Loyalists to Palin…were outraged at Purdum’s piece,believing it to be another example of what they see as elite mediacontempt for the Wasilla native.
A hard-hitting piece on Sarah Palin in the new Vanity Fairhas touched off a blistering exchange of insults among high-profileRepublicans over last year’s GOP ticket – tearing open fresh woundsabout leaks surrounding Palin and revealing for the first time some of the internal wars that paralyzed the campaign in its final days.
Rivalfactions close to the McCain campaign have been feuding since last fallover Palin, usually waging the battle in the shadows with anonymousquotes. Now, however, some of the most well-known names in Republicanpolitics are going on-the-record with personal attacks andblame-casting.
William Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard and at times an informal adviser to Sen. John McCain, touched off the latest back-and-forth Tuesday morning with a post on his magazine’s blog criticizing the Todd Purdum-authored Palin story and pointing a finger at Steve Schmidt, McCain’s campaign manager.
Kristolcited a passage in Purdum’s piece in which “some top aides” were saidto worry about the Alaska governor’s “mental state” and the prospectthat the Alaska governor may be suffering from post-partum depressionfollowing the birth of her son Trig. “In fact, one aide who raised thispossibility in the course of trashing Palin’s mental state to others inthe McCain-Palin campaign was Steve Schmidt,” Kristol wrote.
A reader comments:
Gentlemen, Ms. Palin must be encouraged to run the next Republican campaign in SPITE of her party’s lack of support. Ron Paul has not had the charisma — maybe a Palin/Paul (Paul as VP) ticket? Can you imagine?
She has more emotive appeal than Ross Perot ever did, however you feel about him, arguably the most viable third-party candidate of our time. This momentum needs to be built NOW! Please write and encourage her and Mr. Paul, and write articles about the possibilities!
z