Senator John McCain’s aides have slammed Sarah Palin for criticising the press strategy of the former presidential nominee’s campaign in her upcoming book.
Senator John McCain’s aides have slammed Sarah Palin for criticising the press strategy of the former presidential nominee’s campaign in her upcoming book.
In her book, Palin charges that the staffers assigned to her by McCain’s team blocked her from speaking to the press aboard the campaign plane.
“Aboard the campaign plane I was within twenty-five feet of reporters for hours on end. Headquarters’ strategy was that I should not go to the back of the aircraft and talk to the press,” The Politico quoted her, as saying..
“At first this was subtle, but as the campaign wore on, [campaign aides] Tracey [Schmitt] or Tucker [Eskew] would call headquarters to request permission, and someone in DC would respond, ‘No! Absolutely not—block her if she tries to go back,’” she further wrote.
Palin also claims that former McCain communications aide Nicole Wallace “pushed” her to do a September 2008 interview with CBS’s Katie Couric that resulted in serious damage to the former Alaska governor’s image.
She described Wallace as having aggressively “pushed for Katie Couric and the CBS Evening News” because “Katie really needed a career boost.”
Former campaign manager Mark Salter defended the press strategy by saying: “We felt it necessary to adopt the same deliberativeness and discipline employed by our opponents and rely less on impromptu press conferences with our travelling press, and more on interviews arranged in advance so our candidates would have the same opportunity our opponents enjoyed to discuss and prepare for the interview.”
Former McCain strategist John Weaver criticised Palin for using the book for “petty and pathetic” score-settling.
“Sarah Palin reminds me of Jimmy Stewart in the movie 'Harvey,' complete with imaginary conversations. All books like these are revisionist and self-serving, by definition,” Weaver said.
“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,” he added.
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