The Note

Washington's Original and Most Influential Tipsheet

Rick Klein is ABC News' Senior Political Reporter and author of The Note's morning look at the upcoming day in politics. Throughout the day, ABC News' political team contributes to The Note with the very latest news and analysis from the nation's capital.

To email Rick Klein, click here.

July 2009
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31

« Previous | Main | Next »

Can Palin Come Back if She Doesn’t Go Away?

January 14, 2009 12:01 PM

Abc_rick_klein_081203_mainABC News’ Rick Klein Reports: When Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., lost the election, the advice for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was close to universal: Go away for a while, to prime yourself for a comeback down the road.

Palin had the perfect place to disappear: home. She could go back to running a state, maybe run for re-election in 2010. Up in Alaska, she’d be safely out of the media glare while she prepped for a presidential run in 2012, or whatever other plans she has for the future.

But she has hit a detour on her way to silence: herself. Palin is everywhere, fighting and refighting the battles that dogged her during the campaign.

Last week came word of an interview in which she sounded off anew about her handlers in the McCain campaign, Caroline Kennedy and media bias, with particularly harsh words for Katie Couric. (“Katie,” she said, “you’re not the center of everybody’s universe.”)

Now comes Palin in a "What I've Learned" piece in the Esquire, where she takes on the media, again:

“Bored, anonymous, pathetic bloggers who lie annoy me,” she says. “I'll tell you, yesterday the Anchorage Daily News, they called again to ask -- double-, triple-, quadruple-check -- who is Trig's real mom. And I said, 'Come on, are you kidding me? We're gonna answer this? Do you not believe me or my doctor?' And they said, 'No, it's been quite cryptic the way that my son's birth has been discussed.' And I thought, 'OK, more indication of continued problems in the world of journalism.'”

The latest round of Palin comments prompted this from James Rainey, the Los Angeles Times’ media critic:

“Sarah Palin said she'd prove all her doubters wrong," Rainey writes. "She'd stick to her job running Alaska, she said after the election. She'd do top-notch work. And she'd steer clear of those nasty national politics.”

“It just might work one day, if the good governor can get a grip on her other self, the one that can't resist pontificating, ducking responsibility for her own stumbling statements and taking off after that Great Satan, the media.”

Americans love comeback stories. But can you have a comeback if you don’t ever really go away?

ABC’s Imtiyaz Delawala points out that Palin is also playing media critic in a fight with the most influential newspaper in her home state. She recently engaged in a fiery e-mail spat with the editors of the Anchorage Daily News.

This is from an e-mail message the governor sent the newspaper’s editors:

“Hello Mr. Doyle and Mr. Dougherty!

“Please, say it aint so: did you really allow a story to run in your paper today claiming Levi Johnston is a high school drop out? Did I read that right?

“And did you really print a story last week suggesting I had any connection with Sherry Johnston's activities in the past six months or so and you won't correct the story? Did I read that right?

“And is your paper really still pursuing the sensational lie that I am not Trig's mother? Is it true you have a reporter still bothering my state office, my very busy doctor (who's already set the record straight for you), and the school district, in pursuit of your ridiculous conspiracy?

“And, oh, I could go on . . .

“Come on Mr. Doyle and Mr. Dougherty, I so desperately want to have even a tiny bit of faith in the ADN. You're stripping me of even a shred of faith in your reporting if any of the recent aforementioned strange and untrue reports were taken seriously by the ADN. Would you shed some light on what you're thinking regarding these false reports you've pursued and/or printed?”

January 14, 2009 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (269)

User Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

She will be back, but this time she better understand more such as the Bush Doctrine of Preemptive War.

Posted by: Huh | Jan 14, 2009 12:13:59 PM

Governor Palin will run and win the presidential election in 2012. Her record of accomplishment will be compared to Obama's failure over the next four years.

In four years, the change mantra will belong to anyone except Obama. Change will finally come to Washington in the form of a true reformer, a tireless advocate of smaller government, and a person who is intelligent enough to understand why our founding fathers granted favored strong states over a strong federal government.

Posted by: James | Jan 14, 2009 12:21:23 PM

In 2012 Sarah Palin will run against Obama and his surrogates in the press. I will place my money on the governor from the great state of Alaska.

Posted by: Jenny | Jan 14, 2009 12:26:03 PM

Palin is an idiot

Posted by: judy | Jan 14, 2009 12:27:26 PM

Yeah, she can come back so the rest of us can have some more laughs. She's toast as far as a legitimate politician though. It's kind of like thinking William Hung is a serious recording artist after his version of "She Bangs".

Posted by: BraveBrick | Jan 14, 2009 12:28:53 PM

“Katie,” she said, “you’re not the center of everybody’s universe.”

But she was the center of yours for that interview and you blew it.

