She has been called “Hurricane Sarah,” and she is predicting a “political earthquake” on Tuesday, but whatever the forecast, there is no doubt Sarah Palin has created a storm during the 2010 campaign season. And on yesterday’s edition of Fox News Sunday, the former Alaska Governor and Republican vice presidential candidate labeled reporters at CBS affiliate KTVA in Anchorage “corrupt b*******” for allegedly trying to concoct a scandal and negative stories about Alaska’s Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller.
“The CBS reporters in the affiliate in Alaska conspired to make up stories,” Palin told host Chris Wallace. “I am saying we have it on tape. ‘Let’s find a child molester in the crowd as a supporter for Joe Miller…. Let’s concoct a Rand Paul moment,'” Palin said, describing a conversation among station personnel that wound up on the voice mail at Miller campaign headquarters when a KTVA reporter failed to terminate a phone call.
“These are corrupt b*******, Chris,” Palin said.
The call, regarding the scheduling of an interview with the candidate, was made on Thursday afternoon during a meeting of station personnel discussing coverage of a Miller rally that evening. The Miller campaign released a statement on Saturday, calling attention to the contents of that discussion that could be heard on the recording. The taped conversation reveals “what is believed to be the news director for CBS Anchorage affiliate KTVA, along with assignment editor Nick McDermott and other reporters,” according to campaign spokesman Randy DeSoto, who is quoted in the press release. The recording captures portions of the conversation as they “openly discuss creating, if not fabricating, two stories about Republican nominee for Senate, Joe Miller,” De Soto said.
“Frankly, when I first heard this I was shocked,” said DeSoto. “Though a bit garbled at times, there are disturbing comments in this conversation that never should have occurred.”
The audio is posted on the campaign website. Portions are, as DeSoto said, “a bit garbled,” but a female voice can be heard saying: “I’d wait and see who shows up…. That’s up to you, you’re the expert, but that’s what I would do.” The words “child molesters” can be heard just before a male voice is heard asking, “Can you repeat Joe Miller’s list of people, campaign workers? Which one’s the child molester?” The woman’s voice is later heard discussing what they might do “if there’s any sort of, you know, chaos or whatever … we could put out a tweeter, Facebook alert: ‘Hey, Joe Miller punched out at rally.'”
“Kind o’ like Rand Paul. I like that,” the male speaker replied in an apparent reference to a recent Rand Paul rally in Kentucky where a protestor was knocked down and stepped on.
The statement from the Miller campaign said McDermott later acknowledged the conversation in a text to DeSoto, saying: “Damn iPhone…. I left you a long message. I thought I hung up. Sorry.” But KTVA general manager Jerry Bever issued a press release, claiming the Miller campaign’s characterization of the discussion was “absurd.”
“The Miller campaign’s analysis of the recording is incorrect in many material ways, ranging from personnel involved in the conversation [to] the interpretation of conversation snippets and the reported transcript of the perceived garbled conversation,” Bever said. “The perception that this garbled, out-of-context recording may leave is unfortunate, but to allege that our staff was discussing or planning to create or fabricate stories regarding candidate Miller is absurd. The complete conversation was about what others might be able to do to cause a disruption within the Miller campaign, not what KTVA would do.”
Miller, a candidate popular with the national Tea Party movement, is among the party insurgents who were endorsed by Palin in Republican primary campaigns against better-known candidates favored by the party establishment. Miller upset incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who has since launched a write-in campaign for reelection. Miller’s once formidable lead has been shrinking, with a Real Clear Politics poll showing him clinging to a one-point lead, 35.7 to 34.7 percent over Murkowski. The same poll shows Democrat Scott McAdams in third place, with 25.3 percent. The Daily News-Miner of Fairbanks has speculated over a softening of support for Miller from the party’s national campaign operation, noting that while Miller and Murkowski have increasingly targeted one another in ads and debates, the National Republican Senatorial Committee has steered its advertising away from positive ads about Miller and focused instead on attacks on McAdams. “Spokespeople for the committee did not respond last week to multiple messages from the Daily News-Miner asking whether the group had backed off its support for Miller,” the paper reported.
“We are supporting the nominee of our party, which is Mr. Miller,” the committee chairman, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, said Sunday in an interview on ABC’s This Week. Asked if he thought Miller can win, Cornyn replied: “Well I think the polls are very close now between Senator Murkowski and Joe Miller. What we want to make sure is that the Democrat doesn’t win.”
In the Fox News interview, Wallace also asked Palin about Republican nominee Christine O’Donnell, another Tea Party favorite, who is trailing Democrat Chris Coons in the Delaware Senate race, 39 to 53 percent according to Real Clear Politics. During the primary campaign, Palin endorsed O’Donnell, who went on to defeat former Governor and nine-term Congressman Mike Castle. Wallace asked Palin if some of the candidates she has endorsed might be “not ready for prime time.”
“When given a choice, why in the world would I have supported the liberal, the RINO, the pro-cap-and-tax, wishy-washy on ObamaCare Mike Castle?” Palin asked.
“Who was going to guarantee Castle was going to win, anyway?”
Palin predicted a “political earthquake” in tomorrow’s election, with the voters turning against the Democrats and sending the message, “You blew it, President Obama.” Asked about a possible presidential campaign of her own in 2012, Palin sounded at times reluctant, but said she might be willing. “I don’t need to run for office,” she pointed out. “I know that I don’t need a title. I love the freedom that I have.” But she added: “You know the country is worth it, though, to make these sacrifices. If the country needed me, I would be willing to make the sacrifices if need be for America.”
Photo of Sarah Palin: AP Images
