Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin (44 page)

Unfortunately, Sarah's change of venue to the national scene did not lessen our collective paranoia, either. Fear of leaks and sabotage migrated south with Sarah, fueled in part by my own insecurities. I wrote to her that,
“judging by the hard left news slant they take and some interviews I've seen on CNBC and Fox, I have every reason to believe that Yahoo upper management is supporting Obama's candidacy. . . . To be safe, we should assume that anything in a Yahoo account should be
considered available for snooping eyes by Yahoo company.”
We took measures to guard what we said on our Yahoo accounts from that day forward.

Throughout, Sarah complained about the focus on Bristol and her other children. Why should her daughter be the subject of conversation? We had little reason to believe that the Obama campaign played any part in the frenzy that emanated from blogs and tabloids. Despite that and her own consternation, Sarah was in favor of dragging Obama's and Biden's children into the discussion (and by extension, hers as well). Two weeks into the campaign, she asked in an email,
“Do Obama's kids attend public school? Did Bidens?
” She was angling to juxtapose her own kids' public education against the elitist private schooling of her rivals' children. To his credit, Sarah's chief handler from the McCain camp at the time, Tucker Eskew, replied bluntly,
“We're not going to be talking about anyone's kids.”
When I read that note, I applauded. Despite her frequent interpersonal myopia, Sarah should have had enough decency to never ask the question in the first place.

When Alaskan Republican congressman and former critic Don Young sent a message through Sarah's chief of staff that he'd like to speak to the vice presidential nominee, Sarah wrote,
“Pls find out what it's about. I don't want to get chewed out by him yet again, I'm not up for that.”
Incredibly, there was also a time when Sarah refused for months to be interviewed by conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham. In mid-2009, Laura sent me an email asking why Sarah had done every show but hers. I answered,
“Honestly? Someone has convinced her that she'll have to study for a week to do your show, which is BS.”
Even a Dan Fagan interview, far back in the campaign days, sent a shudder down Sarah's back. After accepting an invitation to appear to discuss her signature gas line plan in August 2006, she wrote,
“I'll be grilled by Fagan. I don't even want to go on that day. I do not trust him AT ALL. I don't know why others are thinking I should be there.”

In these avoidance behaviors, where, I wondered, was that Reagan-esque steely spine that Sarah admired so much and, in her own book,
eventually claimed she possessed? Was she ready to confront a world full of tough political leaders—individuals who would make Katie Couric, Laura Ingraham, Dan Fagan, and local congressman Don Young look like wet cotton candy?

This new campaign, from the very first day, resembled our two years in office: crisis, reaction, victimization of Sarah, and counterattack. Even from Alaska, those of us supposedly charged with running government were spending enormous amounts of time defending the governor-turned-national figure. Whenever Sarah asked for anything, I'd take care of it, whether that had to do with sorting out Todd's Alaskan Independence Party mess or trying to get Sarah booked on
The O'Reilly Factor
at Fox.

Sarah claimed to be in control of both her campaign and the state, but in hindsight, she seemed not so much in control of either. The best word to describe Sarah and Alaskan governance after September 1, 2008, is
disconnected
. From my perspective as director of boards and commissions, charged with recruiting individuals for dozens of state jobs, including judgeships, getting Sarah to focus and make decisions became impossible. There were forty or fifty board memberships per month that needed to be addressed, and approvals from her were not forthcoming. Sarah's Chief of Staff Nizich, in frustration, often resorted to making these decisions on his own. Government by chief of staff? That's not what Alaskans deserved, but Sarah refused to turn over the reins of power to Lieutenant Governor Parnell. Regardless of the governor's claims that everything was getting done and she was in communication with her team daily, plans for running the state by BlackBerry were not working. Every task became backlogged while decisions were made at the last minute and often without Sarah's input. If we thought her focus while in state was weak, we came to discover how out of focus she could really become.

At best, we muddled through.

From Kris Perry, who was on the campaign trail with Sarah, I got an earful of campaign gossip and, those reports made me wish to be a direct part of that inner circle. Kris spoke highly of Texas Governor Rick Perry, of whom, she said, Sarah had grown quite fond. Sarah also liked Joe Lieberman; he seemed genuine, concerned, caring, and full of integrity. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina was McCain's best friend, and they traveled together nearly everywhere. Kris and Sarah were not fond of Graham. McCain himself was absolutely and completely run by his staff, a robot that did whatever campaign manager Steve Schmidt told him to do.

Hearing these and other tidbits made it all sound like our own little Alaskan political cauldron but on steroids. In addition to missing the action, I felt as if the Palins needed me there. Friends encouraged that perception by asking, “Why aren't you with her?” Others suggested that, “Frank, you wouldn't be letting her parrot the same old responses she gave at the Republican Convention over and over. She needs you!”

The weeks after that August 29 announcement to the days just preceding the November 4 election were at times whirling by and other times a broken clock. Like studying for a big test, the load was excruciating, and I looked forward to having the process grade out. In this case, it was a pass or fail, win or lose, move on or come home. As November 1 arrived, I sensed a mounting level of optimism from Sarah. She seemed more energized, and many of the hounding inquiries had played out; the news cycle was finally focusing on poll numbers, red states versus blue states, mock electoral counts, and how much love Sarah Palin was generating everywhere she went.

All seemed better, if not quite perfect. Then, as if still wandering around in that dense fog of naiveté, Sarah once again slammed into a PR wall.

28
 

Losing the Presidency: Who's to Blame?

O
n November 1, 2008, there were only three days left before America would decide whether to make Sarah Palin a fixture in the West Wing or send her shuttling back to Alaska a loser, but forever transformed into a celebrity's celebrity. The numbers seemed to favor an Obama-Biden victory, but we knew that polls often didn't tell the whole story.

Having no impact on the McCain-Palin campaign was frustrating for me. The same sound bites played repeatedly by television ads and talking heads took the unhappy place of the 12,500 yard signs along Alaskan roadsides and banner-waving supporters on freeway overpasses. The days of scrimping pennies to buy a button-stamping machine were replaced by lobbyists' marshalling special interest millions into buying influence on all sides of the political spectrum. Could it be that we were only two years removed from chasing a governorship on a grassroots shoestring? Less than two years earlier, Sarah couldn't cut and paste on Word and drove around with expense and contributor receipts piling up in her backseat. Now she pretended to have expertise on international issues she had not heard of three months earlier. What did she know or care about Iranian nuclear proliferation? Until she had speech coaches train her, she couldn't pronounce
nuclear
any better than President George W. Bush. Given the lack of vetting by McCain, clearly he didn't care about any of this. Stage presence, charisma, looks, charm, youth, and the all-important gender factor mattered. With the larger stage, photogenic Sarah could still rally the troops like nobody before and might yet make a difference for the “weird” old guy who was dragging down their ticket. The new, nationwide legion of Palin devotees could yet carry the day. As we preached, people underestimated her at their peril.

Incredibly, I mostly still believed in the myth of Sarah and her ultimate mission. When she requested we pray for her, I joined others in imploring God to grant victory. Fighting mental suppression, however, a piece of me could see that she was in over her head, and I looked forward to having her return and recommit to our original more modest ambition of building a better Alaska. Troopergate pain notwithstanding, we Rag Tags had survived the worst, and the road, while bumpy, was no longer filled with land mines.

On that November 1 Saturday when she emailed that she was fasting for victory, I received a second Sarah email. She'd added the word
Help
to the subject line. Surprised, I clicked to open, but this time the tone was anything but positive. She was in emotional freefall.