Signs of Growing Friction Between McCain and Palin
The call to "Free Sarah Palin!" has been answered, and Palin off the chain is proving to be a loose cannon. The day after her debate with Joe Biden, Palin told FOX News she learned about the McCain campaign's decision to pull out of Michigan when she read about it in the newspaper that morning. Maybe this was just to reassure us she stays well informed by reading newspapers like The New York Times, part of her post-debate strategy to try a damage control re-do of her Katie Couric interviews that continued to drip out one Palin gaffe after another earlier in the week.
But then she claimed to have "fired off a quick e-mail" in which she said, "Oh come on, do we have to?" Over the weekend, she again questioned the decision to reporters outside a diner in Englewood, Colorado, saying she "would sure love to get to run to Michigan and make sure that Michigan knows that we haven't given up there."
And yesterday, in a phone interview with William Kristol, Palin leapt at the chance to resurrect Obama's former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright as a way to drag Obama through the mud. "I don't know why that association isn't discussed more," she said. "Because those were appalling things that that pastor had said about our great country...I guess that would be a John McCain call on whether he wants to bring that up."
When the far right wing clowns running the North Carolina Republican Party ran a racially-tinged attack ad during the primaries tying Obama to Wright, McCain graciously denounced it. "I've said again and again, I do not believe that Sen. Obama shares Rev. Wright's extremist views which he has stated," said McCain, and promised to "disassociate myself from that kind of campaigning."
Either Palin never got the memo, or McCain has flip-flopped and flushed his honor down the toilet yet again in his quest for the presidency. The latter is certainly possible. With McCain-Palin's chances cratering like the economy, McCain has clearly signaled it's time to get McDesperate.
Responding to rising GOP fears that the election is slipping away, the McCain campaign has decided their only hope is "turning a page on this financial crisis," in the words of one senior McCain adviser, and relentlessly tearing down Obama.
"It's a dangerous road, but we have no choice," echoed another top McCain strategist to the NY Daily News. "If we keep talking about the economic crisis, we're going to lose."
But there's more going on with Palin's off the reservation moves than simply carrying out the McNasty plan of attack against Obama. Sarah Palin has her own agenda. She wants to be president, and knows this election is her best shot at elbowing her way into the Oval Office.
Laura Chase, Palin's campaign manager during her first run for mayor of Wasilla in 1996, remembers a night they chatted about her ambitions:
"I said, 'You know, Sarah, within 10 years you could be governor,' " Ms. Chase recalled. "She replied, 'I want to be president.' "
And she's not going to let John McCain stop her. At a rally yesterday in Omaha, Nebraska, playing defense far within the red state zone, Palin also claimed to be making her own calls about which states she barracudas into:
"The pundits were saying, 'Check out where she's going. She's going to Nebraska.' The pundits were saying, 'The only reason she would be going there is because they're scared. They have to shore up votes,' " Palin said. "I so wanted to reach into that TV and say 'no.' I'm going to Nebraska because I want to go to Nebraska," Palin said.
These incidents are not the first time Palin has bared her naked ambition. In September, she made a revealing slip when she flipped the ticket at a rally in Iowa, referring to a "Palin and McCain administration." This happened back when the campaign was still babysitting Palin by restricting her to joint appearances with McCain. Now all bets are off as to what she'll say next out on the trail on her own.
Unless McCain reins her in again fast, we can look forward to another month of jarring moments like on Saturday when she misread a saying from Madeline Albright. Quoting off a Starbucks cup, she warned female voters at a rally in California, "there's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't support other women."
In Palin's Mary Poppins bubble, why shouldn't she strut her stuff? At the moment she's pumped up from surviving her debate with Biden, although failing to realize she didn't do nearly enough to prove herself competent enough to be Vice President and reverse her drag on the ticket. But by stepping over the bar painted on the floor, her performance quieted the voice of reason that was beginning to percolate among conservative talking heads calling for her replacement.
