McCain Aides Say Sarah Palin Refused Help, Threw Tantrums

[sabra]

Source: CBS12

New reports are coming out about Sarah Palin's problems with the McCain campaign, her aides, and the Senator himself.

Multiple top McCain aides, say Palin refused help from campaign staffers and others preparing her for interviews with ABC's Charles Gibson and Katie Couric.

Aides say Palin frequently lost her temper and threw tantrums when her press coverage was negative.

However, Palin says that's simply not true.

"Regardless of how much face time Senator McCain and I had together, we have a great relationship. I have nothing but admiration for him. I love him. And, regardless of how much face time we had together, the American people have spoken."

"Well, as a politician, to tell you the honest goodness truth you guys - media folks - I've come away, unfortunately, with a little bit of disappointment in the world of the media."

Several insiders say McCain was aware of the infighting.


Read more: http://www.cbs12.com/news/mccain_4710581___article.html/palin_aides.html

[oldtime dfl_er]

1. Just another case of poor judgement

on McCain's part.

[Skittles]

54. it's poor judgement when I don't wear a coat in cold weather

what McCain did was a fucking disaster that showed supreme disdain for any thinking American

[Milspec]

73. BING we have a winner

:toast: :rofl:

[OmahaBlueDog]

2. Clearly, there is a faction that wants to throw her under the bus now

I'm guessing these are either eventual Jeb or Jindal supporters.

[sabra]

3. or Romney...

[awoke_in_2003]

46. Just had a scary thought...

a Romney/Palin ticket. The Ken and Barbie of fundementalists

[eridani]

63. Never happen. Her brand of whackjobs hates Mormons about as much as they hate Catholics n/t

[awoke_in_2003]

67. I know...

but you never know when an evil pact will be made for the "good" of the gop.

[teknomanzer]

75. They probably hate them more... n/t

[saigon68]

69. They are lining up for 2012

[Duncan]

82. Maybe also an effort at Damage control on McCain's part.

A futile effort that will backfire perhaps.

[Ian David]

4. Thank you, Astro-turf PUMAS! We couldn't have won without you! n/t

[...of J.Temperance]

5. Palin is politically finished

She'll stay in Alaska, she ain't going anywhere....she certainly will not be the Republican Presidential candidate in 2012.

I suspect the GOP will run Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal....and President Obama will beat him.

My theory on this, GOP chose Palin, partially because she's a woman and in their dim heads this meant that women would vote for McCain because he chose a woman....WRONG!

They will run Bobby Jindal in 2012 because he's a minority....so they'll think that the minority vote will fracture and be torn between Jindal and President Obama....WRONG!

[yellowcanine]

13. I don't know much about Jindal but if he is as smart as is said, he will not run in 2012.

He will wait until 2016 when there will be no incumbent. The only exception would be if Obama were to be a weak incumbent and I think that is extremely unlikely.

[OmahaBlueDog]

19. The irony is that 2016 could then end up as the mirror of 2008

A relatively young Bobby Jindal running against elder states-person, Senator Hillary Clinton

[Lorentz]

21. Hillary will be pushing 70 in 2016. No way she runs with any realistic expectation of winning.

Before that, Obama will either give her a cushy cabinet position, or will have named her to the Supreme Court.

[OmahaBlueDog]

26. She'll be 68, IIRC. People older than that have run.

However, I agree that she'd go to the SCOTUS if asked.

[Archie_Leach]

70. Hillary Clinton to Supreme - missing something

Given the visceral hatred the DROOLING KNUCKLE DRAGGING rightwing reactionary SH!T-F0R-BRAINS (isn't the terms "rightwing reactionary" and "sh!t-f0r-brains" redundant?) have for Hillary Clinton...... this is where not having 60 seats in the Senate is problematic...... I see the rightwing reactionary SH!T-F0R-BRAINS very probably pulling the old filibuster......


