Palin’s Republican attackers

The "nasty leaks" about Sarah Palin from McCain campaign staffers "have the ring of score-settling," said The Wall Street Journal in an editorial. Aides who failed to prepare her for the Katie Couric "embarrassment" now say she "refused coaching," but Palin's GOP critics should grow up. She didn't sink McCain, and the party can't afford to write off a "young leader with such natural political talent."

The conflict within the McCain-Palin ticket was bound to get a public airing eventually, said Elisabeth Bumiller in The New York Times. "Finger-pointing at the end of a losing campaign is traditional." And McCain loyalists, already angry over Palin's $150,000 GOP-financed wardrobe and her disastrous Couric interview, think she cared more about her own political future than about helping McCain win.

It's still surprising that all the pent up "bitterness and rage" exploded so quickly, said Kevin Drum in Mother Jones online. The presidential campaign hadn't been over for 24 hours when McCain aides, according to Carl Cameron of Fox News, revealed that they thought Palin was a "bad-tempered moron" who didn't know that Africa was a continent.

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"At least all the Hollywood and Manhattan Palin-haters" put their names on their attacks, said conservative commentator Michelle Malkin in her blog. These "blabbermouth McCain aides" are "trashing" her anonymously—after she "worked her heart out" for McCain—telling Cameron she lacked "knowledgeability." (click here for the Fox video) How "disgusting."

The shopping spree might have been what really caused this rift, said Kate Snow in ABC News online. One McCain aide told Newsweek the Palins were "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast," and lawyers for the Republican National Committee are heading to Alaska to account for money spent on clothing. So the tension might get worse.