Mark Levin defends Sarah Palin's loyalty to McCain

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On the Mark Levin Show Thursday, The Great One rose to Sarah Palin's defense when a caller slammed the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate for her loyalty to her former running mate John McCain (at about the 31-minute mark):

Caller: What about Sarah Palin's endorsement of McCain? What's the story on that? She's supposed to be rogue, and it seems like a "Scratch my back, I'll scratch your back" thing. I don't know. I'm a little bummed out on her.

Levin: Well, listen. My guess is that McCain chose her to be his running mate, and she feels a level of loyalty to him. Now, that doesn't mean you have to support McCain. I have already announced that I support J.D. Hayworth, but my opinion on Sarah Palin is very high. It has not changed, and if she does it out of loyalty, you know, loyalty is a virtue as well, my friend.

Caller: That's true. I'll buy that. However, it seems to me that it's a routine like she's just another one of the [unintelligible word] or whatever. I don't know...

Levin: I don't think so. Not in any way. She's taken a lot of abuse. If you listen to her in these various interviews as I do, she's very thoughtful, very solid. And I'm guessing she's supporting McCain out of loyalty. I don't have to have any loyalty to McCain. I have loyalty to J.D. in this case because of my view that he's clearly the most conservative. On the other hand, I understand if Sarah Palin wants to back John McCain. I wouldn't vote for John McCain, but I understand her loyalty. And that really doesn't bother me that much.

Caller: All right. Well, I understand she is in a "Scratch my back, I'll scratch your back" kind of thing with him, and...

Levin: No, no, it's not "scratch your..." She's not getting anything out of backing him. In fact, she's getting some conservatives like you who are questioning her. So it's not like she's doing it to get a favor from him. He can't deliver her anything.

Caller: Right.

Levin: So if it's "Scratch your back, scratch my back" you have to assume you're getting something in return, and she's not. But now that you mention it, I could use a good back scratch, to be perfectly honest with you.

Caller: Well, you keep it up, Mark. I appreciate how great a voice you are in this dark world out here, especially in this L.A. area. So, there's a lot of us who listen to you, and I just thank you so much for everything you're doing.

Levin: Well, you're a good man, my brother, and God bless. And I appreciate you.

Caller: God bless you. When we get to heaven, I want to meet you, all right?

Levin: Ah, aren't you sweet, and thank you, my friend. And let's not do that too fast. Okay? We've got a little time left. I'm a big Sarah Palin fan. And by the way, she's a big Rush Limbaugh fan. Don't let the folks at Politico twist what Sarah Palin's spokeswoman said and so forth. Everything's copacetic.

- JP