....... but perhaps too, given the clubbiness of the Senate, perhaps the party of DROOLING KNUCKLE DRAGGERS will show some "Senatorial Courtesy"......

[yardwork]

31. McCain is older than that and had a realistic chance of winning.

Hilary Clinton would be younger and probably in much better health than McCain is this year. Also, women tend to live longer than men. Also, Clinton is ten times smarter than McCain.

[Lorentz]

45. I don't think Hillary will be electable in 8 years.

Like it or not, her run for '08 was largely based on name recognition. In 8 years, a large portion of the electorate will have moved beyond the need for a "previously-known commodity" in the WH.

The age of the Clinton WH and the Bush WH is over. It's time for everyone to move on.

[aquart]

59. What about her frightens you so much, dear?

Tell you what. You let me know the woman you WILL support for president. And then you let me know when you plan to start working for her effort.

Come on. Surely there's one woman born in the USA who can get your precious vote. Tell us her name.

[eridani]

64. Jan Schakowsky n/t

[Lorentz]

72. I don't think I said anything about her being a woman.

[awoke_in_2003]

47. I think you got your scale wrong...

add another 0 to that 10 :)

[Name removed]

58. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[...of J.Temperance]

22. Jindal is I think 37 years old, so he could wait until 2016

I heard Bobby Jindal is going to this Republican shindig they're having, you know the Post-Mortem of the Republican Party they're having, also I heard Jindal is going to be visiting Iowa to talk at some GOP thing there.

So there are several pointers that suggest he IS thinking of running in 2012, however, yes he could wait until 2016 if he wants.

I think Bobby Jindal is a highly intelligent person, his main problems though would be that he's totally in with the Fundies, he is a Fundie himself, also his positions on social issues stink, anti-choice WITHOUT exceptions, against stem cell research, against gay rights etc.

On Edit: Added comments

[yellowcanine]

23. And Bobby Jindal could fall flat on his face between now and 2012 or 2016.

Particularly if he is taking the counsel of fundies.

[...of J.Temperance]

27. Yes, Jindal has to get re-elected first

I mean the current Lieutenant-Governor Mitch Landrieu could run against him for Governor....and Mitch Landrieu is pretty popular.

[LiberalFighter]

38. The smart thing for Republican Party would be to nominate a viable candidate in 2012

with expectation of losing but still running a good campaign. And then for that candidate to run again in 2016. By that time the candidate will have increase their name recognition and have some advantage. If the candidate flops in 2012 then he is done for 2016.

[PfcHammer]

65. Piyush ain't going nowhere

I hope. Hopefully he'll get bogged down in LA.

[Kool Kitty]

76. And Bobby the Exorcist wants creationism taught in

school. No thanks.

[pitohui]

55. jindal has never won elected office where he had a serious opponent

smart he may be but he is certainly not charismatic or appealing, he's kind of dweebie

the only really smart thing he's done so far is when mccain wanted to meet him to talk about the VP position, jindal said he was too busy w. hurricane gustav

basically he gave the old fart the brush-off so i guess he could smell the desperation in the air at that point

claiming a reform platform (and don't they always?) he was caught and fined for an ethics violation his very first week in office

i notice how it's always people from outside louisiana who want to tell me how great jindal is

it's all show and snow and no there there

[RaRa]

28. Or NOT?

With Stevens looking at jail time, there's been talk of Palin taking his seat! Unreal....

[...of J.Temperance]

32. Has that race been called yet? Did Mark Begich win? Or what happened?

Surely Begich won that Alaska Senate seat?

[last_texas_dem]

39. Nah, the felon is winning right now

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/individual/#mapSAK

Apparently, though, a substantial amount of votes remain uncounted.

[...of J.Temperance]

43. Unfuckingbelievable

I saw pre-election polls where Mark Begich had pretty good leads as well.

Hopefully with the yet to be counted votes Begich can win this one.

[livetohike]

6. "Regardless of how much face time we had together...."

