Mark McKinnon: Palin Gets ‘Passing Grade — But Just Barely’
EmailABC News’ Rick Klein and David Chalian report: On ABCNews.com’s “Top Line” today, Mark McKinnon, a former adviser to President George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain, spoke about the struggles Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has had in readjusting to her role as governor of Alaska.
McKinnon — who left the McCain campaign before the senator chose Palin as his running mate — acknowledged that it hasn’t been entirely smooth for Palin.
“Well, it’s always an artful dance to try and balance national ambition versus you know, your local responsibilities as an office holder, and clearly she’s trying to do that,” McKinnon said. “She wants to stay relevant nationally but also do due diligence for her — for the day job that she has now.”
Asked to grade her performance in the aftermath of the presidential campaign, McKinnon said:
“I’d give her, you know, a passing grade — but just barely. But listen, she’s a rock star in the Republican Party and you know, as long as she can . . . do her job at home adequately then she’s going to continue to be a big player on the national scene for years to come.”
We also chatted with McKinnon about his work trying to defeat the Employee Free Choice Act, the bill that is organized labor’s top priority for the year. McKinnon is working as a spokesman for the Workforce Fairness Institute, a business-funded group that’s lobbying to spike the so-called “card-check” bill.
“It is the most radical rewrite of labor legislation since the 1930s. And it is nothing other than a nakedly artificial piece of legislation designed to do nothing but turn around labor’s ranks and does absolutely nothing for the economy, or for businesses, or for workers. This is a solution in search of a problem,” he said.
“They don’t have 60 votes [for it in the Senate] because any right-thinking, common-sense elected officials recognize that this is a political nightmare and a public-policy disaster and I think frankly, President Obama and smart Democrats are really happy that they don’t have to vote on this thing,” McKinnon said.
He also spoke about how George W. Bush is viewing his post-presidency period.
“I just go up to Crawford and ride bikes, but I can tell you, having done that fairly recently, that . . . former President Bush is in a very good mood, he’s very positive,” McKinnon said. “He’s not cringing in the corner. . . and he’s . . . been off the radar screen, I think very diplomatically allowing President Obama to do his job without jumping into his business.
“And so he’s thinking about his book, he’s thinking about the library and also speaking engagements and talking about his freedom agenda and other issues that were relevant to his presidency. But as he always has, he has a very positive, optimistic attitude about everything,” he said.
Watch our interview with McKinnon HERE.
We also spoke with Politico’s Ken Vogel about Palin and Gov. Rick Perry’s comments about the possibility of Texas seceding from the union.
Watch the interview with Vogel HERE.
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Palin is yesterday’s conservative superstar. She has become a soap opera train wreck, and only hurt her base appeal even more by not attending one of their precious “tea parties” yesterday.
Palin is done.
http://www.political-buzz.com/
Posted by: matt | April 16, 2009, 2:04 pm 2:04 pm
Palin rightly or wrongly has become too polarizing thanks to McCain’s “friends” in the media. She is finished.
They need to go where the people are if they want to win. Be it Ron Paul or even Judge Andrew Napolitano.
Think about it. You want a debate on the rule of law between Obama and a actual judge? That would be worth it in itself for me. Think about an actual discussion over the law in a public forum. This would be too good to pass up.
But sadly the hijacked GOP still is married to it’s liberal lions like Giuliani, Romney, Huckabee and worst of all McCain!
So as long as the GOP wants to be “democrat lite” in policy or apperance (Palin, Jindal, Steele) they will only be resented by the American people for their patronizing, and alienate any support that could be had from those who don’t buy into the big government hierarchy (that doesn’t even pay taxes! and yet assails those who want their’s decreased in a recession/depression… Oh the delicious IRONY!!!)
Posted by: hmn | April 16, 2009, 2:20 pm 2:20 pm
I think this new political environment provides a great opportunity to address crucial issues that have been forgotten. The U.S. should be doing way more to address the Millennium Development Goals. The plan to end world hunger has been getting seriously ignored.
$30 billion: Annual shortfall to end world hunger.
$550 billion: U.S. Defense budget.
(source: borgenproject.org.)
Posted by: Tenisci | April 16, 2009, 2:29 pm 2:29 pm
McCain created two monsters- Palin and Sam the would be plumber. I don’t know why Palin is still being put in the spotlight…….unless it’s to put her in a bad light which she does quite nicely on her own! And poor Ol’ Sammy Joe is just a waste of everybody’s time!
