Campbell Brown: Some of the Palin leakers’ smears are “patently false”
posted at 9:56 pm on November 6, 2008 by Allahpundit
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Naming which smears are false and which aren’t would have been helpful, but we go to war with the media army we have.
Update: New light shed by ABC:
Stapleton says that during a briefing session someone asked Palin to explain the McCain-Palin stance on an issue and as she was responding “in the middle she said ‘country of Africa’ and somebody instantly wrote it down. And said, ‘Oh my God she thinks it’s a country.’”
But Stapleton insists, “she knows it’s a continent. It was just a human mistake, just like Obama saying 57 states. I don’t think anyone ever doubted that Obama knows there are 50 states.”
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They already called her on her first screw-up. Witness her election night dress.
haikusrock on November 6, 2008 at 10:49 PM
Good point, I need to start keeping track. They will only get better.
sherry on November 6, 2008 at 10:54 PM
He’s probably in isolation right now, recovering from campaigning. If he doesn’t respond in a week, then slam him.
Darth Executor on November 6, 2008 at 10:55 PM
Tuning Spork – the response he got was commensurate to the trash talk he directed at me. If he wants an appropriate reply, then he needs to make a comment or a question that isn’t a complete waste of my and his time.
He’s directing this level of discourse. He knows what he is doing, and this is the game he plays. We’ve been over this a million times. His imagination and mental derangement is his problem, not mine.
wise_man on November 6, 2008 at 10:55 PM
Maybe he’ll be seen in 3 months sporting an Al Gore beard.
wise_man on November 6, 2008 at 10:55 PM
So you’re finally admitting that all the times you said people were liars when they brought up those things, you were the liar. Great.
Considering his reputation for holding grudges, for losing his temper, and for his general candor towards people who disagree with him, it’s a very, very reasonable suspicion. Again, only people within the McCain campaign would know about things like Palin answering the door in a bathrobe.
That’s rich coming from a guy whose typical response is “STFU turd!” You remind me of Shelley from South Park.
MadisonConservative on November 6, 2008 at 10:57 PM
It would be nice if he made a comment. As far as I know, Sarah Palin has not asked him to. She has not dignified this BS rumor with a reply either.
Some people are making the claim that his silence = his endorsement, and that is also BS.
He just lost the election for christ’s sake. Give the old *ing man a moment or two.
wise_man on November 6, 2008 at 10:57 PM
Shut the *k up you annoying POS. Stop lying to me, stop making accusations that aren’t true, stop being an insufferable *.
wise_man on November 6, 2008 at 10:59 PM
wise_man on November 6, 2008 at 10:55 PM
Fair enough. Point taken.
Tuning Spork on November 6, 2008 at 10:59 PM
While I would agree with you, I have to remember that that was maybe 25+ years ago when teachers actually taight.
Today, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if a person 15 or older thought Africa was a country.
RobertInLexington on November 6, 2008 at 11:00 PM
No hard feelings, Tuning Spork.
wise_man on November 6, 2008 at 11:00 PM
I’ve lurked here for a long time, and so I’m just getting used to the posting and features and whatnot.
Is there a private message feature?
Can personal vendettas be taken there, please?
haikusrock on November 6, 2008 at 11:01 PM
She shouldn’t have to. But I guess she’s supposed to wait a week for him to get around to it.
Jim Treacher on November 6, 2008 at 11:01 PM
Always the victim….
FloatingRock on November 6, 2008 at 11:03 PM
And we’re now taking the word of an anonymous source that Palin doesn’t know something because of some half-heard comment? Have we learned nothing from the last 2 months? They are out to destroy her.
Jim Treacher on November 6, 2008 at 11:04 PM
I would love it haikusrock, if madison conservative would address all of his BS comments, not to me, but to here.
Like that photo? The boss posted that June 17, 2008 10:11 AM
wise_man on November 6, 2008 at 11:04 PM
In any event, HE did not make the comment. His FIRED EMPLOYEE made the comment. His silence does not mean an endorsement. He picked her and defended her for 2 months. And now, he’s probably passed out on the couch after losing the election to a far left leaning socialist who went to a racist church and was friends with a domestic terroist. Some people might want to give him a break for 48 hours after he’s been campaigning for about a year and a half or so.
