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John Ziegler Exposé Reveals Todd Palin Approached Him To Work For Sarah Palin 2012 Campaign

by Tommy Christopher | 8:48 pm, June 12th, 2011

» 41 comments

In a sprawling exposé for The Daily Caller, filmmaker (and occasional Mediaite guest columnist) John Ziegler airs several years worth of gripes about his relationship with Sarah Palin and her team, among them that Todd Palin approached him in May about a role in a possible 2012 presidential bid:

In early May, I got the random call from Todd, apparently sounding me out about working on a potential campaign for Sarah (though I rarely knew for sure why Todd was really calling). By then, I’d already become convinced that she was actually going to run in 2012, so the conversation simply removed most of the remaining doubt. I actually considered it for a while as a Barry Goldwater-type campaign seemed fun—until I was reminded of all the frustrations that had been building since I was first jerked around by Sarah’s split-personality advisers back in 2008.

Ziegler, more than anyone, is responsible for creating the alternate history of the 2008 campaign upon which much of the current Palin brand is based, but he clearly feels burned by Palin, and fears that a Palin run could, in turn, burn the Republicans. While he still professes admiration and respect for Palin, the premise of the piece is a plea for her to “sit this one out.”

The piece is a behind-the-curtain look at Ziegler’s relationship with Palin and her people for the last several years, and while it will likely leave Ziegler without much of a constituency, he doesn’t pull any punches. Here are some of the highlights:

After interviewing Palin for his documentary in January of 2009, Ziegler left the Palin residence with this needle-scratch of a parting shot: ““You have to know, you can’t beat Obama in 2012. The media won’t let you. They won’t let him lose and the narrative about you is too negative to correct in three-and-a-half years.”
Shortly thereafter, Palin told Ziegler she was concerned about coming off as “whiny” about her treatment by the media, and Ziegler told her “George W. Bush didn’t like fighting back against the liberal media, either, and look what happened to him,” a lesson, he notes, that she has taken to heart with a vengeance.
Ziegler joked with Todd about how his wife’s schoolteacher salary helped carry him through rough times while promoting his film. “‘So… you’re just like me,’ (Todd) said. He was joking—I think. Whatever, it takes balls to admit you’re a kept man.
Ziegler talks about feeling burned by Palin when she accepted an apology from David Letterman, even as Ziegler was organizing protests to have the Late Show host fired over his joke about Willow Palin.
Ziegler prepped Palin a rebuttal to a 60 Minutes “hit piece,” but says she “butchered the answer” on The O’Reilly Factor.
Palin aide Rebecca Mansour landed in some hot water last month when some of her Twitter Direct Messages were revealed by The Daily Caller, some of which were critical of Bristol Palin. Ziegler reveals that there was much more where that came from, saying that Tucker Carlson told him he’d “actually had to redact many of Rebecca’s other remarks to protect the Palin family.”

One of the more revealing anecdotes from Ziegler’s story illustrates the loyalty Palin commanded from Ziegler, and the degree to which she returned it:

My relationship with Sarah hit another pothole early in 2010 when I advised her via e-mail that her upcoming speech to the Tea Party Convention in Nashville was creating controversy because the event was both expensive and for-profit.

She forwarded my message to her team, apparently forgetting to delete my address, with the comment, “If I have to suffer thru Ziegler’s e-mails, we ALL have to suffer thru.” Wow, that was a punch in the gut. Less than four minutes later, a panicked follow-up pinged into my Blackberry’s inbox: “John—pls [sic] know that was a joke! . . . you’re [sic] advice is very good, we have announced I will not be financially gaining from the speech, we need to get that word out there.”

daily caller, David Letterman, john ziegler, Rebecca Mansour, Sarah Palin, Todd Palin, Tucker Carlson

Paul G

Speaking of a hit piece…..
slickerwick

Yawn.
lonestar77

blah, blah, blah. Shouldn’t you be digging through Palin’s dumpters, Tommy? Or, at least her e-mails?
TfT

Yawn is right.

So sick of the hit pieces on Sarah; mediatie making mountains out of molehills on this one, for sure.

Run sarah run, you drive them batty alraedy, if you announce,they will go off the deep end. The hatred for this good Christian woman is palpable.
Glackin

TfT said:
Yawn is right.

So sick of the hit pieces on Sarah; mediatie making mountains out of molehills on this one, for sure.

Run sarah run, you drive them batty alraedy, if you announce,they will go off the deep end. The hatred for this good Christian woman is palpable.

Has she renounced her witchdoctor? I hadn’t heard.
Cecelia

First of all, almost everyone has already made up their mind about Palin and she has “well over a 50 percent disapproval rating with no office/position where she can do/achieve anything to significantly change the narrative about her. About the only opportunity she would have to get a second look is to do high-profile interviews with liberal media types and, against my counsel, she has indicated she has no intention of doing that.”