Posted by: js45601 | April 16, 2009, 3:19 pm 3:19 pm
Matt,
couldn’t have said it better myself
Posted by: lm | April 16, 2009, 5:33 pm 5:33 pm
Keep kicking Sarah in the teeth. Let
hypocritic Dem “icons” like Hillary
and Nancy tiptoe through the tulips.
That’s what the press has become.
Bias? What bias? Your orgasms are
soooo sweet when a “conservative”
pans another. We don’t hear much
about Dems v. Dems….it wouldn’t
fit the template and it may hinder
Obama’s end run to sainthood. More
bad ink has been poured ruining Palin
than was used on Tripp-Lewinsky. As
far as I know, Palin has a husband
who loves her…more than can be
said for Hillary. You need to stress
more how Hill NEEDS MONEY to pay off
debts. The multimillions in the
Clinton coffers can’t cover this? Nope,
the story is old rotten slime ball
Sarah from Alaska..24/7.
Posted by: Trajan | April 17, 2009, 12:51 am 12:51 am
“Palin has a husband who loves her…more than can be said for Hillary.” What’s sad about that comment is that I, a lifelong Democrat, have defended Gov. Palin against personal attacks since Sen. McCain picked her as his running mate last year. I would never consider voting for Gov. Palin, but, unlike you apparently, I think politicians’ personal lives should be left alone. While I’m happy with President Obama’s job performance so far, I still think President Clinton did a better job, particularly because he reduced the national debt while keeping the economy booming. I would much rather have a surplus economy with a President who had extra-marital relationships than “family man” Bush who historians agree is one of this nation’s worst presidents (even worse than Hoover). As for “paying off debts,” I have not received any e-mails from Sec. of State Clinton since she assumed her new job. The ABC story to the left is not pushing people to pay off her debt either. You Republicans have some major problems on your hands, like Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal, Tim Pawlenty, Rick Perry, Mark Sanford, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Michael Steele, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Joe the Plumber, etc. If I were you, I’d be much more worried about repairing the GOP with better leaders than the bozos I just mentioned. As for the point of this article, Alaskans don’t have it as bad as Minnesotans. Our governor is one national TV at least once a week doing interviews about “the future of the GOP” and “what’s wrong with President Obama.” Plus, our governor’s proposing huge funding cuts in health and dental care, college education, and local gov’ts. The latter causes increased property taxes and our state already has the highest tuition rate in the country. Why all the cuts? Because he refuses to raise any state taxes (except “fees”) in order to impress the mindless Hannity and Limbaugh sheep that make up the Republican base for the 2012 primaries. So, in that respect, Alaska doesn’t have it that bad.
Posted by: Clinton Democrat | April 17, 2009, 1:51 am 1:51 am
She has a few years to study. If she spends a lot of it prepping for a 2012 or 2016 run, she has a chance. By then there will be a body of work to judge her on rather than her rather polarizing persona.
Posted by: xmarks | April 17, 2009, 12:33 pm 12:33 pm
McKinnon — who left the McCain campaign before the senator chose Palin as his running mate — acknowledged that it hasn’t been entirely smooth for Palin.
This statement is incomplete!
Well we can’t expect ABC News to do
any Honest Reporting!
ABC forgot to mention that McKinnon
left John McCain early on to
Campaign for Barack Obama!
Small Omission. Not.
McKinnon’s opinion on Palin is
obviously biased and designed to
protect “the anointed one” from
Palin or any other 2012 challengers!
Posted by: reaganfan | April 17, 2009, 2:24 pm 2:24 pm
McKinnon — who left the McCain campaign before the senator chose Palin as his running mate — acknowledged that it hasn’t been entirely smooth for Palin.
This statement is incomplete!
Well we can’t expect ABC News to do
any Honest Reporting!
ABC forgot to mention that McKinnon
left John McCain early on to
Campaign for Barack Obama!
Small Omission. Not.
McKinnon’s opinion on Palin is
obviously biased and designed to
protect “the anointed one” from
Palin or any other 2012 challengers!
Posted by: reaganfan | April 17, 2009, 2:24 pm 2:24 pm
Funny how everyone always asks how President Bush’s “mood” is. I don’t seem to remember people asking about Bill Clinton’s mood after he left the White House. The reason for the difference in treatment is the fact that Clinton left office a relatively successful and popular president, so everyone assumed his mood was fine, while Bush…not so much. Given the degree of disregard in which he is held by a significant majority of Americans and the incontrovertible failure his presidency was, I’m surprised he’s not been placed on suicide watch.
Posted by: SpaceCat75 | April 21, 2009, 1:13 pm 1:13 pm