Last week, as pundits and political reporters stumbled around trying to account for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's odd decision to resign before the end of her term, a couple of young journalists who are writing a book about her listened and shook their heads.
"They literally all admitted they have no idea why she did this, but Scott and I do," said Shushannah Walshe, 30, who is co-writing "Sarah from Alaska" with Scott Conroy, 26. It's all about the White House.
Though Walshe was coy about revealing any bombshells in the book, she and Conroy did post a juicy e-mail exchange last week between Palin and McCain's campaign strategist Steve Schmidt about Todd Palin's membership in the secession-driven Alaska Independence Party that called into question Palin's truthfulness.
(Palin urged the campaign to address the issue by making up a story about how Todd accidentally checked the wrong box when he was registering to vote. Schmidt also knocked down her claim that two reporters had asked her about Todd's involvement with the party.)
Walshe said Palin's abrupt exit was traceable to her deteriorated relationship with....
Al Gore is now comparing the battle against global warming to the fight against Adolf Hitler in World War II.
In a speech to students at Oxford on Tuesday, the former vice president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate conceded that there is still work to do to convince political leaders that the threat of climate change is as urgent as that from the Nazis. The Senate is beginning debate on a cap-and-trade bill to curb emissions, predicted to be an even tougher fight than in the House, where Speaker Nancy Pelosi had to twist arms and trade votes to win a narrow victory. Gore seemed to acknowledge the difficulty of converting grassroots passion into political will.
Mindful of his British audience, Gore said the fight to cut carbon dioxide emissions will require a leader with the fortitude of Winston Churchill, who steered Britain through four years of hardship, bombings and economic deprivations to victory against the Nazis.
"Winston Churchill aroused this nation in heroic fashion to save civilization in World War II," he said. "We have everything we need except political will, but political will is a renewable resource."
Not everyone was impressed. At Fox News, as you can see from the clip above, they're still worried about global cooling.
These are different, changing times in U.S. politics.
The last three presidents each emerged from nowhere and achieved the White House on their first bid, though Bill Clinton and George W. Bush each had governor’s terms and reelections under their belts.
But what had Barack Obama ever accomplished as a freshman senator before announcing and achieving his desire for promotion? (And not finishing his first term either.)
The emergence of social media and online networking have created a whole new political environment beneath traditional media radar with untapped and unknown opportunities for unconventional politicians.
Sarah Palin is just such an unconventional politician, with surprising upsets in her past, a down-to-earth manner so different from the tired old suits you’ll see jabbering on morning TV this Sunday. And she has an astounding approval rate among her conservative base.
Most expected Palin not to run next year for reelection, like Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who now has the time and option to gear up for a 2012 presidential run.
Hardly anyone expected her to quit the governor’s office and turn it over to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell on July 26, despite Palin’s slipped popularity at home. (Full Palin text here.)
Professionals watching a withdrawal like this conventionally and immediately wonder, what bad news don't we know about her that's about to come out? Is there some scandal, indictment or personal revelation that would cause her to step down even before its announcement? Friday, especially a pre-holiday Friday, is usually a time to announce what you don't want heard much.
But here’s why friends say she’s really doing it:
Palin is genuinely sick of, as she calls it, “the crap” that comes with national politics, especially the....
Longtime friends and campaign workers for Arizona Sen. John McCain have been talking to Vanity Fair about what Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's candidacy as vice president did for the GOP ticket in 2008.
"A Little Shop of Horrors," said one unnamed aide.
Perhaps they want to keep the governor -- still a hot-button favorite among social conservatives -- off the ticket in 2012?
"They can't quite believe that for two frantic months last fall, caught in a Bermuda Triangle of a campaign, they worked their tails off to try to elect as vice president of the United States someone who, by mid-October, they believed for certain was nowhere near ready for the job, and might never be," Purdam writes.
