McCain aide cites 'failure of management'
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/11/14/art.davis.gi.jpg caption="Davis managed McCain's campaign."](CNN) - Rick Davis, the campaign manager for former John McCain's White House bid, came to Sarah Palin's defense in an upcoming interview with the National Review, saying the now-infamous $150,000 clothing tab for the Alaska governor was caused by a "failure of management."
In the interview, set for publication next week, Davis notes Palin's appearance at the Republican convention came only days after she was named to the GOP ticket, and the Alaska governor had few clothes on hand that were appropriate for the event.
“We flew her out from Alaska to Arizona to Ohio to introduce her to the world and take control of her life. She didn’t think ‘dress for the convention’, because it might have just been a nice day trip to Arizona if she didn’t click with John. Very little prep had been done and if it had, we might have gotten picked off by the press. We were under incredible scrutiny."
"We were under incredible scrutiny," he added. "We got her a gal from New York and we thought, ‘Let’s get some clothes for her and the family.’ It was a failure of management not to get better control and track of that. "The right hand didn’t know what the left hand was doing, what it was worth or where it was going. No one knew how much that stuff was worth. It was more our responsibility than hers.”
News of the pricey tab caused a media firestorm days before the presidential election, and McCain aides appeared to blame Palin for the mishap, while the Alaska governor said she was forced to buy the clothes.
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Rick Davis is as dishonest as the day is long. He took a man who at one time was seen as an American hero and turned him into a petty, whining, race-baiting fear monger. He forced him to select the most unqualified running mate I have ever seen. He left the campaign in tatters and now he wants to spin the story to soften the blow.
Not going to work this time.
And to the right wingers still foaming at the mouth (ie Dumb-o-crats). Get a life....we want to move this country forward from the disaster your people put on us. Lead, follow, or get out of the way.
@ Dumb-o-crats
"Dear woman"?? You mean the woman who lied, encouraged racism, xenophobia and hateful outbursts during her stumping, and spewed virulent, vicious vitriol during the entire campaign?
I'm all for giving sympathy to simpletons, but they lose the right to it once they get nasty.
Oh come on! Really what a lie. If this is all they can come up with then we are safe from the GOP for many many years. As to Sarah Palin, immature ego maniac crying for attention diva train wreck I'll stamp my little feet till I get my own way while holding my breath till I turn blue VP candidate I have a solution.
Give her what she wants. Let's have her on CNN all the time. We could start with Wolf Blitzer then the next night it could be Lou Dobbs then Larry King and Campbell Brown. She should get her own cooking show so we can learn what to do with left over Moose meat. Along with that she should get the chief advisory post for OPEC so that she can tell those foreigners what to do. Then she could guest in the next James Bond flick. Anyway you get the idea.
Point is that no matter how the GOP dresses this up, (no pun intended) she's still the Democrats secret weapon...
I can manage her wardrobe with a tenth of the $ spent on their clothes.
Give me a break. and this has nothing to do with whether any of us posting here are BO voters.
it has to do with Management !!!!!
Jeez.... and I believe her when she says she bought clothes in a high end consignment shop. I live in Sarasota, FL and believe me it CAN be done. this was just an example of a campaign in total disarray.
I may not like Sarah Palin but I would never blame her for that clothing debacle.
I'd love to know the average IQ of the Democrats – use to be our good Farmer Party and now it's turned into a group of "don't care, don't work, pickup homeless and pay them to vote, illegal voting (of course that is what got JFKennedy in vis a vis Chicago).
So sad.
James Jones
Milwaukee WI
I only thank God that they didn't get into office. Can you imagine what would have happened? They should be put on trial for lying to the American people about Palin being fit to be a VP candidate.
She was his idea/choice for VP, of course he's going to defend her.
Wow! Sounds like the inmates were running the asylum.
Donna,
Like Michele Obama said "we buy our own clothes". That's not what political contributions are for.
