Top McCain Aides: 'Palin Simply Knew Nothing About National And International Issues'

The McCain campaign continues to snipe at each other over the handling, and subsequent effect, of Sarah Palin on the campaign trail. According Nicole Wallace, a senior McCain aide who is one of Palin's handlers and helped to orchestrate her initial rollout, there is an 'organized campaign to lay blame' for things at her feet. Robert Draper, however, offers a defense of Wallace, saying she's kept quiet about things that a couple of McCain higher-ups have leaked to him, and that Wallace was in a very unenviable position:

I'm sympathetic to Eskew and Wallace, and not just because they're decent people. They've held their tongue from leaking what a couple of McCain higher-ups have told me--namely, that Palin simply knew nothing about national and international issues. Which meant, as one such adviser said to me: "Letting Sarah be Sarah may not be such a good thing." It's a grim binary choice, but apparently it came down to whether to make Palin look like a scripted robot or an unscripted ignoramus. I was told that Palin chafed at being defined by her discomfiting performances in the Couric, Charlie Gibson, and Sean Hannity interviews. She wanted to get back out there and do more. Well, if you're Eskew and Wallace, what do you say to that? Your responsibility isn't the care and feeding of Sarah Palin's ego; it's the furtherance of John McCain's quest for the presidency.

Draper also reports that McCain snubbed Palin during a long ride on the Straight Talk Express.

Comments

[lmt27]

Can't wait for the book to come out; remember 'Primary Colors' that was a semi-autobiography of the '92 Clinton campaign. Shame on Mccain for being so greedy that he overlooked the needs of this country. He thought by picking Palin it would assure that he would get all the disgruntled Hillary supporters and just woman in general. And, shame on Palin for putting herself in a position that she knew she was not qualified for. And they say country first; I say that is bulls---!

[Rapid Ray]

I'll wait for the movie to come out.

Tina Fey Fey's coffee table would probably look good with an Oscar on it.

[gully88]

Its not really hard to see that she knew nothing about these issues she knows nothing about most issues going on in with this country. All she knows about is Alaska if that. Sarah Palin is not ready to be in the white house because she would be so lost it would be ashame. There is a huge amount of publicity about Sarah Palin and she’s definitely no typical woman. Yet there is a lot about her that people don’t know about. Dailysource.org has a lot of evidence on Palin’s current political views and actions, which presents her high and low career points as Alaskan Governor. Go to http://dailysource.org/palinvideos to see it.

[Topsailsman]

Never forget, for a fundamentalist Christian like Palin (or Bush), they believe that God has put them in these positions, that it is God's will that they are in power and that God will direct them in every way to be effective. They will point to many Old Testament stories where God pulls inexperienced people out to lead people to victory. They absolutely don't care that they are unqualified because they believe that God will handle everything since they believe in God. I, myself, prefer the Great Pumpkin for this role.

[Greg285]

Cannibalism is starting to happen in the McCain campaign…

[StephenBarry]

Elephant goes well with fava beans and a nice chianti.

[BPCentrisAmerican]

Run Joe the Plumber, he's a foreign policy expert, he knows what Israel is, sort of, he's white, he has a great hair cut, easy to maintain to, the base love him, he talks to the press and he has an opinion, he can't do any worse, October surprise. Come on John theirs still time, Joe can appear in designer plumber outfits, the base will never now the difference.

[Steve1]

What's truly astounding/infuriating about Palin is her sense of confidence in the face of her own massive ignorance regarding both foreign and domestic issues. Not unlike the rest of her know-nothing Fox News watching and Limbaugh listening brethren, they believe simply because Hannitty said it...it's somehow true and they/Palin/viewers then believe they more than the rest of us.

I've argued many times with these folks they are entitled to their own OPINIONS, however they aren't entitled to their own FACTS. These folks still actually argue Saddam not only had WMD, but we found them. Huh? Again, they know a massive amount of false information via the right-wing noise machine, however they don't know any FACTS. And that's okay with them, because facts don't matter to them as much as their narrow ideology.

[Topsailsman]

Hey Steve,
I've thought the same things. My wife tells me (she's an anthropologist) that many people rely HEAVILY on emotion, not intellect. Facts don't matter to them, and never will. This year, for some of these people, the economic problems are affecting them emotionally so some are switching to Obama. How can the progressive movement be both fact-based and emotionally-based? (Joe the Plumber is one of these emotionally-based people; he knows what he knows but doesn't know why he knows what he knows).

[CCverve]

Stupidity - is the property a person, action or belief instantiates by virtue of having or being indicative of low intelligence or poor learning abilities. Stupidity is distinct from irrationality because stupidity denotes an incapability or unwillingness to properly consider the relevant information. It is frequently used as a pejorative, and consequently has a negative connotation.

VS

Ignorance- The condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed.1. Very dull; insensible; senseless; wanting in understanding; heavy; sluggish; in a state of stupor; -- said of persons.

I believe this woman is beyond being unaware or uninformed...

[palinmonger]

I think God has to deliver us from Palin or we are doomed.

[helonias]

She's a dumber female GWB

But she look hot

[robeson]

Exactly, she's the female, dumb, folksy, model of GW Bush that made fortunes for many Republicans and they won't let go without a fight.

