NYT's Bumiller Attacks Palin

The New York Times is taking a guns blazing approach to Sarah Palin.

It's no surprise that the hit piece comes courtesy of John McCain's nemesis, Elisabeth Bumiller.

She's acting like a loony Lefty blogger, or an unhinged host of an MSNBC program.

A series of disclosures about Gov. Sarah Palin, Senator John McCain’s choice as running mate, called into question on Monday how thoroughly Mr. McCain had examined her background before putting her on the Republican presidential ticket.

On Monday morning, Ms. Palin and her husband, Todd, issued a statement saying that their 17-year-old unmarried daughter, Bristol, was five months pregnant and that she intended to marry the father.

Among other less attention-grabbing news of the day: it was learned that Ms. Palin now has a private lawyer in a legislative ethics investigation in Alaska into whether she abused her power in dismissing the state’s public safety commissioner; that she was a member for two years in the 1990s of the Alaska Independence Party, which has at times sought a vote on whether the state should secede; and that Mr. Palin was arrested 22 years ago on a drunken-driving charge.

Aides to Mr. McCain said they had a team on the ground in Alaska now to look more thoroughly into Ms. Palin’s background. A Republican with ties to the campaign said the team assigned to vet Ms. Palin in Alaska had not arrived there until Thursday, a day before Mr. McCain stunned the political world with his vice-presidential choice. The campaign was still calling Republican operatives as late as Sunday night asking them to go to Alaska to deal with the unexpected candidacy of Ms. Palin.

Although the McCain campaign said that Mr. McCain had known about Bristol Palin’s pregnancy before he asked her mother to join him on the ticket and that he did not consider it disqualifying, top aides were vague on Monday about how and when he had learned of the pregnancy, and from whom.

While there was no sign that her formal nomination this week was in jeopardy, the questions swirling around Ms. Palin on the first day of the Republican National Convention, already disrupted by Hurricane Gustav, brought anxiety to Republicans who worried that Democrats would use the selection of Ms. Palin to question Mr. McCain’s judgment and his ability to make crucial decisions.

At the least, Republicans close to the campaign said it was increasingly apparent that Ms. Palin had been selected as Mr. McCain’s running mate with more haste than McCain advisers initially described.

In typical New York Times fashion, Bumiller throws a bunch of stuff against the wall hoping something will stick. She gives reaction to revelations about Palin and her family. Much of what's presented in the article comes from unnamed sources and unnamed aides.

Bumiller really appears to be openly campaigning against John McCain, trying to stir doubts among his supporters and the supporters of Palin. She's trying to squash the enthusiasm.

Bumiller suggests that McCain failed to properly vet Palin and that raises serious questions about his decision-making.

(An Associated Press article by Liz Sidoti gives another side of the story.)

Bumiller writes that McCain really wanted Joe Lieberman to be his running mate. He was still hoping to name him as his VP choice just 48 to 72 hours before he announced Sarah Palin as his selection.

That seems like an effort to get all those Republicans and conservatives so energized by Palin's selection to be angry with McCain. That's not going to work.

Lieberman isn't McCain's running mate. Case closed.

About the vetting--

What is this crap about Mr. Palin being arrested 22 years ago on a drunken driving charge?

Why would that disqualify Sarah Palin?

Barack Obama openly admits to illicit drug use, pot and coke. Are we really supposed to get upset about a drunken driving charge for Todd Palin when he was 22? That's ancient history.

First lady Betty Ford's drug and alcohol dependence was not something in her distance past; yet she was applauded for her candor on the matter, not condemned.

The ethics investigation into Palin's activities is no surprise. It's not an issue.

Palin's two years as a member of the Alaskan Independence Party is no big deal. That pales in comparison to Obama's TWENTY years spent as a member of Jeremiah Wright's church and his allegiance to black liberation theology.

How can someone who considered his anti-American, racist, anti-Semitic pastor to be his mentor and dedicated his book to the man be trusted in the White House?

Furthermore, how can someone who pals around and is "friendly" with proud terrorist Bill Ayers be trusted in the White House?

How can someone who has financial dealings with Tony Rezko, a convicted felon, be trusted in the White House?

If Palin can't be trusted, surely Obama can't be trusted in the White House.


And the slimiest attack of all -- Palin's 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is pregnant. So what? She could have had an abortion. Then would Bristol be a hero to the Lefties?

This reminds me of when John Kerry and John Edwards kept bringing up Mary Cheney, Dick Cheney's gay daughter, during the 2004 campaign. It was a sleazy effort to get the Republican base to turn against Cheney. Naturally, Dick and Lynne Cheney expressed their love for their daughter. The attempted smear backfired, of course, and left Kerry and Edwards exposed as playing very dirty.

The same thing is happening here. Bristol Palin is pregnant so liberals are hoping the values voters will abandon the McCain-Palin ticket. That won't work. She is having her child. She's choosing life.

Bumiller's statement, "there was no sign that [Palin's] formal nomination this week was in jeopardy," is idiotic. None of these things should put it in jeopardy. Good grief.

Liberals like Bumiller don't get conservatives.

Libs don't understand that championing family values does not mean having a perfect family or being perfect.