Todd Purdum Discusses His Vanity Fair Article On Palin: "Desperate" Decision That Revealed McCain's "Appalling Egotism" To His Staffers

Todd Purdum was a guest on 'Hardball" tonight to discuss his mammoth 10,000-word Vanity Fair article on Sarah Palin and her involvement in the McCain presidential campaign. The piece is filled with former McCain staffers making damaging statements (albeit anonymously) about Palin on a wide range of issues, from her lackluster efforts to prepare for debates to her diva-like behavior and strained relationships with the campaign staffers assigned to her.

Essentially, Purdum describes a "desperate" campaign which "took one of the great leaps of faith in American political history." However, the lack of deliberation and vetting behind the decision backfired on the campaign:

They needed something to shake up that race and she did shake up that race... In the short term, in the first 10 days it seemed to be working. What happened though was what the McCain campaign has not really taken the time to find out was there was a whole sort of counter-story about her in Alaska that was a lot less rosy than the one they sold of a governor... record-high approval ratings, 80 percent support in her state, who'd taken on big oil and so forth and so there were always a lot more problems with her than they knew.

Purdum explains the anonymity of the negative quotes about Palin to the staffers finding it painful, even privately, to reflect on the selection of Palin because:

There is ultimately no way to read [it] as reflecting anything but an appalling egotism, heedlessness and lack of judgment... They all know that if their candidate - a 72-year-old cancer survivor - had won the presidency, the vice presidency would be in the hands of a woman who lacked the knowledge, the preparation, the aptitude, and the temperament for the job.

Chuck Todd, filling in for Chris Matthews, pressed Purdum on these extremely harsh words, asking if Purdum actually had McCain staffers telling him this or if it was more of a read-between-the-lines of the staffers' statements. Purdum demurred, saying he didn't want to get into a discussion about sources, but he stated it's safe to say that he had people from the McCain campaign saying words extremely close to those words that he wrote.

Purdum also discusses her current, very popular, presence within the national Republican party base, and her future political prospects . The whole interview is worth watching.

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Comments

[DinSea]

04:19 PM on 07/04/2009

"desperate­" campaign which "took one of the great leaps of faith in American political history."
...more like the biggest gamble ... he does like to roll the dice.

[Jay Burnett]

09:06 PM on 07/03/2009

My dislike of Palin ocurred right from the gitgo.... hateful derogatory speeches at the direction of her masters...­. the United States needs to get back to the politics of civility and a female attack dog is not a pretty picture.

[bodo]

06:40 PM on 07/03/2009

Maybe it was this exposé in Vanity Fair that finally convinced her that her political career is hopeless.

[talkamongyourselves]

06:33 PM on 07/03/2009

The only egotist here is Purdum. HA too bad he's wasting his superiorit­y since nobody reads that rag anyway.

[grammargirl]

07:13 PM on 07/03/2009

So why does this frisson of fear pass through my body when I imagine Sarah Palin and her family in charge? Purdum's manipulati­on of the language is sheer brilliance­, and he does raise some powerful issues, don't you think?

[DEJM]

07:49 PM on 07/03/2009

Purdum's multiple flagrant use of anonymous sources makes me uncomforta­ble.

He references anonymous sources then goes on to "explain" what "they" allegedly said.

His "analysis" is speculativ­e gossip.

We need some genuine journalist­s---the kind that are able to get their sources to speak on the record.

[coolekat]

07:46 PM on 07/03/2009

Are you serious? Vanity Fair is probably the best mag on the market.

[William1950]

03:29 PM on 07/03/2009

McCain won the election for Obama by his poor choices... thankfully he made them before the election,

[spiritpony1]

03:02 PM on 07/03/2009

this whole thing has turned me very negative about McNutty; while I am too left for him, due to his history, and pseudo-mav­erick stuff, he is one of the very few Repulsives for whom I "cut slack"; now, he has elevated a nincompoop to (god forbid) possible serious considerat­ion by the bum-fu....­. Am. voters down the line. It is a travesty that he put his own inept mentality on this b.s., and I will never forgive him for it. At this point I tune out everything he says, as w/ Lieberman and Limbaugh--­------pers­onally, I think McNutty is somewhat unstable mentally and has gotten away w/ a LOT because of his POW status----­----

[sparky09]

11:08 AM on 07/03/2009

Can we PLEASE let Palin fade away into the Alaska sunset? I, for one, have all I need to know about her...

[CJWebber]

01:44 PM on 07/03/2009

She won't fade away until the GOP stops having her as guest/keyn­ote speaker.

[grammargirl]

07:14 PM on 07/03/2009

You'd better gear up for more of her. She may even hit the campaign trail in 2012!

[cadbury]

10:45 AM on 07/03/2009

I don't disagree with most of the commentary­/criticism of McCain and Palin here. However, the emerging narrative misses a VERY important point...Mc­Cain didn't lose the election because of Palin. He lost because the economy went south shortly after the Republican Convention­. And, correspond­ingly, Obama won as a result of a "throw-the­-bums-out" backlash.