Who cares how much face time they had together? What does that have to do with the American people's choice of Obama? Oh, well maybe if McCain had any face time with her before he chose her, he wouldn't have chosen her.

It's all about her. She's insufferable. I hope Alaskans toss her out of power.

[Mike Daniels]

7. The campaign was such a mess I wonder if it was somewhat intentional

Sort of along the lines of McCain having a major hissy fit that he had to take Palin and deciding "fuck it...I'll just steer directly into the iceberg and if I survive oh well and if I don't, oh well again."

[awoke_in_2003]

48. My thought

when McCain won the nomination was that the GOP was throwing the election. When they picked Palin it reinforced that. 8 years of bad economic policies are gonna come home to roost, and they want the mess to land on a democrat.

[dixiegrrrrl]

62. I am torn between seeing Mccain's run as a "what the hell" thing

or seeing it as yet another example of fundy grandiosity meeting Neo-con incompetence.
That long drawn out frog march of bright and shiny yet blissfully ignorant folks testifying at numerous Congressional hearings makes me think there was a whole slew of clueless toddlers being put in charge of the campaign.

[Tansy_Gold]

80. I don't think it is EVER "what the hell" with the fundies

They do not think in terms of back-door strategies. They do not believe in ever surrendering power, not even temporarily.

The fundies got McCain the nomination because they honestly thought they could win with him. They got Palin on the ticket because they honestly believed they could win with her. They are stupid and ignorant and blind -- but they are also power-greedy beyond any rational understanding.

They are NOT rational. Do NOT attempt to analyze their strategy as if it has any rational underpinning. You must operate from their ideological base and with their non-rational thought processes.

Remember that all the rational arguments against Palin were not enough to turn 44%+ of the American electorate away from her. McCain, though we might not agree with him, was a viable candidate, and with a better running mate, he could very well have beaten. He did not want to lose; he did not pick Palin because he wanted to lose. He has a filthy rich wife and doesn't lack for anything on this earth except the presidency, and he fought like hell to get it. He thought Palin would help.

Maybe he saw very quickly that she was a disaster. Maybe his campaign staff saw that she was a disaster. I think, however, that if either McCain or his high-level campaign staff recognized the train wreck barreling down on them, they did everything they could to mitigate it in the hopes that they could still eke out a victory.

This was never about dumping their mess on the Dems. They BLAME the Dems for it and consider the Dems incapable of cleaning it up. And in some respects, they don't even consider it a mess! there are still something like 20% of the population who believe the economy is just fine! They KNOW that with the Dems in power in House, Senate, and White House, the potential for truly radical change is very real. Higher taxes on the wealthy. Reregulation of the financial markets. A return to New Deal and Great Society social programs that benefit working people AT THE EXPENSE OF THE IDLE RICH. The pukes -- think Gingrich and DeLay and Rove -- know about the consolidation of power. Under no circumstances would they willingly step back from their plan of a permanent puke majority. Not on your life.


Tansy Gold

[chill_wind]

8. I hope some heavily privied Mac campaign schmuck decides to write a little tell-all book.

Unfortunately, I think she will try to come back. I don't ever want to see this woman on the national stage again.
Let these disgruntled guys destroy her-- for good. I'm praying for it.

[Kalifornia.Kid]

9. No pity for Palin (mis)handlers ...

[yellowcanine]

10. I am going to defend Sarah Palin here. McCain has no one to blame but himself.

He did himself, his campaign, the country and Sarah Palin herself a disservice when he failed to vet her and picked her based on a hunch. She was not ready for this move and it showed. Whose fault is that - not hers - though she could have said no of course. But she did not have enough information to be able to say no or yes. Would a more seasoned politician have known she wasn't ready? Yes of course, but the point is she is not a seasoned politician. McCain had or should have had enough information to know that she was not ready. When it comes down to it McCain blew it. And he should repudiate the efforts of his staff to now try to put the onus on Palin. Very shabby of him in my opinion.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[yellowcanine]

14. Exactly - HE picked her, even if he was pressured to do it, it was his choice.

[LiberalFighter]

40. And he was present during her later interviews.

Why was he there? To keep her line?

