Palin goes rogue-y; Obama only one to say "No nukes"?
Ohh, I don't know how much more my blood pressure can take of the presidential election coverage.
First, a couple of stories on Tina Fey's alter ego, Sarah Palin. First one was posted on Politico.com this past Saturday, 25 October ("Palin allies report rising camp tension" by Ben Smith):
"Even as John McCain and Sarah Palin scramble to close the gap in the final days of the 2008 election, stirrings of a Palin insurgency are complicating the campaign's already-tense internal dynamics.
"Four Republicans close to Palin said she has decided increasingly to disregard the advice of the former Bush aides tasked to handle her, creating occasionally tense situations as she travels the country with them. Those Palin supporters, inside the campaign and out, said Palin blames her handlers for a botched rollout and a tarnished public image - even as others in McCain's camp blame the pick of the relatively inexperienced Alaska governor, and her public performance, for McCain's decline.
"'She's lost confidence in most of the people on the plane,' said a senior Republican who speaks to Palin, referring to her campaign jet. He said Palin had begun to 'go rogue' in some of her public pronouncements and decisions.
"'I think she'd like to go more rogue,' he said.
"The emergence of a Palin faction comes as Republicans gird for a battle over the future of their party: Some see her as a charismatic, hawkish conservative leader with the potential, still unrealized, to cross over to attract moderate voters. Anger among Republicans who see Palin as a star and as a potential future leader has boiled over because, they say, they see other senior McCain aides preparing to blame her in the event he is defeated.
....
"Palin's 'instincts,' on display in recent days, have had her opening up to the media, including a round of interviews on talk radio, cable and broadcast outlets, as well as chats with her traveling press and local reporters.
"Reporters really began to notice the change last Sunday, when Palin strolled over to a local television crew in Colorado Springs.
"'Get Tracey,' a staffer called out, according to The New York Times, summoning spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt, who reportedly 'tried several times to cut it off with a terse "Thank you!" in between questions, to no avail.' The moment may have caused ulcers in some precincts of the McCain campaign, but it was an account Palin's admirers in Washington cheered.
...
"If McCain loses, Palin's allies say that the national Republican Party hasn't seen the last of her. Politicians are sometimes formed by a signal defeat - as Bill Clinton was when he was tossed out of the Arkansas governor's mansion after his first term - and Palin would return to a state that had made her America's most popular governor and where her image as a reformer who swept aside her own party's insiders rings true, if not in the cartoon version the McCain campaign presented."
CNN's Politics.com posted a story yesterday (Sunday, 26 October) citing the above-quoted Politico story, with the following additional poop:
"Several McCain advisers have suggested to CNN that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin 'going rogue.'
"A Palin associate, however, said the candidate is simply trying to 'bust free' of what she believes was a damaging and mismanaged roll-out.
"McCain sources say Palin has gone off-message several times, and they privately wonder whether the incidents were deliberate. They cited an instance in which she labeled robocalls -- recorded messages often used to attack a candidate's opponent -- 'irritating' even as the campaign defended their use. Also, they pointed to her telling reporters she disagreed with the campaign's decision to pull out of Michigan.
"A second McCain source says she appears to be looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign.
"'She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone,' said this McCain adviser. 'She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else.
"'Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom.'
....
"'Her lack of fundamental understanding of some key issues was dramatic,' said another McCain source with direct knowledge of the process to prepare Palin after she was picked. The source said it was probably the 'hardest' to get her 'up to speed than any candidate in history.'
....
"Yet another senior McCain adviser lamented the public recriminations.
"'This is what happens with a campaign that's behind; it brings out the worst in people, finger-pointing and scapegoating,' this senior adviser said.
"This adviser also decried the double standard, noting that Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama's running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, has gone off the reservation as well, most recently by telling donors at a fundraiser that America's enemies will try to 'test' Obama."
Speaking of Biden's off the cuff/off the res remarks of Sunday, 19 October, Bill Whittle has an interesting post on National Review Online (NRO) from last Saturday, 25 October. (Summary: Among various discomfiting possibilities -- reinstatement of the draft, anyone? -- Whittle points to a video of Obama declaring that he would unilaterally draw down U.S. nuclear forces.)
Personally I can't see how a McCain/Palin administration can not reinstate the draft, particularly if they're serious about using U.S. forces even more aggressively than Bush/Cheney have; but that's not something that the National Review/Weekly Standard crowd would raise too many objections to, coming from a Republican White House, anyway....
