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 Romneys 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.
Its 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 didnt 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 Scoops claim that as much as 80 percent of Romneys campaign staff went to work for Sen. John McCains team after the GOP primary. Only a handful of Romney operatives joined the Arizona senators 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, Romneys 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 McCains 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 McCains 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: Its definitely Romneys people. Theyve 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 . . . youre subject to the national spotlight. Its 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.
Gov. Palin helped.
You are lying to protect Romney-the-Saboteur.
I like Romney. I also support religious freedom.
Romney is not one of us.
Sorry to inform you. He and I are like brothers. Get over it!
She most certainly did make a difference. She kept McCain from losing by another few million votes. An awful lot of people went to the polls for her, not McCain.
Maybe not for you ... but I prefer a PRO LIFE guy like Romney that is sharp on economics.
I do too. I said nothing about religion. RINOs are a diverse lot.
Where is McCain on this issue?????????
The people behind the Palin smears are the moderates from all camps. They got their moderate and we got Obama. Now Obama may have won anyway but conservatives had no voice in this election until Sarah Palin showed up and her voice was muted by McCains operatives, namely that moron named Scmidt. Or however the hell he spells his utterly forgettable name.
LOL!!!
Though I'm laughing, I should say that I find it sad that the Mormons are being unfairly targeted. First they're coming for the Mormons. Next they'll come for the Catholics. These gays are out of their flippin' minds. They're hurling racial slurs at blacks too. I've never seen anything like it.
Exactly. Down with the backstabbing RINO Socialist traitor Slick Willard !
Nope. There’s a “traitor list” of Palin smearers and other assorted weasels out somewhere.
Bingo!
What lies? The man is not a conservative.
No proof, just speculation, some think it may have been he would have done better. I don’t know and neither do you. But I can read the polls.
I would vote for a second 0bambi term - before I would vote for Rumney.
Someone on FR should put up a poll - just for giggles - to see how far Socialist Mitt would get.
I agree. Palin is alright, but the effect she had in drawing voters this election has been, and continues to be, greatly exaggerated here despite strong evidence to the contrary.
I’m sure that I will be flamed and called a Romneybot, liberal, traitor, etc. here for saying this, but that’s the way it is.
Romney needs to be kept at a distance.
The 2012 nomination is Sarah Palin’s if she wants it.
Everyone else stand off and talk about Obama’s plans to be the “Abortion President.”
The economy will not be the focus of his first actions as president when he signs off on executive orders dealing with issues like that.
Any other issues he brings up need to be addressed.
What are you doing to help economic growth?
Attack Obama and the Democats for bailing everything and everyone out with our tax dollars and saddling debt on future generations.
I have no time for this nonsense. Attacking Sarah Palin is a waste and I won’t be too hard on Mr. Romney if he gets on the ball and talks about Obama.
Let McCain be “Mr. Bipartisan” kiss up.
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