Jake Tapper over at ABC's Political Punch completely UNLOADS on Sarah Palin, referencing her long time standard operation procedure of making friends to get ahead and then leaving them like so much trash beside the road when she is done with them and even suggesting McCain is just such an example.
It all begins with the $150,000 wardrobe fiasco that has got the Palin Aides and McCain aides playing the blame game and pointing fingers at who's fault it is with no one seeming to know exactly how the bills got that high. Seems that Mrs. Palin has a fondness for shopping on the campaign trail. And during the height of the controversy, continued to shop, even after receiving loads of negative coverage for it.
During this controversy, McCain insiders were appalled to read a blog account from Nevada noting that the day before Palin held an event in Reno, "Palin's assistant stopped in at the Ann Taylor at the Summit Sierra Mall and bought the skirt suit that she wore during to her speech Tuesday at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. ‘She bought a short, three-quarter sleeve jacket, a skirt and a couple other items,’ store manager Suzette Ludden said."
And then she goes to mention her clothes over the weekend at a Rally in Florida obviously against campaign advice. Once a negative story has passed, you don't keep bringing it up again as a reminder. Good for our side, but not so good for McCain. She's a bit vindictive, dontcha think?
Tapper then goes on to list all the friends that Palin has thrown under the bus (sorry for that term, but it's quite appropriate here), in her quest for power. And it's a long one. A few examples are below:
And some Republicans are starting to now say they should have seen this coming, since Palin has a reputation for making friends who can help her and then screwing them over.
Former Wasilla Mayor John Stein says he mentored Palin during her 1994 run for City Council. Then she decided to challenge him and run for Mayor. "Things got very ugly,’ Naomi Tigner, a friend of the Steins, told Salon.com. "Sarah became very mean-spirited." Palin allies suggested she would he "Wasilla's first Christian mayor," even though Stein is Protestant. Palin allies also whispered that Stein and his wife – who hadn’t taken his name - were not legally wed. "We actually had to produce our marriage certificate,’ Stein said. His wife died in 2005 without ever reconciling with Palin. "I had a hand in creating Sarah, but in the end she blew me out of the water," Stein told Salon. "Sarah's on a mission, she's an opportunist."
Prominent Alaska conservative talk radio host Dan Fagan was a longtime friend. But he found himself on the outs after he criticized her for raising taxes on oil companies. "He found himself branded a ‘hater,’" the New York Times reported. "It is part of a pattern, Mr. Fagan said, in which Ms. Palin characterizes critics as ‘bad people who are anti-Alaska.’"
The list is much longer and it kind of makes those rumors about Paling saying "Sambo beat the b**ch" after the democratic primaries seem a little more true.
Jake finishes with this, which makes me almost feel sorry for McCain.
But that said, all I can tell you is that some McCain allies are now quite suspect of Palin and worried that Sen. McCain is going to become just the latest Palin ally whom she uses – and then discards -- in her rapid ascendance to power.
While she may be a running punch line now, she will be a force to be reckoned with in the future. She's got the rabid right-wingers behind her, Limbaugh, the Fox News crew, etc, so there's going to be a HUGE push to possibly get her into a Senate seat and from there another run at the Presidential ticket. Don't turn your back on her.