Since she now knows McCain won't dump her, Palin is in the driver's seat and plans to stay there. And her take-no-prisoners nasty streak and extreme right wing views have found kindred spirits now that she's fully staffed up with veterans of George W. Bush's slash-and-burn, hyper-partisan campaigns. Like Tucker Eskew, Palin's new chief of staff, who was instrumental in trashing McCain when he helped run Bush's 2000 primary campaign in South Carolina.
Far from a fresh crop of reformers, the Republican operatives who are currently stage managing Sarah Palin are virtually all transplants from the Bush White House. As one Republican strategist told the Washington Post:
"It's insane to me that at the same time that it's running saying it's not going to be the Bush administration, this campaign looks like the Bush campaign on steroids."
Reminiscent of how John Edwards helped keep the Democratic ticket disorganized in 2004 by sticking to his own playbook, Palin is showing the nation McCain is already an afterthought for her. She even said so at the debate, reminding us she "joined this team that is a team of mavericks with John McCain, also." Mr. DeMille, she's ready for her 2012 closeup.
(UPDATE 10/25 - Politico published a jaw-dropping story today confirming that the McCain-Palin rift first spotted here three weeks ago has only gotten worse. Heavy on not-for-attribution interviews with four senior Palin advisors, it revealed that Palin "blames her handlers for a botched rollout and a tarnished public image." These are the same former Bush campaign veterans and dirty-politics practicing Karl Rove proteges who were hand picked by McCain's team to guide her. Meanwhile, McCain stalwarts on the inside describe Palin as "simply unready -- 'green,' sloppy and incomprehensibly willing to criticize McCain." Other stories that have trickled out in recent weeks tracing the McCain-Palin divide can be found HERE, HERE, and HERE.)
Erik Ose is a veteran of Democratic campaigns in North Carolina and blogs at The Latest Outrage.
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I cannot wait until she runs for president and goes toe to toe with Romney, Huckabee and whoever. She will try to gut them out right off the bat, and get dirty and ther e will be Republican on Republican debates and Ronald Reagans 11th commandment say no evil about another Republican will be history and they will tear each other to shreds.She will have to expose how little she really knows. It will be great fun. I can't wait.
Sounds like we are talking on this blog about Palin's hidden agenda. Well if that is the case that is frightening based on what she's been doing in this campaign. She is turning back the clock for all groups 50-60 years. Rev Wright delivered a sermon, that if heard in its entirety is not as bad as the sound bite. She grew up in a church that is truly scary. Her husband belonged to a group that wanted to secede from the United States, she spoke at one of those organizations in August I believe so her ratical beliefs and practices should be the concerns of America, not Rev Wright or a reformed terrorist who Obama barely y knows. Truth all politicians at some point have run across some powerful people who unfortunately believed in their own power., hanging with the "In" crowd of sorts. Then their shady dealings came out and they take a few people down with them just through naively not running a background check. Maybe we need to run background investigations on all our friends and family. But Sarah Palin and the separatist groups, the corruption/abuse of power, the lies about the bridge to no where, the racism and hatred that she's spewing that is worth looking into. Something she is well aware of she has been a part of even through husband, and attending the meetings, etc.
iLogos....I agree thoroughly !
I am an independent, female, Ohio voter. I have read the entire findings of the "troopergate" report. The testimony of various personnel is scary to say the very least. I've long questioned whether Todd Palin has a "real" job? It is apparent Mrs. Palin has an agenda. She is no Hillary Clinton. Mrs. Palin has, in my estimation, just been found to be (with a wink and a smile) one of the 'ol boys. The findings of the report give the appearance that Mrs. Palin is NOT putting Alaska first but putting her own political agenda first...the findings, however, will taint her wish to run for president in 2012. McCain's campaign has seriously been easily distracted because of Mrs. Palin. I find it VERY, VERY difficult to believe the campaign vetted her appropriately. Mr. McCain's decision to more forward with his selection of her as his VP revealed to me he somehow felt they are above the "law". Ethics violations are VERY, VERY serious to me. The change we need in Washington is to make sure the leaders we elect, including our congressmen and women, are, in fact, ethical. It's my wish and hope that this will start with Barack Obama.
