Posted on 11/07/2008 6:36:49 PM PST by mathwhizz
“It’s depressing,” said Steve Biegun, a veteran foreign policy hand who tutored and staffed Palin and travelled with her through the fall. “We worked our asses off. It was a tough campaign. Then we have this?”
Biegun emphatically made the case for his much-maligned former boss.
“I think she was fantastic. She just brought a special energy to our ticket. Look, I was there at those rallies.”
Adds another former campaign aide: “You know what she did for us. She certainly solidified a hell of a lot of [previously unenthused Republicans].”
“I’m appalled by it because Sarah Palin was one of nicest people I have ever had the chance to work with,” says Biegun, a former Bush NSC aide. “I’ve worked in Washington for 20 years, on the Hill, in the White House and in the private sector, and she ranks at the highest levels of decency, kindness and graciousness of anybody I’ve ever worked with.”
Biegun said Palin’s generous spirit was on clear display the final weekend of the campaign, after she was subjected to a prank call by a pair of French Canadian radio DJs imitating French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
“I approved the call and was in abject horror of what I had done,” he recounted. “But she said, ‘Look, it’s not about whose fault this is, don’t beat yourself up, let’s just move on.’”
Schmitt said that Palin’s effort on McCain’s behalf was a dogged one – that she was completely devoted to helping the man who made her famous.
“She was tireless on the stump and would have shaken every hand on the rope line if there were time,” Schmitt recalled. “It was evident that this work ethic and enthusiasm was fueled by her sincere commitment to helping Sen. McCain get elected.
Two other McCain aides who were pressed unexpectedly into Palin duty also have only positive things to say about her now
“One of the great developments of this campaign is the addition of Sarah Palin as a powerful and energetic new voice in American public life,” said Taylor Griffin, a McCain press aide who had been focusing on economic issues until he was dispatched to Alaska in late August. “She's smart, insightful, and has an uncanny ability to ask the right questions.”
John Green was McCain’s Capitol Hill liaison for much of the year but was quietly tasked this fall with helping Palin deal with some of her Alaska-related issues, spending significant time there and with her on the campaign trail.
“I thought she was an exceptional political person, but more than that an exceptional person,” Green said. “She’s in line with conservative principles and is an everyday Republican -- what we’re going to have to find more if we’re going to get back to being a majority party.”
There is a reason, Green noted, why Palin had an 80% approval rating in Alaska.
Im just palin pissed off Can’t believe how scart they are of her
This has Romney’s and his satraps’ fingerprints all over it.
Nice to see Sarah being defended, but where are McQueeg’s top aides in this? And where is the Amnesty-meister himself?
Why? It seems to be McCain’s aides looking to deflect blame for the defeat away from themselves.
If she wants to return to the national stage, she has my support.
In other words, like most of us have suspected, this stuff is made up. The press, the propaganda wing of the DNC, sees Palin as a threat. They are going to try to wound her and leave her damaged so they don’t have to face her again.
And, soulless retards that they are, there are people who don’t know how to respond to simple decency. Its alien to them.
These aides should go on the talk shows and give their side.
Govenor Palin is a wonderful person and I would be proud to have her as my president.
After the sheeples start getting some "buyers remorse" which may have already started (ie: apology to Nancy Reagan) Sarah Palin will be a shoo-in for 2012.
That Nancy Reagan gaff may have just cost Obama the usual "honeymoon" Presidents get. He wasn't going to get anything from me anyway.
Note for DU Lurkers: It isn't hate to be against socialism. Well ok, I hate socialism. It isn't racist to hate socialism. Got it?
There. Fixed it.
if the pubie party think they’re going to destroy sarah palin
and then substitute another mccain-feingold 2008 or bob dope 1996 in 2012 or 2016,
they’ve got another think coming!
I am an unconditional Governor Sarah Palin supporter, full stop.
Push back the primaries, reduce the need to raise money all the time, and attract better candidates, not just the ones who are willing to spend two years running for a 4-year term.
If she chooses not to return to the national state, she has my support. And, I wouldn’t blame her.
Where is McCain’s input into all of this? Why is he missing in action? Why is he letting this happen without stepping in?
Senator John McCain... I’m waiting!
I’m pretty sure most folks know that there is a smear campaign being launched against Governor Palin. If Governor Palin had done a horrible job, the MSM would be praising her to the hilt because they’d want us to bring her back in 2012 so she would lose.
But because Governor Palin inspired the base with her conservative beliefs, and her down-to-earth way of speaking the truth, they are afraid, very afraid, of her.
OK, looks like Schmidt is off the list. He said something nice about her and it sounded sincere.
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