[Kool Kitty]

77. No-he was there to look like a ineffectual schmuck,

while she got to dominate the interview.

[Frisbee]

16. I wonder...

I wonder if someday we'll find out that she was truly a McPOW pick, or she was suggested by one of his aids or someone else from the religious right. Either way, the pick is on him. Just think though how fucked we would have been if he won, then somehow she assumed the role of POTUS. Man we dodged a bullet there!

[OmahaBlueDog]

24. I think it was presented to McCain as his only option

My understanding, based on a number of articles I read, was that Schmidt knew McCain's only shot was to close the enthusiasm gap and get the Bush/Rove "Values Voter" base to show. A number of surveys/focus groups were conducted in the run up to the convention, and two things became clear:

a) The evangelicals would not support Romney, Lieberman, or Baily-Hutchison
b) The small gov't / anti-tax crowd wouldn't go for Huckabee

Prior to the convention, there was allegedly a meeting with Tony Perkins, James Dobson, Grover Norquist, and others to vet Palin's spiritual and ideological purity. They liked her. She got picked.

[yellowcanine]

35. And I also think he got taken in by her feminine charms. Wouldn't be the first time a man

fell for that. And he DID spend a lot of time staring at her ass.

[kiranon]

66. Agree. n/t

[RamboLiberal]

60. From Newsweeks behind the scenes article today

-----

McCain had initially wanted Joe Lieberman. The two senators were fellow romantics, deeply imbued with a sense of righteousness and honor. In mid-August, when NEWSWEEK's editor Jon Meacham was interviewing McCain aboard the campaign plane, the discussion turned to "The Winds of War," Herman Wouk's mega-bestseller about World War II. The main character, a naval commander named Pug Henry, was a favorite of McCain's. As it turned out, Lieberman—sitting just across the aisle and listening in on the NEWSWEEK interview—was a friend of Herman Wouk. "Let's go see Herman!" Lieberman piped up. "Yes!" exclaimed McCain. The two began planning a road trip out to Wouk's California home. "We can shake the money tree," McCain cackled (Wouk lives among the wealthy in Palm Springs, Calif.). McCain loved to travel with Lieberman, a fellow maverick who had stood fast on Iraq, nearly at the cost of his Senate seat in liberal Connecticut. McCain's other traveling buddy, Lindsey Graham, urged McCain to pick Lieberman, still a nominal Democrat, as a way to show that McCain put country over party label—and as a way to answer the Democrats' choice of the first African-American presidential nominee. "We've got to match history with history," Graham declared.

But when McCain brought up Lieberman's name at a secret high-level meeting held in Sedona, Ariz., to consider veep choices on Sunday, Aug. 24, his top aides balked. They warned that McCain's support among evangelicals was already soft. Lieberman was pro-choice on abortion, and a pro-choice pick would deeply antagonize the religious right, maybe even provoke a floor fight at the convention. Pollster Bill McInturff told the group that a pro-choice running mate had the potential to cause a 20-point drop in support among McCain's core voters. A small uptick in independent voters or crossover Democrats wouldn't begin to make up the difference. It would be very difficult for McCain to heal the party in the two short months before Election Day.

Lieberman was put on ice. So was former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, another McCain favorite who was also pro-choice. On the shortlist, that left Tim Pawlenty, the governor of Minnesota; Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts; and a dark horse—the governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin. Romney made a certain sense; the country was heading into dark economic times and Romney, a former businessman, could compensate for McCain's self-professed lack of economic knowledge. But McCain viscerally disliked Romney during the primaries—and he owned too many houses (three, which meant that between them McCain and Romney would own 10). Pawlenty, the popular governor of a swing state the Republicans badly needed to win in November, was the safe choice. Salter especially liked Pawlenty's salt-of-the-earth qualities.