First of all, the fact that St. Sarah of Wasilla associated with Alaskan state secessionists demonstrates that St. Sarah is disloyal to the U.S.. She points to Obamas associations with Reverend Wright an Ayres as signs that Obama is disloyal and yet she herself has aligned herself with the secessionist cause. Which is she, an American first or an Alaskan first and foremost. Let her answer that and then make the claim of who is more loyal or disloyal. How can she even pretend to defend America and it's values if she doesn't care one whit about being an American.
My guess is that when this is all over she will fade into obscurity and we will never hear or see of her again. The Republican party will see to that. Actually I stlll feel that they may be purposely sabotaging their chances to get elected knowing what is in store for the Party that has to deal with the mess Bush will leave behind.
seems like she is preparing for the future at McCain's expense
If the Kerry campaign had "STUCK TO JOHN EDWARDS' PLANS" in 2004, the election wouldn't have been close enough for the Republicans to steal it.
John Edwards was the candidate in 2004 who voters thought "CARES ABOUT PEOPLE LIKE ME," meaning they responded more positively to Edwards than Kerry. They voted for Kerry OUT OF DUTY. Their fellow Democrats did in Iowa, so NH followed suit, most states did so on February 5th, and the rest is history. They didn't vote for Kerry because they liked him more than Edwards.
I remember listening to the acceptance speeches in 2004, and hearing Edwards say "HOPE IS ON THE WAY...HOPE IS ON THE WAY" at the end of his speech, and then hearing Kerry the next night come back and say "HELP is on the way."
Help v. Hope??? Which is more potent, politically? Well, hope is, of course. When Kerry used the word, "help", people probably viewed it as condescending. Hope was positive, just like Edwards was in 2004, a time when people were tired of hearing bad news.
Uck...as the single, full-time working Mom of a developmentally challenged son, EVEN I am more and more nauseated by this woman. And I, too, was raised just like her in an Assemblies of God church, so I can most certainly understand her background in THAT arena. But to think that she could even REMOTELY think that anyone in their RIGHT MIND would want her as President?
Oh, puleeze!!!!!!!!!! Ugh.....
That will make me move to another country!
After they fail miserably, Sarah will go home and hopefully soon after, Alaska will secede from the United States so you and your son can stay put! But there's no chance for them, besides.
There's no way that they will be victorious in November. After McCain losing two presidential debates and Palin losing her one vice-presidential debate, they are going further down road to futility.
BJD44,
Personally, I wouldn't wait for them to secede, I say we cut them loose, only with conditions. First, they only get the area of Alaska that is settled by the largest number of their population. That part that they do get to retain they must pay the U.S. government in 2008 dollars the value of. . The part that has the oil wells in it especially remains U.S. property. We will see how arrogant the secessionist are with what they have left and without all the free money they get from oil. Left to their own devices I seriously doubt that they would talk their B.S. for long.
Have a heart Artos, not all Alaskans are Palin clones. In fact, the largest protest rally in Alaska's history was held by a grassroots group named Alaskan Women Against Sarah Palin. About 1500 people showed up on short notice to demonstrate against her when she went to Anchorage to speak recently. It's a rousing, good tale at:
http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/09/14/alaska-women-reject-palin-rally-is-huge/
The depressing thing is that even when Obama wins, Palin will not be deterred. She is aflame with ambition to become president. She actually thinks she has hope! Ha!
I'm afraid it will take a lot before we are rid of Sarah Palin.
Remember Ross Perot? He ran for president twice!
She needs to get the message that she is absolutely not welcome, and not even remotely candidate material (let alone presidential material! The absurdity!)
Don't worry, Sen. Obama will serve two terms setting this nation back on course and the Sen. Clinton (who will probably be Sec. of State or some other laudable position by then) will be elected president twice 2016 - 2024 ushering in a new era of respect, honor, firm Democratic control and a generation of new voters who have grown up with health benefits, cheap, maybe even free college education, restored world faith in the USA.
This will be the one-two punch to KO the GOP.
Yes.
Dream on she'll be 69 by then. Nearly as old as McCain.
