So, I guess Sarah Palin is being too mavericky for the McCain camp. She’s going off-script in her defense of her wardrobe. Because one can be a maverick, but only when the maverick consultants write the talking points. It’s in the dictionary. Look it up.
Several McCain advisers suggested that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin "going rogue." …
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.
They’re calling her a diva and a rogue. Because mavericks are team players. McCain people are privately putting down Palin’s credentials. This isn’t coming from Tina Fey.
They insisted that she needed time to be briefed on national and international issues and on McCain’s record.
"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."
Oh, this is getting fun.
Apt. 11d 
“They’re calling her a diva and a rogue.”
Does that mean that last month’s depiction of her as a mindless sock-puppet reading other people’s words is non-operational?
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This is coming from the McCain camp, not the “liberal media elites”.
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I’m not sure who is going to argue with her about the robocalls.
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“This is coming from the McCain camp, not the “liberal media elites”.”
Certainly, but they can’t both be true. She can be either a rogue or a mindless teleprompter-reader, but we can’t accuse her of being both at the same time.
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I’m so glad you put up a campaign post, because it lets me quote this bit from Mark Kleiman:
A friend who was doubtless more socially successful in her high school than I was in mine characterizes the McCain/Palin ticket as “the captain of the football team and the mean girl who connived her way to head cheerleader: the two kids you most love to hate.”
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Amy, well, no one is calling her both at the same time. “Liberal media elites” thought she was a sockpuppet. But now the McCain insiders have told us the real story–that she is a diva whack job.
Whatever. I just want her to go back to Alaska.
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Amy P: She was a mindless teleprompter reader when she thought that it might lead to the Whitehouse. Now she knows there is no chance she is going off-piste (in a rather mindless way)in search of fame and fortune. Don’t see the contradiction at all.
And Doug’s friend get Palin right (its exactly what I thought when I saw her, and was bemused that anyone thought this would work), but not really McCain. He is the guy who didn’t get to be captain of the football team but couldn’t face the fact that there was a good reason for that.
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Palin simply should never have been “promoted” into this role, which was done specifically so John McCain could plainly, baldly and without remorse court and pander to the female audience. Apparently it worked, as people are still saying she’s being treated unfairly because she’s a woman. No, she’s being subjected to the same scrutiny as anyone else SHOULD be. Stop looking at her for her symbolism and start looking deeply at her qualifications and her record of scandal!
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I think I’m going to borrow my wife’s Hillary hat when I go vote. If you can’t beat ’em, you can piss-off their volunteers.
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Also Kevin Drum today:
“if social conservatives manage to wrest control of the GOP and start shrieking 24/7 about banning abortion and hating gay people, they’ll be guaranteeing Democratic dominance among an entire cohort of voters for decades to come.
Which is fine with me, of course. But the adults in the Republican Party better plan on knocking heads very hard and very fast if they don’t share my attitude. Sarah Palin isn’t the future of their party, she’s the future of mine.”
Mmmm, popcorn.
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I sure can’t argue with Sarah about the robocalls. Has anyone else been following the story at TalkingPoints about the call center employees in Indiana (40 of them, it says) who walked out after reading the script the McCain camp wanted them to read?
(apparently Indiana doesn’t allow robo-calling, so they had to use people)
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PS: I think there’s a special place in hell for weasels who talk like this to the press, even if it’s about McCain/Palin. If you think they’ve gone astray, say it clear and out loud and in public (like Powell, or Buckley, or the ex-advisor who decided to vote for McCain). Otherwise, keep your mouth shut. These weasels are looking for their next lobbyist job. I refuse to listen to them.
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It’s ever so fun to not be the party that’s imploding this time. 🙂 Makes for good Daily Show and SNL watching too.
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By the way, somebody is selling Palin-McCain bumperstickers. They look just like the official McCain-Palin ones, but with a red background instead of the official blue and with the names reversed. I haven’t seen them in real life, but I have noted the prevalence of McCain-Palin bumperstickers and the comparative rarity of just plain McCain stickers. I’ve noticed the opposite pattern with Obama stickers–it’s always just plain Obama. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen an Obama-Biden sticker. (This is in Texas.)
