Palin Calls Critical McCain Aides ‘Jerks’

Sarah Palin is firing back. After the last 48 hours brought more revelations on Palinisms, the Governor of Alaska is responding.

Palin told reporters the attacks are “cruel and it’s mean-spirited, it’s immature, it’s unprofessional, and those guys are jerks.”

Lets first review what we have learned of late. The McCain campaign has logged several complaints about Palin. They range from the $150,000 spending spree, the prank call Palin took from someone claiming to be the President of France, her insistence upon speaking on Election Night, and the general sense that she was looking ahead at 2012 more than working for the 2008 effort.

Then, Carl Cameron of Fox News reported unnamed McCain sources said Palin did not know that Africa was a continent, she thought it was a country, and she could not name the member nations of NAFTA.

Palin told reporters in Alaska that the anonymous criticism was “cowardly,” and that she had discussed the campaign’s position on Nafta at her debate prep sessions. “I remember having a discussion with a couple of debate preppers,” she said. “So if it came from one of those debate preppers, you know, that’s curious. But having a discussion about Nafta — not, ‘Oh my goodness, I don’t know who is a part of Nafta.’ ”

It is true that unnamed sourcing is too shadowy to be given full and total recognition. However, given Palin’s general failure to answer other easy questions on domestic and international affairs, it does seem plausible that she didn’t know other basic facts about the world. It would be much better if the McCain staff would come out on the record so we knew who was making these claims.

Calling the now famous shopping spree as, “Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast,” the McCain team has done plenty to tarnish the image of Palin.

While this blog has been no friend to Sarah Palin there is a point here that needs to be remembered - McCain chose her! Palin didn’t just arrive magically one day in Ohio and say ‘you betcha, I am here to be your VP nominee.’ The Republican Party nominee for President of the United States, John McCain, selected her. To now attack Palin is as much a recrimination on the McCain team as it is Palin.

Now the McCain campaign is gone. But Palin is still around and should become a serious player in the race for 2012, despite the best efforts of the McCain team.

If in fact the charges against her are true, the unnamed sources should come forward for the good of the country. No one with that kind of incompetence should be even considered as a presidential candidate, let alone actually run for the office.