Puddles & Icebergs

A lot has been happening in the Babygate arena in recent days, and here are my opinions on whether or not any of these latest revelations have claws, or is each one just another cuddly puddytat? The short version is that I do not know any more than anyone else. Of course I have researched the issues, read a zillion opinions, and crunched the whole mess through my logic and motive analyzer. As anyone who has already read Paradigm Shift knows, I am obsessed with seeing America returned to the right track of income not so unequal equality, sanity in our political system, and the banishment of the destructive Southern Strategy to the dustbin of history. Sarah Palin is just America's most recent nightmare. If we rid ourselves only of the symptom, we are not curing the disease. Dr. Freud, would you take the floor?

There are basically two developments to discuss and they each may or may not have serious significance. Each of these issues can be divided into two sub-issues, one of consequence and one probably not so consequential. The Shailey Tripp story is about Todd as a hound dog and the un-pregnant Sarah. The former I cannot get too excited about, but the latter is significant, if it can break through the media blockade. The Frank Bailey book also showcases a pair of issues. The dinky one is that yes, Governor Palin was a narcissistic nutcase while in office. The second is that she and her cronies may or may not have committed a few prosecutable offenses.

If Todd really does howl at the illicit moon, who really gives a tiger's litter box, aside from his accuser and the family, of course? Some people keep insisting that Todd is gay, and that that is the big secret. I tend to doubt that, but there is little doubt that he is married to a nutcracker, so who knows? My gaydar has been wrong before. I generally feel that he just found an easy mark in Shailey due to her financial desperation at the time. He may have been using her for entertainment on the side of a sham marriage, but even so, she still has a few credibility problems of her own. I find it surprising that she has actually lived in Alabama, yet claims she does not understand exactly why Sarah would have created the Babygate scam. If Shailey had spent her entire, sheltered life in San Francisco, I could easily buy it, but Alabama? I think Ms. Tripp was first of all in need of money, and second of all, maybe a bit naive, and Mr. Handsome Moneybags Todd took advantage of the opportunity. Did she truly not realize the significance of massaging The Governor until nearly three years later? That's good stuff, lady. Can I have a toot?

Frank Bailey's previously announced Renegade is discussed in the Bibliography of Paradigm Shift. Until recently all we knew was that a particular pair of ghostwriters in California had originally agreed to develop the book, but then they suddenly backed out of the deal. If I remember correctly, it was a mother and daughter team. The new version of his book that was supposedly, suddenly made available may or may not be a considerably different book. I have many questions about these new developments, and I mean serious questions! Allow me to name just a few. Who sends a whole unpublished manuscript out on the innertubes? Why is the publishing agent's website on Wordpress? (Yes, I know this one may be of little consequence, but it certainly made me think twice.) Why has the author chosen to head up the ghostwriting project published only two fiction novels with a boutique press in Baltimore a number of years ago, if the goal is supposed to be to present all the exclusive documented evidence? If the other Alaskan is an established author, why do they need to involve this guy? Again, this may be of little consequence, but I do not place much faith in a Wall Street trader who has appeared with Kudlow and Cramer to particularly care much what happens to America's middle class or its leftward segment. Maybe he proudly wears Mittens? I have other questions concerning the author to publisher proceedings, but I shall spare you the details. My last big issue is with Joe McGinniss' involvement. Please pardon me for spelling your name McGinness repeatedly in Paradigm Shift: I must have looked at your name a hundred times before I noticed my error after the book had been published. I have a big problem accepting the McGinniss involvement simply as it has been reported. Of course I have had interactions with authors for years, even reading each other's prereleased books occasionally, and either there was a serious misunderstanding or something other than what we have been led to believe happened.