And other people hate him so much, that they want to believe the worst about him and will continue to beat this dead mccain horse for the years to come, *shrugs* whatver, dude,
wise_man on November 6, 2008 at 11:07 PM
Soren Kierkegaard
“The Present Age,” 1846
CK MacLeod on November 6, 2008 at 11:08 PM
always the *hole.
wise_man on November 6, 2008 at 11:08 PM
wise_man on November 6, 2008 at 10:45 PM
Wise_man you are like a freaking broken record. Are U John McCain? Are U in his circle of friends?
Okay, Guess what I hear this crap after I choose her and she brought me 10 Million dollars in a day. She engerized my base. But we lost. Me, I still get out there and state this is bunk and Sarah Palin is a great future for the party. John McCain hasn’t and people are mad. Count me as one of them.
Until he does he lost my respect.
PS Rommey and Huckster opertaives can forget getting my support too. I want a real consertative not Dem Light.
Gracelynn on November 6, 2008 at 11:10 PM
why they would bring in a speechwriter and then not use the speech they wrote for her which was complimentary of McCain.
This staff is as ridiculous as Obama always voting “present”. No need to wonder why the hell McCain could never stay the course with an argument, always folding on his own logic, goaded by his staff. Lo here, lo there.
maverick muse on November 6, 2008 at 11:12 PM
MadisonConservative initially responded to wise_man calling Promachus and others “idiots” back at 10:27 PM.
FloatingRock on November 6, 2008 at 11:12 PM
carbon_footprint:
I got to say “lousy” is high praise for that campaign.
Axeman on November 6, 2008 at 11:13 PM
I was responding to:
And my reply was appropriate.
wise_man on November 6, 2008 at 11:15 PM
With some people, it doesn’t matter what McCain says or does. All they care is what they think is going on, and the truth of the matter doesn’t enter into their consideration. It’s these people who I can’t stand and will reply to.
If McCain comes out and says that these rumors are false, then these people won’t even believe that, either. This is not logic that we’re dealing with, but the same derangement that the lefties exercised against Bush. Logic didn’t enter the picture with them either. Its disgusting. It’s ugly. And it reflects very negatively to them as purporting to be intelligent commentators, and as well as them as human beings. They don’t have to do this, they can wait more than 15 minutes to declare – yet again – that McCain is a low life and scum. It should be beneath them, but like I said, they have contempt with McCain, and as commentators, and as human beings, I have nothing but contempt for them as long as they engage in this behavior.
wise_man on November 6, 2008 at 11:21 PM
We don’t know for sure who made the comment. We do know the name of the one person who can stand up for Palin right now and put a stop to this. But I guess he needs a nap.
Look, I like McCain. I voted for him. I honestly thought he could win. And I’m sure the last thing he wants to do right now is subject himself to a hostile press yet again. But he has to. Right now. For both of their sakes.
Jim Treacher on November 6, 2008 at 11:21 PM
Who was the staff member who told the media that If we keep talking about the economy we will lose?
Palinpuma on November 6, 2008 at 11:21 PM
McCain can NOT put a stop to this. These people are the ones who are doing this. Unless John McCain grabs a baseball bat and bludgeons them to death or knocks their teeth in – John McCain can’t put a stop to this.
Have you been paying attention????? ?He PICKED HER in the first place. He has been DEFENDING HER for two freaking months. And now ? Everyone around here is thinking that he’s complicit in this?
Give me a fraking break. Use you goddamned brain on this.
wise_man on November 6, 2008 at 11:24 PM
You’re probably the only one who thinks so.
FloatingRock on November 6, 2008 at 11:25 PM
Wiseman, the guy he fired was the foreign policy dude that was defending Palin. He was fired because he was leaking stuff to the media about a plan by Wallace and Schmidt to blame an election loss on Palin. That’s who McCain fuckin’ fired. He fired the guy who blew the whistle on the planned smear on Palin. Fuck you’re clueless.
CanadianGuy on November 6, 2008 at 11:25 PM
McCain had no problem coming out in defence of Obama when Cunningham dared to use his middle name. It took him what? All of 20 minutes to leap to Obama’s defence?
Sarah Palin? Well McCain will see if he can fit a lukewarm defence of her in sometime next week!
sharrukin on November 6, 2008 at 11:27 PM
Stop fighting let it go.
