Dear Governor Palin,
The economy isn’t doing so well, but I won’t ask for money to pay off my debts this Christmas.
My running shoes are falling apart, but I won’t ask for a new pair this Christmas.
There are so many wonderful books to read in this world, but I won’t ask for any this Christmas.
Hell, Governor Palin, I’m not even going to ask for world peace this Christmas.
All I really, really want for Christmas this year is simple: Would you please stop talking?
CNN reported this today:
Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s biggest mistake of the presidential campaign: not enough time with the media, the Alaska governor said in an interview published Monday.
“The biggest mistake made was that I could have called more shots on this: the opportunities that were not seized to speak to more Americans via media,” she told Human Events.
“I was not allowed to do very many interviews, and the interviews that I did were not necessarily those I would have chosen. But I was so thankful to have the opportunity to run with John McCain that I was not going to argue with the strategy decisions that some of his people were making regarding the media contacts.
“But if I would have been in charge, I would have wanted to speak to more reporters because that’s how you get your message out to the electorate.
Palin also said she was uncomfortable leaving the campaign’s management to people she did not know well. “I was in a campaign in which I did not know the people individually running the campaign. So I had to put my life, my career, my family, and my reputation in their hands. That’s kind of a scary thing to do when you don’t know the people you are working with,” said the Alaska governor.
It’s funny you say that, Governor, because before you were introduced as Vice President, John McCain was only polling about 4 points behind Barack Obama. After you were introduced and started talking to the press–however sparse your opportunities were–you and the Arizona Senator ended up losing by over 7 points, or 8.5 million votes. (For reference, Sarah, Florida turned out only 8 million voters. You lost by more than the entire state of Florida–nice.)
But you’re right, I’m sure that those awful McCain staffers that you “didn’t know” were absolutely clueless about how to run a presidential campaign. Sure, they only ran for President in 2000 and Senate for over 20 years, but what did they really know about the office of Vice President? Why wouldn’t they want more of this on the campaign trail:
Uh huh. Or this:
Hm…or this:
Oh, or my favorite:
Oh, Governor, it is so obvious that you are the queen of interviews. So if you wanted more, maybe it would have been a good idea to ace the ones you were given! Oh I don’t care about your coaching from the Bush administration or from those McCainees. They can tell you maybe what to say, but they can’t take away your ability to talk to the press.
So, Governor Palin, in short: please be silent. With New Year’s right around the corner, it’s time for a resolution to be silent instead of another resolution about the best way to fry a moose. The election has now been over for 2 1/2 months–it’s bad enough we’ve had to wait this long for Al Franken to be elected in Minnesota; this country is ready to move on. We’re tired of seeing the same damn depressing picture of you from election night along with every story written about you since.
So I’ll expect to hear from you again in 2016, when another solid, progressive candidate takes you to town. Oh, and if you’re in need of a new media strategy, feel free to E-mail me (itstands@gmail.com); I’m sure I could give you a few pointers.
Merry Christmas, Governor.
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