She
maintained "only the barest level of civil discourse" with Tucker
Eskew, the operative assigned to be her chief minder, Purdam reports. Mark McKinnon, a longtime McCain admirer and a former Democrat who told insiders he would never work against Barack Obama in the general election, signed on to be Palin's "whisperer," the calming influence. And Obama, on learning of Palin's selection, said Palin would never have time to get up to speed. "I don't care how talented she is, this is really a leap," said Obama, telling aides it had taken him four months to learn how to be a national candidate.
But for the most, the piece reads more like juicy political speculation than news. Many of the quotes are from aides who would rather not be named. And it's hard to read the title -- "It Came From Wasilla" -- as anything but an insult, at least to anyone who's a person who came from somewhere.
Palin refused to talk to Vanity Fair for the piece. At work on her own book about her life -- to be published jointly by HarperCollins and the Bible-publishing house Zondervan -- the self-described pit bull-with-lipstick from Alaska will get plenty of ink for her rebuttal.
Dick Cheney was largely silent on the issue of gay marriage during his eight years as vice president under George W. Bush. In a 2004 vice presidential debate with Democratic candidate John Edwards, for example, Cheney wouldn't say what he thought about a constitutional amendment that would limit marriage to a woman and a man.
But in a speech today at the National Press Club, Cheney supported gay marriage, saying, "I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish, any kind of arrangement they wish."
Cheney, who has a gay daughter, said he thought states should get to decide what constitutes marriage. For more on what he said, check out our colleagues at The Swamp.
During the Bush years, Cheney made most of his political maneuverings behind the scenes. But he's been a veritable chatter-box since leaving office.
In a Fox News interview that will air tonight, Cheney dropped a few other lines that are sure to generate buzz. Among them: his denial that Iraq was involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Bush White House, you may remember, used Iraq's supposed ties to Al Qaeda as one of its justifications to invade the country in 2003.
The rest of the interview will air on "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren" at 7 p.m. Pacific.
(UPDATE: An update on the Kemp memorial service has been added below.)
Jack Kemp, the all-star college and pro quarterback who went on to serve nine House terms, as secretary of Housing and Urban Development and as Robert Dole's VP running mate on the 1996 Republican presidential ticket, died this evening.
Kemp also ran his own unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1988 against Ronald Reagan's vice president, George H.W. Bush, who would go on to appoint Kemp as his HUD secretary.
The cause of death was cancer. He was 73 years old and had allowed his office to release the news of his terminal illness only in early January. But there were no details at the time of treatment or what type, only word that he would continue his charitable activities.
(UPDATE: Tonight a former aide revealed that Kemp had cancer in the hip that was believed to be a secondary infection. The origin of the cancer was unknown, which made targeted treatments difficult. Kemp did undergo extensive chemotherapy and radiation treatments at Sloan-Kettering that ended only recently.)
Moments ago, the Kemp family released a statement:
Jack Kemp passed peacefully into the presence of the Lord shortly after 6 o’clock this evening, surrounded by the love of his family and pastor, and believing with Isaiah, “My strength and my courage is the Lord.”
During the treatment of his cancer, Jack expressed his gratitude for the thoughts and prayers of so many friends, a gratitude which the Kemp family shares.
Funeral details were incomplete tonight and expected to be released Sunday.
Kemp's condition had been declining rapidly since the announcement and friends knew the end was near for the devoted father and politician. He was famed for predictably breaking off Friday business meetings to fly overnight to watch his two boys, Jeff and Jimmy, also quarterbacks, play college or pro football on the weekends.
"So sad," said Karl Rove, longtime Republican strategist, in a cellphone text message.
The troubled GOP could have used the friendly, empathetic and well-spoken southern Californian in its national rebuilding now. Kemp was known as a bleeding heart conservative for his interest in social issues and bettering the lives of average citizens. And he was well-liked by teammates, both the athletic and political kind.
A West Los Angeles native and graduate of celebrity-strewn Fairfax High School, until last year Kemp was probably the most famous politician to attend Occidental College. No longer.
