Tuesday, September 02, 2008

McCain Campaign Rebuts Accusations Re: Sarah Palin

Bryon York at National Review Online discussed the McCain Campaign's response to a variety of accusations regarding Sarah Palin.

1.  Sarah Palin wasn't properly "vetted."  The implication is that Palin's negatives are so great that McCain wouldn't have chosen her had he known about certain events in Palin's life and career.  York writes:
The story, my campaign source told me, is “materially false.” Gov. Palin, the strategist said, was subjected to a “complete vet.” “That included her filling out a 70-question questionnaire that was highly intrusive and personal. She was then interviewed for more than three hours by A.B. Culvahouse. There were multiple follow-up interviews.” (I asked precisely how many follow-ups there were, but my source stuck with “multiple.”) “There was a thorough interview process,” the strategist continued. “There was a public records search and political vet. There was a private life and financial vet. Everything that has come out was known by the campaign through the vetting process.”
“Every aspect of her political record is known to us. These people [McCain’s opponents] are desperate.”
2.  The "Troopergate" Issue:  Did Sarah Palin fire the commissioner of public safety because he wouldn't fire Palin's brother-in-law from the Alaska Troopers?

“Of course this issue came up in the vetting, and this is what we discovered,” the source said. “The man who was fired has said on the record that he was never pressured by the governor or the governor’s husband on the issue of firing Trooper Wooten. The governor had a vision for how she wanted that department to be run.  The commissioner had a different vision.”


“The reason that members of the Palin family were having discussions with the head of the state police about this state trooper, who was her ex-brother-in-law, was because he had made threats against the family. He threatened to kill the governor's daughter, her father, and her sister. He tasered her 11-year-old stepson.  And that is why the Palin family was concerned about this trooper.”

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