In Touch has details from a tell all from a former campaign aid to Sarah Palin. It’s called Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin and was written by a guy named Frank Bailey. The parts that In Touch focuses on sound like the same thing we heard from Sarah’s daughter’s former redneck fiance, Levi Johnston, back when he hit the scene. (And before he reunited with Bristol briefly. That was hysterical.) There’s undoubtedly more in the book than just these few claims, including details on how Palin allegedly lied about Troopergate.

Apparently Sarah was pressuring Bristol to hide her pregnancy and let Sarah adopt the baby without revealing that it would be her grandchild. Sarah was worried (with good cause) that having a 17 year-old pregnant daughter would hurt her chances at the Vice Presidency. (As would being completely unprepared, defensive and unable to follow through on her commitments, but she didn’t seem to worry much about any of that.) Bailey also writes that Sarah told Bristol that abortion was an option for her, and didn’t rule that out. It’s surprising to hear that she was open about abortion, considering that her public stance is staunchly pro life. And Baily claims that Sarah and her husband Todd didn’t talk and were fighting, which we’ve also heard before.

Sarah’s relationship with her eldest daughter is totally dysfunctional, according to former campaign aide Frank Bailey, who says he witnessed Sarah mocking, berating and terrifying Bristol. And now, he’s finally speaking out in an explosive tell-all, Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin.

Abortion was an option
Sarah’s total disregard for her daughter’s well-being was never more apparent than when Bristol told her mother she was pregnant at the age of 17, Bailey says. Determined to minimize the effect on her political career at any cost – including her daughter’s feelings – Sarah apparently ignored her own pro-choice leanings [sic!] and gave Bristol the option of having an abortion. “I left the decision to her,” Sarah confessed to Bailey, “and Bristol wants to keep it.”

Sarah told Bristol to let her adopt the baby
But then, determined to bury the scandal, Sarah even pressured her to give the baby up for adoption – to Sarah herself. “Sarah kept mentioning this plan,” Bristol’s then-boyfriend, Levi Johnston, has said. “She didn’t want people to know that her 17 year-old daughter was going to have a kid.”

Sarah’s daughters suffered when she was away
Bailey says Sarah must accept her share of the Blame for Bristol’s pregnancy. With her eyes focused on political fame and fortune, she all but abandoned Bristol and younger daughters Willow, 15, and Piper, 10, who spent weeks without their mother.

And very quickly, Bailey explains, their lonely lifestyle began to take an obvious toll, as the girls’ grades suffered and they began to make tearful phone calls to their mom on the campaign trail. “I recall one day when Bristol phoned… crying while Sarah sat in my office,” Bailey recalls. “Sarah rolled her eyes. I felt pained for Bristol.”

On Sarah’s marriage to Todd
“This union for sure had its rocky side,” Bailey reveals, admitting that those around them were aware divorce was a real possibility. Sarah was rumored to have cheated on Todd, and he had a habit of hacking into her email account. Things got so bad, Sarah broke down and told Bailey, “We’re not like other couples… we don’t talk.”

[From In Touch, print edition, June 13, 2011]

All that stuff about how Sarah somehow neglected her daughters while she was working or was an absentee mom rubs me the wrong way. It’s hard to judge from just this blurb, but it sounded like she was necessarily off campaigning and not like she abandoned them or anything.

In Touch incorrectly wrote that Sarah “apparently ignored her own pro-choice leanings,” and that’s obviously a mistake on their part. In her memoir Going Rogue, Sarah noted that she actually considered abortion “for a fleeting moment” when she heard that her youngest son Trig, now three, would be born with Down’s Syndrome. She has stated that she’s opposed to abortion except to save the life of the mother, so if it’s true that she told Bristol she could potentially terminate the pregnancy I’m surprised. I would give Palin some credit for being open about that, but it sounds like it was more about her political career than any doubts she might have about being pro-life.

Now that this tell all is out and basically scoops Levi Johnston’s planned tell all (along with offering more details about other Palin scandals) what’s that poor high dropout going to do? Levi’s book doesn’t come out until the Fall, and I doubt it will be a success.

Sarah Palin is shown outside the Fox news studios on 6/1/11 on her “One Nation” bus tour. She’s also shown on 5/29/11 taking part in the “Rolling Thunder” motorcycle rally for POW/MIA. Bristol Palin’s new face is shown on 5/3/11. Credit: WENN.com