The simplicity of innocence shines outward from this photo from a prom night long ago. I do not claim to know the actual origin of the evolution from this event in a galaxy far away, but we all know that somehow, somewhere, this is an ominous tale of innocence lost.
Although I have literally spent years researching and pondering this saga, I am still not certain of many issues that have possibly driven this young man from this pose with his future wife to the deviously controlling man described in Shailey Tripp's book, Boys Will Be Boys. Like any accomplished stealth hunter, Todd Palin has been particularly adept at covering his tracks. When I researched my book on the subject, I encountered stories ranging from one night stands to extended affairs to wife-swapping parties. I do agree with Ms. Tripp about one thing for certain: Todd loves and cares for his kids, even those who might not have emanated from his own genes, and some researchers think there are more than one child in that category. One such theory is that a few years after this blissful photo, Todd would marry someone not carrying his child, and if this is true, then maybe he knew and maybe he didn't. As with most of the ramifications of Babygate, only the insiders know the whole truth. Todd skated through Paradigm Shift because the focus of that book was not Todd or his progeny, and as I said, any tracks through illicit affairs have been obliterated by the wind.
Shailey Tripp tells a different story, one that complements my own book simply because the two share almost nothing in common. Shailey lived and breathed the same frigid air blowing out of Alaska. She has lived in Wasilla, Palmer, and Anchorage. She met Todd just before Sarah became Governor of Alaska and Todd became the shadow governor of that same state. Todd would soon become famous for his involvement with AIP and Troopergate while the Trig Truthers chased a plethora of baby stories. Can I say that Sarah was the first to have an affair, or was Todd, or can I even declare that any affair is a true story? No, I cannot. That is why my book discussed all the speculative rumors. Shailey tells a different story. She does not claim to know diddly squat about The Southern Strategy, the central focus of my book, even though she was born and raised in the South, and has lived there numerous times as an adult. In defense of this ignorance of an overbearing madness that infects people in that region of the country, she has not been politically motivated and she has lived in New Orleans, Atlanta, and Huntsville AL, three of the most progressive metro areas. Although these places may be literally surrounded by the madness of small towns and homogeneous, misguided attitudes, Shailey remained somewhat isolated from the infection. However, it is my impression that she has since learned a few things about such behaviors from the small towns of the Matsu Valley, particularly from an up close and personal encounter with Todd Palin and his good old boy buddies at local police departments.
Shailey's story lacks a paper trail to back up some of the information she has proffered. Now before you people who have already read Boys Will Be Boys and have wallowed in the scanned documents in the Appendix have a cow, allow me to explain. I think this might be the key to why the name Shailey Tripp has not already exploded all over the news. Remember how I stated that Todd has always covered his tracks? He is truly a master at it. Shailey describes his taking of every used condom and gene spurt into a Kleenex, putting it into his coat pocket and walking out with it. (Here is your cue, Miss Stephanie.) Eeewwww! Who does that? Only a man intent on avoiding any future DNA evidence, that's who. I cannot get too excited about Shailey's description of her prostitution bust. If the cops were putting the place under surveillance for two months after the neighbors complained, and then found fifty douche bottles in the restroom and rubbers in the dumpster, I can understand how they felt they were just doing their job. People all over prudish America tend to get upset when someone else's sexual behavior becomes a little too public. Do I think Shailey is telling the truth about most of her accusations toward Todd? Yes. Do I think Todd did an outstanding job of deleting any paper trails and conning a mark into doing his bidding? Also yes. Did the police have the evidence of Todd's involvement right under their noses and ignore it? Probably. Was there enough documented evidence that would make The National Enquirer feel safe enough from litigation? Probably not. Shailey paints a negative picture of Alan Butterfield, her contact at The Enquirer. Has her viewpoint probably been tainted, at least to some degree, by anger, betrayal, or greed? Although both Mr. Butterfield and his employer may be the horse's butts of the universe, and they most likely are, we can never be totally certain of that, can we? Everything hinges on the words of Shailey Tripp. She was had; she was conned by a master.
