"She ran around like a rabid little thing" (Cheryl) Welch recalled. "She did not like to lose and sometimes cried after losses. She was very petulant and formidable--there was no stopping her. We'd be practicing and drilling--she wanted the ball so badly she would get red in the face and scratch and claw until you just wanted to say, "Here, take the ball." When i heard they nicknamed her Sarah Barracuda after the way she played on the basketball court, I thought, "Wow, perfect."Welch said that even after she left middle school, her experience with Sarah Heath stayed with her forever. "She struck me as too competitive and didn't strike any balance in her life. What she wanted, she really wanted, and no one was going to tell her no. She acted like she was everyone's favorite." (Chapter two pg. 28-29)
Now when I read this I was immediately struck by how little Palin's personality has changed since her days on the middle school basketball court.
Her absolute "win and any cost" attitude is still very evident in how she conducts herself during campaigns, and in her inability to understand or care how her actions may be affecting her opponents or teammates.
Now here is a little gift for those of you whose were asking for the real dirt in this book. I am not up to the Trig pregnancy story yet, but I did stumble across this little tidbit in chapter five.
Sarah and Brad (Hanson) would become good friends. They enjoyed politics, and Brad would eventually win a seat on the Palmer City Council. Years later. after Sarah was nominated as a vice-presidential candidate, the National Enquirer alleged that they had an affair after Sarah became mayor, an accusation that was vociferously denied by both sides.(Chapter five pg.70)
Okay now to divulge a little bit of "behind the scenes" blogging information. I was contacted by John South, the National Enquirer reporter who wrote that Palin affair story. He was chasing another rumor that I was not very helpful with, but while I had him on he phone I asked him about this article. He said that they had been unable to confirm this story in Wasilla itself, but had tracked down a few people outside of Alaska who were willing to confirm it. And then he told me to keep in mind, that nobody had threatened legal action over the revelation nor had Governor Palin herself ever gone on record to address it.
Now flash forward to my family room just last week. Somehow this story came up during my conversations with some political friends and I offered that I had heard that while Palin may have had feelings for Brad Hanson that it may never have been consummated. My two very knowledgeable friends from Wasilla both laughed out loud. (Now in my defense I was simply offering up another rumor that I had heard to see if there was any validity to it.)
"How could it be considered and affair, if nobody had sex?" asked one of my friends. And the other one said, "Trust us, they consummated the relationship."
I have no direct information about this possible interlude, and can not say if it really happened one way or the other. But my friends have been pretty spot on throughout this whole situation, so take that for what it is worth.
So there is your morning dose of Sarah Palin scandal. Now I have to go read some Shakespeare to cleanse my mental palate.
(BTW Sarah is supposed to have a press conference at 9:00 this morning before she and the Christian "A" Team head off to save the wrong villages in the wake of the preemptive help that Mark Begich and Lisa Murkowski have already provided to the correct ones. What is it they say about timing?)
Gryphen, that is soooo interesting about the affair rumors, the reaction from Wasillans, AND what the National Enquirer guy pointed out about no lawsuits forthcoming from Palin over the Hanson affair revelations.....Hmm. Thank goodness you are reading this book for us. I don't think I could take it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, amazing that the personality order that Palin has was already in full bloom by middle school age, according to those interviewed for the book...Perhaps that is another reason why Palin mysteriously went to so many colleges--unable to accept actual grades/defeat/burned bridges....always looking for the place where she could "win" without being judged by the same standards as others.
Wonder if her "real" medical records would indicate medication prescribed for anger management, lack of empathy, denial of failure (inability to accept reality)....or other psychological red flags? Seems like she has had a disorder viewable in a public arena since puberty, at least...("clawing people ON HER OWN TEAM in basketball games"?)
Hmmm... and WHEN was this affair to have happened? (Just wondering in relation to Trig...)
ReplyDeleteWhy would you ever expect the truth from Palin?
ReplyDeleteOn the campaign trail, and before, Sarah Palin has repeatedly claimed she and her husband Todd eloped to spare her family the expense of a wedding - a touching tale that does not appear to be true.
On August 29, 2008, she was so thrilled to be standing with McCain in Dayton that, after he said it was his 72nd birthday, she announced it was her 20th anniversary.
According to Alaska Court records, Track was born on 04/20/1989, meaning Palin was 6 weeks pregnant when she eloped (she has already stated her first pregnancy went to term; 6 weeks early is significant, ICU required etc).