[WashingtonEd]

A friend of mine said H'd vote for her for that reason.

I told him he'd be better off renting a dirty movie.

[bethel1974]

Evangelical Christians are the old Southern Baptist. It is the same "religion". Years ago Pastor Hagee was fire and brimstoning it up about being a Southern Baptist. He coined the phrase Evangelical to distance himself from the bad press about Southern Baptist boycotting Disney for gay pride day and Southern Baptist putting in there charter "NO WOMEN PREACHERS or POSITIONS OF POWER". Sarah Palin is an infiltrator to those supreme court seats. She is brutus riding caesars coattails.

[helonias]

Well she went to 6 different schools in 5 years.

[littlejohn]

Well...not to pick nits, but she attended 5 schools in 6 years. Same difference. Also, to bethel1974, I'm pretty sure Pastor Hagee didn't "coin" the word "evangelical." Unless he's a couple of thousand years old, of course. But I think we all can agree Palin is obviously a dimwit.

[helonias]

Sorry

So she's has even more education than I thought

[bethel1974]

in the terms in which Hagee uses it, he coined the phrase. In biblical times evangelicals was of those who spread the gospel of Jesus (evangels). Does Pastor Hagee expound the gospel of Jesus to anyone other than his own flock. Everytime I see him he is talking about the end of the world and Israel. When one says not to pick nits they intend to pick nits.

[cmp]

AAAHHHHHHHHHHHH. Trouble in paradise ???

[CharlesJ]

No, tell me it ain't so John. Really? Golly, the majority of Americans figured that out at the very beginning when Palin said " I can see Russia from Alaska, and that gives me foreign policy experience". I never laughed so hard when I heard that.
I asked my self, if she can see Russia, and I saw so many countries when I was flying around the world to various countries while serving in the Army, I must be extreemly qualified.
Sure, tell us something we have not and did not figure out a long time ago.

[texrednface]

Hey guys, remember the day McCain trotted Palin and her family out on the stage to introduce her as his VP pick? Remember how all of us Obama supporters freaked out all over the blog-o-sphere?
For a brief time we thought she was energizing republicans and ringing the deathnell bell for Obama. Then fear turned into outrage across party lines. The country owes a debt to first: Campbell Brown for pounding that goof-ball sophomoric Tucker Bounds (Isn't amazing how the all the "Tuckers" are goofy) and forcing the McCain campaign to take a defensive posture on Palin.
Then Charlie Goodson and Katie Couric. They helped reveal the disaster. The nation owes them (only in this case) gratitude.

[OldKnute]

I didn’t freak out.

I just started to read more of what the women here at Huffington Post were saying.

It really set my mind at ease. They pulled Sarah Palins covers in a heartbeat.
The Abuse of Power facts were out in a days time.
Todds charging for access to his wife was exposed in three days.
The Bridge to Nowhere Fip-Flop was covered here at Huff-Po.
The OIL deals and bribes from Korea and China was blown wide open by Huff-PO Ladies.
The Family Values hypocrisy was out in 2 days.
The Plastic Barbie,, Celebrity desperation ploy was outed in 1 day by Huff-Po Gals.
Travel and expenses and podium. Yep,, Huff-Po girls.
Don’t even get me started on Tax Payers Campaign money used to buy her that new wardrobe. Where are we now $200,000 Kids clothes, makeup and Palin and Todds outfits?

You guessed it,,, Huff-Po Ladies.

Huffington Post Gals ROCK!

All the best

Knute Neo-LIB

[PATina]

What freaked me out wasn't Sarah Palin... but that so many "seemingly" intelligent people were actually taking this chick seriously (i.e. Michelle Bernard, MSNBC analyst). They really believed that she had enough intelligence and gravitas to be president. As a woman... there is nothing more that I'd like to see than a woman president (okay... maybe I'd like to see a Black one just as badly)... but please make it a competent one. A woman who will make us proud... not one we have to make be ashamed of and find excuses for why she's "underperforming".

[skye12]

I really do not see Palin as the hope for the GOP. She just lacks the ability
to articulate a coherent discourse on any issue imo. And the campaign
owes her nothing.

[Dystopic]

in other words, she is perfect for them

[conservativelady]

What I don't understand is all this talk that she has energized the based. Not all working class conservative Republicans think she is qualified. It is a falsehood that only the elitists of the party oppose her or think she is unqualfied.

[necer65]

They have created a monster with Sarah Palin. I use to feel sorry for her, but after the way she has behaved at her rallies and inciting hatred, I think this woman is dangerous. She seems to be very self-centered....she doesn't really care about anyone but herself and extending her own career. She will do whatever she has to to get what she wants.

[ENOS]

I saw the episode of Frantline last night about Pakistan, and the insurgents that have occupied there since we've invaded Afghanistan. It's a nightmare. It's where our focus on terror ought to be. Pakistan has hundreds of Nuclear weapons.

Sarah Palin is naive enough to trust anything the Republican advisors tell her. She's a robot, much like GW Bush. That's a dangerous potential. McCain is so war mongering and anti-everything that he could do some real damage toward our international diplomacy.

Obama is a man of the world, not just of his hometown, or even country. He's a multi-cultured, internationally minded candidate, which is so important right now.