But McCain didn't want the safe choice. A top adviser would later recall that telling McCain that Pawlenty was "safe" was "like guaranteeing" that McCain would not pick him. Prodded by Schmidt and Rick Davis, McCain began asking about Palin, a first-term governor who had shaken up the Alaska political establishment by taking on her own party elders, who was fearless and defiant, who was … a little bit like McCain. He had called her that Sunday morning while she was attending the Alaska State Fair. It was a quick phone call, only about five minutes, and Palin had trouble hearing McCain over the noisy crowd. But McCain was intrigued. He told Salter and Schmidt to fly her down to Arizona and take a close look.


http://www.newsweek.com/id/167905/page/1

[Frisbee]

68. Thanks...

for the link to the interesting Newsweek article.

[missingthebigdog]

30. I really believe that this was intentional, and part of the plan

McCain chose Sarah Palin because the writing was on the wall. He had virtually no chance to beat Obama, and he knew that. The Palin choice gave him someone to blame when the inevitable occurred. As an added bonus, the argument can now be made that America is not ready for a female executive- the republicans put one on the ballot, and America has spoken. :eyes:

[Political_Junkie]

51. BINGO!

My thoughts exactly! This gave them a convenient scapegoat. They planned all along to throw her under the bus.

[pitohui]

57. you're going to defend a woman who thinks africa is a country?

there is no defense for this woman, none

she is in politics to steal, period

mccain is a stupid shabby man, true, but she is a stupid, shabby, greedy woman who took this opportunity to loot neiman marcus for what she could grab

there is absolutely no defense for her and it is proper to hang her out to dry for all to laugh at

[Archie_Leach]

71. No palin is REALLY dense

You can TRAIN palin to say something like:

"the economic barometer is clearly moving in a direction as expected"......

And then say someone was to ask her: "well is that direction in the negative or the postive?"

The response that you'd get from palin would be GUARANTEED along these lines: "Well negative and postive are such difficult meanings but we defintely know the direction."

Even Dan Quayle is somewhere squirming listening to genius sarah palin......

[wordpix]

78. absolutely---and McCain deserved to lose with his stupid choice

Thank goodness he lost---think of all the other bad choices he would have made as president. :crazy:

[PassingFair]

79. Blame Bill Kristol.

He was the one that wanted to *uck her.

He has been pushing her forward RELENTLESSLY.

But I agree. She had political potential...
and they brought her out before she was
anywhere NEAR ready for the job.

Although with the "gaps" in knowledge she
seems to have, her lack of intellectual
curiosity might have precluded her from
learning enough, EVER.

They got away with GWB....

[louis-t]

11. I've noticed he would barely look at her.

She IS a whack job. I always felt she thought she knew what was best.

[yellowcanine]

36. Except for her ass.

[acmavm]

15. She's disappointed (a little bit) with the media. Boy Howdy, if that

isn't a hoot.

They covered for her worthless ass back and forth six ways from Sunday. And she's disappointed?

Get the Bozette a dictionary.

[Juan_de_la_Dem]

17. Senior Reps are going to begin to tell their real feelings about SP very soon

Her ride is over.

[Mithreal]

18. So Palin would have made Bush look good, huh?

McCain's fault, my arse, it's the Republican party's fault.

She is what the base wanted, God help us.

This base will want stupid again and again, watch and see.

[GinaMaria]

20. McShame's new tactic to save face

Blame his failure on Palin. Not that she didn't contribute to the loss but he chose her.

[Blue For You]

25. Turns out she was the celebrity all along. Some words of advice

to the GOP, be careful of what you ask for, you just might get it.

[davsand]

29. They are cleaning their own house, I think.

When I see the really long knives come out post election I have always kind of seen that as a party that is clearing out the deadwood so they don't trip over it later on. Right now, the non-fundy Republicans are making sure they don't have to deal with Palin in the next couple election cycles. She was the poster child for the fundy wing of the GOP and you can be certain that the non-fundy Conservatives are gonna make sure she is toast from here on out.