First, a couple of stories on Tina Fey's alter ego, Sarah Palin. First one was posted on Politico.com this past Saturday, 25 October ("Palin allies report rising camp tension" by Ben Smith):
"Even as John McCain and Sarah Palin scramble to close the gap in the final days of the 2008 election, stirrings of a Palin insurgency are complicating the campaign's already-tense internal dynamics.
"Four Republicans close to Palin said she has decided increasingly to disregard the advice of the former Bush aides tasked to handle her, creating occasionally tense situations as she travels the country with them. Those Palin supporters, inside the campaign and out, said Palin blames her handlers for a botched rollout and a tarnished public image - even as others in McCain's camp blame the pick of the relatively inexperienced Alaska governor, and her public performance, for McCain's decline.
"'She's lost confidence in most of the people on the plane,' said a senior Republican who speaks to Palin, referring to her campaign jet. He said Palin had begun to 'go rogue' in some of her public pronouncements and decisions.
"'I think she'd like to go more rogue,' he said.
"The emergence of a Palin faction comes as Republicans gird for a battle over the future of their party: Some see her as a charismatic, hawkish conservative leader with the potential, still unrealized, to cross over to attract moderate voters. Anger among Republicans who see Palin as a star and as a potential future leader has boiled over because, they say, they see other senior McCain aides preparing to blame her in the event he is defeated.
....
"Palin's 'instincts,' on display in recent days, have had her opening up to the media, including a round of interviews on talk radio, cable and broadcast outlets, as well as chats with her traveling press and local reporters.
"Reporters really began to notice the change last Sunday, when Palin strolled over to a local television crew in Colorado Springs.
"'Get Tracey,' a staffer called out, according to The New York Times, summoning spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt, who reportedly 'tried several times to cut it off with a terse "Thank you!" in between questions, to no avail.' The moment may have caused ulcers in some precincts of the McCain campaign, but it was an account Palin's admirers in Washington cheered.
...
"If McCain loses, Palin's allies say that the national Republican Party hasn't seen the last of her. Politicians are sometimes formed by a signal defeat - as Bill Clinton was when he was tossed out of the Arkansas governor's mansion after his first term - and Palin would return to a state that had made her America's most popular governor and where her image as a reformer who swept aside her own party's insiders rings true, if not in the cartoon version the McCain campaign presented."
CNN's Politics.com posted a story yesterday (Sunday, 26 October) citing the above-quoted Politico story, with the following additional poop:
"Several McCain advisers have suggested to CNN that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin 'going rogue.'
"A Palin associate, however, said the candidate is simply trying to 'bust free' of what she believes was a damaging and mismanaged roll-out.
"McCain sources say Palin has gone off-message several times, and they privately wonder whether the incidents were deliberate. They cited an instance in which she labeled robocalls -- recorded messages often used to attack a candidate's opponent -- 'irritating' even as the campaign defended their use. Also, they pointed to her telling reporters she disagreed with the campaign's decision to pull out of Michigan.
"A second McCain source says she appears to be looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign.
"'She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone,' said this McCain adviser. 'She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else.
"'Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom.'
....
"'Her lack of fundamental understanding of some key issues was dramatic,' said another McCain source with direct knowledge of the process to prepare Palin after she was picked. The source said it was probably the 'hardest' to get her 'up to speed than any candidate in history.'
....
"Yet another senior McCain adviser lamented the public recriminations.
"'This is what happens with a campaign that's behind; it brings out the worst in people, finger-pointing and scapegoating,' this senior adviser said.
"This adviser also decried the double standard, noting that Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama's running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, has gone off the reservation as well, most recently by telling donors at a fundraiser that America's enemies will try to 'test' Obama."
Speaking of Biden's off the cuff/off the res remarks of Sunday, 19 October, Bill Whittle has an interesting post on National Review Online (NRO) from last Saturday, 25 October. (Summary: Among various discomfiting possibilities -- reinstatement of the draft, anyone? -- Whittle points to a video of Obama declaring that he would unilaterally draw down U.S. nuclear forces.)
Personally I can't see how a McCain/Palin administration can not reinstate the draft, particularly if they're serious about using U.S. forces even more aggressively than Bush/Cheney have; but that's not something that the National Review/Weekly Standard crowd would raise too many objections to, coming from a Republican White House, anyway....