Now, Barack Obama is. The president is four inches taller than Kemp, but did not play quarterback, safety, punter and place kicker on the school's football team.
Kemp's 13-year football career involved the National Football League, the Canadian Football League and the defunct American Football League, where Kemp was an all-star for seven of the league's 10 years and played in five of its championship games.
Our blogging buddy, the ever-alert Larry Harnisch over on The Daily Mirror, has quickly come up with an op-ed item here written 16 months by Kemp for The Times on bankruptcy laws and homeownership. It's so prescient it could have been written today.
(UPDATE: The Kemp family has announced details of the memorial
service at Washington's National Cathedral on Friday, May 8 at 2 p.m.
"The memorial service is open to family, friends, former colleagues,
and all those who would like to attend. Seating for the service begins
at 1 pm, and attendees should plan on arriving as close to 1 pm as
possible.
(The service is closed to media; however, media organizations are
allowed outside, near the west end entrance to the Cathedral for
arrivals and departures. Since all Cathedral schools are in session, no
surface parking will be available. Media are asked to drop off at
Wisconsin Avenue and South Road.)
Now, watch this brief video recap of Kemp's career and check out the old Kemp trading card from his Buffalo Bills playing days.
Photo: Cliff Schiappa / Associated Press (Kemp and Dole); Reed Saxon / Associated Press (Kemp speaks in a Santa Ana, Calif. church during the 1996 presidential campaign).
Well, once again Larry King's bookers have got the big get -- Levi Johnston is scheduled to be on the CNN show tonight, unless his pickup breaks down in Saskatchewan.
It's billed as an "exclusive" -- at least for this week.
Johnston's such a huge star that LK actually had to wait until after Johnston did the Tyra Banks Show.
But the nation is pretty gosh-darned excited to get maybe its ninth look at this high school dropout hockey player who is said to have impregnated Bristol Palin, the Alaska governor Sarah Palin's teenage daughter. What better reason to put someone on prime-time TV for millions to not watch?
There's nothing like the word "former" to help splinter families wide open, which is great TV entertainment. Watching other families squabble and pretending we don't.
So the former future son-in-law of the former future Republican vice president will undergo probing interrogation by the suspendered one, who's been getting married and remarried and remarried and doing this interviewing gig thing since even before Joe Biden became a senator.
Wardrobe note: On tonight's show everyone will probably be wearing a shirt, unlike on "Cops."
Because most of the nation's TiVos have already been set to record both of the Billy Mays specials tonight, as a public service the Ticket has collected virtually all of Levi Johnston's answers in ...
Last summer, about-to-be Republican presidential nominee John McCain had a long list of 26 possible vice presidential running mates. None of them knew he or she was being considered.
Ronald Reagan's former counsel A.B. Culvahouse was in charge of the candidate partner vetting process and helped the Arizona senator pare down the list. But McCain, Culvahouse revealed Friday, was intrigued by Sarah Palin, the 44-year-old Alaska governor and mother of five.
That was understandable, the former presidential aide said. Even the most cynical of his 30 Washington, D.C., attorney vetters were impressed by her presence. "She fills up a room," Culvahouse told a Washington meeting of the Republican National Lawyers Assn. (See video below.) Even difficult questions, he said, she knocked "out of the park" during the vice president interview process.
The lawyer said standard Washington procedure would have been to choose a running mate with the best political resume. But, he said, he had an arrangement with McCain: that he'd have direct communications with the senator and that McCain would not select any partner unvetted by Culvahouse.
His orders from McCain were to find "someone who had the capacity to be president," Culvahouse said. His team produced 50-page reports on each candidate, drawing from their own investigations and the potential candidate's detailed answers to 74 questions, including "Have you ever been unfaithful?"
Near decision time, Culvahouse said, McCain asked him for the "bottom line" on Palin.
"John," Culvahouse replied, "high risk, high reward."
To which McCain, the former Vietnam attack pilot who flew off and landed on aircraft carriers before spending more than six years as a POW, replied, "You shouldn't have told me that. I've been a risk-taker all my life."