In this case, it's not so much that she did not originally tell the truth; it's that she orginally and consistently has told a lie.
I have an ex-husband who was viciously competitive in high school. To him, winning was everything, and he was devastated any time he fell short of perfection. He believed even then that he was "different" than everyone else around him and that he could never be just "an ordinary(common) person."
ReplyDeleteAs an adult he is petulant, extremely self-absorbed, controlling, and has no empathy for others. He has an inflated sense of entitlement and very poor anger management. All of these negative behaviors have cost him dearly over the years, including relationships with his own family members, our marriage, and several job opportunities. He is like a full-grown spoiled brat, yet he still seems genuinely confused about why no one else seems to recognize how "special" he is.
Not surprisingly, he was diagnosed several years ago as a severe narcissist.
I wander if SP's favorite movie is "The Heathers"?
ReplyDeleteWhen I read Dr. Cathy Baldwin-Johnson's election eve medical report on Sarah Palin, one thing struck me as very odd: The doctor made a point of stating she did not perform any liver enzyme panels on Sarah. Since I never considered tests like this to be ones performed in routine physicals, I wondered, why it was even mentioned?
ReplyDeleteI did a little research and found that liver problems were a common side effect of taking certain anti-depressant medications.
The doctor goes on to say, "Governor Palin is on no routine prescription medications ..." Not quite sure what this means, but I would think taking an anti-depressant is not a "routine" form of medication.
I'd like to go a little off topic and talk about the Mother-Daughter dynamic between Sarah and Bristol. There is another emotional mother-daughter relationship that has some parallels, that of Cindy (the grandmother) and Casey Anthony (the mother) of Caylee Anthony.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that both mothers, Sarah and Cindy have very controlling personalities. Along comes an unwed daughter with news that she's pregnant. Both mothers will not consider abortion. According to the "reliable" tabloids, the Anthony's were approached by a friend who couldn't have children, and wanted to adopt. It never happened.
Out there in blog-land, the theory has been floated that perhaps Bristol's baby (Trigg) was a candidate for adoption until prenatal tests showed the extra chromosome for Downs Syndrome. Sarah offers to raise the child as her own (hey, it's happened, before, example Bobby Darin). She can proudly show off her right-to-life credentials and advocate for special needs children.
What interests me is what happens between mother and daughter. In the Anthony case, Cindy, the grandmother, was basically raising her grandchild, Caylee. At some point, the child even called Cindy "Mama" which infuriated Casey no end. There was a huge family fight (some lying and stealing was involved too) and Casey left with the child. We know the tragic results, so we'll end the story here. They have plenty of other emotions to deal with now.
Imagine poor Bristol watching her mother drag that poor little kid to the office when he was only a few days old, drag him to meetings and all over the campagin trail. Bristol, now the baby sitter must have been carrying some emotions, too.
It was most likely subconscious, but Bristol replaced Trigg with another baby. The reason that I believe this so strongly is that there are two "how to tell your mom you're pregant" stories out there. One is from the British tabloids, with Bristol showing the results of a preganacy test and laughing. (First pregnancy?) We just heard the other version in Greta's interview, "What's the worst thing that you can think of??" The worst thing would be ..after covering up for you once, I'll be damned if I'll do it again.
I've left out Sarah's emotions, namely, how dare you put me in this spot when I'm on the short list for something important. That is the only reason that I can think of that Sarah would publicly humilate Bristol by announcing her preganancy. It proved nothing,and didn't need to be said. Sarah likened herself to a grizzly protecting her cubs, shielding her kids for public attention, except in this one horribly glaring instance. The body language of Sarah and Bristol is telling.. one hauls the kid around like a sack of potatoes, while the other tenderly nestles him against her shoulder. Hmmmm.
Both mothers are still at it in terms of stagecraft. It was Cindy who arranged a very large and public funeral for a murdered grandchild, what a public display. And we saw evidence that Sarah is still the voice behind the curtain in Greta's interview with Bristol, or should we say with Sarah and Bristol, with Sarah stealing the ball again. If it was about Bristol, we would have seen the happy couple (Bristol & Levi) talking about future plans, a replay of that tender scene at the convention when Levi kisses the (his?) baby's head.
And how snarky is it of Sarah to keep up the squabble, "Here's your bundle of joy." Isn't little Tripp the whole family's bundle of joy? Can't she play "Proud Grandmother" for the cameras? I offer these thoughts for your other readers to discuss-- and while you're reading the unauthorized biography, maybe you'll come across something that will shed light on these theories.