This loser, davis should be held accountable, wasn't he the manager of the campaign? He was so busy spreading all his nasty rumors and lies about obama he wasn't doing what he should have been doing to run an efficent campaing. Now he trys to defend palin. I'm just glad they are both out of the picture and I mean that so please keep that winney voice woman off the new channels, please.
Who cares about thing dumb woman. May the republicans have all of her . If she is the future of her party well very good them dem will have power for a long while.
She looked nice I will give her that. But lets just face it, that was a seriously poor judgement call. That was just as bad as McCain not knowing how many houses he owns.
Speaking of clothes, that designer dress michelle obama was wearing on the night of the election looked like a left over dress from a night of trick or treating. Talk about expensive and tasteless. Governor Palin did not buy the clothes but had to wear what was provided. Most of the clothes were nor worn and were returned. The used ones were given away to charity. Something liberals do not understand unless they are giving other peoples money away. biben made millions last year and gave 3,600.00 to charity.
At least now that the campaign is over they can start the straight talk again.
Rick Davis quotes, "It was a failure of management not to get better control and track of that. The right hand didn’t know what the left hand was doing, what it was worth or where it was going."
Kind of like how the Repubs have managed our country during the past 8 years....
I'm sorry, but that just doesn't logically follow. I can see, with this explanation, a shopping spree getting out of hand and running up a bill of, say, $10,000-15,000 for the family for the convention, but even ad Nieman Marcus and Fifth Avenue I can't see this explanation accounting for over $150,000 in clothes.
Donna.....
lol, yep, if the Obama campaign had spent that 600M on CLOTHES, that would be an issue, they spent it on an incredible ground game, targeted advertising, network airtime, and get out the vote campaigns.
The Republicans? Smear, fear, clothes and robo-calls.
Grow up and admit your party is a failure. You are welcome to join the majority and work for a better tomorrow, or you can spend your next 8 or 16 years trying to make excuses.
a transparent attempt to make the moose look better. PLease go back to Alaska and never come back!
Pitbull in a lipstick gone wild in New York City. Gotta love that....NOT!
SOOO...Are they admitting now that they DID NOT vet Palin as they so vehemently claimed? What do you know....lies, lies and more lies.
I'm glad we made the right choice for our country.
Abby said, She didnt see the price tags? Please.
Let's give her the benefit of the doubt: Palin accidentally spent four times the average American's annual salary on clothes for four months.
Republican campaign donations and your matching tax dollars, hard at work. 😉
Yes, yes, this is all very lovely. Go and write a memoir or something. Now, can we move on?!
If the former McCain campaign is going to talk about a failure of management, it shouldn't focus on Gov. Palin's wardrobe, but on important matters. I can't believe this is still being discussed. Yes, $150,000 is a lot of money, but this just doesn't merit attention. Who would launch a little-known female VP candidate without making sure she looked as polished as possible? No one. Come on...let's zero in on the real problems.
I really don't care anymore about her clothing. RNC spent hard earned taxpayer money to dress her up like a multi-millionaire. Although I voted for Obama she should be commended for the way she handled herself during the campaign. It was a poorly ran campaign and it had no wheels to begin with. The truth is that idiots like the dum-o-crats post don't realize that in this election people actually had some substance with their rhetoric. Get over it. I am a moderate thinking independent who listen to the views of both candidates and the fact that McCain had no substance in his campaign is the reason that they lost. NOT THE CLOTHES NOT BUSH BUT MCCAIN LOST.
Speaking of clothing the entire family- why did they ALL need to be there???
I watched the Matt Lauer interview and why is it that those kids needed to be taken out of school the entire time and dragged around like luggage.
Poor Piper missed school and told Matt it was so hard for her to catch up because she is very far behind.
Why couldn't the first Dud, um Dude, stay home and keep those kids in school. God knows just listening to the mother, they NEED to stay in school just to learn proper English and grammer. They sure ain't gettin' it at home!!
Failures all around