Palinpuma on November 6, 2008 at 11:28 PM
angry_man, put a sock in it. the election is over. McCain no longer needs your 24/7 defense. And the rest of us are sick of reading it.
james23 on November 6, 2008 at 11:29 PM
If you think you’re going to force people here to like McCain then you’re the “Idiot
s. wise_man on November 6, 2008 at 10:27 PM“FloatingRock on November 6, 2008 at 11:31 PM
Noonan made a foolish ass of herself on TV for sure, but I think she was genuinely fond of Palin and concerned for her. She wrote something at the end of her first column, post-TV assiness, that stuck with me as a good inside-baseball insight and was incredibly prescient.
From her first coulumn written after the Palin pick :
Emphasis added.
silverfox on November 6, 2008 at 11:31 PM
Can he? He presumably wasn’t personally present at any of the supposed events or exchanges. All he can do is offer his personal testimonial, the same one he offered at least one hundred times during the campaign, up to and including his concession speech.
Palin’s a big girl. She can speak for herself, ably, as she already has. Apparently, some people who were present have now confirmed what anyone with any moderate experience of life understood immediately – that some slips of the tongue or transitory brain farts are being maliciously blown out of proportion.
I think it would actually be somewhat demeaning for McCain to come out and speak up for her like dad, telling all the nasty kids to leave her alone. It would also draw even greater attention to the stories. I’ve said before that it would be a decent thing for some people associated with the campaign to come forward, and that it would also help those looking forward to any future in the party to disassociate themselves from the gossiping rats. It’ll all come out in time. Maybe in some upcoming interviews, eventually in a shelf of books. Long-term, if Palin wants to give it all another go, it may even serve her to have expectations re-lowered, so that, when she comes out sounding like Ramesh Ponnuru and Rich Brookhiser with dropped “g”’s, it’ll be the RNC Speech all over again.
In the meantime, those of us who “get” Palin aren’t close to abandoning her over this, and those piling on, all the way down to the level of HotAir, are clearly identifying themselves as the creeps will remember to ignore and avoid when and if it ever matters, whether in re Palin or in re re-building the conservative movement.
CK MacLeod on November 6, 2008 at 11:32 PM
And for the record 36 hours and nobody — Salter, Davis, etc — has even emailed a single reporter on the record or on background to say these smears against Palin are bullshit. They are obviously following McCain’s orders.
CanadianGuy on November 6, 2008 at 11:33 PM
you are obviously full of sh*t.
wise_man on November 6, 2008 at 11:35 PM
the rule of thumb in debate: silence equals consent. end of story. he was o-so-quick to denounce attacks on Barry. don’t be a fool. This is a symptom of McCain’s inability to take responsibility, looser! And, lowlife turncoat to boot. He deserves to be stoned at the city gates.
anti-boomer on November 6, 2008 at 11:36 PM
The fact that you consider insulting the guy for expressing his opinion about a political candidate “appropriate” is very, very telling.
MadisonConservative on November 6, 2008 at 11:36 PM
Oh look. Another “appropriate” reply, according to wise_man.
MadisonConservative on November 6, 2008 at 11:37 PM
I am not asking anyone to like McCain – just don’t lie about him. That should be left to the democrats.
But it is seemingly all you are capable of. That and your hatred of me for daring to stand up to you and your trashing the republican who won the republican primary and was the only one up against a Obama presidency.
wise_man on November 6, 2008 at 11:39 PM
the buck stops with McCain, the logic of suae culpae is inescapable. we should send him to his grave for this one.
anti-boomer on November 6, 2008 at 11:39 PM
A lie is not an opinion. And people who claim to know for a fact something that they obviously do not ARE full of sh*t.
wise_man on November 6, 2008 at 11:39 PM
and here I thought I heard it all from you people.
wise_man on November 6, 2008 at 11:40 PM
McCain may not be any more capable of forcing his staffers to cease their smears of Palin than Wise_man does of forcing people to like McCain, but McCain should be able to determine who’s doing the smearing and explain to them that if they don’t reveal themselves and suffer the consequences of their actions, he’s going to do it for them.
It all comes back to McCain. It was his campaign.
