Posted on 09/02/2008 4:24:34 PM PDT by flyfree
The story, my campaign source told me, is “materially false.” Gov. Palin, the strategist said, was subjected to a “complete vet.” “That included her filling out a 70-question questionnaire that was highly intrusive and personal. She was then interviewed for more than three hours by A.B. Culvahouse. There were multiple follow-up interviews.” (I asked precisely how many follow-ups there were, but my source stuck with “multiple.”) “There was a thorough interview process,” the strategist continued. “There was a public records search and political vet. There was a private life and financial vet. Everything that has come out was known by the campaign through the vetting process.”
Okay. What about particulars? The strategist started at the bottom and moved up.
“Todd’s DUI — we judged that to be immaterial to the selection process. The ticket for fishing without a license — we judged that to be immaterial to the selection process.” On the charge that Palin was a member of the Alaska Independence Party, the strategist said, flatly, “She was never a member of the independence party, because she has been a registered Republican.” (Later, the McCain camp put out a statement saying it had provided reporters with “ALL voter registration documentation” showing that Palin has been a registered Republican since 1982 and “has never been a member of the AIP.”) And on the issue of Palin’s daughter Bristol being pregnant: “John McCain made a decision that did not affect his decision-making in terms of her qualifications.” (As far as the allegation that Gov. Palin faked a pregnancy to cover up for her daughter is concerned, it appears the McCain campaign knew about it and looked into it, but never very deeply because it had been proven false to the satisfaction of pretty much anyone outside The Atlantic or the DailyKos.)
From our conversation, it was clear that the McCain campaign paid a lot of attention to the so-called “Troopergate” issue. After all, unlike the “fake baby” story that has preoccupied the press, it is a real issue involving allegations that Palin abused her power. Last night, the McCain campaign distributed a "background guidance" memo to reporters on the issue. In our conversation, the strategist recounted much of the substance of that memo.
“Of course this issue came up in the vetting, and this is what we discovered,” the source said. “The man who was fired has said on the record that he was never pressured by the governor or the governor’s husband on the issue of firing Trooper Wooten. The governor had a vision for how she wanted that department to be run. The commissioner had a different vision.”
“The reason that members of the Palin family were having discussions with the head of the state police about this state trooper, who was her ex-brother-in-law, was because he had made threats against the family. He threatened to kill the governor's daughter, her father, and her sister. He tasered her 11-year-old stepson. And that is why the Palin family was concerned about this trooper.”
I brought up accusations that the McCain team has performed a “legal vet” on Palin but did not perform a “political vet.” In addition to the accusation that Palin had been a member of the Alaska Independence Party, there were issues like her change in position on the “bridge to nowhere” and her support for raising sales taxes in Wasilla, Alaska. “Change on the ‘bridge to nowhere?’” my source asked. “Are you saying there’s somebody out there who believes that should disqualify her to be vice president?” Barack Obama has changed his mind on a few things, the strategist added. As for sales taxes in Wasilla, the source said, “Every aspect of her political record is known to us. These people [McCain’s opponents] are desperate.”
As for what materials the campaign examined in the vetting, the source told me they checked out (almost) everything. “The only thing the campaign did not look at was the microfilm of the local newspaper, because it was impossible to look at the microfilm without revealing the search process,” the strategist said. “We made a calculation that we would be able to get all the information from the Anchorage newspaper, that it was unlikely that there would be items in the local papers that were problematic that didn’t make it to the Anchorage paper.”
You have a monster who believes it’s ok to let a new-born infant die of exposure, and his party doesn’t see the stupidity of their attack on this 17-year-old who’s keeping her baby. INSANE! But highly expected.
Then you have her husband’s 22-year-old DUI ticket flapping about. Wonder what Mary Jo Kopechne thinks about that . . . oops, sorry . . . she was murdered by Ted the drunken whale almost 40 years ago.
Isn’t this incredible?
I can’t stand Shep Smith!!!
Imagine a normal family being in the WH. Certainly not if the Establishment press have their way. The husband is a commercial fisherman/oil worker, it would be strange if he didn’t have a DUI.
Pray for W, Palin and Our Troops
McCain should have come out with a statement saying..
“We were fully aware of Bristol’s situation before I chose Sarah to be my Vice President. We considered the matter to be personal and have no relevance to the election and did not believe the Media would stoop so low as to try to and drag the minor children of a candidate into the fray.
Unfortunately, the media never fail to disappoint.”
Ping
Please move along.
I expect the McCain camp will have an October surprise consisting of damaging information about Obama.
I think a weekly surprise is in order here. The dems have obviously stooped to a new low, and it's time to fight back. I fully expect McCain and Palin to fight clean - that's what they should do. But, I would expect that there are enough of us at the civilian level that are fed up enough to take the dems on from a slightly more devious level.
Is telling the truth about William Ayers fighting dirty? I don’t think so, and I hope it’s the issue the McCain camp hits Obama with.
The left-wing bloggers and pundits are claiming Sarah Palin hasn’t been vetted. The citizens of Alaska vetted her by electing her as their governor.
Barak Obama’s vetting process consists of the novels he has written claiming them to be autobiographies.
Add one! He’s annoying.
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