So is mine. I think they are getting what they deserve. It's been a long time coming.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Sal Sunshine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Palin in spotlight as Republicans turn on each other > Right tears itself apart in pinning blame for McCain's defeat > Oliver Burkeman in Washington > guardian.co.uk, Saturday November 8 2008 00.01 GMT > The Guardian, Saturday November 8 2008 > larger | smaller > As the implosion of the defeated Republican campaign continued > yesterday, the landscape of American conservatism was dotted with > signs that these were very strange times indeed. > > Rush Limbaugh, behemoth of rightwing radio, took to the airwaves to > declare war on two enemies: Barack Obama and the Republican party. > Bloggers at FreeRepublic.com, an internet hub for conservatives, > announced a boycott of Fox News and John McCain's aides fell over one > another to leak embarrassing details about the campaign to the press. > > Liberals, indulging in what the writer Andrew Sullivan termed > "Palinfreude", were presented with a smorgasbord, ranging from the > tale of how McCain's pro-Palin foreign policy adviser had his > Blackberry confiscated in the closing days of the race, to how the > party had paid for Todd Palin's silk boxer shorts. > > The fighting consuming the McCain and Palin camps threatened to derail > broader efforts to overhaul the Republican party after Tuesday's > decisive defeat, for which some insiders blamed Sarah Palin. Veterans > of the right gathered in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, on Thursday > for a summit on the movement's future, but even as they did so, the > blame went on. > > "Ladies and gentlemen, it is worse than I thought," Limbaugh told > listeners. "What the Republican party, led by disgruntled and failed > McCain staffers, is trying to do to Sarah Palin, is unconscionable ... > There are country-club, blue-blood ... Republicans who want nothing to > do with a firebrand conservative [who] can fire up people." He added: > "We're going to be taking on two things here [over] the next four > years: Obama, and our own party establishment." > > John Fund, a Wall Street Journal columnist, said he had received > multiple calls from campaign aides wanting "to use me as a conduit for > their complaints". > > "Some on the McCain campaign staff seem more eager than most to settle > scores," he noted. > > The main ammunition in the war was a lengthening list of allegations > against Palin: that she thought Africa was a country; that she failed > to inform the campaign about a scheduled call with Nicolas Sarkozy > which turned out to be a prank; that she refused to undergo coaching > prior to her disastrous interviews with CBS anchor Katie Couric; that > she couldn't name the three countries in the North America Free Trade > Agreement; and that the party had spent up to $70,000 (£45,000) on > "wardrobe items" for Palin and "luxury goods" for her husband, in > addition to the $150,000 already reported. (Some of the claims were > revealed by Fox, hence the boycott.) > > The New York Times reported that when Palin met McCain in Phoenix on > Tuesday night, she held the text of a speech she planned to deliver, > in defiance of campaign convention, and had to be overruled. > > The attacks are partly ideological: some blame Palin and her social- > conservative supporters for blunting McCain's appeal to independents, > while others believe Palin could be the populist, hawkish figurehead > of a revitalised Republican future. > > But there is plenty of self-interest at stake. "This blame game is the > consultants - the people who make their living running campaigns and > don't want to be blamed, because they need another job," said Al > Regnery, publisher of the American Spectator, and former president of > Regnery Publishing, the company behind many recent rightwing > bestsellers. > > At Thursday's summit, he said, "there was a lot of discussion about > these people, who always seem to come back, whether they win or lose, > and get paid a lot of money. We said we thought our side would be much > better off without them." > > The sniping at Palin has provoked a backlash. One influential website, > > RedState.com, announced Operation Leper, designed to blacklist > campaign staffers believed to be responsible. "We intend to constantly > remind the base about these people, monitor who they are working for, > and, when 2012 rolls around, see which candidates hire them," it > explained. > > There was speculation that the culprits may be former aides to Mitt > Romney, positioning their hero for a future presidential run. > > The collapse of the McCain-Palin alliance began long before election > day, Steve Schmidt, a senior McCain adviser, speaking to reporters on > the candidate's plane, was making little effort to hide his disdain > for Palin. Asked if her presence on the ticket had been a > disadvantage, he twice refused to answer. > > Randy Scheunemann, McCain's foreign policy chief, this week denied > reports that he had been fired in the final stage of the campaign for > siding with Palin and leaking "poison" on McCain to the pro-Palin > columnist William Kristol. But even one of his allies, Michael > Goldfarb, told reporters that Scheunemann's Blackberry had been > confiscated in the days before the election. > > Kristol, who in one column advised McCain to "fire" his campaign, > scoffed at reports that he had advised Palin. "I'm afraid it shows how > paranoid some of these McCain aides have gotten - they should take a > good rest after a tough campaign," he told Fox. > > He had met Palin once in his life, he continued, and interviewed her > once by phone. "You know why this is really disgusting and > disgraceful?" he said. "It's disloyal to John McCain. Who selected > Sarah Palin? John McCain. Who defended Sarah Palin for the last three > months? John McCain." > > Returning to Alaska, Palin dismissed the criticisms, attributing them > to "a small, bitter type of person". Instead, she has emphasised > perhaps the only thing that still unites her and her supporters with > McCain loyalists: hostility towards the media. > > She had "a little bit of disappointment in my heart about the world of > journalism today", she said, while McCain's closest aide, Mark Salter, > told Politico: "Maybe if the media had been fair, we still would have > lost. But there were two different standards of scrutiny for us and > Obama." > > Palin offered to help reporters confront their problems. "I want > to ... help restore some credibility there," she said. > > guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2008 >
