Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro and Kelly Paice
NBC's Andrea Mitchell interviewed Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
Here is some of what Steele had to say about Sarah Palin. A clip is below with text after the jump.
HERE'S THE FULL VIDEO.
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From NBC’s Domenico Montanaro
Sarah Palin released the second leg of her “Going Rogue” book tour yesterday, including a stop in Fort Hood.
“I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in every stop on the tour, but I'm especially looking forward to meeting our brave men and women in uniform at Fort Hood,” Palin said on her Facebook page. “I'm joining the efforts of many others by donating my royalties from the book sales during our stop at Fort Hood to the families of the victims whose lives have been forever changed by the tragic events of November 5th. I am humbled to be able to join the larger effort called ‘Community Response to 11/5,’ which was established by the Central Texas-Fort Hood Chapter of the Association of the US Army (AUSA).”
Yesterday, Palin said, "I think that there were massive warning flags that were missed all over the place and I think that it was quite unfortunate that, to me, it was a fear of being politically incorrect to not -- I am going to use the word -- profile this guy -- profile in the sense of finding out what his radical beliefs were. … Now, because I used the word 'profile' I am going to get clobbered tomorrow morning. The liberals, their heads are just going to be spinning. They're going to say 'she is radical, she is extreme.' "
Palin did not specify what she meant by “profile,” widely and generally believed to be a reference to focusing on groups of people by race, religion or otherwise. There certainly was seemingly enough evidence that Army Major Nadal Hasan was not a competent psychiatrist without “profiling” him. But, NPR reported, that Hasan’s religion may have been a factor in him being passed – despite his poor marks. And the FBI has said it was aware of Hasan’s communications with a radical Imam prior to the shooting, but deemed them not necessarily evidence of so-called radical views.
Hardly “liberals,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen gave differing views than Palin on profiling.
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From NBC's Mark Murray
John McCain today picked up the phone and called Reuters to defend Steve Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace -- who worked for him in the last year's presidential campaign -- from the charges that Sarah Palin has made about them in her book.
"There's been a lot of dust flying around in the last few days and I just wanted to mention that I have the highest regard for Steve Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace and the rest of the team ... and I appreciated all the hard work and everything they did to help the campaign," he said.
"I think it's just time to move on," he said.
[snip]
"Campaigns are high-pressure situations. The only more high-pressure situation that I've been in is combat and prison," said McCain, a Navy flyer shot down during the Vietnam War and held prisoner for 5 1/2 years.
"But you know, I'm proud of Nicolle and Steve and (senior campaign official) Rick Smith [sic] and (senior adviser) Mark Salter and I'll always have great affection for them," he said.
McCain, who has largely kept silent in the high-profile run-up to Palin's book release and tour, said he remained proud of Palin, whom he plucked from obscurity as governor of Alaska last year to join him in his campaign.
"I'm still really proud of her and the campaign she ran and I think it's pretty obvious that she has a substantial base and interest out there," McCain said.
*** UPDATE *** Reuters has since corrected its version -- with Rick Davis, not Rick Smith.
From MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell and Adam Verdugo
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Huge lines this morning meant a record number of book sales at the Grand Rapids Barnes & Noble.
A spokeswoman for Harper Collins tells NBC News more than 1,000 copies of "Going Rogue" have been sold. The bookstore has already run out of wristbands for those standing in line since early this morning. That means the rest of those who waited in the cold will likely not get a chance to get their book signed by Sarah Palin tonight.
Palin will arrive this afternoon in Grand Rapids and is scheduled to tape an interview for "The 700 Club" and Christian Broadcasting Network correspondent David Brody. The interview is scheduled to air on Thursday morning.
Video:
The Politico's Ben Smith talks about what message Sarah Palin may be sending to the people of Michigan by making the state the start of her book tour.
From NBC's Mark Whitaker
Sarah Palin hardly needs defending. She prides herself on being a supportive hockey mom, but she can lace on skates and deliver hard checks into the glass with the best of them. Still, while watching and listening to a lot of the media discussion of the rollout of her book, I can't help noting that some of the coverage is more than a little selective, and hypocritical.
Still, the widespread suggestion in some of the media commentary that she simply isn’t qualified enough to be considered a viable presidential candidate is ridiculous.
NBC's Mark Murray on Palin's rough year. and Palin timeline here.
For male politicians, it’s always been a rule of thumb in politics and the media that once you were on a presidential ticket, you were automatically elevated onto the short list of contenders for future races. If George H.W. Bush had lost in 1988, does anyone think Dan Quayle would not have been talked about as a potential candidate for 1992, even with all the political flaws he revealed in that race? Would the media have taken John Edwards as seriously in 2008 if he hadn’t been John Kerry’s running mate in 2004?
Call it sexism or what you will, but why should the media only compare ambitious women to impressive men, when so many ambitious but underwhelming men get so far in this world? Is she qualified to be President? If she decides to run, that’s a judgment for voters to make, not us in the media.
For the full story, click here.
Mark Whitaker is NBC News' Washington Bureau Chief.
From NBC's Andrea Mitchell
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- More than 1,500 people camped out overnight outside the Woodland Mall here for the chance to return later and get a book signed by Sarah Palin -- the first stop on her book tour.
People had driven for hours to get in line for an orange wristband and instructions to return and line up later. Palin is expected to be signing books from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Mall operators say she'd have to sign one book every 15 seconds to get through everyone with a wristband so far.
