By Mary Ann Akers - Washington Post
At least one former campaign aide to 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is rushing to her defense in light of the lengthy and blistering profile of the Alaska governor in Vanity Fair.
David Welch a veteran campaign operative and behind-the-scenes researcher for the McCain-Palin campaign takes issue with the anonymous quotes attributed to other former campaign aides in the magazine piece.
Welch who was deputy research director on the campaign says he was shocked by the Vanity Fair article and the allegations made by former staffers.
Significant parts of the story are based on half truths and gossip from staffers who refused to go on the record Welch said in a statement e-mailed to the Sleuth which will be circulated more widely this afternoon. Purdum did not include quotes from pro-Palin staffers (Mike Goldfarb Randy Scheunemann have been outspoken in their support) - a clear sign of biased hit piece. If that doesnt convince you the countless cheap shots and comparison of Palin to Nixon should.
Purdum it should be noted does quote John Coale who established Palins political action committee SarahPAC at length.
Welch also defended Palins spokeswoman Meg Stapleton who Purdum criticizes in the magazine piece for her continued -- and frankly puzzling -- use of a personal e-mail address rather than her state government account. Welch suggested Purdum was upset that Stapleton denied his request for an interview with Palin.
Purdum describes Stapleton in the piece as someone who has drawn withering fire from Palin friends and critics alike for being an ineffective adviser.
The Vanity Fair article was unfair and did not reflect the tremendous amount of respect and pride other staff felt working for her Welch added. This article simply accentuated the negative and eliminated the positive.
Among Purdums many colorful descriptions of Palin is this paragraph:
But there were ominous signs--indications of an erratic nature. This is the third thing McCain could have discovered about Palin--a woman after all who kept a pregnancy secret for seven months flew all the way home from Texas to Alaska with a near-full-term baby while leaking amniotic fluid and then finally drove the 45 minutes from Anchorage to a hospital in Wasilla all so that the child could be born in the 49th state.
Palin was for the infamous Gravina Island bridge to nowhere before she was against it and reversed herself only when such pork-barrel projects prompted a nationwide backlash. As governor she hired several old high-school hometown or political friends with minimal qualifications for important state jobs.
One friend a former mid-level manager for Alaska Airlines headed the department that reviewed candidates for state boards and commissions; another became director of the state Division of Agriculture citing a childhood love of cows as one qualification. Palin communicated with legislators and her staff mainly by BlackBerry sometimes using a personal e-mail account to avoid having to disclose documents under the state public-records laws.
