I heard this live on the Fox Report, Shepard Smith's show. It was at the end of the show, a report done by Carl Cameron. But apparently the tensions and drama behind the scenes in the McCain Campaign were far, far worse than anyone in the media allowed us to believe.
According to Cameron,
Palin did NOT know Africa was a continent.
She did NOT know who the parties to NAFTA were.
She threw dramatic temper tantrums over bad press.
She refused to prepare for the Gibson or Couric interviews.
Cameron reported that the McCain camp thought the interview was fair, although they didn't like the media's snarky reaction to it.
The update with the video and a blurb on the Cameron piece from Fox News follows below the fold.
Here's a partial transcript:
Smith: Now that the election is over, Carl, tell us more about those reports of infighting between Palin and McCain staffers.
Cameron: I wish I could have told you more at the time but all of it was put off the record until after the election. There was great concern in the McCain campaign that Sarah Palin lack the degree of knowledgeability necessary to be a running mate, a vice president, and a heartbeat away from the presidency. We’re told by folks that she didn’t know what countries that were in NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, that being the Canada, the US, and Mexico. We’re told she didn’t understand that Africa was a continent rather than a country just in itself ... a whole host of questions that caused serious problems about her knowledgeability. She got very angry at staff, thought that she was mishandled.....was particularly angry about the way the Katie Couric interview went. She didn’t accept preparation for that interview when the aides say that that was part of the problem. And that there were times that she was hard to control emotionally there's talk of temper tantrums at bad news clippings......
Notwithstanding that there is to be an avalanche that will continue for many days now we’re told of stoy upon story of the foibles of Sarah Palin.
Here's the teaser from the site:
PHOENIX, AZ-Breaking news from FNC chief political correspondent Carl Cameron, who spoke to several senior McCain aides a little while ago who tell him " that there is no path" to victory for John McCain now, after Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Mexico have fallen into the Obama column. Cameron being told by insiders that more behind-the-scenes info will be revealed in the following days about the friction between the Palin camp and certain parts of the McCain camp, including Gov. Palin’s apparent refusal of interview prep before the infamous Katie Couric , and Charlie Gibson network interviews.
My memory is that he was told this information before the election but was asked to keep it quiet and did. (see update with video, he did keep it from the public).
Is there any doubt that the knives are drawn and aimed at Palin? If she's coming back to be the leader of a reborn GOP, she'll have a lot to overcome.
I'll update with a video link as soon as I find it.
Juicy Gossipy Update:
CNN's Political Ticker reports that Randy Scheunemann (the McCain foreign policy advisor whose clients included the government of the Republic of Georgia) was fired last week for trashing the campaign staff (i.e., yakking to the press). Dana Bash notes that Scheunemann had "bonded" with Palin.
Randy Scheunemann, a senior foreign policy adviser to John McCain, was fired from the Arizona senator’s campaign last week for what one aide called "trashing" the campaign staff, three senior McCain advisers tell CNN.
One of the aides tells CNN that campaign manager Rick Davis fired Scheunemann after determining that he had been in direct contact with journalists spreading "disinformation" about campaign aides, including Nicolle Wallace and other officials.
"He was positioning himself with Palin at the expense of John McCain’s campaign message," said one of the aides.
Senior campaign officials blame Schuenemann specifically for stories about the way Wallace and chief campaign strategist Steve Schmidt mishandled Palin’s rollout — stories that the campaign says threw them off message in the critical final weeks of the campaign.
Another aide said McCain personally was "very disappointed by Randy," who worked for McCain for many years in the Senate.
Scheunemann became close with Palin during her debate prep process.
Are we all Scheunemanns now?
Can't wait for the tell-alls!