless bid to position herself for a run for the presidency, the American media should demand that Palin produce full and conclusive evidence of Trig's birth and parentage. It's that simple.

Once that step is taken, then the American media needs to break its "spiral of silence" about Palin's "wild ride" from Texas to Alaska and to demand direct answers from her about the decisions she made, the actions she took and what motivated her to do so. Anyone who examines Palin's own story closely will come to no other conclusion that she was "reckless beyond measure"--as Andrew Sullivan so succinctly put it--and entirely unqualified to hold higher office in these challenging and demanding times.

The things that convinced me she was lying was "the Wild Ride" and the fact she took him to the office three days after birth.  No way in hell would a Dr. risk his or her license by letting a Down Syndrome baby born one month premature out of the hospital after three days.  And allow the mother to take him to work with her.

I gotta feeling by Memorial Day Sarah will either 'fess up or produce a birth certificate.