I wonder if her sense of entitlement was evident even in Jr. High. I really think that she believes she is the "annointed one, chosen by God to lead the World." Narcissism, oh yes.
ReplyDeletePalin is a narcissist. There are many very good scenarios that would explain her behavior toward Bristol, Trigg, Tripp and her behavior during the interview.
ReplyDeleteFist: Palin planned this interview. Do you really think Bristol called Greta and arranged all this without telling Sarah till the day before? Don't you think Greta would have told Palin as soon as Bristol called. OF COURSE PALIN PLANNED THE WHOLE THING :)
However, this is just part of the manipulation Palin planned to 1) make it look like Bristol is not controlled by her, 2) that Bristol is a "role model" 3) it enabled her to cut her daughter to the bone better because she DID plan the interview and then interrupted it to showcase herself. Better to hurt Bristol if she is trusting mom and then mom does a "gotcha" in front of the camera.
As well, and my narcissistic mom did this to me, tho in a different scenario, Bristol's flower is blooming and Palin's flower is facing menapause ! How "dare" Bristol be ripe and become a woman while mommy dearest is aging!
I don't know who is Trigg's mom, either scenario is rotten wrt to Palin, but since Palin is a woman with a stone cold heart, I would imagine Bristol WOULD be more nuturing to Trigg, especially after witnessing first hand, how resentful Palin is of Trigg. How "dare" Trigg demand more attention and help than Palin !
In my case, mom told me when I was about 16, that she was pregnant ! Amazing since she and my father did not have a civil word for as long as I could remember, both were extremely ( and I mean extremely!) angery every minute of every day toward each other, and since my father beat me ( with fists--I would threaten to call the police when they fought) how could she be "sleeping with the enemy?" To her great disappointment, instead of viewing her as "more of a woman than I was", I admonished her ( like I was the parent) for even thinking of bringing another child into this extremely dysfunctional family. It never occurred to be to be "jealous" of her, or even angry that she was sleeping with a man who bloodied my face ( he NEVER touched my mom, she would have wailed on him LOL.) I think I was never angry at her because I simply knew she was lying to upset me. She hated this guy waaaayyy to much to let him touch her !
It is amazing how mothers can be envious, jealous, resentful, hateful and competitive with their own daughter when they are full blown narcissistic.
I would imagine Bristol is a real target for Palin right now ! Oh, and yes, this blooming flower embarssed her and potentially harmed her political career BUT WORSE OF ALL IS THAT BRISTOL IS MORE ARTICULATE ( THO OBVIOUSLY STILL A SHELTERED NAIEVE (SP) TEENAGER AND LOOKS TO BE A VERY SWEET CHILD. I would bet Palin would just hate the fact that people will view Bristol with sympathy while they are cutting Palin to the bone with local and national rejections !
Bristol and Tripp need to be physically removed from this woman.
Sorry, but I do think that when the "you know what" hits the fan, somebody is going to be physically hurt. Palin will lose it ! Colbert, McAllister too better watch their backs. Palin will aim for the most vulnerable and it will be "somebody on her own team" just like in high school barketball !
Carry on--
If you remember back to the Esquire interview, Sarah stated that she learned everything she needed to know in life from playing sports...so there you have it.
ReplyDeleteShe was a self serving, spoiled brat in middle school, and it looks like NOTHING HAS CHANGED!
I always wondered why she never came out against the Enquirer article. She never sued because it was true. I think this supposedly happened back when she was on the City Council with Hanson.
Anyway...thanks for suffering for the greater good!
@10:41 your thoughts are the same as mine when it comes to Bristol and baby Trigg. She holds him like a caring parent and Sarah holds him like a sack of potatoes. In all the pictures of Sarah and baby Trigg she is not holding him with affection. Also, when SP gave Bristol the baby Tripp, looks like Bristol is kind of nervous like somone just gave her someone else baby to hold. then she turns around and be affectionate to baby Trigg.
ReplyDeleteby the way the people in alaska have an intresting governor. This is really funny and a soap opera at best. keep sending us in the lower 48 the good newsabout your governor.
Do the people who said trust us, they consumated the relationship have a good explanation as to why Bristol was sent away with Mono for 5 months?
ReplyDeleteMy mom was a teacher and would home teach HS'ers who couldn't go to public school due to heart surgery, bone cancer, etc., and she had one male student with mono who was sick for less than 2 months who turned in to nearly a stick figure when he had mono.
