The Washington Post Dan Balz (along with a lesser known ABC article, published last Friday), just blew the lid open on an assumption many of us have been feeling for days now.
John McCain did not vet Sarah Palin at all!
She was not subjected to a background check request or personal interview till Wednesday (the day before he chose her) in Sedona (aka Barbequeville).
The McCain campaign still refuses to say when Palin handed in her exhaustive questionnaire, nor will they (at this stage) answer anymore "vetting" questions.
Wow!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Here's the opening paragraph of the article:
ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 2 -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was not subjected to a lengthy in-person background interview with the head of Sen. John McCain's vice presidential vetting team until last Wednesday in Arizona, the day before McCain asked her to be his running mate, and she did not disclose the fact that her 17-year-old daughter was pregnant until that meeting, two knowledgeable McCain officials acknowledged Tuesday.
McCain did not sit down face to face with Palin (the Washpo article notes) until Thursday morning (though ABC says Thurs night):
McCain, himself did not speak face to face with Palin until, the next day, Thursday morning, at his retreat in Sedona, Ariz. He also talked to her by telephone the previous Sunday. McCain had spoken with all of the others on his shortlist over the course of a selection process that went on for several months, but he was least familiar personally with the person he finally chose.
This revelation actually doesn't surprise me, because (as stated)the ABC article had revealed that McCain didn't choose Palin until late Thursday night (probably after Obama spoke), compared to the Wednesday, or earlier in the week decision they claimed.
Here's the equally as stunning and revealing ABC article:
The campaign secretly flew Palin into Dayton last night. She and McCain met privately for a couple of hours. McCain concluded she would "shake up the system" and was "a maverick," qualities he believed Lieberman would have brought to the ticket. But she also would appeal to conservatives -- which Lieberman most certainly would not have done.
After their meeting, McCain concluded he was comfortable with his choice. He notified Pawlenty this morning that he was going in a different direction.
Please take note, the ABC article was published Friday, August, 29. This makes the McCain's decision, Thursday, the night before (Bingo! That's the night Obama spoke). Can you say McCain had a Post Obama Acceptance Speech meltdown?
http://blogs.abcnews.com/...
This proves McCain made his decision the night Obama spoke (and most likely after he was finished).
The McCain camp, is still sticking to the Wednesday morning story (though either Weds, or Thurs is still bad)despite revelations like the one below:
McCain did not speak face to face with Palin until Thursday morning, at his retreat in Sedona, Ariz. He also talked to her by telephone the previous Sunday. McCain had spoken with all of the others on his shortlist over the course of a selection process that went on for several months, but he was least familiar personally with the person he finally chose.
Well. We now know it was Thursday night when McCain spoke to her (even if his staff did Wednesday).
It's clearly obvious the McCain camp has been lying all along. I think they're just too embarrassed to admit what they did, because they realized it makes McCain seem weak and appear as a terrible executive.
Currently the McCain campaign continues to claim (despite articles like this)they made a good decision, after finding out last Weds, to go with the candidate despite her teenage daughters pregnancy. The McCain campaign says:
"We made a political determination that the American people would not object to a female candidate with a 17-year-old daughter who was pregnant," Schmidt said Tuesday. "We believed that parents all over America would understand that life happens. The team made a recommendation to the senator that these issues were not disqualifying."
The McCain campaign also says, they held the announcement back purposefully.
Schmidt also said the campaign had made a decision much earlier not to announce McCain's running mate until the day after the Democratic convention ended. He said McCain's team had long planned to use all the time available to weigh the choice. He dismissed questions that the campaign had made a hasty or ill-informed decision in the selection.
It seems the McCain campaign can't even tell the truth, or handle Baby-Gate right. The National Enquirer (yes them again), fresh off of their John Edwards stunner, tells the world, they forced the hand of the McCain Campaign:
The ultra-conservative governor’s announcement about her daughter’s pregnancy came hours after The ENQUIRER informed her representatives and family members of Levi Johnston, the father of Bristol’s child, that we were aware of the pregnancy and were going to break the news.
