WASHINGTON – US Republican senator John McCain yesterday strongly defended the top advisers from his 2008 presidential campaign in the face of sharp criticism from his vice-presidential running mate, Sarah Palin.
McCain, in a telephone interview with Reuters, singled out campaign manager Steve Schmidt and senior adviser Nicolle Wallace for praise after Mrs Palin blasted the pair in her memoir, Going Rogue: An American Life.
“There’s been a lot of dust flying around in the last few days and I just wanted to mention that I have the highest regard for Steve Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace and the rest of the team . . . and I appreciated all the hard work and everything they did to help the campaign,” he said.
Mrs Palin did some settling of scores in her best-selling book by criticising several McCain staffers, in particular Schmidt and Wallace for their handling of her during last year’s election campaign.
She accused Mr Wallace of pushing her to do an interview with CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric that proved damaging to her.
Various former aides to Mr McCain have said the charges amounted to exaggerations and fiction and that her comment that she was billed $50,000 for her own vetting as a vice-presidential candidate was simply wrong.
Mr McCain did not get into specific charges but suggested any frictions were due to the pressures inherent in presidential campaigns. – (Reuters)