(5/18/09) Palin camp eyed Clinton alliance (Politico)

[VotingHillary]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22681.html

In an unusual attempt to forge an alliance between two of the most prominent political families in American politics, John Coale, a Washington-area Democratic donor and onetime adviser to Sarah Palin, urged the conservative Alaska governor to use her political action committee to help retire the presidential campaign debt of Hillary Clinton. :surprise:

Coale, a wealthy trial attorney and the husband of Fox News talk show host Greta Van Susteren, approached Palin with the improbable plan in February while in Alaska with his wife, who was taping an interview with the former Republican vice presidential nominee.

An outspoken Clinton supporter during the Democratic primary who switched his allegiance to the GOP ticket for the general election, Coale made his case to Palin at the Iron Dog snowmachine competition in Fairbanks, where Todd Palin was competing over Valentine’s Day weekend. His broader aim, say Palin camp insiders, was to help Palin develop a relationship with the former first family that he thought could bolster the polarizing governor’s standing with Democrats and independents.

Palin was amenable to getting acquainted with the Clintons but was skeptical of using her PAC to help the former first lady.

She expressed concern to aides about Coale’s request that weekend and a few days later directed Meg Stapleton, an Alaska-based campaign aide, to tell Coale that she would not help retire Clinton’s debt.

“While we appreciate your efforts and recognize that a friendship with the Clintons is appropriate, the governor believes (and I concur) that using SarahPAC to pay down Hillary’s debt is not a prudent use of the money,” Stapleton wrote to Coale in a Feb. 17 e-mail, a few days after he made his pitch to the governor. “Contributors who chose between heating their homes and sending in a contribution because they believe in Sarah would be crushed.”

Loads more at the link.
:e6:

[cinnamongirl]

Palin was amenable to getting acquainted with the Clintons but was skeptical of using her PAC to help the former first lady.

She expressed concern to aides about Coale’s request that weekend and a few days later directed Meg Stapleton, an Alaska-based campaign aide, to tell Coale that she would not help retire Clinton’s debt.

“While we appreciate your efforts and recognize that a friendship with the Clintons is appropriate, the governor believes (and I concur) that using SarahPAC to pay down Hillary’s debt is not a prudent use of the money,” Stapleton wrote to Coale in a Feb. 17 e-mail, a few days after he made his pitch to the governor. “Contributors who chose between heating their homes and sending in a contribution because they believe in Sarah would be crushed.”

Yet when Palin got the VP nod officially, her team had no trouble invoking Hillary's name and circumstances as a rallying point. So much for sisterhood.

The slick suggestion at the end, that the average struggling American hates the Clintons, is nice too.

[Laura Cereta]

Hmmm... this is so weird I don't even know what to say at this point... I'll have to think about it awhile...

It did read the comments, though, and this one was my favorite:

From: Alon


About Alon
Party affiliation: Democrat

There are credible reports that Levi Johnston is the real father of Sarah's son Trigg.

[Horizon]

Yet when Palin got the VP nod officially, her team had no trouble invoking Hillary's name and circumstances as a rallying point. So much for sisterhood.

The slick suggestion at the end, that the average struggling American hates the Clintons, is nice too.

genericstamp!genericstamp!=D>=D>

[VotingHillary]

This report just lost her Hillary's moderate supporters. Women abusing other women...when does it stop?

[Horizon]

This report just lost her Hillary's moderate supporters. Women abusing other women...when does it stop?

Can I say, I felt that in the end, it would come down to this with her? We were all just great and Hillary was great, when she NEEDED us, now, not so much.:-bd

This would be why I left that camp when it occurred to me that after the election, this would be the story.

Hill supporters were used.:mad:

[VotingHillary]

Women across the board were used this last political season. Be it from Palin, Pelsosi, Brazille, Rachel Maddow, Maureen Dowd, Randi Rhodes, Oprah etc.

Women screwed themselves this last election and I fear it will be a long time before we see another serious female contender for the presidency after this last mess. [-X

[sojourner]

Yet when Palin got the VP nod officially, her team had no trouble invoking Hillary's name and circumstances as a rallying point. So much for sisterhood.

The slick suggestion at the end, that the average struggling American hates the Clintons, is nice too.

Sarah Palin honored Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton, giving credit to them for paving the way and continued to do so even after receiving negative reactions from crowds she was addressing. Seemed to me like a classy thing to do. I know a lot of folks on this site think she is dumb but I don’t think she was dumb enough to think that would buy her democrat votes.

Have we become so cynical that we can’t believe a politician would say something just because it was the right thing to do, without having an ulterior motive?

