photo by timestax
Posted on 11/07/2008 6:36:49 PM PST by mathwhizz
“It’s depressing,” said Steve Biegun, a veteran foreign policy hand who tutored and staffed Palin and travelled with her through the fall. “We worked our asses off. It was a tough campaign. Then we have this?”
Biegun emphatically made the case for his much-maligned former boss.
“I think she was fantastic. She just brought a special energy to our ticket. Look, I was there at those rallies.”
Adds another former campaign aide: “You know what she did for us. She certainly solidified a hell of a lot of [previously unenthused Republicans].”
“I’m appalled by it because Sarah Palin was one of nicest people I have ever had the chance to work with,” says Biegun, a former Bush NSC aide. “I’ve worked in Washington for 20 years, on the Hill, in the White House and in the private sector, and she ranks at the highest levels of decency, kindness and graciousness of anybody I’ve ever worked with.”
Biegun said Palin’s generous spirit was on clear display the final weekend of the campaign, after she was subjected to a prank call by a pair of French Canadian radio DJs imitating French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
“I approved the call and was in abject horror of what I had done,” he recounted. “But she said, ‘Look, it’s not about whose fault this is, don’t beat yourself up, let’s just move on.’”
Schmitt said that Palin’s effort on McCain’s behalf was a dogged one – that she was completely devoted to helping the man who made her famous.
“She was tireless on the stump and would have shaken every hand on the rope line if there were time,” Schmitt recalled. “It was evident that this work ethic and enthusiasm was fueled by her sincere commitment to helping Sen. McCain get elected.
Two other McCain aides who were pressed unexpectedly into Palin duty also have only positive things to say about her now
“One of the great developments of this campaign is the addition of Sarah Palin as a powerful and energetic new voice in American public life,” said Taylor Griffin, a McCain press aide who had been focusing on economic issues until he was dispatched to Alaska in late August. “She's smart, insightful, and has an uncanny ability to ask the right questions.”
John Green was McCain’s Capitol Hill liaison for much of the year but was quietly tasked this fall with helping Palin deal with some of her Alaska-related issues, spending significant time there and with her on the campaign trail.
“I thought she was an exceptional political person, but more than that an exceptional person,” Green said. “She’s in line with conservative principles and is an everyday Republican -- what we’re going to have to find more if we’re going to get back to being a majority party.”
There is a reason, Green noted, why Palin had an 80% approval rating in Alaska.
Rick Davis was on Hannity & Colmes defending her tonight.
if Sarah adds some economic libertarianism to her talking points, she will be dangerous in 4 years.
photo by timestax
I feel the same way. I said I'd never vote for McCain, in fact I said it dozens of time, but in the end I ate crow and voted for the guy primarily for fear of what Obama would do to the troops and the war effort.
Well, guess what, the worst has happened, he's president now. The GOP is out.
If the GOP wants my vote, at this point, they had better find someone who is willing to fight for conservative principles, who isn't apologetic about them, who isn't looking to be bipartisan when bipartisan means helping the Dems enact their agenda.
Put a weasel up there, and they're on their own. Whats going to happen if none of us show up, is Obama going to win? It already happened. I'm not falling for it again.
It seems to me that the Republicans are behind this and it makes me sick.
This woman and her family worked hard on this campaign.
John Mccain is not defending her now that he lost and doesn’t need to defend her in public to try to win.
It stinks to high heaven. She deserves better.
That was Tracey Schmidt.
Steve Schmidt is still human excrement.
Every time there’s a campaign, one side loses. It’s a load of nonsense that if your team loses, you’ll somehow have to blame a VP candidate, so you can work again. Everyone in Washington has worked on losing campaigns.
And nobody’s going to blame anyone who worked on the campaign of Senator McCorpse, since we all know where the drag was on that ticket.
This is from someone who is trying to get Sarah damaged for the 2012 nomination. One person and his minions have done rumor spreading and other childish crap during the 2008 primaries. That person is Mitt Romney.
Until Mitt Romney, not only denies this, but proves to me that he’s not a lying sack of excrement, I’ll believe that he’s the one behind it. You know why? Because he is. And we all know he is. So quit pretending it’s anything different.
Bravo Zulu (that’s a good thing in Navy terms), to these NAMED sources.
Thanks, rough day, I didn't notice that.
It just goes to show, the republican party is in a heap crap of trouble. I knew McCain was the wrong guy...George Bush would never have let his staff treat Sarah Palin with such disrespect. McCain needs to come to her defense 100%. He wont’, because he’s a freaking loser.
I see this for what it is.
Republican, self directed, Damage Control.
No one in this article is making anything up. And I sure do like Gov Palin.
This peice gets attention to deflect and counter what some (alleged) McCain staffers recently did to smear and lay blame.
McCain and the republican party should publicly out the (alleged) smear merchants within his campain.
Then I’ll be satisfied.
It’s easy for good people to say good things about other good people.
See you in four years, Saracuda.
No, she should stay out of Washington's infested swamp and run for re-election as Governor. She has a better chance of retaining her Governor role than being one out of a 100. In 2012 she'll have a solid six years under her belt. The same gubernatorial experience Bush had in TX and she'll be more than ready to run on her own.
And she'll have her own team of advisers and a strong support base of conservatives. Palin is the front-runner now.
I think that this is actually just a manifestation of star status. Vaguely reminds me of comments made about Princess Diana or that type of celebrity where the masses are thrilled just to be able to gossip about them.
They can’t let go of Sarah!
ditto.
I'd had wished she would have publicly opposed the bailout and told McCain if he went to Washington she was stepping down as his running mate.
Also during the debate with plugs, she should have praised Big Oil & Wall Street instead of bashing them. Yeah, she does need to fine-tune her economic message and start talking about reducing the size of gov't. But the good news is, is that she has been through the fire and she'll have the experience to deal with the MSM creeps next time.
Oh...stop.
Thank you for that...agreed.
WE LOVE YOU SARAH....ah...PRESIDENT PALIN!
While I would love to have 100 Sarah Palins in the senate(wouldn't that be a dream team?), I agree with you that she should not run for the Senate. To start with she can't simply appoint someone, under Alaskan law, I believe, she can appoint a temporary replacement and then a special election has to be held.
I would bet that she could win it hands down but would rather see her stay Governor for the next two years anyway and then run again.
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