It makes no sense that Bristol had mono for 5 months and could get pregnant so quickly thereafter.
My mom had mono for a bit when I was two, sis was 5 and we had just moved in to our new house (luckily we had neighbors because my dad was working), but it sure didn't last 5 months.....
Also, is SP the only girl in her family? I think I read she has 4 brothers? Was she treated as the princess since she was a little girl? If so, she must still think she is a princess....one that has temper tantrums and gets what she wants.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the deal with her husband, anyway?
If that crazy bitch would have acted like that on school team on the south side of Chicago in MY neighborhood, she would have gotten the shit kicked out of her. more than once.
ReplyDeleteSo no one can stand up to her? Then or now?
To anon at 11:34: Thank you for your insight. It must tear you up to watch this drama. I was struck with the similarity to the story of Snow White. The wicked stepmother queen could not tolerate her daughter being more beautiful, etc. I'm wondering if all these fairy tales had the stepmothers (cinderella, etc.) acting so narcissistically because no one could stomach such behavior from a birth mother.
ReplyDeletesandra
There is the slim chance Sarah is jealous because her husband slept with their daughter. *ducking from flying objects*
ReplyDeleteThis was my first thought when I found out little Trig had Downs Syndrome. Seemed plausible....not impossible....and poor Sarah was forced to PRETEND TO BE PREGNANT, because the father of the baby was her husband.
Or I could be wrong. In any case, Sarah covered up Trig's birth for reasons we don't know and the longer she goes without proving she's the mother and Todd is the father, the longer we Americans will guess!
There seems to be some confusion as to when the affair started. If you scroll up to the paragraph i italics you will see the affair started AFTER Sarah became mayor.
ReplyDeleteBy the way I have never really spent too much time on the affair story, simply because I don't really care about the sex lives of politicians.
But the "babygate" story in my opinion is the one that will end Palin's career, because of ALL of the denials and because of how important Trig Palin is to her personal mythology.
I'm not sure I agree with any of the above theories, but I was kind of amazed that the MSM did not go after the Palin affair story.
ReplyDeleteThe press did not want to touch the story. Why? And if they had pressed the issue, would Palin have had to deny/sue the paper.
Would she have?
Had it been Obama or Biden it would have been all over the networks.
John Edwards affair was discovered by the same newspaper.
Oh, I agree, Gryphen. Baby Trig is the albatross of her political demise. Too bad the little bugger is so cute though! He has no idea how much the country is interested in who his Mom & Dad really are.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it be absolutely hysterical if years from now when Trig is a teenager he just blurts out the truth? OMG I would pee my pants from laughing so hard! It's not like he would do it intentionally, of course. He would just be telling what he knows. ;-)
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, the press didn't want to touch the story because it's not a story where Mommy & Daddy have a baby together. It's way more complicated and Sarah Palin has done a very good job in keeping the truth covered up. Makes you wonder if she's using her SarahPAC money to pay people off! Wouldn't surprise me. Nothing surprises me when it comes to her.
ReplyDeleteGryphen, I really don't care about the sex lives of politicians either...except when they put themselves and their "family values" up on a pedestal the way Palin and the religious right do. How many times on the campaign trail did she talk anour "real Americans" small town values and all that other bullshit? Yeah....lets see, in Sarah's family we've got an unmarried teenage mother who IS a high school dropout, a juvenile offender son who was forced into the military to avoid jail, drug dealers and users, tax evasion, ethics violation and abuse of government power just to name a few.
ReplyDeleteEveryone knew Bill Clinton was a playa...and really who cares that Eliot Spitzer was a freak, but they didn't hold themselves up as paragons of virtue.
Gryphen,
ReplyDeleteThe link to the National Enquirer doesn't seem to work. I'm getting a 404 Page not found...
The more I research and write about this woman the more disturbing feelings I have.
I think the way she treats her children is so at odds with the natural instincts of a mother, that only mental illness can explain it.
If she's indeed unbalanced, she'll break down sooner or later. I hope she doesn't harm the children in the process. By harm I mean something really tragic, because she has harmed them already.
I watched some old videos of her campaign for governor and she sounded quite normal, much softer. This VP run has tipped her over the edge, I think. It fed the monster in her and now it's too late to get it back under control.
I was told that Tripp is not Bristol's first pregnancy! I am not sure if it was before Trigg or is Trigg?? That is all I can say....