It takes a lot of reading between the lines in that last sentence to think it suggests that anyone hated Hillary. If I contributed money to a PAC I would not want any of my contribution used to help retire the campaign debt of a potential rival. If I want to help retire someone’s debt I will send them the money myself.

[sojourner]

This report just lost her Hillary's moderate supporters. Women abusing other women...when does it stop?

Because she chose not to use PAC money to help retire Hillary’s campaign debt?

[musgrrl]

As much as I love Hillary, and I'm neutral with Palin, I don't think it was wrong for Palin to say "no" to that proposal. Her supporters would not appreciate money that they contributed to be used to retire the debt of another politician. If her supporters wanted to help Hillary, they could easily have contributed directly to Hillary.

How would we have felt if Hillary was not in debt, but took money that we contributed to give to another politician that we don't support? We would feel betrayed. Let's not be so quick to brand Palin a "monster" for doing something that no other politician would do.

[Brooke]

As much as I love Hillary, and I'm neutral with Palin, I don't think it was wrong for Palin to say "no" to that proposal. Her supporters would not appreciate money that they contributed to be used to retire the debt of another politician. If her supporters wanted to help Hillary, they could easily have contributed directly to Hillary.

How would we have felt if Hillary was not in debt, but took money that we contributed to give to another politician that we don't support? We would feel betrayed. Let's not be so quick to brand Palin a "monster" for doing something that no other politician would do.

I'm inclined to agree with this.

Honestly, I could care less about Palin and what she does with her contributions, where she gets them from, etc.

[Suzan]

I'm not sure whether Coale, who was a major Hillary donor, is still loosely affiliated with Palin, but he was advising her for awhile and obviously his goal was to make her a more viable centrist candidate, and yes, to hang onto whatever support she got from Hillary supporters who switched to McPalin in the GE.

I think it was bad advice on Coale's part--and Palin should not take the blame for that. I can't even imagine what people in either camp would think if one of Sarah's pacs started paying down Hillary's debt. Seems like a pretty obvious ploy to me and I can't imagine what Coale was thinking, although I do believe he's right in that Sarah has to have more centrist appeal if she's going anywhere nationally.

That said, I'm increasingly unhappy with Team Sarah, a different group that is heavily supporting everything pro-life. I can't get off their #$@# mailing list! There's a link to change your email settings, bu tno way to unsubscribe that I can find and I've written to everyone who lists an email address, but no results. What do I do? Is there somewhere I can report them?

[TheTaoOfBill]

I know there were a lot of Obama supporters upset that Obama helped retire Hillary's debt.

And I can just imagine the anger if it was vice versa.

And that's just democrat to democrat. Imagine the rage from republicans that she would donate to a democrat. And not just any democrat; Hillary Clinton.

[Ikasu]

I know there were a lot of Obama supporters upset that Obama helped retire Hillary's debt.

And I can just imagine the anger if it was vice versa.


I would have been fine if Hillary helped retire Obama's debt. I don't know why Obama supporters were angry about it. Bad character from them.

[TheTaoOfBill]

There were Hillary supporters upset that she took the SoS job. There no doubt would be Hillary supporters upset if she gave the remainder of her campaign money to the DNC and Obama campaign.

[Brooke]

There were Hillary supporters upset that she took the SoS job. There no doubt would be Hillary supporters upset if she gave the remainder of her campaign money to the DNC and Obama campaign.

There still are Hillary supporters upset she took the S.O.S. job, some are on this forum.

You will never be able to please everybody all of the time and people are going to be upset no matter what. So it's pointless to even try to please everybody.

[Ikasu]

There were Hillary supporters upset that she took the SoS job. There no doubt would be Hillary supporters upset if she gave the remainder of her campaign money to the DNC and Obama campaign.

Bad character from them too. See. I'm consistent.

[Laura Cereta]

I know there were a lot of Obama supporters upset that Obama helped retire Hillary's debt.



Well, they shouldn't be too upset; he wasn't much help. Despite the fact that Hillary went all over the country praising him, he did very, very little.

[sojourner]

That said, I'm increasingly unhappy with Team Sarah, a different group that is heavily supporting everything pro-life. I can't get off their #$@# mailing list! There's a link to change your email settings, bu tno way to unsubscribe that I can find and I've written to everyone who lists an email address, but no results. What do I do? Is there somewhere I can report them?

You might try getting banned. It worked for me. I joined, got banned, and haven’t heard a word from them since.

[Spang]

Well, they shouldn't be too upset; he wasn't much help. Despite the fact that Hillary went all over the country praising him, he did very, very little.

Did you vote for Obama?

[sojourner]

Did you vote for Obama?

How is this relevant?

[Spang]

How is this relevant?

I'm just curious. Hillary went all over the country campaigning for Obama, yet several Hillary supporters on this forum voted for McCain.

