After confusion, Palin back on the program for Iowa rally
Des Moines, Iowa (CNN) – She's in again.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is set to appear at a tea party rally in Iowa Saturday, a source close to Palin told CNN.
And Christine O'Donnell is out (again), the source said.
Palin had initially accepted an invitation to speak at the Saturday's "Restoring America Event" in Indianola, an event that generated national buzz as Palin approaches a final decision about whether to run for president.
But members of Palin's staff indicated Wednesday that her appearance was being put "on hold" due to "planning issues" and concerns that the group behind the event, Tea Party of America, was being "dishonest" about the speaking program.
After the confusion, rally organizers "stepped up their game today" and "sorted out" various logistical issues that had concerned the governor's aides, the Palin source told CNN Wednesday afternoon.
The source said event organizers had been sending them "mixed messages" about the program - including the question of whether O'Donnell, the former Delaware Senate candidate whom Palin endorsed in 2010, would participate.
O'Donnell was, for the second time in 48 hours, removed from the program Wednesday afternoon.
Ken Crow, one of the rally organizers, told the Des Moines Register that he dis-invited O'Donnell at the Palin camp's request.
The Palin source said O'Donnell's representatives misled the tea party group about the extent of the governor's relationship with O'Donnell.
O'Donnell's representatives told event organizers that she would be in Iowa on the date of the rally and would like to come by and "say hi" to Palin, the source said. O'Donnell was then added to the speaking agenda.
The source told CNN that O'Donnell aides lied to organizers and said Palin had been communicating via text message with O'Donnell about the rally.
"The governor hasn't spoken to her in a year," the Palin source said of O'Donnell.
Palin advisers said earlier Wednesday that Palin might make a separate showing on Friday in Des Moines to meet with supporters, but that appearance is not confirmed.
An aide to O'Donnell disputed that people close to her mischaracterized her relationship with Palin to the Iowa rally organizers and asserted they did not lie about the extent of conversations between the two late Wednesday.
O'Donnell spokesman Matt Moran said O'Donnell will not travel to Iowa this weekend and sign copies of her book "Troublemaker." After she was initially dis-invited she cancelled her flight. When she was re-invited to the rally organizers offered to pay for her trip.
Moran said O'Donnell thought it would be an honor to be at the event and never intended to upstage anyone.
“As of this morning we saw a very classy move by Ken Crow, but since then there's been a lot of inconsistent and false statements by organizer-attendee aides, which is unfortunate. Christine talks about 'rising above it' in her book, and we hope the event is a phenomenal success,” Moran said in a statement.
In a series of tweets late Wednesday O'Donnell did not criticize the event's organizers.
"Now we have to help their efforts by not letting anyone falsely spin this into infighting," she wrote.
On some of the accusations from sources close to Palin she responded: "My team did not misrepresent my schedule" and decided to criticize the media. "I really doubt anyone from Palin's team would say such blatant inaccuracies."
–CNN's Kevin Bohn contributed to this report.
LOL..Just a glimpse of what she would be if she was in the White House...Confused!!!
No one cares.
Meanwhile.... if you count the saging rings of skin around her neck would you know her true age?
Just wondering.
regardless of this back and forth fiasco today, why is Sarah Palin so hesitant to talk to anyone? Why is she so unreachable and always in a protective bubble when info is needed? Does she really think that the country is going to want to hire a president who is more reclusive than Howard Hughes?
Strange, Strange happenings. At some point, even the poitical junkies will OD on all this drama.
The younger witch who has now been dis-invited not once but twice, Christine, should just "pull a Palin" on the wicked witch of the north.
Just show up un-invited to an already made "crowd". Show up on a motorcycle, a hot air balloon, or a broom. It doesn't matter. Just show up like Sarah does and claim it was just a "coincidence" LOL.
Palin's in, Palin's out, O'Donnell's in, O'Donnell's out.......
Let's go protest a Repub (Romney) for daring to speak to our group...
These teab@ggers really can't get it together, can they?
And they want to run the country?
Run Sarah Run! The GOP needs another Coo Coo in their candidate Pack.
LOL!!!!!!!! This fiasco is just perfect, considering it involves these 2. Highly appropriate and analogous: jumbled up, out of sorts, and confused....perfect!
Palin didn't need her for publicity- so why talk?
It was OK for her to want to make the country suffer with O'Donnell as a Senator, but to actually talk to her? Not even Palin wants that.
Meaning of the word 'Rogue' that she chose to describe herself: fraud and imposter.
How aptly she chose.
CNN – Your`re the one that is confused. With all these Palin is in; Palini s out, O`Donnell is in; she`s out, Romney is in; he`s out gyrations YOU look like you don`t know what YOU are doing.
Perhaps if you stop reporting on every time Palin exhales youe network/web site will look better. Just a thought.
These tea party darlings are really confused. Just flip flopping all over the place like a fish on land. They were just arguing over who should get top billing. I know that there must be other republican women candidates who are smarter and can do better than the three stooges (Palin, O'Donnell and Bachmann). LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good one, Pilotlight. That is EXACTLY what O`Donnell should do.
So Palin endorsed another wingnut and now is embarrassed (if that's possible!) to be seen with her?!? And Palin accusses them of being "dishonest"?? Now that's the kettle calling the pot black. There is one thing this article confirms and that's Palin is NEVER Gonna Be POTUS.
OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Palin, please go away!!!!!!!!!
Ioaw people are stupid. They heed to do more cow-tipping and less worrying about politicans. The U.S. will not elect anyone Iowa picks. Palin is a media whore...she will do the dirty deed for 60 seconds on TV.
Who know's where those thumbs have been.
What the heck.
Is that Shar-Pei around her neck? As I have said before you know where can put those thumbs except that since the lame stream media keeps thinking she isnelectrifyinb maybe she can hold a llive wire at the same time.
The quitters handlers have had problems with the idiot's candidate before haven't they?
So she hasn't talked to the mini witch in over a year? They sure looked friendly while campaigning but then again the medianwhire is not getting paid to be friends?
It is clearly over for Sara Palin. The only thing she can do right now is tell her voters she is not running for President.
Hip Hip Horray.....I'll be sure to attend now. YAWN!
Palin will have Bristol take O'Donnell's spot.
Poor Christine, her spells aren't lasting as long as they used to.
She thinks the world is her game show !
To the clear thinking Independent voter...you're absolutely right. cnn and their hash slinging dumbkophs are really CONFUSED !!! They sling it these days because of their affiliations with George Soros (actually not his real name), but he started using it to throw the NAZI insane criminals off his Hungarian born trail. Yes, he was a coward and still is a scum of the earth. For the idiot named diana and her comment above......oh, we know who the "REAL fraud and imposter is...YOU !!
please do Real Americans a favor...crawl back in your idiotic hole. This page is intended for comments from intelligent life.
...rally organizers "stepped up their game today"... They are already paying Palin the big bucks. Where is that $100,000 speaking fee coming from? That is already twice what the average Iowan makes in a year. (average household is $48,000/ year, which is most often two peoples' income) Think what that $100,000 would mean to a local school district that is laying off teachers just as the school year is getting started. I wish all politicians would think in those terms.