Nov 06 2008
Sarah Palin – The Ultimate Political Diva? McCain Campaign Advisors Think So
Now that the election is over, many fingers are being pointed in the Republican party as to why John McCain did not win the presidency. The stories have started to surface about possible strife within the McCain/Palin campaign.
We’ve all heard the stories about Palin’s $150,000 wardrobe, but how that wardrobe was purchased sheds additional light on the incident and Palin herself. As reported in the NY Times:
On Wednesday, two top McCain campaign advisers said that the clothing purchases for Ms. Palin and her family were a particular source of outrage for them. As they portrayed it, Ms. Palin had been advised by Nicolle Wallace, a senior McCain aide, that she should buy three new suits for the Republican National Convention in St. Paul in September and three additional suits for the fall campaign. The budget for the clothes was anticipated to be from $20,000 to $25,000, the officials said.
Instead, in a public relations debacle undermining Ms. Palin’s image as an everywoman “hockey mom,” bills came in to the Republican National Committee for about $150,000, including charges of $75,062 at Neiman Marcus and $49,425 at Saks Fifth Avenue. The bills included clothing for Ms. Palin’s family and purchases of shoes, luggage and jewelry, the advisers said.
Sorry, but this sounds like an episode of the Beverly Hillbillies. “Todd, get out of that cement-pond and load-up the truck. We got us a blank check and we gona shop in the big city! Gona get me some luggage and clothes for the young’uns.”
But wait, there’s more.
Fox News reported Wednesday that Palin’s lack of knowledge on some topics also strained relations. Carl Cameron reported that campaign sources told him Palin had resisted coaching before her faltering Katie Couric interviews; did not understand that Africa was a continent rather than a country; and could not name the three nations that are part of the North American Free Trade Agreement — the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Africa as a country? Ouch. If you missed the Palin/Katie Couric interview (because they didn’t have electricity in your cave), here is a taste.
It hurts just watching that again. I still can’t make any sense out of those incoherent ramblings. Clearly, she could have benefited from some serious preparation from staffers who knew what they were talking about. After all, this does appear to be her first rodeo. Perhaps the staffers were distracted:
The disclosures are made in “How He Did It, 2008″, in Newsweek’s Special Election Project, a behind-the-scenes account of the presidential election produced the day after the polls closed.
The magazine also claims that at the GOP convention in St. Paul, when aides Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter went to her hotel room to brief her, Ms Palin walked into the room wearing only a towel, with another on her wet hair. She told them to chat to Todd, adding: “I’ll be just a minute.”
This story just gets better and better. What is really freighting is she appears to be the best candidate the Republicans have to offer in 2012. Clearly, this is the time for some serious change.