In a preemptive strike Palin released the news, creating political shockwaves
Wow! I guess that's when Palin decided to tell McCain. After the Enquirer shakedown! Unbelievable!
The Enquirer also claims, that Palin's daughter didn't want to get married, and fought her mother bitterly about that (you can read that yourself, and other juicy Palin tid bits in the article). They even warn, of more potentially upcoming scandals the family is trying to hide.
http://www.nationalenquirer.com/...
The impending Trooper-Gate decision, could be worse for Palin. We've all heard, how the McCain team, hired an attorney for Palin, and sent 8-12 operatives this week, up to Alaska. Well here's why from another ABC article:
The Alaska state senator running an investigation of Gov. Palin says the McCain campaign is using stall tactics to prevent him from releasing his final report by Oct. 31, four days before the November election.
"It's likely to be damaging to the Governor's administration," said Senator Hollis French, a Democrat, appointed the project manager for a bi-partisan State Senate Legislative Counsel Committee investigation of claims that Palin abused her office to get the Alaska public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, fired
There seems to be a very good chance the Bi-Partisan Alaskan, State assembly, may rule against Palin. http://abcnews.go.com/...
The article was titled, "October Surprise' Over Palin Investigation, Likely Damaging Report on Governor Scheduled for Release Days Before November Election" What happens if she's actually impeached before Nov, 4th?
None of this should even be a surprise to us. Because the McCain Campaign even claimed to have performed an FBI check on Palin that was false (Orig. NYT article), also. So what can we actually believe from the McCain camp. The Balz/Washpo article says about the FBI lie:
A knowledgeable official said Tuesday that the vetting team had hoped to run such a check but that FBI officials declined to do so because that type of inquiry is reserved for people nominated for senior administration jobs. The official also said the FBI was uncomfortable providing the information to a political campaign, rather than to government officials.
Regardless of who McCain picked his campaigned seemed woefully unprepared, and last minute:
Palin was one of two finalists in the vice presidential sweepstakes who were interviewed last week by former White House counsel Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr., just days before McCain introduced her to the nation as his choice. The other finalist was Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. One of the officials said Culvahouse was chasing down last-minute information about Pawlenty at the request of the campaign as late as last Thursday, the day McCain offered the job to Palin and she accepted.
Compare the McCain teams approach, to the Obama team, via David Ploufe:
Mr. Plouffe said the selection of Mr. Biden came after more than two months of extensive examination that included separate meetings with a team of lawyers, the leaders of the search committee, top campaign aides and finally an interview with Mr. Obama. Mr. Plouffe said every immediate member of the Biden family, including his three children, his brother, his sister and his wife also met with members of the vetting team.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/...
Enough Said Mr. Ploufe!
It's now well known that McCain really wanted Lieberman or Ridge. But once forced to change, with the threat of a floor fight by the rabid hard right. McCain had to settle between Romney, Pawlenty, and Geesh Palin (as a long shot).
I think once knowing this, the McCain team viewed the Democratic Convention with bated breath (holding off on his forced choices). As each day passed with clear democratic unity on display, speech after great speech; I think the McCain campaign just freaked.
By the time Obama made his speech Thursday night, I think they were in a absolute panic (after hoping for a democratic meltdown), and chose Palin that night (as the ABC article indicated). That's why Pawlenty and Romney, got their phone calls Friday morning(if you were watching Morning Joe on MSNBC). It was a true Hail Mary Pass. Incredible!
But we can't forget. The issue is not really Sarah Palin (though we can talk about her). The true issue is that, Palin is a reflection of John McCain's temperament, terrible judgment, impulsiveness and bad executive decision making. That man (and his team)should be no where near the White House (and the Obama team needs to keep repeating that). But they (McCain's team) may have a new career in entertainment.
I think the McCain team, should now submit scripts to the Lifetime Network, as everyone's saying. It seems they're now perfectly suited for it.
What a joke!