As many have already noted, this book is all about payback. The nasty, mean spirited, Sarah makes frequent appearances throughout.Here she is reveling in the fact that she automatically earned female support by virtue of the fact she had a vagina, and how that worked in her favor, especially with female reporters.
When I ran for reelection, John Stein (That non-Christian Jewish guy from before) again challenged me for the job. In one debate, Stein referred to me as a "cheerleader" and a "Spice Girl".
A cheerleader? I thought, come on, don't insult cheerleaders like that. (Shout out to the cheerleaders! Whoop, whoop!) I was just a jock and couldn't hold a candle to their pep and coordination. (I am going to go out on limb here and assume that what Stein meant by the word "cheerleader" is that Sarah was overzealous in her promotion of something that she did not truly understand, and NOT her athletic prowess. But hey, I could always be wrong.)
"At least get it right," I laughed wen it was my turn to respond. "Call me 'Sporty Spice'!"
I thought the whole things was hilarious because a TV station was covering the debate and I knew that his sexist remark would play to my advantage. (There was a quote from Napoleon Bonaparte right here , but I omitted it because, WTF?) A young female reporter, brand new to Alaska, caught Stein's "Spice Girl" comment.
"I can't believe what that candidate said about you!" she told me, appalled and sympathetic.
I shook my head in a "can you believe what we women have to put up with?" way and milked it for all it was worth. 'I know, I know" I said. "But you just have to rise above all that and plow through. Look, we have to work twice as hard to prove we are half as capable as men think we are."
Then I gave her a wink and whispered the old familiar punchline, "Thankfully, it's not that difficult." (P 80)
Did Sarah just brag that she proved she was "half as capable as a man"? I don't get it.
It is amazing how blatant Palin is when bragging about how she uses the gender card to elicit support and sympathy from women. I have a hard time imagining Margaret Thatcher, Palin's supposed hero, using those same tactics.
Of course I also have a hard time picturing Prime Minister Thatcher walking through the House of Commons wearing red Naughty Monkey Pumps.
Sarah is constantly laying a heavy coat of gloss over incidents that she does not want anybody to pay much attention to. For instance.
Todd was building a new house for us on Lake Lucille, and we had to pack up and sell the one we were living in on Wasilla Lake. He was still full-time on the Slope, plus commercial fishing. He and his partner had recently sold our business, Valley Polaris. (P 82)
Hmm, no mention of the help that Todd received from his friends at Spenard Builders Supply. Or the fact that Sarah had blocked an effort to require the filing of building permits while she was mayor which allowed them to build that house without following any guidelines. Or even the name of the business partner (Brad Hanson) and WHY they sold the snowmachine shop. That is a LOT of gloss for one paragraph.
You want to hear the rumor? Of course you do.
Rumor has it that the windows, and other materials, in the Palin house were "borrowed" from the material's purchased by Spenard Builders Supply for the construction of the Wasilla Sports Center. Yep that's the rumor.
You want to hear another rumor? You do?
Well according to the National Enquirer the REAL reason Todd sold his snowmachine business is because saintly Sarah was allowing his partner, Brad Hanson, to "break a little trail" of his own, if you know what I mean. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
Are the rumors true? Well personally I would put far more stock in them than anything I read in THIS damn book!
Time for an irony break. Here is a tidbit on page 85 from when Sarah was running for Lt. Governor.
In my journal that season I wrote, "Unlike some other candidates, I can't just be-bop all over the state raising money."
You know I am just going to leave that there without comment. I think it speaks for itself.
The next section is about her incredibly "brave" stand against the "good old boys" and how she single-handedly cleaned up the state Government before she was elected Governor and started piling up ethics violations by the truck load. I think I will skip that.
We are almost at the end of the chapter surely there must be somebody else she feels she owes a little pay back to. Let's see, Faye Palin (Actually this seems to be the only person Palin feels bad about mistreating), Randy Ruedrich (Nah everybody knows he is a criminal!), Frank Murkowsi (Palin is still pissed that he gave his old job to his daughter instead of her), Mike Wooten,......wait, wait, wait, back up......ahhh Trooper Michael Wooten! Perfect.
We begin on page 100.
In 2001, my sister Molly had married a guy names Mike Wooten (Boo! Hiss!) who'd recently moved to Alaska.
She did not know that he, only in his mid-twenties, had already been married and divorced twice. Or that he'd already filed once for bankruptcy, or that infidelity had been a problem in an earlier marriage. (Not only is Wooten a philanderer, he is not good with money. I wonder which one bothered Sarah more?)
When I was serving as mayor, Mike asked me to write him a recommendation for the Alaska State Trooper Academy, as I did for lots of people applying for different programs and scholarships. After he became a trooper, though, it became clear that there were some problems. He was seen drinking alcohol while driving a patrol car. In 2003, after using graphic terms to challenge his young stepson's masculinity, he shot the child with his state-issued Taser gun.(The boy BEGGED Wooten to let him feel what it was like to be tasered. The Taser was a model used for training puposes, as Wooten was qualified to train officers in its use, and NOT a real Taser. And he did not SHOOT the boy, he placed the barbs against his skin and turned the Taser on for a second. That was all.) later, after Molly found out he was having an affair, Track and I witnessed a domestic dispute in which we both heard the man threaten to harm my dad. If Dad helped Molly retain a divorce lawyer, he screamed while wearing his trooper gun belt, "he'll eat a f***ing lead bullet!" (P 101) (To get the straight dope on the Trooper Wooten affair just click here. I am sure you will find it enlightening.)
Not too many people make the assertion that Micheal Wooten is a saint, or that he did no wrong, but Palin's very concerted efforts to attack his character and destroy his career is a very frightening look into her pathology. Wooten is certainly not the only person she treated in this manner, and as we go further into the book we will undoubtedly see more of the mean-girl come out. You just betcha we will.
Up next, Chapter Three. "Drill, Baby, Drill".