FloatingRock on November 6, 2008 at 11:41 PM
I think McCain doesn’t care. He will never be running for POTUS again. He only needs to save face with his cronies in the Senate. He will probably retire soon and wants to leave on a high note. He doesn’t do well if people don’t like him.
sherry on November 6, 2008 at 11:41 PM
does my tenor carry an inordinate intonation toward bloodlust?
anti-boomer on November 6, 2008 at 11:41 PM
why is it madison conservative that makes you tick. Why do you want to do this., You know you’re wrong. You know that your opinion is not based on fact. why do you continue with this BS like you are. You really must be derranged if you actually believe what you say
wise_man on November 6, 2008 at 11:42 PM
I am not asking anyone to like McCain. just don;t lie about him. why is this dso goddamned difficult for you to do.
wise_man on November 6, 2008 at 11:43 PM
I like that “insists” because Palin can’t get the benefit of the doubt. The burden of proof is on her, not on the ones saying she didn’t know Africa was a continent. Well, if she didn’t know, then by that same standard, Obama thought the US had 58 states and Joe Biden thought FDR was Prez in 1929 and that the Executive branch was in Article I. So who of the three is the biggest idiot?
SAZMD on November 6, 2008 at 11:43 PM
All CNN is doing with this Campbell Brown “Cutting through the Bull” segment is drawing attention to these rumors and complaints.
When the issue was the $150,000 wardrobe, Campbell was careful to still make Palin sound ridiculous while at the same time defending women.
Same with this segment. Campbell Brown is not coming to Palin’s defense at all here.
nitzsche on November 6, 2008 at 11:43 PM
In which case Lieberman would have been a better choice after all. I’d say McCain was pretty well overshadowed after Sept 3.
ddrintn on November 6, 2008 at 11:43 PM
you people wont be convinced even when he does come out and say something – just go to hell you worthless *s.
wise_man on November 6, 2008 at 11:44 PM
I can’t believe people are defending McCain.
This is obviously a well-coordinated plan by his campaign staff to use multiple annonymous sources and a half dozen media outlets less than 24 hours after the election to blame Palin. The fact that McCain fired Randy Scheunemann for leaking this plan to the media and not the people who planned to smear Palin is pretty damning along with the lack of any sort of defence of Palin coming from McCain’s aides.
CanadianGuy on November 6, 2008 at 11:44 PM
I also want to be wanted. Allow me to play the obedient sycophant. Long live Barry-o. B-a-r-r-y was his name-o. Down with redneck, racist, moose-killing animal haters!
anti-boomer on November 6, 2008 at 11:44 PM
Shame on those advisors who are trying to ruin Palin’s future…and possibly ours.
BaruchAdam
baruchadam on November 6, 2008 at 11:45 PM
Dead on. She was filling up stadiums and he was working union halls.
sherry on November 6, 2008 at 11:46 PM
smells like Jeffersonian politics, McCain! It stinks!
anti-boomer on November 6, 2008 at 11:47 PM
Coward.
anti-boomer on November 6, 2008 at 11:48 PM
More from ABC…
I don’t know what’s really true and what isn’t, but the bit about her only remembering asking for toothpaste and coats for cold weather rings true to me. I read that in at least two different hotels that the only things Palin asked for were diet soda, Atkins bars, and a white chocolate mocha in the morning. I’ll extrapolate from that that was true throughout the campaign since those articles were from several weeks apart and in different geographic locations.
meltenn on November 6, 2008 at 11:49 PM
Are you quite finished yet? Are you finished telling people what they know and don’t know? Are you finished refusing to acknowledge actual stances McCain has taken on issues, even when supplied with actual quotes, dates, and times? Are you finished calling people who don’t support the guy 100% traitors? Are you finished accusing people who question his claim of being conservative of treason? Are you finished responding to legitimate questions about your opinion with “STFU” just because you realize the answer would make you admit to being wrong?
I will tell you that these question are mainly rhetorical, because the answer is simple: yes, you’re finished. You stood up for one of the most liberal Republicans there was, accused your countrymen of high crimes if they questioned him, said “shut up and vote for him”, and now still refuse to recognize that only members of the McCain campaign could have come up with some of these smears. Yes, you’re finished.
MadisonConservative on November 6, 2008 at 11:50 PM
They are trying to turn her Africa moment into her “potatoe” moment.
What is the over/under on how many gaffes Biden has to commit before they start to ridicule him and he ends up being the butt of mean jokes on SNL? I would set the line at 8.
