Posted on 11/09/2008 3:27:03 PM PST by GVnana
Aides blast accusations, not from Mitt camp
By Dave Wedge
Saturday, November 8, 2008 -
Mitt Romney’s camp is firing back at reports his foot soldiers are behind a brutal smear campaign against Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in a backdoor strategy to position the former Bay State governor for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.
“It’s a completely absurd allegation that is totally divorced from the truth,” Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said.
Fox News, the New York Times [NYT] and Newsweek have reported on a host of criticisms of Palin, including that she threw tantrums that made staffers cry and didn’t know Africa was a continent. Several media outlets reported some of the leaks came from within the McCain campaign. But the political blog, The Palmetto Scoop, citing “very good sources,” said it was Romney loyalists working for McCain who were behind the “premeditated last minute sabotage” of Palin.
Fehrnstrom took issue with the Scoop’s claim that as much as 80 percent of Romney’s campaign staff went to work for Sen. John McCain’s team after the GOP primary. Only “a handful” of Romney operatives joined the Arizona senator’s campaign, he said.
“The truth is, there are no former Romney staffers in senior roles at the McCain campaign,” Fehrnstrom said. “I can think of a handful of people, maybe three or four, who went over, all in junior positions.”
However, Romney’s former campaign spokesman Kevin Madden was among the ex-Romney staffers to bash Palin. In an interview on CNN just a week before the election, Madden called Palin “unseasoned” and questioned whether she should have been McCain’s pick.
“When you put out an unknown and you give them 70 days with which to go through a vetting process, both by voters and the national press corps, ugly things can tend to happen,” Madden said.
Since McCain’s loss, Palin has been accused of dragging down the ticket in what her spokeswoman Meg Stapleton reportedly called “a circling firing squad.”
GOP strategist Holly Robichaud, who writes the “Lone Republican” blog for the Herald, said: “It’s definitely Romney’s people. They’ve been doing it for a while. Romney is thinking about running again in 2012 and he needs to kill off Sarah Palin in order to get there.”
Romney himself has defended Palin, calling her a “positive addition to the ticket” in an appearance on CBS’ “Early Show” a week before the election.
“For a first-time candidate on the national stage . . . you’re subject to the national spotlight. It’s more like a national torch,” Romney said. “She has been able to keep cool under the pressure.”
Meanwhile, a new Rasmussen poll shows that 64 percent of Republicans want Palin to be the GOP presidential candidate in 2012 while 11 percent prefer Romney.
Obama is the first Black President. Did you think money could buy Romney a skin change?
How do you feel about Huckabee? Can’t you argue the same thing about him?
even during the primary he couldn’t give a straight answer on whether he would overturn “don’t ask don’t tell”
See my post # 56, please.
Hardly. Romney would have been painted as the worst of the Wall Street robber barons, his tenure at Bain Capital scrutinized for the least hint of an appearance of impropriety.
He’d have been tied to the Salt Lake City Olympic bribery scandal, even though he came in to clean up after it.
And there would have been plenty of subtle (and not so subtle) bigotry expressed towards his Mormon religion.
Mitt Romney could not have come out the winner against Barack Obama. After the market crash in September, no one could.
Yikes. Well, that’s the only way to survive politically in MA. Be a RINO.
I voted for huckabee and I can say No. I don’t want him back either. He can have his show and talk to Bill Maher any time he wants but he won’t be president.
I am the Partisan.
“. . . his vicious tasteless toadies walking all over Palin.”
Just wondering if you can corroborate that.
My view is simply that rumor and innuendo should not suffice, it requires evidence, not some gossip.
We got McCain because Conservatives were worn out by Bush’s 8 years.
Inference, look it up.
You stop posting the slights and people won't see them.
If you ponder that for a minute, you really get an appreciation of how stupid it is as a concept.
George “brainwashed” Romney was the RINO’s RINO. no romney will ever get the support from the military.
You may be right about Romney. I don’t know.
When I see him he looks and sounds good. I think he could do well in the general election. He probably would have run a more coherent campaign than did John McCain, and done better in the debates. As for the backroom stuff, I simply don’t want to invest the time to evaluate all the claims and counterclaims.
Thanks for the response.
Madam, he IS a Socialist. Why do you refuse to see that ?
Wow.
Seek help.
God bless you — and may you find a strong wind at your
back helping you further.
However, just as YOU know the ‘ground truth’ regarding
those you defend, there are FReepers here who have followed
Mr. Romney antics, and know the ‘ground truth’ about him.
Your opinion is correct about the media, but so are the
FReepers who are exposing Romney and his Palin-attackers.
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