When I first heard about that McCain insider who told tales out of school about Sarah Palin, I immediately thought those criticisms smacked of sour grapes and jealousy. Imagine a true McCain, cross the isle, centrist campaign worker now having to help the novice, but igniter of the conservative base upstart. No matter that she was happily minding her own business in Alaska when she got the tap for VP. She clearly energized the McCain campaign, and that can create jealousy.
One of the more scathing comments was that Palin did not know Africa was a continent. I immediately thought, well, 52% of Americans just elected a president who does not know America has 50, not 57 states or that Pakistan is an ally. Besides that, it could just be a slip of the tongue--much like we say Iran when meaning Iraq. We know the difference but misstate it.
Now it seems the "insider" M. Eisenstadt, who confessed to be the source for Carl Cameron's story, might not even exist. Martin Eisenstadt Tricks News Orgs On Being Source of Palin Dirt:
But it's not at all clear that Eisenstadt exists. William K. Wolfrum of Shakespeare's Sister, who was suckered by Eisenstadt during the campaign, did some digging and concluded,
"There is no M. Thomas Eisenstadt. There is no Eisenstadt Group. There
is no Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy. M. Thomas Eisenstadt
is a hoax."
To be clear, none of this means the Africa story
is false -- just that it didn't come from this source. Huffington Post
has been told on background that Martin Eisenstadt was not one of Fox
News correspondent Carl Cameron's sources.
Who knows who was the real source of Cameron's story. If we ever find him/her, there will probably be a bunch of sour grapes in their hand. But as for the confusion over Africa as a country or continent, was it just something like this? Chris Matthews Calls Africa a 'Country':
Matthews made his mistake in the course of posing a question to Larry Persily, a former member of Palin's gubernatorial staff.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: I've got to go to Larry first. You've got to answer this question, sir. Is this person unaware of basic grade-school information, like, Africa is a country of 57-or-so countries, it is not a country, it's a continent? South Africa is a country, not a region.
Clearly,
this was no more than a slip of the Matthews tongue [we wouldn't want
to unfairly undermine Chris's incipient Senate run]. After calling
Africa a country, he went on to call it a continent. But it ironically
illustrates how the alleged Palin knowledge gap might well have been
nothing more than a similar slip. (My emphasis here)
Before the camera cuts away,
Persily can be seen smiling wryly at Chris's miscue. For the record,
Persily answered that he didn't think it was plausible that Gov. Palin
is unaware of the kind of information Matthews described.
Speaking
of mistakes . . . note Matthews's reference to Africa's 57 countries.
Could that be what Barack Obama had in mind when he spoke of having visited 57 states in the USA?
I had not thought of that 57 African country angle, but it fits. Should we make a big thing about that? (No)
It is a general principle of mine that insiders should not divulge confidences and things taken out of context--especially when it damages a greater cause: the Republican's future.
The candidates and staff are under tremendous pressure and grueling schedules during a campaign. If we want good people to run for office, they need to at least know they will not be attacked by their own before or after the campaign.
A Senior Fellow at the Institute of Nonexistence: "...Martin Eisenstadt doesn't exist. His blog does, but it's a put-on."
Please, comment content should relate to the subject of the post. Although I try to respond to many, do not interpret my lack of a response as agreement.
Links:
Brookfield7, Fairly Conservative, Vicki Mckenna,
Jay Weber, The Right View Wisconsin, Mark Levin, CNS News
