Palin Fights Back Against Smears
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, History, Palin, Partisan Hacks
As many of you know, I was a pretty strong critic of Sarah Palin during the campaign given my opinion of her unreadiness for the VP spot, but now I find myself defending the veracity of her intellect.
All I can say is that the pursuit of truth and fairness can sometimes make strange bedfellows.
So then, if you haven’t heard the smears against Palin yet, you can check them out here. I think it’s truly unbelievable stuff, but that doesn’t seem to be stopping some high level McCain aides from making the claims.
First, from the NY Times…
ANCHORAGE — Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska fired back Friday at the unnamed McCain campaign aides who have been maligning her in recent days, saying that their criticism was “cruel and it’s mean-spirited, it’s immature, it’s unprofessional, and those guys are jerks.â€The McCain campaign aides complained about the $150,000 that the Republican National Committee had spent on Ms. Palin’s clothes, the way a Canadian comedian was able to embarrass the campaign by calling her and pretending to be the president of France, and the political ambitions she seemed to harbor beyond 2008.
By the end of the week, their complaints had escalated considerably, with Fox News quoting unnamed McCain campaign officials as saying that Ms. Palin had not known that Africa was a continent, not a country, and claiming that she did not know which countries were covered by the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Ms. Palin told reporters in Alaska that the anonymous criticism was “cowardly,†and that she had discussed the campaign’s position on Nafta at her debate prep sessions. “I remember having a discussion with a couple of debate preppers,†she said. “So if it came from one of those debate preppers, you know, that’s curious. But having a discussion about Nafta — not, ‘Oh my goodness, I don’t know who is a part of Nafta.’ â€
So then, let’s separate the fair from the unfair.
First, the fair…
The clothing situation seems like it could be an objective, provable situation given the RNC’s financial reporting. In other words, this will eventually be revealed by the records. That’s why I think this could be true and could ultimately come back to bite Palin in the ass.
Also, do I buy that Palin didn’t tell the campaign about the prank phone call? Sure. It was embarrassing and I can imagine her wanting it to just go away.
Then, the unfair…
When it comes to ignorance about Africa and Nafta, I think that’s nonsense. Listen, this woman is a Governor, and I can’t buy that her knowledge is so limited. Maybe that makes me naive, but I’m willing to take the chance.
Understandably, she has been completely broadsided by these attacks. After all, who could possibly anticipate that they’d be accused of something as ridiculous as not knowing that Africa is a continent? And while it’s a valid that Palin’s frequent missteps during key interviews lend some small amount of credibility to these charges, I simply don’t buy them.
In the end…
What’s ironic, and what these anonymous aides couldn’t possibly predict, is that these attacks could bolster her credibility as an outsider. Especially since the attacks seem to be so blatantly self-serving for those involved.
Not only that, the right-wing blogosphere is coming out in full force against the attacks and are threatening to try and banish those who are revealed as the leakers. That doesn’t mean it’ll work, but I can’t imagine that the folks who spread these rumors were anticipating such an intense backlash.
And so continues the short, strange political life of Sarah Palin. Perhaps she’ll run in 2012, but if I were her I’d want to stay far away from this maddening crowd as possible.
Well, at least until 2020.
This entry was posted on Saturday, November 8th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, History, Palin, Partisan Hacks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
November 8th, 2008 at 10:23 am
On the whole NAFTA thing, I would really love to know whether Palin a) didn’t know that Canada and Mexico were in NAFTA with the US, or b) was simply unsure whether any other countries might be in NAFTA as well. The former would reflect massive ignorance; the latter would merely indicate that she was unsure on what would be minor details.
I suspect that, of the smears that actually have any basis, many of them will turn out to be careful cherry-picking of factoids out of context. And most of them will turn out to be complete fabrications. And I say all this as someone who considered her selection a significant reason to vote against McCain.
November 8th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Sarah Palin is a force to be reckoned with. She is what will help the Republicans if they wish to be part of mainstream. Of course they attacked her on every front. She was a serious threat.
To counteract all the negativism, has anyone bothered to ask about how much the obama’s pay for their clothes? Obama does not know how many States there are? Biden: A little confused on branches of Gov’t. How about the $460 tab for room service by Mrs Obama at the waldorf Astoria. The list goes on and on. But we cannot touch them. The media protects and dismisses all negativism against them based on their sensitivity to public scrutiny??
November 8th, 2008 at 10:51 am
I just wrote about this on my own blog. Personally I don’t care anymore about how much she spent on clothing or whether she greeted McCain aides in a towel. We should let her return to Alaska in peace and cross our fingers she doesn’t run in 2012.
November 8th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
On the Africa and NAFTA thing: did you hear the prank interview? She believed “Sarkozy” when he said he could see Belgium from his house. She didn’t know the name of Canada’s prime minister. Even if you argue that France and Belgium are unimportant countries, surely she should know something about Canada — after all, you can only see one island of Russia from one island of Alaska, but Alaska and Canada share a rather long border.
