A lone Republican leader defends Sarah Palin while McCain is mum

Yes, it's shocking, we know here at the Ticket. But there is at least one prominent Republican sticking up for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Go figure. Her presidential running mate sure isn't.

The 44-year-old working mom singlehandedly energized the party's base with an electrifying speech and refreshing personality at the Republican National Convention and after.

Between her selection Aug. 29 and the Nov. 4 election, Palin did 132 political events in 105 cities in 25 states. That's not exactly dogging it.

And who's heard any leaks from Palin's camp about the awful mishandling of her media rollout in September?

But in the, what-is-it-now, four days since American voters decisively opted for the younger guy from Illinois, one or two of John McCain's brave aides have been anonymously leaking uncorroborated charges about Palin's personality, knowledge, spending habits, etc., which the media gobbles up, in an apparent attempt to pin the defeat on the female half of the GOP ticket.

Good luck with that. Anyone who saw McCain and Palin work together, saw as the partisan crowds chanted her name during his speech.

Back home in her Anchorage governor's office, Palin defends herself, as The Times' Seema Mehta and Maeve Reston describe in an article this morning.

This issue isn't going away immediately. Love her or leave....

...her, win or lose, the media knows there's a voracious public hunger for almost anything about the Alaska hockey mom still. Especially in the complete absence of any other viable Republican Party leaders.

Palin will spend a chunk of this weekend talking to Fox News' Greta Van Susteren for a long broadcast interview Monday evening. And Tuesday night, Veterans Day, McCain will chat with Jay Leno on NBC.

Now, amid the deafening silence of other prominent GOP leaders, including Mike Duncan, the party's alleged national chair, at least the state chair of the South Carolina Republican Party is speaking out. Katon Dawson issued a statement Friday bemoaning the anonymous attacks:

"The disappointment felt by many Republicans following Tuesday’s election is certainly understandable. However, the attacks on Gov. Sarah Palin made by a disgruntled handful of political insiders are unacceptable. Their claims, made under the veil of anonymity, can never be verified and only serve as fodder for our opposition.

"The media has already demonstrated its propensity to discredit Gov. Palin, and the Democrats are undoubtedly rejoicing at the sight of this Republican cannibalism. 

"Now is the time for our Party to unite –- not behind any one individual, but behind our time-tested principles of limited government, opportunity for working Americans, traditional values, and individual responsibility.

"I respectfully ask my fellow Republicans to join me in condemning these divisive attacks so that we can focus on the task at hand -– moving forward as a Party and moving forward as a nation.”

While most attention is naturally focused on the presidential winner, let's see if any other Republican leaders speak out from one of their vacation homes.

Leno is no Tom Brokaw, but he might ask the Arizona senator, about the intramural post-game defamation of the running mate he himself so enthusiastically chose out of the blue.

Why can't McCain even seem to control a couple members of his own Apple Dumpling Gang?

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photos: Associated Press

Comments

[Bob]

I see there is no more on the investigation of Obama's Campaign Funding, Where is the reporting on that,, Hmmmm 2.5 million people donated to his campaign for a total of 5 to 600,000,000.00 do the math.

[Rollo]

John McCain continues to live up to his reputation. He is a professional loser who takes more pride in protecting his opponents so he can feel "Saintly" I have seen great praise for his speach as he conceded to Obama, "his president". McCain had been rehearsing this speach since the day he was chosen as the Replican candidate. This is why he seemed to miss every opportunity to advance his candidacy. Notice how quickly he trashed the North Carolina Republicans for their legitimate ads depicting Rev Wright and his relationship with Obama. Within 15 minutes he was condemming the ads and defending Obama. Contrast this to his total lack of support for his running mate, who he chose and who supported his campaign to an extent that he would not. Has anone heard him condemn the "leakers" or the press for spreading unsubstiated rumors? He prides himself a "Maverick" . Politically, I think John is a self serving Judas, who has a chip on his shoulder, is a contrarian who needs attention and reacts to pent up anger. Had he been all about Country and, as he professes and Republican, he would not have accepted the nomination. This said I must state that I respect his sacrifice in Vietnam, but that is all.