ReplyDeleteGryphen--Is your info on the other current Levi-related pregnancy solid? Any predictions on the Palin-spin to be put on it? Any info on the state of "family" relations between the Palins and the Johnstons? By the way, I think you're the best!
ReplyDeleteOhh, the Whore of Wasilla screwed South's brains out. On both the affair and other stuff the Enquirer reported, SP, McCain, and McCain's campaign manager all took a pass on officially denying it, as I've blogged.
ReplyDeletekayinmaine-
ReplyDeletemany people seem to think incest (in any situation) would increase the likelihood of a baby having down syndrome, but this is not the case. it's not the sort of genetic error (it's caused by an extra duplication of chromosome 13) that would be influenced by an incest scenerio.
just a heads up.
"As well, and my narcissistic mom did this to me, tho in a different scenario, Bristol's flower is blooming and Palin's flower is facing menapause ! How "dare" Bristol be ripe and become a woman while mommy dearest is aging!"
ReplyDeleteYou know, I never thought of that part of it, but it is extremely creepy and very possible.
One of the more obvious signs of my ex's constant need for attention and control is that he competes with our children...one is just a teenager, but when she tries to tell him about something interesting she's accomplished, he almost immediately turns the conversation around to how HE did the same thing, only better, or twenty years earlier, bla bla. This is with a 13-year-old, mind you. It is really sick. That particular behavior started in his late 30s and has gotten steadily worse ever since. It is always, all about him.
Narcissists also do not cope well emotionally with the physical changes of aging, so any younger person can be seen as a reminder of how old (bald, wrinkled, fat, ____!) the middle-aged narcissist is getting.
Based on the photos circulating of when SP was supposedly 6-7-7 1/2 pregnant, I cannot accept that she actually had Trig. BUT I also have a hard time accepting that someone with so ENORMOUS a skeleton in her closet would continue shamelessly ramping up (as she would say) her public profile. I mean doesn't the truth have to come out eventually? So, to minimize the fallout, keep it low key, right? Is she THAT delusional that she now believes her own BS or did she really have that baby (and was binding her belly)?
ReplyDeleteAnon. at 9:16--She believes her own lies. I've been reading up on personality disorders (due to being blindsided by someone with a per. disorder in my life). One of the characteristics is that they believe their own statements even if the statements are false.
ReplyDeleteHere is a quick list for narscisstic:
*grandiose sense of self-importance
*fantasies of success, power, brillance
*demands of special treatment
*demands admiration
*sense of entitlement
*relationship of exploitation
*lack of empathy
*envious
*arrogant
Antisocial:
*lying and conning
*impulsive and fails to plan ahead
*reckless
*irresponsible
*lack of remorse
*repeated violations of social norms/laws
*irritable and aggressive
Once you know what to look for you can see these traits in her actions. She makes a great case study.
Huffington Post Sat 2/21
ReplyDeleteExcert from article Re: Palin base slappiing down Bristol"
I'm not going to touch NAEA's implied reference to Fox News with a ten-foot pole. But only weeks after Sarah Palin said "leave my kids alone," her biggest "news" promoter, Van Susteren, sneaks into Alaska behind Palin's back for a ratings-grabbing interview with Bristol. And then a conservative Christian group goes after her daughter.
Where's Palin's vituperative comeback at Van Susteren or the NAEA?
Her silence says truck loads.
OK, HERE IS PALIN SETTING UP BRISTOL FOR RIDICULE AND THEN ABANDONING HER.
Palin's silence does speak loads about her anger at Bristol for being a blooming rose, while she faces menapause, for having one (2?) babies that affect her political potential and for growing up and getting to leave mom's control.
I believe Palin set the interview up with Van Sustern, told Bristol she was to be interviewed and used the opportunity to overshadow Bristol during the interview and take her spotlight away. Just another instance of humilating Bristol in public. Can't say Palin had control over Bristol's remark about abstinence being unrealistic, but HER FAILURE TO SUPPORT BRISTOL AGAINST HER 'BASE' TELLS YOU EXACTLY WHO PALIN CARES ABOUT. PALIN IS LIKELY MORE UPSET WITH BRISTOL OVER HER REMARK THAN THE BASE IS.
Thanks LisanTx for the explanation. It makes sense but what happens when the inevitable occurs and the truth comes out? (Please tell this WILL happen with SP!!!) What will she do?
ReplyDelete