Obviously, Ziegler is the typical groupie who later feels himself used and abused, but he has a ring of truth.

Of course, it’s easy for Tommy to pick out all the things that make Palin look simply ungrateful or disloyal, but Ziegler identifies), but the real reason that Palin will NEVER be elected is the above statement.

I doubt there’s a hair of difference between Palin 1.0 and Palin 2.0 in any way that truly matters to any potential campaign. Palin’s weakness is her stubborn and arrogant refusal to play the game and to be anything but fiercely in love with her own “rugged individualist” image.

Unfortunately, that was something that Ziegler largely encouraged in so many ways.
catfishjuggling

Just a question for you people calling this a hit piece: Who is hitting here? Mediaite? The Daily Caller? Ziegler? It is just dizzing trying to read you people call reporting on Ziegler’s story by Mediaite a hit piece.

BTW, I just finished reading Ziegler’s piece. Which again, is on the Daily Caller, not the freaking Nation’s website. THE FREAKING DAILY CALLER!!!

If it is a hit piece, it is an intramurial hit. This ain’t the liberal media going after her.
seek

It’s fine – nothing astounding or enlightening. I think Ziegler just wants to get a job. He didn’t throw Palin under any bus. Really it’s not much of anything.
http://blockchords.com blockchords

seek said:
It’s fine – nothing astounding or enlightening. I think Ziegler just wants to get a job. He didn’t throw Palin under any bus. Really it’s not much of anything.

Yeah seriously, I’m trying to read it & I’m thinking, “tell me something I don’t already know”
Cecelia

Ziegler’s chief complaint is that for all her lamestream media stuff, Palin zeal against them, didn’t match his. THAT must have stung…

While it’s easy to understand how Ziegler could hate a bunch of people who are so insular, unaccountable, and ruthless, it’s certainly a pitiable position that he’s in.

His only chance for having a shred of credibility (or usafullness…) among his peers is to be the defender-cum- critic of the very vehicle he once hoped would trump them.
Rokker

Get him on board to help Greta always having to carry the Palin’s suitcases on trips.
RhapsodyinBlue

JOHN ZIEGLER has written here before? Jesus Christ, I knew this place was right leaning but this makes it to the right of FoxNews. No wonder it’s 90% GOP vermin
cjd ohio 1

Paul G said:
Speaking of a hit piece…..

whats wrong, you act like tommy is a neutral journalist here at mediaite……relax
Cecelia

Oh, please… since Palin’s tour the entire media has been bitching like groupies who never got a t-shirt.
WCinWI

Ziegler has always been creepy.

Always has those $$$ signs when it comes to anything Palin-related.
seek

who is this doofus and why do they write these novels?^^^^^^
Glackin

seek said:
who is this doofus and why do they write these novels?^^^^^^

Your crowd. Don’t complain. He makes some of you look sane.
dougx

I don’t get the point of this. An adviser is miffed because 100% of his advice was not followed. Anything else?

I get annoyed at Sarah Palin from time to time for specific things, but I don’t understand this fanatical opposition to her political existence.
http://TheDividedStatesBlog.com Publius219

It’s important, and accurate, that it’s called an alternate history. Because it’s a fake history, as in it didn’t actually occur. As many things in Sarah Palin’s realm don’t actually occur. Death panels, for example, which she managed to get taken out of the healthcare bill, the elimination of which will cost us untold billions upon billions. Paul Revere, for another example, as was so perfectly and eloquently debunked by the National Review (or Weekly Standard, same difference).
seek

“Death panels, for example, which she managed to get taken out of the healthcare bill, the elimination of which will cost us untold billions upon billions.”

You say it’s fake, and yet it was removed and is going to cost a fortune. Please explain.
seek

as per Paul Revere and his riding with the wonderful pot in his hand. Half said yes – the other half said no. It’s a wash I’d say.
Dem4Ever

All in a days work…Tommy produces tripe and we reveal it to the world for what it is. It’s an arrangement that is both simple and elegant.
Sanders Youth

Yeah who didn’t see this coming a mile away, Sarah is best and crapping all over the few people that actually tried to help her, to her burning bridges is an artform. Say goodbye Sarah, your 15 minutes is almost up.
Sanders Youth

BTW this is probably the only blog on the entire internet that is so defensive of Sarah Palin, this must be the place where all the lame Sarah followers come to.
Cecelia

Sanders Youth said:
BTW this is probably the only blog on the entire internet that is so defensive of Sarah Palin, this must be the place where all the lame Sarah followers come to.

Speaking of Palin followers, for the past month the media has chased this non-candidate around the entire country.

They’ve covered her comings, goings, and utterings like she was the Seond Coming.

