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

[Garrett123]

Now Mcian and Palin feel like most of Americans, they hate Mcain and Palin

[collprof]

When you hit that voting booth and all you can see is a black man but you've lived 8 years of trickle down Reaganomics and then experienced the GOP POW candidate throw a brain to nowhere at you..remem­ber..Who do you want in control of the economy and foreign policy? Obama is backed by Warren Buffett and Colin Powell. McCain is part of the last 28 years of GOP control and the world wide crises in finance. Biden is well qualified to be President. Palin is well qualified to be a game show hostess.

[TKI]

Palin, when all you have to run on is nothing, you accuse your opponent of something, while you still have an audience.

What this atavistic wack job of a politician with the brain of an Alaskan Jellyfish seems to presume is that the people who come to her rallies cannot think for themselves, hence will believe anything.

True, those who flock to her rallies are of kin mind and identity and cannot fathom the simple fact that our world has since moved on.

[CdnNorthNeighbour]

I would like to share a quote with all of you; words spoken by a Canadian Radio Personality earlier this year before our National Election. The words apply if you are Canadian, American or a citizen of any democracy.

“We have a government and an alternative government; civility and public discourse. In politics as in everything, the process is as important as the product. You cannot kill your way to peace or lie your way to justice; the way you walk it is the way it is …”

Stuart McLean
CBC Radio
Vinyl Café – July 5, 2008

Cheering for an Obama/Biden win on November 4/08!

[autumn123]

"Senator Obama said he wants to quote 'spread the wealth.' What that means is he wants government to take your money and dole it out however a politician sees fit," Palin said, drawing boos from the crowd of several thousand.

"But Joe the Plumber and Ed the Dairy Man, I believe that they think that it sounds more like socialism,"Palin added, referring to both Wurzelbacher and a man holding a sign reading "Ed the Dairy Man" in the crowd. "Friends, now is no time to experiment with socialism. To me, our opponent plans sounds more like big government, which is the problem. Bigger government is not the solution."

Wow, but how does she explain away what she said in this New Yorker interview dated September 22, 2008?

"Alaska was conceding too much, and chipping away at our sovereignty. And Alaska- we're set up, unlike other states in the union, where it's collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs." And she said, "Our state constitution- it lays it out for me, how I'm to conduct business with resource development here as the state C.E.O. It's to maximize benefits for Alaskans, not an individual company, not some multinational somewhere, but for Alaskans."

Alaska is sometimes described as America's socialist state, because of its collective ownership of resources- an arrangement that allows permanent residents to collect a dividend on the state's oil royalties.

[eahce]

We can't have an ignoramus vice preisident. We have an ignoramus president currently and look what we have to show for it.

[balrog221]

the whole campaign is about the 2 Supreme Court Seats. "Real America's desciples will inflict any level of polarization on the the country to get those picks. .... Thanks to Bill Mahar we have a name for it,,,,,Religiouless

[BarackMarley]

Here's a skit on how Sarah Palin would be treated if she were black. Would we still tolerate he lack of knowledge on foreign policy?

Watch Black Sarah Palin Skit
http://newsone.blackplanet.com/elections/black-sarah-palin-sketch/

[gwismyhero]

SPREAD THE WORD: Mailers are being sent out to democrats telling them that they vote on November 5th!

ELECTION DAY IS NOVEMBER 4TH FOR EVERYONE! Don't let the GOP steal this election.

[LDnearthesea]

I'm hearing on Democracy Now plans by the Repugs to have operatives in Democratic areas challenging voters at the voting booths. Is there any plan for Dems to do the payback and do the same thing at Repug areas? This should be organized now, because it's not just payback, it's using their medicine against them!
Short of that, if your vote is chllenged by a Repug, do one or all of the following: get in the person's face and him or her to back off, bring a lawyer along and tell the person you will sue him or her for every penny they have, bring a camera to film the whole episode, and finally, if it gets ugly, everyone should know what to do with a bully: punch him or her back in the face!

[Amennyc]

If people are so stupid as to not know that it is Nov. 4th. Then let them go on the 5th. They obviously are clueless to this election and its importance. Their are idiots on both sides/

[johnnygoodwud]

this shows once again how mccain makes decisions. this woman was never properly vetted, for if she had been they would have seen how utterly transparent and what an empty suit she is. they used each other, he to energize the far right and try and get the angry hillary supporters. he did achieve one goal the wacky far right. but in doing that turned off alot of independents, and insulted the many hillary supporters who might have voted for him/her. she used him for national exposure, only she has found out, it ain't like alaska down her in the lower 48. we play tough and she's ill prepared. good ridance to both of them. if she is the new face of the republican party barack has nothing to worry about in 2012. imagine the other people who want to run in 2012 ripping her apart during the primaries, not to mention barack/biden went easy on her. bring her on.

[DevRock]

I don't get what they're fighting over. EVERY ONE OF THEM KNEW SHE WAS NOT QUALIFIED! It comes down to McCain. HE should be placed with the blame because he made the final decision.

[pjburns11]

This year for Halloween, I want to be really scary.

I am going to dress up as either Sarah Palin, Michele Bachman, Joe the Plumber or The Wolfman.

Happy Halloween!

Quoth the Maverick..­.

http://thetruthburns.wordpress.com/2008/10/28/quoth-the-maverick/

[pupbayer]

'Palin Simply Knew Nothing About National And International Issues'

Nor did Kennedy, Carter, or Clinton.

[balrog221]

or W...

[MarianneEvans11]

But Kennedy, Carter and Clinton were cuter!!!!! and simply honest....­and we knew who they were and where they stood on issues! All I know about Palin is that from the moment she was interviewed BEFORE she was actually named the VP nominee, she wanted to know :"Just what does the VP do"? and she also said and I quote: "What's in it for Alaska if I accept the VP nomination?"

GO, OBAMA-BIDEN,,,,Nov. 4th!

[pupbayer]

You mean they were male.

[tsat]

2 months later she still knows nothing about national and international issues.

[jojojo]

We ought to be grateful that McCain picked Palin. She's done more to elect Obama than any one person. If he'd picked Ridge ( as he reportedly wanted to) or Romney, he'd be ahead. Of course with those guys he'd also likely be waging a more honorable campaign. McC will, it seems, not only have to live with having lost, but also with having irreparably damaged his once fine reputation. OUCH!

[balrog221]

shameful..­.

[MarianneEvans11]

TRUE!!!!!!!

[conservativelady]

I agree with you. Those complaining about Romney and saying they wouldn't have voted for McCain had he picked Romney would have come around. I will be voting for McCain despite Palin even though I think McCain has a lot to learn too. He is not my ideal candidate either, but as a conservative, I must vote against socialism, not matter what. Meanwhile, if those insiders in the party try to force Palin on the rest of us in 2012 they will end up possibly destroying the party. Palin is dishonest to seek such a high office using her people skills when she isn't qualified, she must know that she doesn't know anything, she is just driven by ambition. The fact that she took 150,000 worth of clothing and make-up when she made such a big deal out of being a reformer by selling the governor's jet, this shows a lack of principals. She isn't who she claims. That is unacceptable. I can't believe that some party insiders are willing to cause a "civil war" within the party if they don't get their way and if some of us refuse to crown her queen. It is insane. If I didn't know better I would think that infiltrators are behind pushing this opportunist to the fore-front.

[pjburns11]

Palin and the GOP - a perfect match. Just keep giving enough rope.

www.thetruthburns.wordpress.com