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ON THIS PAGE: McCain campaign leaks news of growing disagreement between McCain and Palin. Palin wants negative and aggressive ads. | LINK UP: Sarah Palin's Admission of Defeat in Private Speech to Supporters: Admits Mistakes, Bashes Obama, Looks to 2012 |
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McCain Furious at Palin's Support of Constitutional Ban on Same Sex Marriage [Read Sarah Palin's Private Concession Speech to Supporters ALSO Behind the scenes news on tension and tantrums inside McCain-Palin campaign AND Conservatism in Crisis: Michelle Malkin Lost in Obama Land]
McCain is well known for his fiery temperament, but he is also widely respected on both sides of the aisle for his commitment to bipartisan problem-solving. This has often angered conservatives,
strongly Christian but about which there are evangelical doubts because of Obama's Kenyan father and his childhood in a muslim country (Obama has never been a muslim). For a while, influential McCain staffers, spearheaded by Sarah Palin, convinced McCain to go negative, targeting Obama's Kenyan father, his (loose) association with dubious characters such as Professor Ayers, his religious beliefs, and his character. McCain found the tactics distasteful, especially when his own supporters became hateful, insulting, and racist at rallies, saying things about Obama which McCain knows are not true and which he cannot defend. This does not matter to Sarah Palin, whose evangelical zeal tells her the ends justifies the means. She has no objection to lying about, or smearing, an opponent if it serves the greater good as she views it. Palin believes Obama's stand on certain issues, such as a woman's right to choose, are evil and at odds with God's will. She has argued strongly with McCain campaign that Obama's character must be knocked down and dragged through the mud.
Reuters reported "When one woman at an event said she did not trust Obama and raised a false assertion that he was an 'Arab,' McCain replied that Obama was a 'decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared (of) as president of the United States'." Palin is angling to be seen by conservatives as a candidate who fought hard for victory, rather than the person who engineered defeat for McCain. Many believe that she is strengthening her hand among far right conservatives and building a base for a presidential bid in 2012. Palin's frustration with McCain has led to heated clashes with his advisers and staffers. When she heard he was pulling resources from Michigan, she dashed off an e-mail stating, "Oh come on, do we have to?" She offered to travel to the industrial state with her blue collar husband, "First Dude" Todd. When confronted with accusations that Palin is excessively negative toward Obama, she replied: "Some will say, jeez Sarah, it's getting negative. No it's not negativity. It's truthfulness." McCain now views Palin as a negative influence on his campaign. After some feeble interviews with Katie Couric of CBS and a less than convincing debate performance, plus some incredibly ill-informed statements and barely comprehensible responses to reporters' questions, Palin is no longer helping to attract women and independent voters to the Republican ticket. Today, Sunday October 12, McCain and Palin made contradictory statements about President Bush's decision to remove North Korea from the list of rogue nations. President Bush says North Korea has cooperated on plans to internationally verify its nuclear program. John McCain is skeptical of Bush's decision, saying: "I expect the administration to explain exactly how this new verification agreement advances American interests and those of our allies before I will be able to support any decision to remove North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism." Using cautious diplomatic language, Barack Obama called Bush's response "appropriate". Sarah Palin, in contrast, went far beyond Obama and McCain, saying: "Condoleezza Rice, of course, having worked on this strategy for quite some time, I have faith in her that they're making this wise decision and North Korea, of course, better live up to its end of the bargain there, in speaking with the other countries whom they've been working with, in promising the verification. That end of the bargain has got to be lived up to." McCain and Palin are now positioned on both sides of Obama on North Korea. McCain is not convinced President Bush's move is good for America, whereas Palin is sure Bush's removal of North Korea from the terror list is "wise". Palin has been eager in recent weeks to come out out from under John McCain's protective wing. She already has her sights set on the White House in 2012, an election campaign she intends to win by running an aggressive, conservative campaign. Some members of the GOP's conservative elite are keen to embrace Palin, seeing her as a diamond in the rough. One of them told us, "Over the next few years we are going to give Sarah Palin a Cliff Notes version of a doctorate in foreign affairs. Next time around, she'll be able to defeat any opponent in detailed debates on foreign policy." A poll for Fox News last week showed that 47% of voters regard the Alaska governor favorably, and 42% have an unfavorable opinion of her. The unfavorables are growing by the day, except on the far right of the party, where Palin is very popular. [GO TO: Inside the Palin campaign -- tears, tantrums, refusal to prepare for debates]
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Sarah Palin Breaks With John McCain on Gay Marriage
of big government involvement in people's private lives and states' abilities to run their own affairs. "I don't support gay marriage," said Palin. In an interview with CBS, Palin claimed religion and God had been "mocked" during the campaign, although she offered no proof this had happened. "Faith in God in general has been mocked through this campaign, and that breaks my heart and that is unfair for others who share a faith in God and choose to worship our Lord in whatever private manner that they deem fit," she said. Obama, whom Palin has accused of palling around with terrorists, defended Palin, saying it would be "offensive" to portray her faith as strange or wrong. ARCHIVED NEWS: McCain Attacks Liberals and Feminists John McCain took aim at the "feminist left" when speaking to a crowd of 2,000 in St. Louis on Oct. 20. Obama addressed 100,000 people in the city at the weekend. McCain said: "My friends, it's remarkable the comments of the feminist left about Sarah Palin. I want to tell you, I am so proud of the way she has energized America. She is a reformer, she is a great leader, she is the most popular governor in America, and I can hardly wait to introduce her to Washington, D.C. The most recent critic of Sarah Palin was the well known feminist leftie General Colin Powell. 
Sarah Palin at the puck drop for the Flyers, where she was jeered by the crowd. Palin wants to see aggressive and negative campaigning against Barack Obama, whom she dislikes intensely John Weaver Slams Palin John Weaver, a former senior McCain adviser who left the campaign when it almost fell apart last year, criticizes attack ads: "People need to understand, for moral reasons and the protection of our civil society, that the differences with Senator Obama are ideological, based on clear differences on policy and a lack of experience compared with Senator McCain," he said. "From a purely practical political vantage point, please find me a swing voter, an undecided independent, or a torn female voter that finds an angry mob mentality attractive." Sarah Palin Comments on Split With John McCain Gov. Palin was asked about disharmony within the McCain-Palin campaign team. She replied: "It is not true, completely but it is obvious, you know, on the long road of a campaign there will be a battle of wills and ideas, the strategy, how we move ahead, our attempt to establish a lead despite the negative polls, the attacks from the mainstream media, and the decision in Michigan was not a good one, then we need to talk openly, look into every crook and nanny for answers. That is when differences arise, which is healthy. This campaign will be fought on many fronts. There is more than one way to skin a deer."
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