Mallard T. Drake on November 6, 2008 at 11:52 PM
We’ve already had this discussion once: Remember, back when you almost got yourself banned? You are not the final arbiter of McCain-truth. Typically your version of truth is only your own opinion, and then you use that to justify your puerile insults while playing the victim card.
Oh, that hurts! And here I stood up for you back on that day and told Allah I thought you should be given a chance to reform instead of being banned outright.
FloatingRock on November 6, 2008 at 11:52 PM
He is if he doesn’t speak up, pronto.
Jim Treacher on November 6, 2008 at 11:54 PM
Heck, I remember spending half that night trying to give you pointers so you wouldn’t get yourself banned.
FloatingRock on November 6, 2008 at 11:54 PM
Same standard we held for Obama. If it’s good enough for the most liberal Democrat, it’s good enough for the most liberal Republican.
MadisonConservative on November 6, 2008 at 11:55 PM
I don’t even need McCain to speak up. I just need someone from his campaign sending an email to anybody … anybody! … saying this is obviously some vindictive staffers who are taking things out of context to make Gov. Palin look stupid. The only person who has said anything was the guy they wanted to fire for leaking this alleged plot … which now appears to be true.
CanadianGuy on November 6, 2008 at 11:56 PM
Her first? She’s made tons already.
Sign of the Dollar on November 6, 2008 at 11:57 PM
Of course. Even if you could argue it doesn’t make them complicit, it sure as hell makes them look like they no longer give a damn what anyone says about her, which shows them to be shallow and thoughtless and with no loyalty whatsoever.
And that same attitude is extended to McCain with his silence.
MadisonConservative on November 6, 2008 at 11:58 PM
FloatingRock on November 6, 2008 at 11:41 PM
I agree that there’s nothing about this that reflects well on McCain, but it may just be that neither he nor anyone else can put the genie back in the bottle on this stuff, even if he does somehow have it in his power to make someone like Nicole Wallace, if that’s the main leaker, shut up. McCain going public or threatening to go public would just risk turning this from a sidebar into a headline, extending the sordid agony of it all for another news cycle or two.
The market just had its largest 2-day drop in a generation. The winner is giving his first news conference tomorrow and just received her first presidential security briefing today. McCain is not going to break his post-concession media silence to assure people that Palin knows world geography to a 2nd Grade level.
When he and the world are ready, he’ll likely resume his former practice of being more available to the press than the press has time for. He’ll have plenty of opportunity to talk about Palin and the campaign. I have a feeling he’ll be extremely gracious and complimentary regarding her – just as he was in his speech – and will shake his head piteously over the people who spread malicious rumors, and also over the people who believe them.
It doesn’t hurt to have allies of Palin’s – like the two women on Greta tonight – speaking up for her, but, I repeat, it’s up to Palin now to defend herself and manage her image to whatever extent she chooses to. No one else can do it for her – can prove she’s not the incredible caricature others repeatedly try to draw of her. It’s in disproving that caricature by herself that she has drawn her greatest political force since she’s been on the national scene, just as her worst wounds were the ones she herself inflicted on herself in the Gibson and Couric interviews (even if it was the fault of the campaign to expose her under those conditions and circumstances).
CK MacLeod on November 6, 2008 at 11:58 PM
I agree. John McCain has totally lost my respect. Palin commands troops in Somalia and we are supposed to believe that she doesn’t know Africa is a Continent. Every Mother who has children in school Knows this. I bet even Piper knows that Africa is a Continent.
McCain staffers have scrutinized her every word and so she says “country of africa” that JUMP on that to smear her.
This gaffe is no different than Obama saying 57 states.
Geochelone on November 6, 2008 at 11:59 PM
Palin is more a threat to them than a crypto-Marxist slouching toward the Oval Office.
Hell, I like lunacy as much as the next person, but this is suicidally NUTS.
Just thank God it wasn’t Michelle Obama in a bathrobe!
profitsbeard on November 7, 2008 at 12:00 AM
I meant as First Lady, but you do have a point.
sherry on November 7, 2008 at 12:01 AM
I suppose that if Sarah had said “Well I can’t wait for the sun to rise tomorrow” they would stab her with
PALIN THINKS THE EARTH DOES NOT ROTATE
Shes think the Sun moves.
