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FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE UPSET WITH REPORT THAT HIS MINIONS TRASHED PALIN
When The Palmetto Scoop outed the forces behind the internal smear campaign against Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as staffers from the failed presidential bid of former Gov. Mitt Romney brought onto Sen. John McCain’s general election campaign, I expected some blowback.
After all, Romney is already trying to position himself for a 2012 run at the White House, so news that his people worked from the inside to leak privileged information about Palin, a potential rival for the GOP nomination, would be devastating.
So I’m not surprised that Romney’s aides have flat-out denied the report and told the Boston Herald that my sources have their facts wrong.
“It’s a completely absurd allegation that is totally divorced from the truth,” Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said.
Fox News, the New York Times [NYT] and Newsweek have reported on a host of criticisms of Palin, including that she threw tantrums that made staffers cry and didn’t know Africa was a continent. Several media outlets reported some of the leaks came from within the McCain campaign. But the political blog, The Palmetto Scoop, citing “very good sources,” said it was Romney loyalists working for McCain who were behind the “premeditated last minute sabotage” of Palin.
Fehrnstrom took issue with the Scoop’s claim that as much as 80 percent of Romney’s campaign staff went to work for Sen. John McCain’s team after the GOP primary. Only “a handful” of Romney operatives joined the Arizona senator’s campaign, he said.
“The truth is, there are no former Romney staffers in senior roles at the McCain campaign,” Fehrnstrom said. “I can think of a handful of people, maybe three or four, who went over, all in junior positions.” [Boston Herald]
The problem is, Fehrnstrom’s a bit off here.
My sources stand by the claim that, as I wrote Thursday, “nearly 80 percent of Romney’s former staff was absorbed by McCain.” I went back again over the weekend and they again confirmed that fact.
Further, Fehrnstrom’s argument that there “are no former Romney staffers in senior roles at the McCain campaign,” is also false.
My sources pointed out that, among others, the person responsible for writing checks for the McCain campaign was a former Romney staffer. I’d say that’s a pretty “senior” role — not that I’m implying this person was necessarily the source of the leaks.
Regardless, even a junior staffer would have access to much, if not all, of information that was leaked about Palin. So the junior/senior status is nothing but a smokescreen.
On top of that, it was Romney spokesman Kevin Madden wo, as the Herald story noted, called Palin “unseasoned” and questioned whether she should have been McCain’s pick.
“When you put out an unknown and you give them 70 days with which to go through a vetting process, both by voters and the national press corps, ugly things can tend to happen,” Madden said.
(Photo: Getty Images)
John McCain was given to us, all wrapped up like a cheap Wallmart present, by Sen Graham and that McMaster man.
We should be mad at them, not Mitt.
So, Adam, have you or your overlords picked a horse for 2012 yet?
It’s obvious enough that it won’t be Romney. This here post/trend has a definative pro-Palin angle, but that could easily be a lingering sadness from McCain being soundly defeated.
The other concern being that I don’t think you and your associates are stupid enough to go for Palin. Running on the social conservative platform on a national level has already failed hard, and it’s only going to fail harder as the years pass.
Maybe DeMint would be good to go with? He’s been looking pretty good the past few months, on things like the bailout votes and trying to get that felon Ted Stevens out of the senate.
No you won’t go with Sanford, duh.
Huckabee might be able to do well in the next set of primaries?
Though your best bet is probably to stay out of it comepletely for another two years or so; any number of things could happen in that time, and the internet makes it difficult to revise the record of your opinions if you decide to change your song.
It ain’t former Romney staffers. It’s Trey and the RQA bunch doing the nasties, breaking ground for LOG’s 2012 Presidential loss.
I suspect that everyone here would find this website interesting:
http://www.eisenstadtgroup.com/2008/11/10/eisenstadt-the-source-for-sarah-palin-africa-leak-and-proud-of-it/
This gentleman is taking responsibility for the leaks revealing the details of Palin’s ignorance.
An excerpt from his bio:
“Mr. Eisenstadt works alongside Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign, offering advice and liaising with the Jewish community in particular. Prior to that, he consulted on the Rudolph Giuliani campaign, ”
Thus, your attempt to pin the blame on former Romney staff members is dismissed as false speculation.
Though your source probably is correct about some Romney workers being absorbed by the top level of the McCain effort, just being present doesn’t implicate their guilt as you seem to think it does.
Here’s what Governor Palin had to say:
“If they’re an unnamed source, that says it all. I won’t comment on anyone’s gossip based on anonymous sources.”
Perhaps you should take that to heart when attacking an unnamed source with another unnamed source. Why should I believe your secret source over the secret source of Fox News and Newsweek?
For the record, there’s plenty more speculation on who leaked the information. Here’s Redstate’s guess: http://www.redstate.com/diaries/erick/2008/nov/05/operation-leper/
Are you insane?
There were 300 people who worked on Romney’s campaign as full time employees. If 80% of them went to work for McCain, that means McCain hired 240 of them.
The guy who processed payroll checks is a “senior aide”???? I can tell you’ve never worked on a campaign.
Plus, Madden is not a McCain aide. The source of the leaks on Sarah Palin are McCain aides. If you want Republicans who were uneasy about the choice of Sarah Palin, there are plenty of people who expressed that view openly – Colin Powell, Ken Adelman, Lawrence Eagleburger, Peggy Noonan, Kathleen Parker, David Brooks, Larry Pressler, Chuck Hagel, Charles Krauthammer and on and on and on.
It’s hard to believe that a legit newspaper would cite your blog, given that you are a paid employee of Richard Quinn & Associates. Conflict of interest? Bueller? Bueller?
This blog is a joke. “My sources…” how funny. No names, no credibility, no nothing. Just unsubstantiated slime…..and a paycheck from McCain surrogates.
As the truth unfolds, it becomes more apparent that the unnamed sources will remain in the ugly shadows of their lies. Kind of hurts the credibility of the blogger though when the truth finally is uncovered.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=6250151&page=1
So quick you were to spread a falsehood and get this out that you too became an unwitting dupe to a con job on political pundits. As the great W.C. Fields so aptly stated, you can’t cheat an honest man. Somewhere I recall reading something about baring false wittness …… Now where was that and where is you retraction and apology to those you sinned against???