Well, actually the opinion piece is 60 percent about Gov. Palin and 40 percent a defense of Steve Schmidt. McKinnon insists that Schmidt is not a leaker. He also says that Todd Purdum, author of the Vanity Fair hit piece on Palin, called him to discuss Palin for his article, but McKinnon says he "chose not to participate."
He insists that Purdum got it all wrong about McKinnon's degree of involvement working with Gov. Palin in the McCain campaign and only spent three hours with the governor. The time was spent all in one session which basically amounted to Debate 101. According to McKinnon, a week out from the VP debate with Joe Biden, Gov. Palin was aware that she "was in trouble" and was unprepared:
"And she knew it would be difficult, maybe impossible to be ready. And the brief session I witnessed, verified as much and I was convinced the debate would be a disaster. But, despite the crushingly stressful situation in which she found herself, and despite the aching vulnerability, she squared up in her uniquely Palin way and made it clear to all of us in the room that she was going to bear down, get ready, and was not, under any circumstances, going to let John McCain down. But, I frankly thought she would."McKinnon describes Sarah Palin as "one of the most fascinating women I have ever met":
"But damned if she didn’t. I watched the debate on television from Austin and was stunned. The difference in the person I’d seen just five days earlier and the woman I saw step onto the stage with Joe Biden was a complete transformation."
"She crackles with energy like a live electrical wire and on first meeting gets about three inches from your face. Her instant subliminal message is: 'I don't know you very well, but I'm very clear about who I am.' She reeks of moxie and self confidence. And she’s fearless."Those who hoped and expected this would be a hit piece on Sarah Palin will be very disappointed. But those who are convinced that Schmidt is one of the leakers will be just as disappointed.
- JP
This is a great article. Who cares now about the leakers now anyway? With her resignation Sarah has cleared the deck in so many ways. And now that Sarah is free to really study and focus and prepare, I predict that when she steps forth people everywhere will be surprised by her strength and clarity and vision.
ReplyDeleteOne of the sad things is that McCain didn't (and still apparently doesn't) have the same attitude about "not letting Sarah down."