Posted on 02/24/2010 5:29:03 PM PST by Al B.
POLITICO’s Andy Barr reported earlier that Meg Stapleton, spokesperson and top adviser to Sarah Palin resigned to spend more time with family.
Now CNN’s Peter Hamby follows up on the news and writes how not only did McCain campaign staffers and Palin insiders grumble about Stapleton’s handling of Palin, but also journalists.
Members of the political press corps have also long been frustrated with Stapleton, who was the primary conduit between Palin and members of the media since the end of the 2008 presidential race, but rarely responded to phone calls or e-mails. When Stapleton did, they were often terse or combative.
He’s right that getting a comment or sometimes even an acknowledgment from Stapleton could be difficult. I tried several times in recent months on Palin-related stories, and Stapleton never responded, while her voice mail was repeatedly full and unable to accept messages. [UPDATE:It turns out Stapleton had two e-mail accounts, and some reporters tell me they had an easier time getting through to her on the one I wasn't using. Still, other reporters say they had trouble getting a response even using that other account].
Since the mainstream media can't get enough of covering Palin, the question remains as to how reporters can even reach Palin, who these days is more likely to heard via Facebook or Fox News.
Hamby reports that “there are no immediate plans to hire a replacement for Stapleton.” So as of right now the only contact seems to be through Palin’s PAC, which provides a phone number which goes right to an answering machine and an e-mail address with no specific person to contact (info@sarahpac.com).
Reporters will get a quick response by e-mailing the “info” account, although not necessarily a personal one: “Thank you for your e-mail. Due to the large number of responses, it may take awhile for us to fully respond. Thank you."
They only want to be able to talk to her so they can misquote her and tear her up. She’s onto their game.
Why give them ammo? They just don’t like that she has just as much disdain for them as they do her.
Bush was president. He had to play the game. At this point, she doesn’t. Let them seethe.
‘Cause they aren’t going to be answering any more questions for awhile, he said, stating the obvious...magritte
Maybe they just don’t want to announce it until they’ve got someone in place, though it is surprising that Stapleton wouldn’t stay on until they had a replacement. Maybe Palin didn’t want her to feel that she was being let go directly for an upgrade. Donno. But it could be good news if they ramp up to a national-class PR rep, and I can’t believe they won’t have someone in that role.
No, they bitched about President Bush and press conferences but they are pretty damn meek about Obama.
Exerpts:
We told you earlier about the White House press corps’ frustration with President Bush’s lack of availability and then we found this nugget from yesterday’s WH press briefing with Dana Perino:
Q The President, I don’t think, has had a news conference in about two months. Does he feel that kind of forum doesn’t really have much use for him now to communicate his ideas, especially on the financial developments?
MS. PERINO: I’m sure he misses you all greatly, but — (laughter) — look, I think we have to be realistic —
Q We miss him.
MS. PERINO: — that if you guys had him in here, almost everything would be geared towards the election, and he is cognizant of that. He wants to make sure that this election remains fully focused on the two candidates. He’s not on the ballot. This is about John McCain and Senator Obama and how those two present themselves to the American people. And the President is reluctant to be in a place where there’s going to be a lot of competition for questions that get him involved in the 2008 campaign —
Q How about if we keep it to the he economy?
Q So no press conferences for the next 48 days?
MS. PERINO: Not — I didn’t say that. I just said that I’m telling you that one of the reasons that we haven’t — I mean, every time that I would think about maybe having a press conference, the news of the day would be such that we might be talking about lipstick on a pig, and the President is just not going to get involved in it.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/10/22/1066631501...
US President George Bush will dodge media questioning during his Australian visit, in a breach of normal protocol.
Keywords: White House
I asked Ed Henry, who reports on the White House for Time Warner’s CNN, what would be on his wish list for Obama.
“I’d want more access than we had in the past eight years,” he said.. “The President-elect has indicated he’d take questions more frequently that President Bush has done at a press conference.”
Henry also hopes that President Obama will hold press conferences more frequently, perhaps two or three a week.
“President Bush has had stretches of months without a press conference,” Henry said. “This has been a pattern far too much.”
I guess some find it hard to believe that Palin or Stapleton would want to limit their access to the haters.
This is not about Politico.
It’s about how the press can contact her, including conservative press like the Weekly Standard, NRO, conservative talk radio etc.
Unless she wants to answer her own phone/emails from all these hundreds of press people that want to talk to her every day? How is that efficient?
I know!!, why can’t Freepers understand She has almost the entire months of March and April filled with speeches and events all across the country, she does have other staff members with her if something important came along for the media....That’ why I’m glad her camp doesn’t leak info, because then we would have not only the press but people here trying to micromanage everything she does.
Her speaking fees are her personal income. As for her PAC expenses, you can see the detail of her 2H 2009 disbursements here. Candidate contributions, travel, consulting & legal fees, mostly.
Duh!
Yo, Calderone! She’s just not that into you.
- JP
I'm sure when the media starts treating her with at least a shred of respect, she'll more than return the favor. :)
Otherwise, she can do what she needs to do right now without them. If she declares for president, that's a different story obviously, but it's not exactly like she's burning bridges with this move...LOL. They hate her with a passion and essentially write NOTHING positive about her.
And what I am saying is that maybe we all need to start thinking outside the box because I KNOW she is.
As for other staff, she has that. She contracts it out. Why does she have to have a press secretary for the next few months? She has an aggressive speaking schedule that's published, she can respond on the worst of the negative stories either on FOX or FACEBOOK and believe me....Greta, Hannity, BOR, Rush, Levin et al. can pick up the phone and talk to her anytime they want.
The MSM has shown ZERO inclination to treat her as a serious political figure so I just don't get the need for her to have to have a press secretary, at least for now. We just disagree on that.
As I said in a post above, if she declares for President, that's different.
At Sarah's pleasure, they need her, she doesn't need them.
Because the elections are only 9 months away. Because the primaries are already underway, even as we speak (Michigan already had their primaries). Because she is the most influential Republican out there. Because this November's congressional elections are about the most important elections in our lifetime. We are talking about whether this country continues to be a great country, or is reduced to a has-been communist, wasteland with a bankrupt government. This is not exactly the time for Sarah Palin, not to have a press secretary. How the heck is the press supposed to contact her on any issues? I just don't get it.
* Doug McMarlin: McMarlin is a partner at GreyShockley, an Ohio-based consulting firm, and did advance work for the McCain campaign in 2008. He along with Jason Recher travel with Palin on trips. McMarlin is expected to take on a broadened role -- particularly in dealing with the press -- following Stapleton's departure.Apparently he will pick up the slack, at least temporarily.
"Don't go away mad, just go away".
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