National Review's Rich Lowry, doing a bit of what journalists are supposed to do, has checked on the record with an actual eyewitness to Sarah Palin's policy prep sessions.
I talked to Steve Biegun, the former Bush NSC aid who briefed Sarah Palin on foreign policy, and he considers the leaks against her on the international stuff "absurd." [...] "Somebody is taking a conversation and twisting it maliciously," he says.In general, according to Beigun, Palin had a steep learning curve on foreign issues, about what you would expect from a governor. But she has "great instincts and great core values," and is "an instinctive internationalist." The stories against her are being "fed by an unnamed source who is allowed by the press to make ad hominem attacks on background." Biegun, who spent dozens and dozens of hours briefing Palin on these issues, is happy to defend her, on the record, under his own name.
So, maybe the story here isn't the array of demeaning and untrue accusations against Palin, but rather who is behind the smear campaign, and why. Any takers among the investigative pros out there?
Posted by Alan at November 8, 2008 01:37 PM