[AndrewO]

Palin... McCain... the election is over, so let's keep our eye on the ball: WHERE'S THE 2003 OBAMA VIDEO AND WHEN IS THE LA TIMES GOING TO GIVE US A FULL TRANSCRIPT? Surely the elected ONE has not done anything that would question his landslide victory!

[jason]

People may defend Palin, but I think she ended up hurting McCain's bid for office. She comes across as ignorant and unqualified to people who aren't hardcore republicans. She was well received at the Convention, but in the end she became a liability to the campaign of a great national hero.

[jason]

People may defend Palin, but I think she ended up hurting McCain's bid for office. She comes across as ignorant and unqualified to people who aren't hardcore republicans. She was well received at the Convention, but in the end she became a liability to the campaign of a great national hero.

[Tim]

First, you are right Mia, we did get the president we deserve. Too bad we have had to suffer for the past 8 years with a president

McCain lost not only because he had a poorly run campaign, but he deviated from what he has done in past elections when running for senator. Instead of running a campaign on what he will do and what he has done, he ran a negative campaign, knocking Obama every single chance he got with false alligations. His first presidential type decision was picking Palin. If he makes choices like that, how can he be trusted with running the country?

McCain screwed McCain....time for the media and everyone else to realize that!

[ginger]

The media is just self feeding. We are NOT interested, as a public, in Sarah Palin anymore. Please stop trying to tell us that we are.

(And yet, hmmm, here you are reading yet another article about Sarah Palin and taking the time to leave a comment, like thousands of other readers and scores of commenters today.)

[Drew Illinois]

This kind of stuff usually happens after a losing presidential campaign anyway. No doubt McCain will show his support on his first public interview with Leno, however where this is smoke there is fire. Yes people love Palin, but you cannot deny her ridiculously high negatives by the end of the campaign. The failure of the McCain campaign is that for all their talk about being "Mavericks" neither McCain or Palin portrayed he personalities that got them the respect they had prior. When you act of character people can tell and it cost them the election (just look at Palin's approval level in Alaska Now) The republican party just needs to leave all the Rove tacticts behind and let their candidates be themselves but that's just my oppinion and i'm a democrat for the record.

[Santa Fean]

Palin was not qualified to be V.P. let alone President of the United States. So....is it any wonder that she was vetted in the public eye? With the new media firmly in place we no longer have to trust one or two news sources and that is one of the reasons we learned so quickly how unqualified Palin was. She was Bush with lipstick, incurious, dogmatic and ignorant. Thank you to the modern media for exposing Palin for what she is.

[Taylor]

If you have to go all the way down the Republican ranks to Katon Dawson - one state party chief out of fifty- before you can find an example of a "lone Republican Leader" willing to stick up for Palin, then you're digging pretty deep. Going after the anonymous "cowards" from the McCain campaign who spoke up about about Palin's conduct as VP candidate is merely another case of attacking the messenger we see far too often from the right when they've got nothing else to go on. Let's not forget the folks like Colin Powell and Chris Buckley who came out on the record and jumped ship in no small part due to McCain's choice of Palin as a running mate. Powell and Buckley came to their decisions based on far more substantive reasons than Palin simply not following the orders of her boss' campaign. But think about it, if Palin so completely refused to follow the orders of the man who would be her boss in the White House, actually WAS her boss, in fact, then how could she ever be trusted to follow the American people's wishes and not her own were she to assume the Presidency one day?

[KS2 Problema]

Let me get this straight.

The head of the South Carolina Republican Party is upset about cowardly. anonymous political attacks based on what he says are unverifiable allegations?

THAT is precisely the sort of attack the South Carolina GOP has mired its reputation in over many years, repeatedly waging rumor and innuendo campaigns against Democrats and even Republicans considered "too liberal" by the Dixiecrat-tainted standards of the state party.

[ross]

McCain, the self-identified hero, again demonstrates that he is in fact a man of little character. He makes no attempt to defend his running mate. Instead he throws her under the bus. Thankfully, he didn't make it into the White House

[Kelly]

"This issue isn't going away immediately. Love her or leave.......her, win or lose, the media knows there's a voracious public hunger for almost anything about the Alaska hockey mom still. Especially in the complete absence of any other viable Republican Party leaders."

Good grief. So the writer believes that the best the GOP has to offer in terms of "leadership" is the uninformed, divisive, anti-science, lying, abusing of power, overspending, overreaching Palin. How shameful.