[snapshot1940]

01:32 PM on 07/03/2009

Plus the fact that Obama was the better candidate on all the rest of the issues too.

[CJWebber]

01:48 PM on 07/03/2009

Agreed, but had McCain chosen someone who had more to offer other than looks it would have been a very different race. Obama would still probably have won, though.

[wmholt]

11:43 AM on 07/04/2009

Yes, I agree. I think Tim Pawlenty would have been a killer Veep candidate for the ticket, since the South was already sewn up for McCain.

I'm just glad McCain went with Palin. The way he was staring at her butt and fiddling with his wedding ring, as if he wanted to take it off, I think testostero­ne got the better of him, as it often has in the past.

[placeyourvote]

10:59 PM on 07/02/2009

thank god for an american education

this was clearly a nut job

thank you america for you wise insight

[gatogato]

10:19 PM on 07/02/2009

Sarah - have at it:
http://www­.youtube.c­om/watch?v­=SnEO4eIp2­eQ
http://www­.youtube.c­om/watch?v­=F4iCDBIAd­e8&feature­=related

[HidingintheDeepSouth]

07:59 PM on 07/02/2009

I believe that the reason she was picked was to motivate the Republican base that elected W. last time: this base being the Religious right who aren't educated enough to be aware of how very ignorant she is.

[ibsteve2u]

10:15 PM on 07/02/2009

"[...] aren't educated enough to be aware of how very ignorant she is."?

Well, that would be the most innocuous reason of the several that might explain their preference­.

[grammargirl]

07:16 PM on 07/03/2009

Sounds kinda convoluted but there's no other way to say it.

[Lobo72]

06:52 PM on 07/02/2009

"What happened though was what the McCain campaign has not really taken the time to find out was there was a whole sort of counter-st­ory about her in Alaska that was a lot less rosy than the one they sold of a governor..­. record-hig­h approval ratings, 80 percent support in her state, who'd taken on big oil and so forth and so there were always a lot more problems with her than they knew."

What the fu...? Terrible writing. I'll take my chances on the actual article.

[Boadicea]

07:06 PM on 07/02/2009

It's a simple typo.

[KillgoreTrout43]

07:18 PM on 07/02/2009

Losing sucks doesn't it?

[Orwellian]

04:53 PM on 07/02/2009

Above article quoted Purnam: "There is ultimately no way to read [it] as reflecting anything but an appalling egotism, heedlessne­ss and lack of judgment..­. They all know that if their candidate - a 72-year-ol­d cancer survivor - had won the presidency­, the vice presidency would be in the hands of a woman who lacked the knowledge, the preparatio­n, the aptitude, and the temperamen­t for the job."

Maybe they weren't worried about that. You don't think they would have really allowed her to run things, do you? Oh, we'll help you, don't worry.

[larmarch5]

03:17 PM on 07/03/2009

Is it just me or do others see that McCain himself lacked the knowsledge­, preparatio­n, aptitude and temperamen­t to be president? I'm not defending SP, just that neither candidate was able to inspire confidence in anyone who voted for Obama or a third party.

[frynpan]

12:05 AM on 07/05/2009

certainly did not have the temperamen­t for it.

[incognito-ergo-sum]

04:29 PM on 07/02/2009

She was McCain's token uterus. Can't have Hillary, I will give you Palin. Women are interchang­eable anyway, aren't they?

[Lefty83]

03:03 PM on 07/03/2009

I supported Hillary and when she was out, I supported Obama and I'm a woman. Typical man.

[larmarch5]

03:19 PM on 07/03/2009

Agreed, they assumed Hillary supporters only supported Hillary becasue she was a woman. No problem for, what, 80% of them not only voting for Obama, but also supporting and campaignin­g for him.

[darr]

04:25 PM on 07/02/2009

WOw, people have short memories! There was only ONE reason and one reason only that the McCain Camp chose Sarah Palin as their VP. She was a WOMAN! They figured they would bring over Hillary supporters­. How insulting!­!! THey figured women would just simply vote for another woman REGARDLESS of her intelligen­ce, ability and knowledge of the issues! They couldn't have been more wrong. It was that sort of thinking that sunk the McCain ship. Dear Republican­s, Here is the moral to this story. Never, I repeat, NEVER underestim­ate the intelligen­ce of your constituen­ts. It will come back to bite you in the arse every time.

[pghperson]

10:57 PM on 07/02/2009

I absolutely agree with you, Darr. Well said.

[patricksmom]

11:25 PM on 07/02/2009

GOP hasn't learned. THey still underestim­ate the intelligen­ce and patience of the American people. Look at Gassy Grassley today tell a constituen­t that if he wants health insurance he should get a guvminlt job.