Culvahouse said the McCain campaign knew everything about Palin going in, including the pregnancy of her unmarried teenage daughter, Bristol.
Culvahouse said Palin would have been "a great vice president," while admitting she wouldn't have been ready by Jan. 20. But, he added, hardly anyone would be ready, except perhaps the very experienced Dick Cheney.
The full Culvahouse remarks are on the video below, and our blogging colleague Mark Silva has more details over at the Swamp.
Alaska Republican Gov. Sarah Palin makes a rare one-day speaking foray out of Alaska this week.
Doesn't everybody want to go to Indiana in April?
Some politicians way up there in Alaska are apparently grumbling because the legislative session isn't over yet and Juneau might shrivel up even more. According to the Anchorage Daily News, only nine of the 419 bills introduced this session have completed their journey through the Legislature, which must be the governor's fault. The session is due to end Sunday.
This slow legislative progress could mean one of two or three only things: 1) like every other legislature composed of humans, they are leaving a lot until the last minute, 1a) Alaska already has enough laws and these elected folks have finally realized it, or 2) some Alaska politicians on the losing ends of Palin's successful 2005-06 political insurgency are trying to score some points.
And if it also bruises Palin for a possible 2012 GOP presidential try, so much the better.
"She is putting her national political ambitions ahead of the needs of Alaska," said Democratic state chair Patti Higgins.
Palin's office released a somewhat defensive statement Monday, saying that she had long ago consulted with legislative leaders about this 36-hour absence, and none of them expressed any concerns then.
Her statement (see full text below) also pointed out that the GOP vice presidential candidate last year has spent far more time in the state capital during the session than her two immediate predecessors, Republican Frank Murkowski and Democrat Tony Knowles.
By Palin's count, Knowles was absent an average of 38 days during sessions and Murkowski 45 days. Palin has been out of Juneau 14 days, the statement said.
Having spent virtually all of last fall out of state in the presidential campaign, Palin, who faces a re-election campaign next year, appears sensitive to charges of inattention to state business. Although she did make a quick weekend trip to Washington for a banquet this winter, she turned down all media interview requests, which helped avoid calling attention to her presence there.
And she ended up not being a speaker at a major Republican fundraiser there in June, where she was replaced by Newt Gingrich, who is slowly re-emerging from image rehab.
Palin is scheduled to speak Thursday night in Evansville, Ind. to a sold-out Vanderburgh County Right to Life dinner and the next morning at a breakfast for a nonprofit group of parents with Down syndrome children, like Palin's son Trig. The expenses are to be paid by the governor's PAC.
Loyal Ticket readers may recall we've mentioned once or twice that Barack Obama was just a youngster somewhere when Joe Biden took the oath of office to become a United States senator from the little bitty state of Delaware.
Today, things have changed. Today, Joe Biden is no longer one of 100 U.S. senators. He's one of one vice president.
And you'll no doubt recall that on that special day last summer when Biden's wife was at the dentist's office getting a root canal and he went with her because she calls herself Dr. Biden, then-Sen. Obama telephoned and then-Sen. Joe said "yes" as the future president finished offering him the job.
Biden recalled later that a condition of his accepting the No. 2 position, which was important when dangerous Dick Cheney held it, was that Biden be a major partner in the work of change that the young president planned to totally transform America by the trillions.
Although being an ex-chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden probably should have tipped off his new boss that they don't speak Austrian in Austria.
Anyway, The Ticket regularly publishes the schedule for that very important office so that the curious public can peek in that window and keep track of the man who invented the term "drug czar" and could become president if necessary someday. Some days Biden's schedule is a blur of activities.
Here's his official schedule for today:
DAILY GUIDANCE FOR THE VICE PRESIDENT, FRIDAY APRIL 10th, 2009
The Vice President will be in Wilmington, DE. No public events are scheduled. ###"
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Our Bloggers
Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.
Johanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the Countdown to Crawford blog here at The Times.
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