Posted on 04/17/2009 2:54:44 PM PDT by SolidWood
Arthur "A.B.'' Culvahouse, a prominent Washington attorney who served as White House counsel to President Ronald Reagan during the president's final two years and led Sen. John McCain's search for a running mate - a search that included a "long list'' of 26 candidates - told the tale today of picking Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
After the vetting of all the candidates, and paring them to a short list, McCain asked Culvahouse for the "bottom line'' on Palin.
""I said, 'John, high risk, high reward,''' Culvahouse said today. "His response - 'You shouldn't have told me that. I've been a risk-taker all of my life.'''
Culvahouse was addressing the Republican National Lawyers Association today at the National Press Club, and C-SPAN was running a camera.
"There were three rules,'' Culvahouse said of himself and McCain. "He was the decider. There was no one between him and me.... There was no one who was going to say, 'This one is on the list, this one is off the list'... Third... he could not pick anyone that I had not vetted.''
(Excerpt) Read more at swamppolitics.com ...
PING!
Anyone on or off the Palin ping, write me.
McCain was high risk low reward.
lol..how about: McCain was High Risk...No Reward!
But...but...but...She was never vetted! I read it in the New York Times.
Starts talking about the selection and vetting at 33 minutes.
The previous part is about Iran-Contra and his service under Reagan.
If the McCain campaign hadn’t been such morons and just let Sarah be HERSELF and let her speak her mind like she did last night, perhaps she would be in the White House right now where she belongs. Everyone who I have spoken to who has met her says how highly intelligent she is, what you all saw last night, that is the REAL Sarah Palin. Stands up for what she believes in, real, sincere, a good hearted person who loves life and loves this country.
Sarah gave it her all. Without her wit and energy McCain would have been completely DOA. Without him, perhaps she will prevail one day.
They considered many.
“We had 26 people on the long list. It was a blind basis... They did not know they were on the list,’’ said Culvahouse, who had a staff of 30 lawyers helping him who wrote 50-page reports on the candidates.
“Gov. Palin told us everything - everything except the pregnancy (of) her daughter was on the written questionnaire,’’ he said of Palin, who discussed teenage daughter Bristol’s pregnancy privately. “She told me there was one issue she wanted to talk about. We knew everything going in.’’
Palin “has lots of presence. She fills up a room,’’ said Culvahouse, noting that some of his most cynical colleagues also were impressed with her.
Culvahouse, commenting on the later, damaging interviews that Palin gave to CBS News anchor Katie Couric, suggested that the wrong impression had come from those sessions - such as the idea that Palin was not familiar with Supreme Court rulings.
“She clearly did... My law firm represents Exxon in the Valdez matters,’’ he noted. “Until she became governor, Gov. Palin was a plaintiff in that case...’’
They asked her why she wanted to be vice president — “the question Judge Bork was not prepared to answer — why he wanted to be on the Supreme Court,’’ said Culvahouse, who also handled Bork on the Hill.
They asked her if she is prepared to use nuclear weapons in the defense of the American homeland, he said, and they asked her if, say Osama bin Laden should be spotted, but taking him out would result in many other casualties, would she take the shot?
“She knocked those three questions out of the park,’’ he said.
“She would have been a great vice president... She wouldn’t have been ready on Jan. 20,’’ he allowed, but then most people wouldn’t, save for Dick Cheney when he joined George W. Bush’s ticket in 2000 ( after conducting a nationwide search for himself, our comment, not A.B.’s)
“Qualifications in this town meant someone with a great resume,’’ Culvahouse said today. “As John... directed me, it was someone who had the capacity to be president.’’
Fred Malek, McCain’s chief fundraiser is also very impressed with Palin. These are the type of guys she will need if and when she decides to run.
Something tells me that they know something about what SarahPAC is taking in.
A plus is that Culvahouse is a Reagan guy, she needs the companionship of good Conservatives, not opportunists and career RINOs.
AMEN! Now IF only The RNC would acknowledge this, package it, and shove it down the RAT’S THROATS! including Katie Colonic!:-)
McCain was ahead in the polls Sept. 10- Palin did work.
The financial collapse sunk them.
Had it NOT been for Palin many more red states would have went blue.
This is a fact that four antagonistic groups to Sarah Palin want to deny:
1)Obama and his merry men and women
2)the MSM
3)internet trolls and the nutroots
4)RINO’s and Palin’s potential GOP Presidential opponents
The campaign was over for McCain when he made the stupid trip back to Washington during the financial mess, and did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING and voted FOR the Bail Out.
Had NOTHING to do with Sarah.
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