John McCain YOU SUCK for not defending Palin and feeding her to your incompetent staffers.
Geochelone on November 7, 2008 at 12:02 AM
You make a lot of reasonable points, but this whole smear appears to be way too organized. And, as I said above, McCain doesn’t even have to address this himself (it would be better if he did … but) one of his aides could give annonymous counterspin in an email to these total fabrications. The fact that nobody has lifted a finger for 36 hours now pretty much is proof to me that this was his campaign’s exit strategy. McCain’s an evil bastard.
CanadianGuy on November 7, 2008 at 12:03 AM
The idiots in the McCain campaign must think Palin had too easy a go of it during the campaign.
Ungrateful bastards.
Elizabetty on November 7, 2008 at 12:04 AM
Everyone needs to take a very deep cleansing breath. There is waaaaay too much anger here. They lost. Face it. She’s being slammed.
As if we didn’t expect that? Why is anyone surprised at all of this?
Note to Sarah: Go home to Alaska. Be a really great governor. Be an even better mom. The press sucks, McCain’s campaign sucked, but sister, you’ll come out on top. chin up.
pullingmyhairout on November 7, 2008 at 12:06 AM
I am thankful. This woman is uglier than Hillary.
cjs1943 on November 7, 2008 at 12:08 AM
We are NOT asking him to stop it. We are asking him to TRY TO STOP IT.
He didn’t even try. So it will continue.
But he will jump on anyone attacking Obama or any of his Dem buddies.
McCain is a disgrace.
Geochelone on November 7, 2008 at 12:08 AM
Senator McCain,
You’ve got until COB Friday to weigh in. Eagerly awaiting your opinion on this unfortunate matter.
Cordially,
Christien on November 7, 2008 at 12:08 AM
This only surfaced yesterday. Good lord, people. Let the old man come up for air. I’m a fit, healthy 39 year old and I don’t think I could have handled that daunting campaign schedule.
pullingmyhairout on November 7, 2008 at 12:11 AM
On this one point, I know I’ll catch hell.
When I disregard everything that comes out of her mouth, I don’t think Michelle My Belle is half bad lookin’.
MadisonConservative on November 7, 2008 at 12:13 AM
You don’t have to be an Olympic athlete to pick up the phone and tell Tucker Bounds or somebody to send an email to Carl Cameron and Newsweek telling them that their stories are false or grossly exagerated.
CanadianGuy on November 7, 2008 at 12:14 AM
The Obama campaign wins…so we get the first HALFrican-American president. Good, fine. Proud moment..Free at last, free at last….Congratulations.
Now the Media is running low on Bush derangement syndrome and have to channel it somewhere. THEY PICK PALIN TO FOCUS ON? This is outrageous. CNN defends her (backhanded defense there Campbell).
Palin dragged McCain kicking and screaming along with the GOP pushing from behind to get him over the finish line. Palin gets ZERO credit?
If McCain ran without Palin, the electoral map would have looked like the Reagan/Moldale map in 1984, with Obama carrying every state except for Arizona. McCain has been a RINO for years and should be retired to the “Georgetown Coctail Circuit” he crawled out of.
portlandon on November 7, 2008 at 12:14 AM
I appreciate your thoughts but it took him one day to discredit the Wright ads in N. Carolina and he openly defended his opponent on the spot at a rally in WI. He knows this issue requires his or someone on his staff’s attention immediately. She was his running mate, for heaven’s sake. He owes her that much.
sherry on November 7, 2008 at 12:14 AM
That’s a good point, although I think it’s going to happen regardless. The smears against Palin from the McCain camp are some of the opening salvos, I think, of the battle for the future of the Republican Party.
I don’t think he should in those words. He should instead repudiate the people responsible and give them names.
FloatingRock on November 7, 2008 at 12:21 AM
Point taken. You don’t have to be an olympic athlete. I get it. My point is that with today’s “instant news cycles,” no one has the chance to formulate good, comprehensive, well-thought out answers to situations that deserve thoughtfulness. People want instant message responses, when most of the time, those types of responses only get you in trouble. I believe that this is one of those situations that deserve a good, solid response, IMHO.
