The Lies of Sarah Palin: The Untold Story Behind Her Relentless Quest for Power Kindle Edition

As if I could not get enough of Sarah Palin - and she is a phenomenon that I want to comprehend - I read Dunn's book shortly after reading the book by McGinniss. In some respects Dunn's book is better: he covers more of Sarah's life. He also does a better job of answering the question that I want to understand: given her word-salad speaking style, and her frequent no shows, and her long history of obvious lies, how did she acquire so much power?Dunn goes way back into Sarah's history and retrieves many incidents that demonstrate aspects of her personality. One of them had to do with an attractive young woman who moved to SP's hometown and was asked out by Menard Jr - the fellow that SP had been crazy about for a long time. Even though the young lady actually turned down Menard at first, SP and her clique ostracized the young lady - even though being asked out was not her fault. So here we see several aspects of SP's personality: illogical and inappropriate vindictiveness as well as feeling terribly threatened by women who are successful and smart.We also learned from SP's basketball experience that it was not how or even if she played the game, it was whether or not she received credit for winning. She committed many fouls while playing. She was an extremely fierce player, with little regard for the rules.Why does Palin lie so much? Because it is easier than figuring out the truth. Because it gets her what she wants. Because it allows her to repaint herself in glowing terms. Hence her movie is called "The Undefeated" - even although we know that's not true. She says what people want to hear, even though it contradicts something she said ten minutes ago.Dunn includes a lot of information from the McCain campaign, gleaned from Steve Schmidt. The campaign went through several upheavals which show his lack of organizational and management skills - and how they ended up selecting Palin (and the dumbfounded glee in the Obama camp, which had done a better job of vetting Palin than had McCain, when they realized what happened). They quickly realized she had problems staying on script, so they stopped nearly all interviews.So, why has Palin been so successful? First, she has the support of the believe-anything Christians, who can be organized like an army. Second, many people do not investigate her lies. Third, she has a vicious streak which goes after those who might harm her or who don't agree with her. Fourth, and finally, she is tenacious. Yes, she is a quitter, but when it's something she really wants, she keeps after it. The McCain campaign may complain that she was not a team player in that she kept wanting to go after Michigan (I think she may have also been bad at math) and that she wanted to give a speech after McCain's concession. Sure, that would have been against the rules and the customs and made her not a team player - but what if she had gotten away with it? She was ready to take advantage of every opportunity, as long as it serves her agenda.I would give this book 5 stars, but there is a reference to the 20th anniversary as the silver wedding anniversary. Although in some respects this is better written than the McGinniss book and is certainly deeper and broader in scope, this mistake makes me wonder how much Dunn checked everything. So, 4 stars. But an excellent read.

Now that Palin is essentially irrelevant- like the wicked witch in the Oz movie who kept screaming while she shriveled to nothing after the water was splashed on her- reading this book in 2015 gives clear hindsight to the cancer she has actually infected this country with. By the time I reached the end of this engaging , detailed and decently written book, I could not help thinking of the "AntiChrist" analology- that a "charismatic" person (nearly always dressed in black and red! ha) would arrive on the stage in a quasi leadership mode and end up wrreaking havoc.Quite apart from her personality, lies, and emotional immaturity, for me there was the realization that the was and is an Archetype to tap into rallying hate, divisiveness, and negativity, which I feel is directly responsible for whipping up ALL of the "gunmen" (as we like to call them in this country, instead of murderers) who have since gone blotto in theaters, public squares, stores, military centers and more- the relentless rage, disrespect for our leadership figurehead, and petty manipulation that she played out on stage for years was a true invitation to the more degranged individuals in our culture to take these actions.So while Dunn told a story of the past, the events around the 2008 election directly before and after, and ended his book in 2011, for myself I take her trajectory and influence on the social order right to the heart of inciting evil, eliciting it, and making it seem "OK".The truth shall set you free.

As someone who frankly knew little about Sarah Palin, had certainly never heard of her before she was tapped by John McCain as his running mate, and who has not paid particular attention to her since 2008, I made a point, when looking into books about her to read, of finding some from various points of view. What I found so amazing in reading this book, "The Lies of Sarah Palin", is comparing the same occurences depicted in the two pro-Palin books I've already read: they hardly seem to be describing the same incidents! Interestingly, though, now reading Dunn's book which is carefully researched and was written with the pro-Palin books available for reference, I can see how the woman twists events and words in order to depict herself as the continual victim. (I've read "Going Rogue" by Sarah Palin and "Our Sarah: Made in Alaska" by Sarah, her brother and her father) I plan next on reading "Blind Allegiance" by Frank Bailey, a man who worked intimately with Sarah Palin during her national campaign and believe then I'll have as complete a view of this woman as possible without knowing her personally. No question, author Geoffrey Dunn is not a Palin groupie, but, then, most Americans aren't. After initially luring people in with her superficial charisma at her national "coming out" as John McCain's running mate, Palin's serious character flaws and utter inappropriateness as a political leader has caused most people to basically write her off and focus elsewhere. Dunn's book researches Palin's life from her childhood and upbringing for the beginnings of the characteristics that continually cause her to leave a trail of chaos, anger and confusion behind. He documents many examples showing how she often lies to avoid taking responsibility for problems she herself created, starting with her middle- and high-school sportsmanship through jobs in small town management and to her truncated tenure as governor of Alaska. From a variety of sources and interviews, he demonstrates Palin's tactics of bullying other people and holding onto grudges until she can take vengeance on others when she feels she's been wronged. Many times the slights are actually only in Palin's mind. The book is filled with hundreds of examples of issues and problems created by Palin but which she deftly side-steps in order to paint herself as a victim while making sure blame is laid on the doorstep of anyone other than her. Much discussion is devoted to Palin's unsuccessful vice-presidential candidacy and how her character flaws came to light as the national spotlight shone on her. The great stress of campaigning was compounded by the stressors of her personal life at that time (her last child, a special-needs baby, was still very young at the time of her candidacy of national office). Insights into Sarah Palin during this time are obtained from and reinforced by many members of McCain's "inner circle" of advisors and campaign movers and shakers, including the very people who "vetted" Palin (a job normally completed over 6 months but was actually done in only days). The epilogue brings us to Sarah Palin's activities up to the violent Arizona mass shooting and assassination attempt of Gabrielle Giffords. By then most Americans had realized that about the only thing Sarah Palin was good at was playing victim and sowing seeds of partisanship and divisiveness in America. She continues to have a core group of people who adore the woman and who continue to hope for a day when she'll be voted in as President of the United States. These are people who will never read this or any other book critical of their Sarah, which is unfortunate. After reading this book, I'm happier than ever that Palin's circle of influence continues to shrink, as she is asked for her political opinions less and less, and fewer Republican candidates seek her support. Now she runs a web-based video channel available by (expensive!) subscription which has garnered no where even remotely near the numbers of Sean Hannity, who it seems she hoped to emulate. Eventually even her "good looks" will fade, and her opinions will no longer be sought. It will, of course, be the fault of someone else.