The leading concept upon which I disagree with many fellow Babygate fans is a part of what I call the Paradigm Shift or The Palin Matrix. The short version is that the Republicans care only about winning above all else, and this is the paradigm shift. American politics did not used to be this way. American media did not used to be this way, either. The former would promote The Tasmanian Devil for President if they were sure enough that he or she was the most likely candidate to win. The latter will do absolutely anything to sell the most tickets to the show that never ends, at least not anymore, The Presidential Election. Sarah Palin is not the danger to America; the selfish, ignorant, bigoted filth that has infiltrated the minds of so many right-wing Americans is the true danger to our democracy. I have thought for a couple of years now that if Patrick was the only one who had collected evidence of the existence of Babygate, that would be enough evidential proof for most anyone. If Gryphen had been the only one, that would have been enough. If the material detailed in The Palin Matrix was all there was, that should have been enough. Enough is enough, already! The MSM does not need more evidence. What they need is a fear that their cash cow is headed to the barn and Mittens or some other Wall Street-loving candidate is poised to take the crown away from the Quitter Queen. You can throw all the e-mail messages, books, and blog articles you want at CNN and Fox, but until they are ready to throw the baby out with the Wasilla bathwater, nothing, make that nuttin', is going to happen! Until a true-red Republican threat other than Quittypanties Palin walks out onto the stage, both CNN and Fox are going to continue their Alfred E. Neuman impersonations, and no other outlet matters because these are the only two with a big stinking market share of low-information, voting morons! Once again, our side has the diversity, intelligence, and political awareness. It's just too damn bad that we do not vote in the high percentages that we could (and should).

Those of you who think Bailey's Blind Allegiance is going to beat the date of the first Republican debate on May 2 are probably in for disappointment. It practically always requires months of prep time to release a book with a single, all-inclusive launch date. You can release a book without waiting on the whole, slow publishing distribution process to be set up, as I did with Paradigm Shift, but the marketing chronology of such a plan leaves a lot to be desired. That's why I have to continually plug my book on blogs; otherwise, few would know it exists. I expect to see Bristol's book out before Frank's, and right now a search for hers at Amazon still brings up Paradigm Shift at the top of the page, and I hope the Palinbots are loving it! My book is still yet to become available in print form in outlets other than Amazon, but I was hell-bent on getting that 1/1/11 release date, just before the Repubs took control of The House. Of course I hope Mr. Bailey's book hits nationwide as soon as possible and forces the cash cow to stampede back to her Wasilla barn, but I think we shall know whether or not she has the guts to show up at the first debate before the official version of Frank's e-mail squawkathon hits the bookshelves. Personally, I expect her to show up at either or both of the first two debates. The second is currently scheduled only three days later, which I know is weird. What does this mean? I don't know. You might try asking a Republican operative. I do not expect Frank Bailey's book to expose diddly squat about Babygate. Will his book become the absolute authoritative reference for Troopergate if it is finally released? Hell, yes. Will it send anyone we know packing her orange jumpsuit and chastity belt? Only if hell freezes over or if she is convicted of murder or kidnapping. These are about the only crimes for which American judges commonly tend to send pretty white girls to actual prison.

I asked Shailey Tripp if she wanted to do an in-depth interview with me. This was more than a week ago and she has not responded. The offer is always open to her and anyone else who wishes to tell her story; however, an in-depth one-on-one interview is the only kind I do. You can read the one I did with Bree Palin in Paradigm Shift, or some of the ones I have done on my book review blog, PODBRAM. Interviews are the single most time-consuming type of blog post I do, so I take them very seriously in both content and professionalism.

Many of the icebergs I have discussed here could develop into nothing more than small puddles on the floor of a disappointed Palin critic. I have always tried to keep an open mind about all the issues, even the ones that interest me somewhat less. The one concept that I stand behind, no matter what happens, is that the Palin monster will be stopped only by CNN and/or Fox News. If the clowns who present themselves as news people on those two cable channels do not find something seriously negative about Sarah Palin to babble continuously on about until we are sick of hearing it, she will not be stopped. I do not care if the issue is sexual, financial, or political. It is way past time for The Tasmanian Devil to be on the menu instead of wabbit.