Also, what if the leakers are right? Is McCain supposed to defend something that is perhaps true?
pullingmyhairout on November 7, 2008 at 12:23 AM
Noonan was “fond” of her until the media pile-on began, and then like a lot of our other time-serving “intelligentsia”, she thought she might as well join in.
ddrintn on November 7, 2008 at 12:23 AM
CanadianGuy on November 7, 2008 at 12:03 AM
Calling McCain an “evil bastard” over this is deranged, especially if, as you claim, you accept my arguments as reasonable. You’re also obviously wrong about a lack of response from others within the campaign: There have been people associated with the campaign pushing back in various ways. As for “counterspin… e-mail,” I’d bet a fortune that there have already been enough e-mails on this subject between and among high, middle, and lower aides and high, middle, and lower journalists to fill a library if they were all printed out.
Neither you nor anyone else here has any idea what people have been saying to each other – or for that matter what Palin herself has asked of any would-be defenders. It’s arguably in her interest and in everyone else’s interest to lower the temperature on this story, not exacerbate the situation.
Furthermore, and you McCain haters should be as aware of this as anyone, maybe it’s better for Palin to have as full a break from McCain and his shadow as she can. It may not be such a bad thing for the story to be that she and the mismanaged loser’s campaign had sharp and serious differences and personal conflicts. In my estimation she’s rising above the campaign, and anyone pre-disposed to believe such ludicrous smears isn’t worth cultivating anyway.
CK MacLeod on November 7, 2008 at 12:25 AM
Me neither.
FloatingRock on November 7, 2008 at 12:25 AM
Love to sit here and shoot the shit, but I have to go to bed. nighty night.
pullingmyhairout on November 7, 2008 at 12:25 AM
I think that at this point given that Palin’s aide has put out a statement, Scheunemann has gone on the record, and Palin herself has said that she’s going to be gracious; this thing could die if she refuses to feed into it. It has maybe one more news cycle after the last Newsweek piece comes out (unless it contains a lot more damaging stuff than the highlights they’ve already put out about the clothes) if Palin refuses to engage and says, “I’m going to be gracious in defeat. It’s a shame that other people can’t be as well. I’m not going to rehash the campaign or discuss my feelings on it any further. I’m ready to move forward and work for the people of Alaska, and work with the new administration.”
Maybe that would end it, at least until the RNC does it’s “clothes audit.” The media, political reporters are the worst for this, just loves gossip and juicy stories. They’re as bad as the tabloids about that stuff.
meltenn on November 7, 2008 at 12:27 AM
It shows where the real excitement in this campaign was. Obama is still a bore, essentially.
ddrintn on November 7, 2008 at 12:31 AM
Even if it’s true it’s still in bad taste, inappropriate, unprofessional and reflects badly on McCain. The election is over, there’s nothing to gain by smearing Palin other than in the self-interests of those involved.
FloatingRock on November 7, 2008 at 12:32 AM
Why haven’t we seen any of these responses published.
And, yes others (Palin’s aide and Schuenaemann) are pushing back, but these are Palin’s people since Schuenaemann was the guy Rick Davis fired or took his Blackberry away for the rest of the campaign. None of McCain’s people have pushed back.
CanadianGuy on November 7, 2008 at 12:32 AM
There will be some interesting decompression interviews, and then Palin will be able to purchase several very nice wardrobes for herself and her entire extended family with the advance she gets for her books – one about the campaign, then one or more about her political philosophy. The first will be one of the biggest political bestsellers of any year.
Anyway, stop feeling sorry for her. She’s doing fine, not least by looking like a bigger and better person than her attackers. Just as important, in addition to the millions of dollars she’s going to bank, she has millions of earnest admirers ready to walk through mine fields under enemy fire for her. She’s been made, bigtime – whether or not she’s ever elected president. If she wants that, she’s going to have to learn to perform in a sustained way and on a very high level. If that happens and she really is up to it, this backbiting stuff and some of her early stumbles won’t matter much.
CK MacLeod on November 7, 2008 at 12:37 AM
Give us names!!!
christene on November 7, 2008 at 12:38 AM
Wow, muyoso is looking pretty dumb right now.
He reminded me of those truthers who think the government was behind 9/11. They like to believe the “evidence” that they want to believe and reject the evidence they don’t want to accept.
MedSchoolCatholic on November 7, 2008 at 12:39 AM
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