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Fighting over Sarah
| Wed Jul. 1, 2009 6:58 AM PDT
Sarah Palin is the gift that keeps on giving and giving and giving. Todd Purdum's profile in this month's Vanity Fair was a fairly ordinary takedown with only a little in the way of new revelations, but even so it's managed to spark a breathtaking amount of vitriol among Republican operatives. Jonathan Martin reports on what happened after Bill Kristol accused McCain aide Steve Schmidt of speculating during the campaign that Palin's strange behavior was due to post-partum depression:
Asked about the accusation,
Schmidt fired back in an e-mail: “I'm sure John McCain would be president today if only Bill Kristol had been in charge of the campaign.”
“After all, his management of [former Vice President] Dan Quayle’s public image as his chief of staff is still something that takes your breath away,” Schmidt continued. “His attack on me is categorically false.”
Asked directly in a telephone interview if he brought up the prospect of Palin suffering from post-partum depression, Schmidt said: “His allegation that I was defaming Palin by alleging post-partum depression at the campaign headquarters is categorically untrue. In fact, I think it rises to the level of a slander because it’s about the worst thing you can say about somebody who does what I do for a living.”
But Kristol’s charge was seconded by Randy Scheunemann, a longtime foreign policy adviser to McCain who is also close to the Standard editor and was thought to be a Palin ally within the campaign. “Steve Schmidt has a congenital aversion to the truth,” Scheunemann said.
....Responding to Schmidt’s counterattack, Kristol directly fingered Schmidt: “It’s simply a fact that when the going got tough, Steve Schmidt trashed Sarah Palin, both within the campaign and (on background) to journalists. This was after Steve took credit for the Palin pick when, at first, he thought it made him look good. John McCain deserved better.”
At this, Schmidt unloaded in a lengthy telephone interview, suggesting that Kristol was carrying out a personal vendetta based out of anger over the attempt to fire Scheunemann in the final days of the campaign.
There's only one proper response to this: Palin/Sanford 2012! Drill baby drill!
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Comments
I like to watch
Submitted by anandine on Wed Jul. 1, 2009 7:22 AM PDT.
Obama/Biden vs Palin/Huckabee. As a Democratic specator sport, it will rival Georgia Tech/Cumberland.
McCain dropped the ball.
Submitted by Boronx on Wed Jul. 1, 2009 7:45 AM PDT.
The Republicans would not be ripping themselves apart right now if McCain had only gone with his first pick, Joe Lieberman.
'bout anybody should be able
Submitted by Luther on Wed Jul. 1, 2009 7:53 AM PDT.
'bout anybody should be able to beat the debt president, as he is known internationally.
It is surprising that
Submitted by tpx on Wed Jul. 1, 2009 8:41 AM PDT.
It is surprising that Palin's Republican critics do not bring up her resemblance to Native Americans.
Unfortunate post
Submitted by rilkefan on Wed Jul. 1, 2009 9:56 AM PDT.
I guess you've been away so you missed the reaction to Purdum's piece on the left. He makes stuff up. He did it against us.
Basically every time you comment on Palin, who'll vanish into obscurity if allowed to, I lose a bit of the esteem I have for your work.
"Basically every time you
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Jul. 1, 2009 2:02 PM PDT.
"Basically every time you comment on Palin, who'll vanish into obscurity if allowed to"
Why would you want that? I thank dog every morning for Sarah Palin, who is a gentle reminder to independents just how much worse it could have been than it is right now. Every time Obama lets me down, I wait for Palin to do something stupid to reassure me. Sometimes she takes her time, but dog love her, she always pulls through.
most of the Schadenfreude-driven commentary on Palin one sees on the left is (so it seems to me) counterproductive. A lot of it has been frankly misogynistic. As far as I can tell she is, and comes across to many people as, an ok person who got in over her head - the mockery just makes our side look bad. Lord knows there are plenty of actively evil Republicans to laugh at. And Drum has made several posts about her which were (presumably due to overenthusiasm) just wrong or misinformed, which just adds to the argument.
Unconscionable
Submitted by SP (not verified) on Wed Jul. 1, 2009 11:00 AM PDT.
Drill baby drill!
Clearly this is a reference to the Palin's poor special needs child. I can't believe you'd be so inhumane as to bring a child with Down's syndrome into a political argument by referring to the "baby" with this comment. Shame on you, Kevin.
"Drill, baby, drill"
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Jul. 1, 2009 6:26 PM PDT.
The comment referencing "drill, baby, drill" is a reference to drilling for oil. Nothing to do with anyone's child.
Palin
Submitted by BigSteve (not verified) on Wed Jul. 1, 2009 12:06 PM PDT.
Palin was the best candidate who would run with the traitor McCain. What other candidate have we ever had who made 32 anti-American tapes for the enemy? Who spent a year as a guest of the enemy at a hotel in Hanoi being supplied with hookers? Who voted to stop trying to get the other POW's back after the war, abandoning over 1400 known POW's held then by the Viet Cong? The man is a disgrace and those in the know are afraid of this loose cannon who earned the nickname of "The Fastest Zipper in the West" among his Senate colleagues. Time to move on and prosecute the fascists who stole our government and tried to destroy our Constitution.
You know what?
Submitted by Trippp on Wed Jul. 1, 2009 12:18 PM PDT.
Watching children bicker and squabble is kinda entertaining. As long as they are not your own children.
And Luther, you thin-skinned devil you, since when did you care about what foreigners thought about things?
I'm starting to think you are like that bad cable exec on the Dish commercial who blurts out lame ideas and thinks he's 'leveled the playing field.'
Tripp
Drill Baby Drill
Submitted by DanC (not verified) on Wed Jul. 1, 2009 12:19 PM PDT.
A reference to Trig, Sarah Palin's baby? Are you kidding me? It's a reference to the desire expressed by Palin herself to drill in coastal waters and on the northern slopes of Alaska.
I have no idea how you could take it another way.
Is my wingnut impression
Submitted by SP (not verified) on Wed Jul. 1, 2009 12:42 PM PDT.
Is my wingnut impression really that believable?
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