One wonders why she would be considered a viable GOP leader over someone like Bobby Jindal who is a Rhodes Scholar and has a stellar record of accomplishment.

And yes, McCain's silence has been deafening especially since he used to defend her up and down during the campaign. What a bunch of phonies.

[Matty]

None of this matters. Who knows if any of it is true and who cares? Palin showed who she is through her interviews and speeches, NOT hearsay. Any objective, intelligent American can see that she isn't knowledgeable about important issues. Her speeches were ultimately very short on substance but energized those who were predisposed to love what she had to say as long as it was simple and expressed the tired mantras of a portion of the electorate desperately frightened of those who don't look, act, and sound just like them. I've yet, for example, heard anybody explain to me which values they have in small towns that they don't have in cities and suburbs. Yet when she mentioned small town values, mobs of transfixed supporters gleefully, mindlessly cheered. The irony here is that even her supporters treat her like a characature, as they demand little or nothing from her beyond her appearance, superficial information about her background, and overused platitudes. As a result, when her clear lack of understanding of the simplest of issues showed in interviews and statements, her supporters had to defend her because it meant defending their own limited view of the world. If their newly-crowned icon was wrong, then they might be a wrong--an uncomfortable position. So, they fell back to the trusted conservative standby: if you don't like the answers, blame the questions and the questioners. There are far too many bright Republicans who will stand in the way of her becoming the new image of the Republican party, perhaps they already are.

[midwestmidwife]

Yes, Thank God we got the President we deserve. The people of this great country spoke, and spoke loudly. Change is a beautiful thing. Axelrod ran a wonderful campaign- there was so little negativism and pettiness from the Obama camp; mostly in their own defense to the despicable distortions. Palin personified as the only bright spot can only mean that you live in a very dim perception of the world...In recent elections can you recall people openly celebrating? dancing in the streets, crying with joy, laughing, hugging strangers- with no regard to race, gender or age. President-elect Obama is responsible for the elation. I respect John McCain, but truly believe his time had come and gone to be POTUS. He is a good and honorable man, just got caught up in a huge sellout, dog & pony show. Now wonder there has been no word from him- he is probably reeling from it all! May God Bless him and us all.
Come on People Now- Smile on your Brother, Everybody get Together Try to Love one Another; Right Now!

[Alessandro Machi]

If John McCain can't shut his people up, maybe he wasn't presidential material after all.

Maybe the McCain staff should spend some time cleaning up mud being slung at John Mccain by the John McCain Forum rather than slinging it at Sarah Palin.

http://johnmccainforum.com/forum/index.php

Just a suggestion.

http://www.DailyPUMA.com

[Dave]

The sole question is:

Is Sarah Palin as stupid as the leaks indicate or not?

As a US citizen, who faced the possibility of this woman becoming president, I think the question is valid and important.

[Thomas Paine]

Why did she do so poorly in the interviews then? Her debate performance was simply scripted statements that repeated common themes. She had handlers that protected her and refused to allow open interviews ( the ones she did have she bombed). They shielded her from others. I think the media got this one right and am glad they exposed her intellectual deficits.

http://gawker.com/5061283/sarah-palins-high+school-grades

Maybe a false one, but who knows. I mean the woman thought Africa was a country.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_was_Sarah_Palin's_grade_point_average_in_college

She is eye-candy and a great looking women. She is a dynamic speaker that riled up the Republican base. But its an easy base to inspire and look how much they loved another intellectual giant, George W. Bush. They are against abortion, yet worship, an all powerful God who couldn't come up with a better way to save souls than killing his own son once he was 30. Ironic, isn't it, but all you have to do is repeat some lies and you got this base ready to go. They are already brainwashed by the likes of Sean Hannity and Limbaugh daily. They are devoid of the reasoning and questioning the status quo that led us to revolt and draft the Constitution. I am sick of being a country that was founded on liberal ideals and thought and these people demonizing it. Their rallies had a mob like feel to them that reminded me of Hitler's rallies with people shouting kill Obama. If your God is so great, then how come you lost? Oh, was it Satan?

I don't think she is qualified to be Governor of the State of Confusion. Who couldn't govern Alaska with all its wealth and resources? They pay their citizens there with their budget surplus.