Let her keep her ambitions. She'll hold onto the extremist 10% of the electorate, who then will not coalesce behind some country club Republican. The country club Repbulicans are the ones who have paid lip service to religious and populist ideas, while aiming solely to concentrate more and more wealth among their own numbers.
This would be an excellent time to promote Bob Barr. He could grab half the McCain voters between now and Nov 4. Adding a Libertarian voice to the national dialogues would be extremely healthy.
A national move to a 3-party system would be good for this country.
Palin is going all out in hopes of a win because she's afraid to go back to Alaska. Her numbers are plummeting and she'll have a tough time running for re-election. Especially if she's indicted.
I can't wait to see this woman go down like a sack of potatoes.
McCain should've talked with the Republican President of Alaska's Senate before invited Sarah Palin to be his VP. The ambitious Palin turned on her, as well.
Sarah Palin is a classic narcissist. She has demonstrated that she is oblivious to the needs of her own children, specifcally Trig and Bristol. She failed to acknowledge Biden's emotional moment because the feelings of others simply do not register with her. She is the embodiment of an attack dog. McCain better watch his backside.
This is an important insight and seems to ring true. Wow. Scary. She'd do anything to anybody. Like W....
NOTE TO McCAIN:
LIE DOWN WITH DOGS GET UP WITH FLEAS
Palin says she wants to be a Vice President with more power than Dick Cheney.
This woman may not be very intelligent but she is imbued with blind political ambition.
ed Stevens should have been consulted about Palin before Palin was selected to be McCain's VP.
McCain may have bitten off more than he can chew by selecting Palin as his running mate. TMcCain may find that he's been bitten on the arse by a pit-bull wearing lipstick.
Even though I agree, and it's true that when McCain loses, Palin will be scapegoated, she will make that her mission to survive and overcome to come back on the national scene, somehow, in 4 years.
With all the outrageous support she has garnered, there are too many opportunistic GOP'rs who will treat here like she is the next biggest thing and with the help of FOX noise and Rush and their ilk will do their best to launch her from the hillbilly voters to small towners, then on hopefully to the cities and the big national scene.
She will be met incredulously by the media, but the help from the corporations will make everyone wonder why she hasn't just gone away. She won't go away. After this election you will not have seen the last of this woman whose experience and ambitions for ruling in the most corrupt party America's ever known will never quite get her above being simply lipstick on a pig.
I think that she's leaving with her tail between her legs and won't be back. After all that's gone on in five weeks, there's no chance that she'll haunt our political doorstep anymore. McCain's done, but she's overcooked.
Neither FOX, Hannity, nor Rush can save her. She's a hopeless case.
A friend of mine said "When McSame & Sarah loses, Alaskans better watch out - she's coming back and she'll be madder than a wet hornet". I don't trust her at all. We (who work for the state) have already been warned to have NO political conversations at work... and I'm sure they'd rather us not have any political conversations anywhere else.
I'm of the mind that if McCain/Palin loses, Palin will be ONE of several scapegoats for the GOP to justify their loss. They owe her nothing, and I believe that (privately, anyway) there are a LOT of GOP operatives who have been more than "underwhelmed" at her performance on the campaign trail, and will have no problem selling her out once they lose. Blaming Palin for the loss will also relieve them of any obligation to remind themselves of the economic collapse (and the conservative ideology that led to it), and any number of Bush's catastrophic failures and miscalculations that poisoned their message right out the gates.
Plus, I don't think Palin has the stomach for the national scene. Her comments to a friend about wanting to be president are not convincing evidence that she has boundless, "naked" ambition. Now that she's had a taste of it, I can't see her wanting to come back for more--she's a national laughing stock on the scale of W. and Quayle AND has cemented a very negative perception of herself amongst the electorate and that's only after 6 weeks on the scene. I'm sure being the gosh-darn-by-golly governor of Alaska sounds okey-dokey right about now.
Tucker Bounds, Tucker Eskew, Tucker Carlson? What the Tuck is going on with conservatives named Tucker?
Tucker must mean "ignorant", or something along those lines. That would make sense.
Tucker is the new insult against the conservative base!
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