Folks, this story is a little in the weeds and now old — I managed to NOT publish it, despite writing it two days ago, when we were all shaking our heads at the “wildly exaggerating” McCain ad that called Franklin Raines (former Fannie Mae chief) an Obama advisor.
But it is still very important that you know that Sarah Palin did not withdraw from the anti-Iran rally because she is unaware of the grave threat Iran poses. Nor is it because she is intimidated by the vitriolic Ahmadenijad. And she certainly isn’t calling for negotiations. I am not sure where you heard those rumors, but none of them are true. The truth is, she was just being jerked around on a string by political operators who hate freedom.
One of Sarah Palin’s advisors, a guy named Mark Wallace (husband of McCain campaign spokeswoman Nichole Wallace), is executive director of the group organizing the rally. He thought Hillary Clinton — who signed on in August — would be fine appearing on stage with the new female phenom, and with Hillary being such a prominate Democrat, no one would miss team Obama. So, nobody bothered to invite them, until five days before the event, when there was no Hillary to lend heft and painful irony to Palin’s appearance (because she withdrew when Sarah Palin’s addition made the event overtly political). So, the organizers invited the Obama campaign to participate, with a full four or five days notice.
The Obama campaign signed on, sending over well-known Florida (and Jewish) Congressman Robert Wexler. Well, at that point, the organizers decided the rally was getting too much political attention from too many “political personalities” and disinvited Palin and Wexler. Huh?
Menacham Rosencraft at the Huffington Post explains:
Let’s be perfectly clear. The organizers had initially invited Governor Palin without ever contacting, let alone inviting, anyone from the Obama campaign. When they finally issued a belated invitation to the Obama side, it was accepted, and a prominent Democratic Member of Congress was going to speak at the rally. The organizers then disinvited both Governor Palin and Representative Wexler. And whom does the GOP hold responsible for this fiasco? Barack Obama, of course.
Never mind that the Obama campaign was ready, willing and able to participate in the rally. Never mind that neither Senator Obama nor his campaign had had anything to do with the organizers’ decisions to invite and then disinvite Governor Palin. Never mind that the McCain-Palin campaign had been perfectly content to have Governor Palin speak at the rally without anyone representing the Obama campaign. Lamenting the rally organizers’ withdrawal of the Palin invitation, the McCain campaign charged that “Senator Obama’s campaign had the opportunity to join us. Senator Obama chose politics rather than the national interest.”
If John McCain and his GOP flacks thought they could get away with it, they would blame Barack Obama for the Great Depression, the 1876 massacre at Little Big Horn, the bubonic pandemic of the 1340s, and the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. And they would probably run ads alleging that Mrs. O’Leary, whose legendary cow is alleged to have started the Chicago fire, was an Obama public safety adviser.
Inform Your Consent 