Questioning someone's acumen should be considered bashing. We should want the best and smartest in office, not the best demagogues or best looking. Let's see those transcripts Sarah?

[Jessica]

The media has done a public service by SHOWING the public who Sarah Palin really is instead of TELLING – so the media has not DISCREDITED Palin. Instead Palin has discredited herself. There is no need to discuss or corroborate Palin’s knowledge and judgement as everyone can see and hear the “uncut” interviews and the prank call. Anyone can easily make a conclusion on Palin’s character based on the numerous fact-finding reports and investigations provided by various reputable media organizations on her track records and validate these facts with what she said and did during the 132 political events since her nomination. With the election outcome and the exit polls on Palin, the conclusion is clear. The IRONY now – Palin is getting a taste of what SHE started and aggressively promoted during the campaign – divisive attacks and the resulting hatred (the problem now is not aimed at President-elect Obama but Governor Palin herself with “Republican cannibalism”). No wonder there is “official” silence but “a lone Republican leader defends Sarah Palin.”
The seriousness outcome of her attacks is discussed as “Sarah Palin blamed by the US Secret Service over death threats against Barack Obama” today http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/sarahpalin/3405336/Sarah-Palin-blamed-by-the-US-Secret-Service-for-death-threats-against-Barack-Obama.html and other news media.

[Jamie]

Because they were never HIS team, they were the Rove/Bush attack team, mercenaries.

He sold out to them and is reaping the 'rewards'.

[Sean]

To people calling McCain aides to identify themselves:

1) Bill Ayers got numerous death threats after she whipped up the terrorist rhetoric.
2) The Alaska state trooper had threats as well, causing the police dept. to assign him to a desk job pushing papers.
3) President Obama himself got threats since she started bad mouthing him.

This woman is poison and very dangerous. I am glad the aides are being anonymous - God knows what would happen if she went around with them in cross hairs.

[lisa]

The Republicans are toast, frankly. This may be a right-wing country. But it's not a Republican country. No-one in their right mind will support Palin, she will become the next Ann Coulter, and McCain, it's a shame he let his hardline advisers talk him into that disgraceful campaign, as he was clearly uncomfortable the whole time, but I hope he's learned a valuable lesson. He has always been better than that. It's unlikely the Republicans will have gotten their crap together by 2012, so we're probably looking at another Obama win. As much as his conservatives detractors want him to fail, I don't think it's gonna happen. It will be a great test to see if they've gotten it together by 2016. If they haven't, and they still can't win, I think it may be bye-bye Republican party.

[peter mattsson]

not surprising at all about political infighting and back-stabbing after a lost election - look at the hillary campaign after the primaries! - republicans should let the chips falll how they may - palin coulld not mention a single supreme court case without prompting, or one newspaper she reads, in her katie couric interview!! - if there is blame to be passed around, and she wants to be on the national political screen, then she deserves to be criticized!!...the bitterness and partisan politics of republican strategies is simply reflected in this type of internecine fallout - deal with it!!

[Alan]

First I am Canadian and am so glad that Obama won but I think Palin has every right to be angry at the cowards who refuse to name themselves who are making these allegations. I find it hard to believe she didn't know Africa was a contintent. Name yourself or shut up!

[the papa]

I AM SURPRISED THAT EVERY REPUBLICAN MEMBER OF CONGRESS, SOUTH OF THE MASON DIXON LINE AND EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI, HASN'T DEFENDED PALIN. AS A MATTER OF FACT I AM SURPRISED THAT ALL THE EXTREEM RIGHT WING EVANGILISTS HAVEN'T COME OUT OF THE WOODWORK TOO. THIS PIT BULL WITH LIPSTICK(AND MAKEUP) NEEDS ALL THE HELP SHE CAN GET, INTELLECTUALY(GONNA, SHOULDA,WOULDA, AND JERK), CLASS, A TUTOR, AND ABOVE ALL A BETTER SPITITUAL ADVISOR. THE MORMONS MUST BE SMILING , AS THE TRUE BIGITS BLEW THE ELECTION!!! IT WASN'T THE ECONOMY STUPID, IT WAS THE WRONG CANDIDATES. A MAN WITH A VIOLET TEMPER AND PIT BULL (WITH LIPSTICK)