So her ignorance of what “Africa” is may be surprising but not any more surprising than what she has already displayed.
November 8th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Ms. Palin said. “Those were taken out of context and that’s cruel and it’s mean-spirited, it’s immature, it’s unprofessional, and those guys are jerks, if they came away with it taking things out of context and then tried to spread something on national news. It is not fair and not right.”
Does anyone else see the hypocrisy here?
Am I alone in thinking she does not know who is in NAFTA, she does not know Africa is not a country and she has no clue how ironic what she just said is.
November 8th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
There isn’t much strategic merit in these smears, whether true or false.
The people who don’t support Palin long ago pegged her for a dummy and don’t need further proof of this.
The people supporting Palin because she’s a) “just like me,” b) a righteous Christian warrior on a mission or c) a hot conservative babe aren’t going to care whether or not she knows anything about geography, politics, history, economics, grammar, current events, legislation, civics or other such niceties. Nor are they going to be anything but titillated by the towel rumor.
Again, the dominatrix boots and red leather jacket she wore in public already told the same story irrefutably.
I see only two reasons why the McCain camp are launching these smears. The first possibility is that they’re trying to drum up sympathy for her. Even Hard-as-Nails Hillary scored points when it looked like the Big Boys were picking on her, so this would work even better for Palin, who, in addition to being a scorned woman, will also be perceived as a persecuted Christian and shunned “outsider.†Millionaire McCain, an old man with dubious Christian credentials, casts himself as the perfect villain if this is his intention.
The other is that Palin is deeply disliked by her staffers, who recognize that in this, the internet age, rumors that previously would have been ignored or buried by the media can gain serious traction and really hurt someone. If the someone it’s hurting is a self-important, verbally abusive and stupid person whose lack of qualifications for high office is even more apparent to those behind the scenes, then why not trash her?
Admittedly, this is mostly a gut-level assessment based on the first time I saw this woman speak and she set off all of my “mean girl” alarms (I attended a private girls’ school for six years, nuff said).
But also, notice her interesting quote: “So if it came from one of those debate preppers, you know, that’s curious.†Subtext: “I know you &#!$ debate preppers are behind this and I’m going to get you treacherous elitist SOB’s!â€
Notice also how none of the staffers are coming forward in person to deny the rumors and furthermore inform everyone that Palin comported herself with grace under pressure and an appreciation of the people serving her.
So the story’s not really the smears, it’s the reason they’re circulating, and how long they’re allowed to live before someone from the McCain camp lays them to rest.
November 8th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Nah, she really is that dumb.
And she’s done for. The wingnuts will tout her for a while but four years from now they are going to want to get back a little real power. They won’t go with so tarnished a brand. This is just huffing and puffing on their part. Down deep they know she’s a loser.
The only way we hear from her four years from now is if the GOP is still deep in the middle of their civil war.
November 8th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
The “But she’s not THAT dumb” defense doesn’t work in view of some of the genuinely dumb things she has said.
Sorry. But not very.
November 8th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
The McCain Staff is in cya mode for losing the election. They are using Mrs. Palin as a scape goat. She is a serious threat to the Washington insider, champaign drinking, moderates. A real conservative and she will live to fight another day (2 years from now) when the real conservatives rise and sweep the house and senate after the Barack debacle.
November 8th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Given she couldn’t even name a newspaper, and in light of all the other borderline retard behaviour and statements, I think on the balance of probability all the negative stuff is true. I think you overestimate the skill and knowledge necessary to become an elected official.
November 9th, 2008 at 1:12 am
If Palin runs for President in 2012, at least she has name recognition going for her… but that may not work in her favor
November 9th, 2008 at 8:05 am
lol dontcha just hate them darn washington insider champaign drankin’ moderates! They really ruffle some feathers! *cough*
I have to agree with the mean girl theory Bambi. She reminds me of every mean-spirited $#@!% you would see in the crappy movies about highschool. The kind of person that was spoiled and grew up being popular and wanted to tear apart anyone who disagreed with or challenged her. The whole beauty queen thing just reinforces it too..
Now that shes been rejected by the american electorate, in her latest interview there is a special quality in the tone of her voice. Sort of like in the end of those crappy teen movies when the ugly girl gets revenge on the &$#%! and makes her cry.
I felt kind of bad for McCain after seeing his concession speech.. but i dont feel the least bit of sympathy for her after all those horrible speeches she made.. Karma baby!
November 9th, 2008 at 10:04 am
on2u: That’s because those issues have actually been addressed by all the factcheckers and they’re (mostly) false. Seriously. Stop trusting chain emails.
November 9th, 2008 at 11:33 am
They have no idea who is actually saying these things it is all secret!! And I think for the media to do these stories Fox, MSNBC, CNN is an outrage.. how can you confirm or rebutt the facts if the person is cowardly and not standing up for all the stuff they are putting out there!! Where is it coming from.. I doubt these stories and I think the media SHOULDN’T do them unless they have some papertrails to back up this garbage!