Palin story sparks GOP family feud (Has war broken out in the GOP?)

Politico ^ | June 30, 2009 | Jonathan Martin

[Al B.]

A hard-hitting piece on Sarah Palin in the new Vanity Fair has touched off a blistering exchange of insults among high-profile Republicans over last year’s GOP ticket – tearing open fresh wounds about leaks surrounding Palin and revealing for the first time some of the internal wars that paralyzed the campaign in its final days.

Rival factions close to the McCain campaign have been feuding since last fall over Palin, usually waging the battle in the shadows with anonymous quotes. Now, however, some of the most well-known names in Republican politics are going on-the-record with personal attacks and blame-casting.

William Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard and at times an informal adviser to Sen. John McCain, touched off the latest back-and-forth Tuesday morning with a post on his magazine’s blog criticizing the Todd Purdum-authored Palin story and pointing a finger at Steve Schmidt, McCain’s campaign manager.

[...]

Asked about the accusation, Schmidt fired back in an email: “I'm sure John McCain would be president today if only Bill Kristol had been in charge of the campaign.”

[...]

But Kristol’s charge was seconded by Randy Scheunemann, a longtime foreign policy adviser to McCain who is also close to the Standard editor and was thought to be a Palin ally within the campaign.

“Steve Schmidt has a congenital aversion to the truth,” Scheunemann said. “On two separate and distinct occasions, he speculated about about Governor Palin having post-partum depression,...

[Al B.]

Stolen e-mails, Schmidt trying to fire Scheunemann...etc.

Lots of dirt, right up Jonathan Martin's alley.

[presently no screen name]

My, my all the schoolboys fighting over Sarah.

[steelyourfaith]

... not to mention that Sarah threatens Todd Purdom’s femininity ...

[Cicero]

Politico is just trying to make trouble. But it may not be a bad idea to get this dirt out in the open where it can be dealt with.

In particular, Steve Schmidt should never have another job with the Republican party, if this is true, as several people now seem to confirm. He’s worse than the Toe Sucker.

[free me]

bump

[jwalsh07]

In particular, Steve Schmidt should never have another job with the Republican party, if this is true, as several people now seem to confirm.

Neither should McCain but that's not gonna happen either.

[Diogenesis]

Late in October, The American Spectator's The Prowler revealed:
"Former Mitt Romney presidential campaign staffers, some of whom are currently working for Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin's bid for the White House,
have been involved in spreading anti-Palin spin to reporters, seeking to diminish her standing after the election.
'Sarah Palin is a lightweight, she won't be the first, not even the third, person people will think of when it comes to 2012,'
says one former Romney aide, now working for McCain-Palin.
'The only serious candidate ready to challenge to lead the Republican Party is Mitt Romney.
He's in charge on November 5th.'"
The Prowler added: "Some former Romney aides were behind the recent leaks to media, including CNN, that Governor Sarah Palin was a 'diva' and was going off message intentionally."
The Romney supporters in the McCain campaign had access to internal polling which indicated well in advance of the November 4 election that McCain had no chance to win.
So they began working to position their man Mitt for a run in 2012. Just two days after the election,The Palmetto Scoop reported:
"One of the first stories to hit the national airwaves was the claim of a major internal strife between close McCain aides and the folks handling his running mate Sarah Palin."
"I’m told by very good sources that this was indeed the case and that a rift had developed, but it was between Palin’s people and the staffers brought on from the failed presidential campaign of former Gov. Mitt Romney, not McCain aides."
"The sources said nearly 80 percent of Romney’s former staff was absorbed by McCain and these individuals were responsible for what amounts to a premeditated, last-minute sabotage of Palin."
These aides loyal to Romney inside the McCain campaign, said The Scoop, reportedly saw that Palin would be a serious contender for the Republican nomination in 2012 or 2016, which made her a threat to another presidential quest by Romney.
Erick Erickson, who organized Operation Leper, said:
"Here’s what I think: I think there are some staffers on the McCain campaign who seriously screwed up the roll out of Sarah Palin, to which Governor Palin herself objected.
These staffers are now out trying to finish her off thinking, as typical D.C. types do, that if they don’t do it to her, she’ll do it to them. They just never understood who Palin is or what she is about."
"Likewise, I do think there are some staffers and others who expect Mitt Romney to run again in 2012,
they decided McCain could not win, and decided to undermine Sarah Palin and her chances hoping it would ingratiate themselves with Mitt Romney."

[gusopol3]

A bunch of guys nobody’s ever heard of fighting each other over who said to whom and when (sounds like a lot of threads on FR)is the least of GOP’s worries.

[Texas Eagle]

Romney......Romney......sounds familiar......was he Rachel’s boyfriend on “Friends”?

[what's up]

But it may not be a bad idea to get this dirt out in the open where it can be dealt with.

Yup, and especially this far in advance of Nov '10.

Same with Sanford. I'm glad that came out now and not in the middle of mid-term elections.

[dforest]

Sarah ought to dump the GOP. They are a passle of idiots.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

McCain and his campaign people are the most worthless slugs ever. McCain is so gutless he took on Palin because he was told to, then did nothing to support her. When asked later if he thought she was a good choice and would support her in future politics, he gave an, "Oh no, not at all," as if he was being asked if he wanted a second cup of coffee.

McCain is either less competent than Crackhead Bob to run a political office or he's on Soros' payroll. Either way, this skunk should be run out of government on a rail with about 300 other congressmen, D and R.

The reasons for the constant Palin attacks are simple. It works, just look at GW Bush. His 1st term was fabulous, then he crumbled like an Oreo cookie as soon as he was re-elected. He was on the wrong side of most issues and his coup-de-grace was the 0bama-style bank bailout.

Ronald Reagan carried 49 states, so the liberals are absolutely terrified of anybody remotely like him. Palin's a real-deal conservative, not like the little eunuch RINOs who slink around the halls of government these days. They want to shut her down by portraying her as a nut. Kerry missed the presidency by a whisker and Zero got in, so there's a lot of knuckleheads who vote how they're told.

[popdonnelly]

Conservatives won’t be taken seriously unless they form a third party.

[Pallas]

National Review is notably unenthusiastic about her as well, not that I've ascribed much credibility to that magazine since they went soft (especially over immigration) and removed John O'Sullivan as editor. But it is some gauge of certain top (if mangy) "conservative" dogs and opinion leaders drawing lines agianst her. Also remember NR endorsed Romney in the 08 primaries.

[SoCalPol]

The Vanity Fair trash article is written by the husband
of Dee Dee Myers and a former NY times hack

The McCain folks who are supposed to have made the comments were originally on the Mitt romney staff.

Politico is liberal and also has a writer or two who
supports Mitt Romney.

I think MittWitt and his liberal friends are doing their dirt, lies, smears early

[SkyPilot]

McCain is a scumbag, his father was a scumbag, and so are his "aides."

[KoRn]

Personally, I believe ALL of the ‘potential candidates’ that are being talked about today will do nothing but ensure a 2nd term for Hussein if any of them get the nomination. The Republicans don’t have a ‘deep bench’ on the national level.

We need somebody else, and I have no idea who that could be....

[potlatch]

I wouldn’t doubt that Romney’s people spread anti Palin stories.

[sport]

Nor would I.

[SoCalPol]

Third parties are not taken serious, the reason they only receive 1 or 2% of the vote.

Also their views are mostly anti war, 9/11 truthers,
and your basic loon.