[TheTaoOfBill]

Well, they shouldn't be too upset; he wasn't much help. Despite the fact that Hillary went all over the country praising him, he did very, very little.

He held several fund raisers and donated the max donation to her. Not sure how much you were expecting him to help...

[Laura Cereta]

Did you vote for Obama?

No, I voted for Hillary in the primaries... except my voting was a "beauty contest" and didn't count, then it counted for half, then when most of the corruption was over (except for the sham role call) it was supposed to count, then the sham role call came and nobodies vote counted. I voted for McCain in the GE.

Why does it matter? I would have been fine if Obama had not payed a dime of Hillary's debt and she had not campaigned at all for him. That would have been ideal actually. However, since they had an arrangement, and he agreed to help pay off the debt, he should have actually followed through... though we all know "follow-through" is not exactly his strong suit... :rolleyes:

[Laura Cereta]

I'm just curious. Hillary went all over the country campaigning for Obama, yet several Hillary supporters on this forum voted for McCain.

That's another thing about "superior" Hillary supporters, we think for ourselves.

[Laura Cereta]

He held several fund raisers and donated the max donation to her. Not sure how much you were expecting him to help...

Yeah, and she and Bill donated the max to him so that was offset. What was he supposed to do? I don't know. He did manage to run the most ungodly expensive campaign in American history... but yeah, I'm sure he couldn't do anymore. Come on!

[Meg]

I'm just curious. Hillary went all over the country campaigning for Obama, yet several Hillary supporters on this forum voted for McCain.

I never voted for Obama either. Always thought he was more talk than anything else.

But on topic, this "alliance" between them would never have happened.

[Suzan]

You might try getting banned. It worked for me. I joined, got banned, and haven’t heard a word from them since.
ROFL!!!! What did you do to get banned? I'll try it.

I'm never on the site interacting, btw. I just get the email. If I get banned will they stop sending me email?

[TheTaoOfBill]

Yeah, and she and Bill donated the max to him so that was offset. What was he supposed to do? I don't know. He did manage to run the most ungodly expensive campaign in American history... but yeah, I'm sure he couldn't do anymore. Come on!

He held fund raisers...he sent out several emails to his doner lists and he donated the max... You didn't answer my question. What more could he have done?

[sojourner]

ROFL!!!! What did you do to get banned? I'll try it.

I'm never on the site interacting, btw. I just get the email. If I get banned will they stop sending me email?

I am not sure why I got banned. It was about the time Team Sarah was infiltrated by a much of guys posting messages to make the site look bad. I think I was identified as one of the evil doers. I am not sure why, I don’t think I ever posted anything there good or bad.

When I got banned they quit sending me emails.

[Suzan]

I am not sure why I got banned. It was about the time Team Sarah was infiltrated by a much of guys posting messages to make the site look bad. I think I was identified as one of the evil doers. I am not sure why, I don’t think I ever posted anything there good or bad.

When I got banned they quit sending me emails.
You know, I could just go post (if they have a forum or blog) and say that Team Sarah is holding me hostage and won't let me off their email list.

Oh, maybe I should take a male screen name--or say I support Obama's appointment of the woman from Naral. I just got an email from TS urging everyone to oppose her.

Where there's a will...

[Laura Cereta]

He held fund raisers...he sent out several emails to his doner lists and he donated the max... You didn't answer my question. What more could he have done?

Held more fundraisers-- how about this-- he should have held a fundraiser for every rally Hillary held for him. He also could have been more encouraging of his donors to help her. He put up a link on his site but other then that ignored the issue. In fact, she did more to rally her major donors around him then he did for her. They held a joint fundraiser once and he forgot to mention her while speaking, left the podium and had to come back up there to say, "Oh yeah, please help retire Hillary's debt." This is not just me. Many people were upset at his lack of effort in comparison to what Hillary did for him. It was quite a topic of discussion last year.

[Spang]

This is not just me. Many people were upset at his lack of effort in comparison to what Hillary did for him.

After all Hillary did for Barack Obama, did you vote for him in the general election?

[Laura Cereta]

After all Hillary did for Barack Obama, did you vote for him in the general election?

Spang, please see post #24; I've already answered that question. Hillary kept her word and did what was politically expedient for her. I voted for whom I felt was the most qualified person for the job. I do not regret my vote and even though it would mean probably not having Hillary as SoS I would vote the same way were there another election held today. If anything, Obama has proven that everything I assumed about him based on his past record (or lack thereof) was correct.

The argument that I, or anyone else, should have voted for someone because that's who Hillary chose to publicly support is ludicrous. I have the utmost respect for Hillary but she is a politician and she professes a loyalty to the Democratic Party that I just don't share anymore. End of story.