Those lined up here in battleground Michigan are hard-core Palin fans. Many are women who say they relate to Palin because "she's an ordinary person."
Another told me that she's "inspired by a woman who started from nothing."
"She means what she says, says what she means."
People were wrapped up in blankets, a few had strollers, and some elderly people had walkers. Some dads had secured a place in line and were later joined by the rest of the family. Many people said they'd made it a holiday, taking a motel room nearby. Two students, both young women, came from Michigan State. One said she viewed Palin as a celebrity better qualified to host a talk show than to be president. But most of the others in line were unqualified political supporters, who said they wanted to see Palin in the White House.
Many were sporting 2008 buttons and stickers from the McCain-Palin campaign.
From Michigan, Palin goes to Indiana tomorrow for another signing.
Oprah Winfrey’s much-anticipated interview with Sarah Palin aired yesterday, featuring the former vice presidential candidate’s musings on politics, pregnancies, and porn. Speaking about her handlers on the campaign trail with John McCain, Palin said, “If I were to respond to a reporter's questions very candidly, honestly -- for instance, they say, ‘What do you think about the campaign pulling out of Michigan?’ And I think, ‘Darn, I wish we weren't. Every vote matters. Can't wait to get back to Michigan,’ and then told afterwards that, ‘Oh, you screwed up. You went rogue on us, Sarah.’”
On resigning from her governorship in July: “It was a point where my state, the state that I so dearly love -- it is my home, it is where I will be buried. My state of Alaska was being hampered by my presence there, being shackled behind a governor's desk. I wasn't able to get out there and talk about issues that were important to me, or an ethics violation would be filed.”
On her daughter Bristol’s pregnancy: “If we had been given that allowance to deal with the issue in a more productive way, we perhaps could have sent a better message about "this is not to be glamorized." It's not to be emulated. It is a tough, tough challenge, and it is a problem in America, so let's try to deal with it.” Palin also touched on her own struggles when pregnant with Trig, to the point when abortion crossed her mind. “It was easy to understand why a woman would feel that it's easier to just do away with some less-than-ideal circumstances, to do away with the problem,” she said.
And although Levi is invited to Thanksgiving dinner, Palin said she might have to call him a different name: “I hear he goes by the name Ricky Hollywood now. So if that's the case, we don't want to mess up his gig he's got going. Kind of this aspiring--aspiring porn, some of the things that he's doing. It's kind of heartbreaking.”
By the way, John McCain himself says the $50,000 bill Palin was so appalled the campaign wouldn't pay was for the "Troopergate" scandal and NOT for vetting her.
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From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Sarah Palin is no fan of the DC Republican establishment. But one group with which she still has a pretty good relationship: the Republican Governors Association.
She's now offering "individually signed 'Going Rogue' limited edition copies" for a $100 contribution to the RGA.
Remember that during the '09 elections, Palin also plugged the RGA on her Facebook page and solicited donations for it. She and the group's executive director Nick Ayers knew each other before she was picked as McCain's veep, since she used to be a governor.
From NBC's Mark Murray
Here's a piece one of us wrote on MSNBC.com about Sarah Palin's rough year since last November's presidential contest, and whether or not she can make a political comeback.
Despite all the money and attention former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s autobiography is expected to draw as it hits bookshelves this week, it’s difficult to think of a national political figure who’s had a rougher year than the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee.
Consider President Barack Obama with the ups and downs in his first year in office. Or Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who's facing a tough re-election bid and the difficult task of getting 60 votes to pass health care through his chamber. And don't forget the leaders of the Republican party who are out of power and have seen the GOP’s poll numbers decline.
But from the moment the 2008 campaign ended until her surprising resignation as Alaska governor in July, Palin has endured political setbacks, suffered through embarrassing revelations, became the subject of ethics complaints (most of which were dismissed), and even feuded with a late-night comedian and the father of her grandchild.
You can click here for the rest of the article.
Video:
A Morning Meeting Panel talks about the upcoming release of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's memoirs and the effect it will have on her political career.
From MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell
Sen. John McCain's longtime friend and former chief of staff, Mark Salter, has just issued a statement about Palin's accusations.
Salter, who co-authored McCain's books, defends Nicolle Wallace's actions throughout the campaign. Palin suggests in the book that Wallace was a double-agent for Couric because Wallace had worked at CBS News prior to the campaign.
From Salter:
"After we had been criticized in the press for a lack of disciplined messaging earlier in the campaign when we provided frequent and unscheduled access to the candidate, we felt it necessary to adopt the same deliberativeness and discipline employed by our opponents and rely less on impromptu press conferences with our traveling press, and more on interviews arranged in advance so our candidates would have the same opportunity our opponents enjoyed to discuss and prepare for the interview.
"Approximately one week elapsed from Governor Palin's nomination to her first major press interview, the first in a series of major interviews Governor Palin did. Those interviews were discussed and agreed to by senior members of the campaign staff in consultation with the candidates. Nicolle Wallace, along with others, was tasked with helping the Governor prepare for some of her interviews. She did not decide which interview requests the candidates would accept. Nor was she tasked with securing the candidates' agreement. Those decisions were made by campaign management in consultation with the candidates. Campaign management and the candidates agreed to multi segment interviews so the Governor would maintain a presence in the media while she was in debate prep. And to the best of my knowledge, any interviews the Governor had with the individuals she referred to were approved and arranged by the campaign management with her agreement."
