McCain does not like Palin anymore

Has McCain fallen out with Palin? 13 Oct 2008, 0037 hrs IST, Sarah Baxter,Sunday Times, London  Print   Email   Discuss  Share  Save  Comment    Single page view Text: LONDON: With his electoral prospects fading by the day, Senator John McCain has fallen out with his vice-presidential running mate about the direc tion of his White House campaign.  McCain has become alarmed about the fury unleashed by Sarah Palin, the moose-hunting "pitbull in lipstick", against Senator Barack Obama. Cries of "terrorist" and "kill him" have accompanied the tirades by the governor of Alaska against the Democratic nominee at Republican rallies.  Mark Salter, McCain's long-serving chief of staff, is understood to have told campaign insiders that he would prefer his boss, a former Vietnam prisoner of war, to suffer an "honourable defeat" rather than conduct a campaign that would be out of character — and likely to lose him the election.  Palin, 44, has led the character attacks on Obama in the belief that McCain may be throwing away the election and her chance of becoming vice-president. Her supporters think that if the Republican ticket loses on November 4, she should run for president in 2012. A leading Republican consultant said: "A lot of conservatives are grumbling about what a poor job McCain is doing. They are rolling their eyes and saying, "Yes, a miracle could happen, but at this rate it is all over."  "Sarah Palin is no fool. She sees the same thing and wants to salvage what she can. She is positioning herself for the future. Her best days could be in front of her. She wants to look as though she was the fighter, the person with the spunk who was out there taking it to the Democrats."  McCain, 72, has encouraged voters to contrast his character with Obama's.  The campaign launched a tough television commercial last week questioning, "Who is Barack Obama?"Frank Keating,  McCain's campaign co-chairman, last week called the Democrat a "guy off the street" and said he should admit that he had "used cocaine".  McCain believes the attacks have spun out of control. At a rally in Lakeville, Minnesota, the Arizona senator became visibly angry when he was booed for calling Obama "a decent person". He took the microphone from an elderly woman who said she disliked Obama because he was "Arab", saying, "No ma'am, no ma'am." When another questioner demanded that he tell the truth about Obama, he said: "I want everybody to be respectful and let's be sure we are."  However, his campaign has stepped up its negative advertising against Obama, accusing him of lying about his relationship with William Ayers, the leader of the Weather Underground group responsible for bombing the Capitol and the Pentagon in the early 1970s, who is now a Chicago professor.  Palin has continued to lead the charge against Obama's alleged lack of candour. At a rally in Wilmington, Ohio, she mocked him for attending a supporters' meeting in Ayers's home when he was seeking to become an Illinois state senator in 1995.  "He didn't know he launched his career in the living room of a domestic terrorist until he did know," Palin said. "Some will say, jeez Sarah, it's getting negative. No it's not negativity. It's truthfulness." The crowd bellowed its appreciation with chants of "Nobama" and "Go Sarah Go!"  John Weaver, a former senior McCain adviser who left the campaign when it almost imploded in the summer of last year, questioned the purpose of the attacks.  "People need to understand, for moral reasons and the protection of our civil society, that the differences with Senator Obama are ideological, based on clear differences on policy and a lack of experience compared with Senator McCain," he said. "And from a purely practical political vantage point, please find me a swing voter, an undecided independent, or a torn female voter that finds an angry mob mentality attractive."  A McCain official confirmed that there was dissension in the campaign. "There is always going to be a debate about the costs and benefits of any strategy," he said. "After November 4, the feelings of individuals will come to light. It is only natural and will be expected." Palin's frustration with McCain has led to clashes over strategy. When she learnt he was pulling resources from Michigan, an industrial swing state leaning heavily in Obama's favour, she fired off an e-mail sayi ng, "Oh come on, do we have to?" and offered to travel there with her husband Todd, four-times winner of the 2,000-mile Iron Dog snowmobile race.  She also told Bill Kristol, the conservative New York Times columnist, that she wished the campaign would make more of Obama's 20-year association with the Rev Jeremiah Wright, his controversial former pastor, who said, "God damn America".  "To me, that does say something about character," Palin said. "But you know, I guess that would be a John McCain call on whether he wants to bring it up."  McCain's allies responded by suggesting that she had her own pastor problems, such as the African minister who prayed to Jesus to protect her from witchcraft when she was running for governor.