Palin's Hiring of 'Chief of Staff' Evidence of Organizational Failure, not Presidential Candidacy

CNN reported:

Sarah Palin has added a veteran Republican strategist [Michael Glassner] to serve as chief-of-staff for her political action committee, Sarah PAC, CNN has learned. ...

And Politico reported:

Sarah Palin has hired a veteran operative to serve as a chief of staff to her loosely organized team, one of the biggest indicators yet that the former Alaska governor is leaning toward a run for the White House. ...

The fact is that nobody -- Todd Palin? -- was officially in charge of SarahPAC. That lack of management has led to a lot of problems, so it shouldn't be surprising that the PAC should bring someone in with management (and fundraising) experience. To construe the appointment of a chief-of-staff as evidence that Palin is going to run is something -- well! -- something straight out of the fevered minds of palinistas and palinoiacs. CNN's characterization of Palin's team as "loosely organized" was echoed in Politico's post, which stated, "Glassner will be tasked with bringing greater organization to the far-flung and small staff that resides in several different states and time zones."

Palin's has been quite an amateurish organization and has been long overdue for a shakeup. Glassner's first task will be to organize the existing staff, to improve its discipline, fund raising, expenditures and reporting. Heads may roll; the existing staff must be professionalized before any consideration can be given to staffing-up in anticipation of a run, if one is being considered. Remember, too, that if Palin runs, it won't be SarahPAC that manages the campaign.

There is a little deja vu in Glassner's appointment. Glassner became involved in Palin's VP campaign just before the VP debate, which, in 2008, according to The Wall Street Journal, might have been an epic fail:

... in recent days, Gov. Palin flubbed quasi-mock debates in New York City and Philadelphia, some operatives said. Finger-pointing began, and then intensified after her faltering interview with CBS anchorwoman Katie Couric. However, she performed better when she took questions from the press after touring Ground Zero and remarked about her parents' visit there after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Her performance also sparked negative responses from some conservative pundits, and she has slipped in some polls. Last week, nearly half the respondents in a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll said she is unqualified to be president, while one in three said they were "not at all" comfortable with the idea of Gov. Palin as vice president, up five points from a poll in early September.

Until the weekend, the highest levels of the McCain campaign were focused on Sen. McCain's response to the financial crisis and his own debate against Sen. Barack Obama.

The McCain campaign has put in place several other well-regarded advisers to Gov. Palin, including head of vice-presidential operations Michael Glassner, who has worked for former Sen. Bob Dole, and Mr. Eskew, who worked for President George W. Bush's campaign and administration. ...

The Journal's report lends credence to what we're told in Game Change (pg. 401):

Given the acuteness of [Nicolle] Wallace's concern, McCain's advisers felt they had to bring the candidate into the loop that Saturday. Bluntly, they described to him their unease about Palin's mental state. McCain suggested that they move the debate prep to his spread in Sedona [Arizona]. Give her room to breathe. Let her bring her family. A change of scenery might do her good. Cindy would be there to support Palin, and a doctor friend of the McCains would be on hand to observer her.

Perhaps the PAC's namesake hasn't yet become organized, or has become disorganized, or ... . An interesting question is: Who realized that the PAC was disorganized and decided that a chief-of-staff should be hired?

Some of Glassner's other experience with the McCain/Palin campaign was reported in The Washington Post's "McCain Lists Top Bundlers," and The Huffington Post's "McCain Bundler, Booted Over Role In FCC-Fined Telecom, Now Staffs Palin."

Update, February 13, 2011: Added the quote from the Wall Street Journal. Reading between the lines, it may be that Glassner, who was head of operations for the 2008 VP campaign, became more directly involved with the candidate after her disappointing interview with Katie Couric and poor performance during debate preparations.

ABC News Looks Inside 'Sarah Palin's Alaska'

ABC News' The Note has written quite a bit about tonight's show and mentions some of the upcoming shows. Of tonight's show, the column wrote: " ... Palin seems to relish not just the hunt itself, but the political language surrounding it. Her books are loaded with references to “organic sources of protein,” which is a long way of saying say “wild animal meat.” And while she alludes to the idea that the show is somehow controversial, it doesn’t seem that there has been a giant public outcry. Palin seems eager to pick a fight here, even if no one is fighting back." ... . [emphasis added]

That's right. Don't take the bait.

In his essay, "Palin by comparison," Michael L. Hays wrote, about dealing with Sarah Palin:

My advice begins and ends with a strategy mindful of her personality and her propensities: Avoid triggering her sense of grievance or her resentments. In any engagement, be respectful, attentive, undemonstrative, unresponsive. Discuss your views; disregard her views. Neither agree nor disagree with her; if necessary, rebut by indirection. Avoid criticism, even its appearance; ask no questions, seek no specifics, dispute no views.

If you fail, she will tailor her response to any confrontation, direct or indirect, to elicit the sympathy of her followers and possibly others.

Hays' advice is reminiscent of Joe Biden's strategy during the 2008 VP debate. It's goal was simple: Don't follow Sarah Palin down a rabbit hole. You can read about that on pages 406-7 of Game Change,

In a nutshell, Hays' advice is: ignore her.

Wow! 'Morning Joe' Is Still Talking about Sarah Palin! With two Heavyweights Weighing In.

Nicolle Wallace, who worked with Sarah Palin during the 2008 campaign, and Mark Halperin, who co-authored the bestseller Game Change, talked about Sarah Palin on this morning's "Morning Joe":

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Wallace talked very frankly about Palin, saying that her nature is "very cynical," "very prickly." Wallace thinks Republicans aren't going to man up, like Joe Scarborough implored them to do, yesterday, unless Palin gets close to the Republian nomination, when they may talk, she says, about some of Sarah Palin's "more troubling deficiencies."

Meanwhile, Wallace's view is that Sarah Palin will undo herself. And she is doing just that!

The Huffington Post's Nick Wing has a writeup, here.

Sarah Palin Blows It on 'BS Your Way to The Presidency' Game Show

On Glenn Beck's game show, "BS Your Way to The Presidency," Sarah Palin lost big-time. The NY Daily News reports:

Oops, she did it again.

Sarah Palin made her latest verbal gaffe on Wednesday, claiming North Korea is one of America's allies on Glenn Beck's radio show when asked how she'd handle the recent escalation between the two Koreas.

"This speaks to a bigger picture here that certainly scares me in terms of our national security policy," the former vice presidential candidate said on Wednesday. "But obviously we've gotta stand with our North Korean allies."

The host corrected her. "South Korea," Beck said.

This gaffe should come as no surprise. The bestseller Game Change reported that Sarah Palin "couldn’t explain why North and South Korea were separate nations." Surely, after realizing that she didn't know the difference between the two countries, her staff would have tried to bring her up to speed. Wouldn't they? They tried and apparently succeeded: "Palin's horrified advisors provided her with scripted replies, which she memorized." Apparently, the information wasn't important enough, in Palin's view, to be filed away in long-term memory.

But why didn't Sarah Palin know what every reasonably well informed person with an interest in world affairs knows? The two Koreas have been front-page news for years; North Korea, especially, for its atomic program and missile tests. On the same page of Game Change, referring to her unpreparedness, Sarah Palin told her staff: "I wish I'd paid more attention to this stuff."

You can read page 397 of Game Change, here, at Amazon. When you're there, type horrified into the search box.

Sarah Palin obviously doesn't read. It isn't difficult to understand why Republicans have told her to sit down and shut up.

Sorry, Sarah. Americans know the presidency isn't a game show prize.

GONG!