Sarah Palin trashed by members of John McCain's campaign team in Vanity Fair

New York Daily News ^

[Sub-Driver]

Sarah Palin trashed by members of John McCain's campaign team in Vanity Fair

BY Michael Saul DAILY NEWS POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

Monday, June 29th 2009, 12:01 PM Grillo/AP

Alaska's lipstick-wearing pit-bull is a "Little Shop of Horrors."

That's how one longtime friend and campaign trail companion of John McCain, the vanquished 2008 GOP presidential nominee, described veep nominee Sarah Palin.

In an expansive story in the August edition of Vanity Fair, a slew of senior members of McCain's campaign team told reporter Todd S. Purdum that they suffer a kind of survivor's guilt following the 2008 presidential election.

"They can't quite believe that for two frantic months last fall, caught in a Bermuda Triangle of a campaign, they worked their tails off to try to elect as vice president of the United States someone who, by mid-October, they believed for certain was nowhere near ready for the job, and might never be," Vanity Fair reports.

During the campaign, there were reports of anonymous McCain aides describing Palin, the governor of Alaska, as a "diva" and a "whack job."

The Vanity Fair article recounts how strained Palin's relationship was with the McCain advisers. She maintained "only the barest level of civil discourse" with Tucker Eskew, the operative assigned to be her chief minder, the magazine reports.

She believed Steve Schmidt, McCain's top strategist, had lied to her about conducting polling in Alaska - that was a "belief she conveyed to anyone who would listen," the magazine reported.

[Cedric]

Oh, I see, if a (fiction) writer uses the word “slew” you fall for it.

Get ready: The next article will cite a “super-duper-really-big-humungous-slew” of ANNOMYMOUS sources.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Yep, it's true. First Mark Salter and then Steve Schmitt and then McCain himself told her to keep her mouth shut.

Internal Battles Divided McCain and Palin Camps

[SouthDixie]

That's how one longtime friend and campaign trail companion, a slew of senior members of McCain's campaign team, there were reports of anonymous McCain aides, One McCain aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity...

Odd that no ones name was mentioned. Seems under that shroud of secrecy no one had the gonads to come forward or, Vanity Fair is just trying a sell a few extra copies by using Ms Sarah's name to boost sales via here say.

[JoeGar]

McCain’s campaign was one of the worst in history. It did not even recognize that it was Palin — not McCain — who was the draw for the party. If I were a McCain staffer, I’d keep my mouth shut to avoid the embarrassment.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

If she was so bad, then those from the campaign complaining now are the same people who should have prevented Palin from getting on the ticket in the first place. Either they were incompetent last summer when it was time to pick a VP or they are nothing more than bitter folks with an agenda now. Either way, it’s a clue as to why McCain’s campaign put up such an uninspiring effort,

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

So, you’re still blind to all the back stabbing that’s going on? I’m not surprised.

[toddausauras]

Old “news”, garbage, lies, cowardice, jealousy, false. Just another piece for the msm to run with. The never endiing WITCH HUNT.

Sarah Palin 2012

[bondjamesbond]

If these guys don’t want to work with Palin, she can certainly make sure they have nothing to do with the 2012 campaign.

[Redbob]

There's only one name for the members of McLame's campaign staff:
Losers!

LoooOOOSERS!

[Diogenesis]

"Schmidt was importuned by several of the Republican aspirants for president earlier this year.
Mitt Romney sent him an antique chair to symbolize a seat at the table."

---

---

"Romney would not say whether he’d been vetted,
but did insist that the vice presidency was a subject he had never even so much discussed with McCain,
with whom he often tangled bitterly in the primary campaign.
So I tried another tack, recalling that I had been in a car with McCain and his then aide John Weaver,
reporting a piece for V.F. in the fall of 2006,
just after McCain delivered an address at Boston College’s opening convocation.
Weaver’s phone rang, and it was someone at B.C.,
informing him that Romney’s office had just called to ask when he would be invited to speak."

---

"Texan helped McCain secure Romney endorsement
AUSTIN – The decision by Mitt Romney to endorse John McCain didn't just happen, of course. It took a Texan who knows something about uniting fierce political rivals.
John Weaver, Mr. McCain's former political guru, was the intermediary who initiated talks between the two sides that led to Mr. Romney's announcement of support.
...Here's how the two came to make a joint appearance Thursday in Boston: Last week, Mr. Weaver got a call from McCain aides Charlie Black and Steve Schmidt, who asked if he would help broker an endorsement.
Mr. Weaver, who had left the McCain campaign in last year's shakeup, is a longtime friend of Beth Myers, Mr. Romney's campaign manager.."

