It appears as if things aren’t all peaches and cream in the McCain-Palin camp.
Politico is reporting that Gov. Sarah Palin’s popularity at rallies among the party faithful has given her the confidence to push back against her Republican handlers.
Palin has “decided increasingly to disregard the advice of the former Bush aides tasked to handle her, creating occasionally tense situations as she travels the country with them, writes Politico, citing Republicans close to the campaign.
Palin reportedly blames her handlers for a botched rollout and a tarnished public image – even as others in McCain’s camp blame the pick of the relatively inexperienced Alaska governor, and her public performance, for McCain’s decline, writes Ben Smith.
Anger among Republicans who see Palin as a star and as a potential future leader has boiled over because, they say, they see other senior McCain aides preparing to blame her in the event he is defeated, according to Politico.
“These people are going to try and shred her after the campaign to divert blame from themselves,” a McCain insider tells the news site, referring to McCain’s chief strategist, Steve Schmidt, and to Nicolle Wallace, a former Bush aide who has taken a lead role in Palin’s campaign. Palin’s supporters blame Wallace, in particular, for Palin’s avoiding of the media for days and then giving the embarrassing interview to CBS News’ Katie Couric.
If the polls are right, come Nov. 4 Palin will return to Alaska to govern her state. But if the pundits are right, her political star will shine bright long after this presidential race.
Deborah Creighton Skinner is the editorial director at BlackEnterprise.com