Posted by: Mocha Joe | Jan 14, 2009 12:29:17 PM

I wish she'd go away...and STAY AWAY!

Posted by: Sabrina | Jan 14, 2009 12:30:15 PM

The Witch of Wasilla is yesterday's news. She's scratching and clawing to stay in the public eye, but the vast majority of us have had enough of this moronic bumpkin. She's been exiled back to Alaska where she belongs. That's enough for me!

Posted by: Toby2957 | Jan 14, 2009 12:30:48 PM

Can you believe anyone could be this ridiculously ignorant. This is not crazy like a fox as Chris Matthews would like us to think. This is just stupid.

Posted by: hang | Jan 14, 2009 12:33:18 PM

Message to Governor Palin: Sarah, you're not the center of everybody's universe either. Now please go away.

Posted by: Kitty Wilberforce | Jan 14, 2009 12:33:35 PM

James.... Sarah Palin sounds stupid... I didn't vote for McCain because of her. I don't want someone who doesn't sound like me. I do not speak the lingo she speaks and I don't want her representing me.

Posted by: truth | Jan 14, 2009 12:33:37 PM

Palin needs to hang it up already. What a losing jerk who has no sense of class whatsoever, a slut for a daughter, a loser for a future son-in-law and of course the "hide her in the closet" in-law that dispenses drugs without a pharmaceutical license. As for the paternity of Trigg... still wondering how she could take a 10 hour flight home after her "ater broke". When it is your 5th child, things move along rather swiftly... and I defy anyone to produce a picture of her while "expecting" Trigg, belly in full bloom - and don't try to tell me she is physically fit enough to hide it. That's hog wash.

Posted by: What is that rancid smell? | Jan 14, 2009 12:34:48 PM

James -- what have you been smoking?

Posted by: amp | Jan 14, 2009 12:35:53 PM

Obama's Treasurary Secretary who cant pay his FICA taxes should be the story, not an outstanding Governor who follows the law and gets things done!

Posted by: Casandra | Jan 14, 2009 12:39:57 PM

truth, you do not get to decide alone who our next president will be. We all have a say in that. Governor Palin will make a great president just as she has been a great governor. Nothing will change in Washington until we elect someone who has the vision and stength to enact real change. There just isn't anyone out there with the kind of record for reform that Governor Palin has.

Governor Palin has a support site that already has 65000 dedicated people ready to assist her in her run in 2012. She is not going to go away. The libs and their allies in the press understand this and that is why they are attacking her. The attacks will backfire just as they did when they tried to destroy Reagan.

Posted by: James | Jan 14, 2009 12:40:34 PM

oh you people are pathetic. What is it exactly that you all hate about her. That she's smart, believes in god and family and life. such terrible traits to have!! if she had the big D before her name with the same traits, you'd lover her. You all just hate any republican.

Posted by: Jami17 | Jan 14, 2009 12:41:09 PM

How many comments here were posted by Palin herself ?

Posted by: kevin | Jan 14, 2009 12:41:59 PM

The writers of this piece must be like 8 years old. When you're 8 years old, perhaps the 9 week period that hat elapsed since the election feels like forever. Perhaps it seems so long because they are impatient for their messiah to take office?
Palin has been deluged with requests for interviews and appearances since the election ended. Even people like the big 'O' who had no place for her while they were working on getting 'the one' elected are suddenly interested in speaking with her. Have no fear ABC. This nation in general, and people who rely on television for their news in particular, have the mental faculties of fruit flies. They'll forget all about Sarah Palin soon enough.

Posted by: Christopher McElree | Jan 14, 2009 12:42:44 PM

I LONG for the day Palin disappears from the news. She is no longer entertaining - she is pathetic. She won't be nominated for anything in 2012, since the GOP realized that she almost singlehandedly lost the presidential election for them. Better yet for us Dems, maybe we should encourage her to run, thus ensuring us another victory.

Posted by: Catherine Cumming | Jan 14, 2009 12:43:52 PM

Of the four candidates in 2008 (Obama, McCain, Palin, Biden) she was the most qualified to be PRESIDENT.

-Most executive experience
-Most government reforms implemented
-Understood energy, national security and the economy better than the other three
-Broadest and most diverse list of accomplishments out of the four of them
-Highest approval rating of any governor in the nation

After 4 years of a calamitous, Socialistic economy, threats to our national security, staggering inflation and civil unrest, Obama will be drummed out of office.

The good-lookin', sharp-shootin', self-made gal with the experience, the know-how and the common touch is going to put this country back on track in 2012.

Thanks Libs, for electing a complete doofus into an office he's woefully unqualified for. It'll make Sarah Palin's 2012 victory that much easier - - and sweeter. You betcha! ;)

Posted by: BlofeldBuildings | Jan 14, 2009 12:43:55 PM

Post a comment