[Cedric]

Ghosts don’t have gonads.

These people DON’T EXIST!

[Redbob]

"40% of Americans are conservative."

Not according to Question D-3 in the Battleground Poll:
D-3 shows that 60% of Americans consistently describe themselves as "Conservative" or "Somewhat conservative," while 36% call themselves liberal or somewhat liberal.

And more can't understand the question than call themselves "Moderate!"

[Cedric]

Shame on you.

You're willfully blinded by your ideology.

[Dixie Yooper]

"They can't quite believe that for two frantic months last fall, caught in a Bermuda Triangle of a campaign, they worked their tails off to try to elect as vice president of the United States someone who, by mid-October, they believed for certain was nowhere near ready for the job, and might never be,"

Looks like their counterparts in the Obama camp worked harder at working their tails off...

[bitterohiogunclinger]

And we were treated with a Presidential candidate that almost worked tirelessly to help elect his opponent. It's a shame McLame couldn't defend conservative values as earnestly as he assured people at his rallies that the communist thug from Chicago wasn't a communist thug. When he rolled out his own version of crap and tax, it was all but over. And it's ironic that he couldn't quite bring himself to call Obama the liar a liar when so many opportunities presented himself. It's even more ironic that McLame’s own campaign finance reform legislation handicapped him almost as much as his personality.
One thing I am pretty confident of though is that Sarah Palin has shown more class and dignity than all of McCains campaign staff combined. I'm pretty confident that many of them worked pretty hard to sabotage Palin and stab her in the back. That says a lot about their character. It might be symptomatic of the infectious lack of integrity that infects those Washington insiders. It doesn't diminish her in any way.

[winner3000]

I agree with everybody here that it seems that a bunch of RINO’s are trying to sink Palin. However, I find it concerning that I didn’t hear of one McCain staffer who has defended Sarah Palin

On the other hand, I read all this garbage, and I don’t see anything concrete that they are accusing her for! They just didn’t have a good relationship with her, especially her “minder”. Well, based on the great job that “minder” did, why shouldn’t she have disagreed with him? First they keep her under wraps, and then when they do allow her to do interviews, it’s only with her enemies, and because of the lack of interviews with someone fair and balanced, that’s these are the only interviews people remember!

[Non-Sequitur]

Garbage.........

True. But if this account is accurate - the account, and not the description of Palin herself - and this is really the way that they felt about Palin then it's an indication that McCain's campaign had given no thought to their selection before they made it.

[William Tell 2]

I interviewed Palin last November. She is articulate, personable, attractive and intelligent. What’s more she has the courage of her convictions. A rare commodity in the Republican Party ( I say this as a registered Democrat.)

Vanity Fair is a Democratic Party magazine. Remember, the publisher did special editions for Monica Lewinsky and Valerie Plame.

Steve Schmidt spends more time knocking Republicans than Democrats. Yet, in September 2008 Mr. Schmidt said this about Palin in a CBS interview:

“(Palin)is an exceptional governor, a reform governor in Alaska. Fifty states in this country, she is the most popular governor of any governor of any state. Her approval ratings are 80 percent. When you look at the fact that Congress’s approval rating is 9 percent, and 85 percent of the country thinks we’re going in the wrong direction, she’s doing something right up there.She’s fought the oil companies. She’s building a huge natural gas pipeline. She’s taken on the corrupt special interests. She’s returned taxpayer money back to families in Alaska. She is the future of the Republican Party. She’s going to be an outstanding vice president.The simple fact here is that this is a mom of five children. There’s been a private family matter and she’s been under viscous assault and attack from the angry left. And we’ve seen that today. There’s a lot of allegations and rumors, almost all of them untrue. The other side is throwing everything but the kitchen sink at her to see what sticks. American people are going to love her when they meet her. She’s an exceptional woman, an accomplished woman; and by any objective measurement, Katie, she is more experienced and more accomplished than Senator Obama. She’s a woman who manages billion dollar budgets. She makes decisions every day. One of the most exceptional governors in the country.”

He was correct then. He is not now.

[Cedric]

Virtually all FReepers proudly insist that they don't believe a word the DBM says.

Except when it comes to this regurgitated, MADE-UP, story.

[mwestk]

Todd Purdum and his Clinton sycophant wife Dee Dee Myers are congenital pathological liars who can not be believed. McCain will NEVER get over the popularity of Palin, NEVER!!!