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William Kristol and Steve Schmidt, the latest actors in the Sarah Palin soap opera.
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The continually evolving soap opera that is Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin premiered a brand new episode this week, with GOP heavyweights Bill Kristol and Steve Schmidt cast in the starring roles.
In the August issue of “Vanity Fair” magazine, Todd S. Purdum pens an extensive feature on Gov. Palin titled “It Came from Wasilla.” One of the more noteworthy sections of this piece discusses some of the feelings held by unnamed staffers from Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign regarding Palin’s behavior. Below is a passage from the web version of this article.
“All the while, Palin was coping not only with the crazed life of any national candidate on the road but also with the young children traveling with her. Some top aides worried about her mental state: was it possible that she was experiencing postpartum depression? (Palin’s youngest son was less than six months old.)”
Almost immediately after the feature debuted online, conservative pundit and ardent Palin support William Kristol came out firing via his blog on the “The Weekly Standard” Website. Amazingly, the target of his attack was none other than McCain/Palin Senior Advisor Steve Schmidt. Below is an excerpt from the posting.
“Meanwhile, on the day Purdum’s piece hit the web, a journalist who had expressed suspicions in the past that elements of the McCain campaign had undercut Palin suddenly got a friendly e-mail from top McCain-Palin campaign strategist Steve Schmidt. This journalist hadn’t heard from Schmidt in months. Perhaps Steve was nervous someone would finger him for the Purdum piece,” wrote Kristol.
Kristol concluded his blog with a rather direct claim regarding Schmidt that was never mentioned within Purdum’s article.
“In fact, one aide who raised this possibility in the course of trashing Palin’s mental state to others in the McCain-Palin campaign was Steve Schmidt,” noted Kristol.
Schmidt quickly returned fire regarding Kristol’s comments, choosing to highlight Kristol’s association with former Vice President Dan Quayle. The man whose greatest claim to fame was spelling the word “potato” incorrectly on an elementary school chalkboard.
After all, his [Kristol] management of Dan Quayle’s public image as his chief of staff is still something that takes your breath away,” exclaimed Schmidt.
This latest spat begs the question. Has there ever been a more divisive figure within the national landscape and within her own party than Sarah Palin? This is pretty impressive for a politician who was introduced to the national scene on August 29, 2008. In the span of little more than 10 months, she has gone from an unknown governor representing a far away state to one of the most significant political personalities in the country.
Love her or hate her that is a pretty impressive feat. The only problem for Palin is that it is extremely difficult for such a polarizing figure to gain a successful majority in both a presidential primary and a general election. Just ask Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It is nearly impossible to formulate a political image after a large number of voters have already made up their mind regarding who a person is. The difference with Palin is that it only took a few months to achieve this status.
Post-election, Palin has generally found her way into the news for all the wrong reasons. Whether it is her public war-of –words with her grandson’s father Levi Johnston, talk show host David Letterman or Senator John Kerry, she simply refuses to stay out of the news. This is not the media’s fault. Palin willingly takes on every public comment uttered about her instead of just walking away. I do not condone the actions of the above people either, but clearly her first instinct is to fight back. Take a look at these released emails from the McCain/Palin Campaign on Politico.com for further proof.
Stay tuned for the next installment of the Sarah Palin soap opera. It is bound to happen any minute now.
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