Shailey claims that Todd tried to rope her into joining a sort of corporate, interstate prostitution operation. On this point, I think the emails in her book validate the story. Of course I do not think either Todd or Shailey arrived at this level of illicit behavior without the previous stories being true, too, and there's the secret and the curse. Everything I have encountered over the past four years with the name Palin on it seems to be coated in this sort of salacious Teflon. Although the FBI would not have participated in the condom and douche bottle raid if interstate activities had not been at least suspected, the paperwork with the name Todd Palin on it seems to have evaporated. All The Palins had to do was sic their lawyer on the case with a statement that Todd Palin's name was not discovered on paper anywhere in the raid. Of course Shailey claims that the most damning evidence was digital, and I have little doubt that that is true. The problem is the same as always. The MSM refuses to chase videos and still photos of sevelte Sarah in early 2008, so therefore the CNP, Fox News, CNN, and the Republican power brokers skate like the wind. In this case, Todd skates away from the Alaskan iceberg, so Greg West rolls quietly away from the approaching potential FBI storm in Atlanta. The cover story is that if you cannot prove the little story, how are you going to prove the big one? Like I said, it is just the cover story.
Certain details of the backstory behind the release of Boys Will Be Boys need to be mentioned. In my opinion, this book was released way too late, but better late than never. Although I understand that Shailey's emotional anger is directed at Todd and not Sarah, to a certain extent this was a losing proposition for a book project from the beginning. Sarah is (was) the candidate. Most of the details of Shailey's book constitute what I call whoopee cushions, political scandals that make a bit of embarrassing noise for political candidates, but are quickly and easily brushed aside when another news story comes along. If Shailey had seriously sought an agent in September 2008 to tell the story of how she personally gave a massage to a decidedly unpregnant Sarah the VP candidate in February or March of that year, we would have seen a wholly different ballgame. The problem at that time was that no one had the guts to come forward, then the book is released three (or more) years too late. In my opinion, Shaily was given less than perfect advice by her lawyer to approach The National Enquirer first because that rag is generally known to pay the best. As we now know, the spiral of silence has blockaded itself into a stone vault coated in lies.
Now that we have Shailey's story in print, there is one detail that particularly bugs me. On Page 71, Shailey writes that immediately following the massage, Sarah stood right up in front of her, wearing nothing but panties. If Sarah was also wearing a bra, it was not stated, but that is irrelevant. Shailey also states clearly that the date was the first week in March. On Page 73, Shailey describes first learning of Sarah's pregnancy on 4/18/08. If this part of the book is precisely true, then neither Shailey nor any of her coworkers watching the same described newscast was aware that Sarah had publicly announced her pregnancy back on March 5-6. Shailey tells a slightly different story on Page 189-190. In an interview with Blade Katz on her Sarah's Scandals blog in February 2011, Shailey clearly states that she left the room immediately after giving Sarah the massage, not seeing Sarah nearly nude and standing upright before her. Shailey says that she is not sure of this point. She says I don't think I saw her in a standing position that day. This is a key point that brings everything Shailey says and does into question, as if her involvement in a prostitution ring with a famous celebrity was not enough!
Shailey repeatedly implies that her memory of certain events was never very precise. That is fine on the surface of it, but Blade Katz happens be a pseudonym for Vickie Bottoms, the co-author of the book! There are many choices that could have been made in the editing process that would have defused this stink bomb. A disclaimer could have been inserted in the interview or that question deleted or the whole interview deleted. If the story was not exactly as stated on Page 71, someone working on this project should have spoken up before the book went to press! This is not a detail concerning one of Todd's whoopee cushions, this is the crux of the fraud that was perpetrated on the entire American voting public! This book may have been conceived and presented as Shailey Tripp's personal little tragedy, but we all know the backstory. Let's not pretend that we don't!
Few want to see Boys Will Be Boys succeed commercially in a big way more than I do. However, I am not going to just sit back and pretend that I don't see the credibility nightmare that hangs over this book like a cloud of illusion pooted out by the CNP. Shailey's book needs to be read by millions, but my hopes for its success were squashed long before its actual release. This is not the time to go into the details of the many reasons for my perception of this point. Let's just say that I believe Shailey Tripp is telling the truth as she perceives it concerning Todd's affairs and prostitution ring. Is that truth obscured by clouds? Yes, but it is still the truth.
See Also: A more traditional review of this book.
