After leaks by members of the McCain campaign, which suggested Sarah Palin wasn’t up to the job she was nominated for, it looks like the former veep nominee is fighting back.
In released excerpts from her new book, “Going Rogue,” part of the blame for sending her into the clutches of a ratings-hungry Katie Couric is laid at the feet of the McCain folks.
Palin fingers the McCain campaign for scheduling the interview in the first place and ignoring her own suggestions to put her on Fox News. She also reveals that she secretly contacted Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly.
With the mainstream media gunning for her at the time, Palin would certainly have benefited from a friendlier venue.
The former Alaska governor recounts that the Couric interview was set up at the suggestion of Nicolle Wallace, a McCain campaign staffer. Wallace advised Palin that she had worked at CBS News and knew Couric, and that the CBS anchor liked her and would love the interview to help ratings.
“Nicolle went on to explain that Katie really needed a career boost. ‘She just has such low self-esteem,’ Nicolle said. She added that Katie was going through a tough time. ‘She just feels she can't trust anybody,’” Palin wrote.
Palin relays that she thought to herself, “And this has to do with John McCain's campaign how?”
She recalls Nicolle saying that “she [Couric] wants you to like her.”
“If it doesn't go well, if there's no chemistry, we won't do any others,” Nicolle said.
Palin agreed to one interview with Katie and the rest is history.
McCain adviser John Weaver is snapping back at Palin.
“Sarah Palin reminds me of Jimmy Stewart in the movie 'Harvey,’ complete with imaginary conversations,” Weaver told Politico. “All books like these are revisionist and self-serving, by definition. But the score-settling by someone who wants to be considered a serious national player is petty and pathetic.”
“The problem wasn't who her interview was with, the problem was her interview,” Weaver added. “Couric asked no trick questions. This just seems to be an attempt to obscure as bad a performance since Roger Mudd asked Ted Kennedy that simple question.”
Palin also indicated in her book that the McCain folks wouldn’t take any steps to counter the “Saturday Night Live” Tina Fey attacks, not even the suggestion that Sarah be a guest on the show.
James Hirsen, J.D., M.A. in media psychology, is a New York Times best-selling author, commentator, media analyst and law professor. Hirsen is the co-founder and chief legal counsel for InternationalEsq.com. Visit: Newsmax TV Hollywood:
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