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I used to have an Obama yard sign (it blew away in a bad windstorm Saturday night) and I can’t for the life of me remember if it said Obama/Biden or not.
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Wendy, if you want another Obama sign, just go grab one from someone else’s yard. They’ll blame it on Republicans (assuming you don’t get caught).
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MH, we don’t have a heck of a lot of yard signs out. I’ve seen more for our local races (most of which are unopposed) than for Obama vs McCain. Kerry has absolutely no signs up.
I do have a small non-yard sign that’s in my window. Check out my blog to see my front window.
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How many do you want? I can hardly turn around without hitting one. “Welcome to Squirrel Hill. Here’s your Obama sign, your re-usable Whole Foods shopping bag, and information on how long you can wait to buy a Prius before your neighbors start to think you don’t care about the Earth.”
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Hey MH — can I order six? Well, except that they’re probably doing more good in your neck of the woods than in my left coast enclave.
Have you guys read about the obama sign watch:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/obama-sign-cctv-1
Someone had their sign stolen, so they made a new one, put a webcam on it, and people all over the world watch it. It’s cute. Unfortunately I can’t watch it since the streaming site doesn’t support macs.
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“Welcome to Squirrel Hill. Here’s your Obama sign, your re-usable Whole Foods shopping bag, and information on how long you can wait to buy a Prius before your neighbors start to think you don’t care about the Earth.”
That sounds a lot more bobo than I remember Squirrel Hill being (Whole Foods?). How about “Here’s your rabbi, here’s a pamphlet on what vehicles will seat an Orthodox family of 8, here’s a Russian-English phrase book, and here’s your JCC membership form.”
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Amy, not many Orthodox nearby as far as I am from the good synagogues. But, yes, it isn’t actually very bobo except compared to the rest of Pittsburgh. And we do have a ton of Russians and a lot senior citizens, but I really don’t have much to do with them, so I keep forgetting they are around.
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Oh neat! I was asked the other day about Russians in the US, and I said certainly not like in London or Berlin or Israel or the south of France, but I thought there were some large-ish immigrant neighborhoods around New York. But Pittsburgh, that’s interesting. Any idea on their collective story? (And are there still a relatively large number of Lithuanians?)
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Doug,
Based on limited experience (Squirrel Hill and West Hollywood), I believe you are likely to find overlap between Jewish and Russian neighborhoods. I’m not sure why, but it may have to do with the mechanics of Jewish refugee resettlement agencies, which have been very energetic in assisting Soviet immigrants.
Pittsburgh has large well-established Polish and Slovak, communities that sponsor festivals. There was a Serbian Club when I lived there. One of Pittsburgh’s glories is the Cathedral of Learning, which has classrooms done up in different national styles on the lower floors. There’s a Czechoslovakian room, a Russian room and a Polish room and an amazing Armenian room, and that’s just the start. While I remember it, there’s a very small Slavic ethnicity called the Rusyns (AKA Ruthenians). Andy Warhol was a Rusyn, and there’s a Warhol museum in downtown Pittsburgh.
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Doug, I really don’t know that much, just that there are largish numbers of people born in various parts of what used to be the USSR. I think this used to be almost entirely a Jewish population (because that’s how they got out), but that is changing. A couple of blocks from me there is a church with a sign saying that it is for Russians and Ukrainians.
Anyway, there are eastern European restaurants and food stores around. There are rumors that the Russian mob has moved into Greenfield (the neighborhood where that church is), but I’ve never heard that from anybody who actually lives around here nor seen anything remotely suspicious.
There are of course lots of 2nd and 3rd generation Pittsburghers with ancestors from all around eastern Europe. In many cases, the old neighborhood is still there, but most of those are dying as the kids moved to the suburbs.
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