Palin, a female Giuliani?
Posted: Thursday, October 02, 2008 5:31 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Sarah Palin
From NBC's Aram Roston
In Alaska, everyone now knows, Sarah Palin is treated like a treasure. Even if her popularity has dwindled a bit in the last few weeks as the Alaskans wonder if their government has been taken over by the McCain campaign, the governor's ratings are still sky-high. That means that some of those who oppose her often do so in secret, especially when the flood of reporters came to town in September.
“She has the ability to make men stupid,” one woman active in Republican politics told me.
Her comment seemed as good as any at explaining McCain's vice presidential candidate. And of course this woman was one of a minority in Alaska: those who despise Sarah Palin. For the truth is quite clear, after I spent three weeks in Alaska, Palin inspires love and loyalty on the one hand, and fear and hatred on the other. She is, above all, divisive.
In some ways, as I interviewed Alaskans about her, it became clear that she seemed to have the attributes of another politician I had once covered, thousands of miles away. She could be seen as a female version of the younger Rudolph Giuliani. It seemed almost fitting that he introduced her at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, his flashing charisma a buildup to her own. They are counterweights to each other.
Even her remarkable political ascent seems to parallel his. She and McCain lose no opportunity to point to the way she took on the “good ol' boy” network of the Republican Party. And so she did, launching an assault on ethics violations by the Chairman of Alaska's Republican Party.
Giuliani too, who made his mark as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, had once clashed with the New York Republican Party. In the 80s he was known to have tense relations with then Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, then seen as the power broker of the Republican Party. The public learned, apparently from Giuliani's office, that D'Amato had interceded on behalf of known Mafia figures Paul Castellano and Vincent "The Chin" Gigante. And in 1994, Giuliani even endorsed a Democrat for governor instead of D'Amato's chosen pick.
For Palin, as she ran for governor, it was her rejection of the state's Republicans that helped her achieve her stature as a politician who soared above party lines. Her most important enemies in Alaska were the entrenched Republicans
Like Giuliani, she is surrounded by a team of fanatically loyal operatives. Giuliani had Christina Lategano and Randy Mastro. Mastro has stayed with him for more than 20 years, a remora fish that would never leave. Palin, though, has her Meg Stapleton, who does daily briefings for her, attacking those who have slighted her in Alaska. She has her political aides like Frank Bailey, or her administrative aide Ivy Frye, who emailed her, “You're so awesome.”
Also like Giuliani, Palin seems to have a vindictive side. I remember how Giuliani, back as mayor of New York, used to enforce his will on those who slighted him. The New York Times ran an article this year recalling how, when former mayors Dinkins and Koch critiqued then-Mayor Giuliani, their official portraits were quickly removed from public view in City Hall.
Once when a driver in The Bronx exposed Mayor Giuliani to ridicule by uncovering a police red light trap near the Bronx Zoo, the NYPD put the man in cuffs on a 13-year-old traffic warrant.
“Mr. Schillaci was posing as an altruistic whistle-blower,” Mayor Giuliani weighed in. “Maybe he's dishonest enough to lie about police officers.”
Sarah Palin, of course, seems to settle a score with a vengeance.
“She carries a grudge,” as one official in Alaska put it.
It was this that seemed to drive her and her gubernatorial administration as they pushed to end the career of a state trooper who had a clashed with the Palin family during a custody battle with Palin's sister.