In a way,what makes this all so amazing is they are throwing McCain under the bus for having picked her as a running mate--and that is ok with them because he really is such damaged goods he's no longer a factor in the party. You really ARE kinda seeing the cave men attack a dino with those Clovis Points!


:evilgrin:



Laura

[yardwork]

33. Yep yep!

The corporatists are moving to take back the Republican Party, and they're tossing both McCain and Palin out with the other trash.

[LonelyLRLiberal]

53. Me, I hope the fundies and corporatists fight until both are dead.

The Republican Party is beyond redemption.

[eilen]

74. Sarah had no problems sticking the long knives

into Republican party members in Alaska. What comes around goes around. Did she really think there would be no payback? The sad truth is she cannot be trusted. She cannot be relied upon as there is no room for loyalty if she can get something out of it. Her pick up truck is smeared with the guts of the people who have extended a friendly hand, a seat at the table in Alaskan politics. The state employees see that and are afraid to cross her. Walt Monegan wouldn't kiss her ring and do their dirty work so she fired him.

I can see her getting Ted's seat and sitting there for a very long time because Alaskans apparently like their politicians crooked as the day is long.

[last_texas_dem]

34. That's what you get for tellin' a "maverick" what to do! haha

[LiberalFighter]

37. Too bad they don't have a video of her tantrums. Then again maybe they do.

[benld74]

41. Ya know CBS, I could really CARE LESS!

[benld74]

42. Ya know CBS, I could really CARE LESS!

[Generator]

44. And this is different from Dick Cheney how?

She would have fit right in.

[VoodooGuru]

49. I eagerly await the tell-all memoir. Then the competing, contradictory tell-all memoir.

I'm not going to read them, but I'll cheerfully watch my store make money off them. :popcorn:

[LiberalLovinLug]

50. She's disappointed......awwwww

"Well, as a politician, to tell you the honest goodness truth you guys - media folks - I've come away, unfortunately, with a little bit of disappointment in the world of the media."

She's disappointed that the media actually had the gall to ask her questions like: what foreign relation experience to you have?, What is the Bush Doctrine?, Give us an example of McCain being a 'regulator' (after claiming he was), what newspapers do you read?, and What does a VP do?

How could they box her into a corner like that? Gosh darn it they are sooooo mean! :sarcasm:

[Miss Chybil]

52. She came out swinging at the media and then gave them everything they needed

to write about her for days and days and days and days because she can see Russia from her house, she called Obama a terrorist, she lied about her plane, she lied about pretty much everything, she was jealous of Joe the Plumber and she soaked the campaign and its operatives for over 150k in clothes and jewelry and now she says she's disappointed in the media? What a troll. She also says the nation should come together and work in a bipartisan way, just like she's always said!

[autorank]

56. The American people were right. They know how to spot a "mean girl."

People turned against her almost immediately after her speech.

That resulted from exposure. You can spot a fake and they did. I think this is a result
of Bush's b.s. routine in 2000. It was so obviously nonsense, yet people decided to play
along with the game.

You just watch Palin for a bit and you get all you need. Supplemented by nepotism and the
use of the "office" to settle personal claims was all the public needed to spot the truth
about here inner being;)

[Karenina]

61. Katie Couric gave her the knock out punch!

[Amerigo Vespucci]

81. And it's time for yet another "Tombstone" quote...

Palin: "Well, as a politician, to tell you the honest goodness truth you guys - media folks - I've come away, unfortunately, with a little bit of disappointment in the world of the media."

Doc Holliday: Why Ed...does this mean we're not friends anymore? You know Ed, if I thought you weren't my friend... I just don't think I could bear it!

:rofl:

[babydollhead]

83. Maybe it will be a Palin/Santorum union