They just spent days pouring over 200 odd pounds of her official emails.

You could have fooled them that she’s a washed-up nonentity, Einstein.
seek

Sanders Youth said:
BTW this is probably the only blog on the entire internet that is so defensive of Sarah Palin, this must be the place where all the lame Sarah followers come to.

btw this isn’t a blog. You stumbled into the wrong room?
Just4thefax

Fact: Sarah won’t pass up the chance to get in a few debates for the GOP representative. It’s too big of a platform to once again zip and takedown the false statements that are formed about her daily. False statements in ones article like this one will be shown once again to be false. Show them what is already a fact in nature that cream comes to the top even in politics. Sarah will cream Obama in a run in 2012.
Son of Sevenless

Not interested, move on please.
noekk

Zeigler still doesn’t get it. She has to run for President, to keep the cash flow. She won’t jump in until the end because she can’t use Sarahpac funds for personal and family use, once she declares. Then she will drop out, after refusing to do debates, simply because she knows nothing.

She needs to jump in to secure her followers (donators) for the next few years, but it will not be a serious run. Just a brief dabble in that politicky thing.
Jaurez

Socky Youth said:
BTW this is probably the only blog on the entire internet that is so defensive of Sarah Palin, this must be the place where all the lame Sarah followers come to.

Follow Sarah much? LOL!
Sanders Youth

Jaurez said:
Follow Sarah much? LOL!

Notsofast, son.
http://www.sarainitalyblog.blogspot.com/ sarainitaly

I’m kind of torn… on the one hand, I agree that quitting as Gov will hurt her in the long run, even though I totally understand and agree with her reasons on why she did it. I agree that the media has done their best to destroy her, and will continue to try to destroy her, and it will make running almost impossible. I would have liked to see her run for Senate or something first.

On the other hand, I am one of those people that the more you tell me not to do something, I want to do it – so I kind of feel that way towards her running. Like, screw everyone, and run! She definitely can rally crowds, build excitement, etc. She just needs to really tighten up her game, and become that woman we saw walk on to the stage when she was announced as the VP pick.

Now that she has been completely vetted, literally inside and out, that issue is taken care of. She has a record of accomplishments, and experience governing.

And heck, no one thought a young, inexperienced African American, with absolutely no accomplishments under his belt from his limited days in the US Senate, and PT job in the state senate, could get elected, either.

And who knows, the attacks on her might only help to build her base of supporters. This latest email stunt made a lot of Lefties even come to her defense.
http://constitutionallibertarian.co.cc DavidKramer

More attempts to project discourse where there is none.

Oh well.
Cecelia

sarainitaly said:
And who knows, the attacks on her might only help to build her base of supporters. This latest email stunt made a lot of Lefties even come to her defense.

The bottom.line is that she CANNOT be a valid candidate and try to shield herself from duking it out on Meet the Press, etc.

She can’t be a serious candidate and harbor so much disdain for the media that her anger gets the better of her reason.

Palin screws herself up with THIS attitude of resentment. It’s understandable why she has it, but as long as it gets the better of rational decisions, she won’t stand a chance.

I fully believe that the reason Palin didn’t answer Katie Couric’s question about what periodicals she reads, is because it infuriated her. It was a question laden with the assumption that she doesn’t read them and with an expectation of a gotcha follow-up.

However, she SHOULD have been able to finesse this. ANYONE could have mentioned News Week, Time, The Economist,,, etc.. and then made a joke of any picky gotcha follow-up.

I know that they didn’t ask EVEN Silky Pony Edwards that stuff…it’s insulting…etc…etc… but she’s going to have to take this treatment and continually prover herself FOREVER. As LONG as she’s around. PERIOD.

It’s what Republicans, especially Republican women, must do, and if she can’t stand that heat, get out of the kitchen.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Barbara-Hodges/100000863918892 Barbara

If you read Bailey’s book about her, Blind Allegiance, you’ll be affirmed as to just what a coniving person she really is. IMO
http://www.zazzle.com/talkingpoints NORBIT Jr.

All well and good Tommy…

But what’s the latest on Anthony Weiner, and the lack of Honesty & Integrity in the Democratic Party?
http://www.sarainitalyblog.blogspot.com/ sarainitaly

Cecelia said:
The bottom.line is that she CANNOT be a valid candidate and try to shield herself from duking it out on Meet the Press, etc.

well, if she becomes a candidate, then we will most likely see her on MTP, etc.

But I disagree that she has to just bend over and take it, just because she is a Republican woman.
She started cutting them out, and speaking to her followers directly via FB, and Twitter – somewhat controlling her message, from their distortions.
And her bus tour and snub of the media was great.
And this pathetic email stunt showed everyone how nasty and ugly the media really is towards her.

Maybe it will make them stop and think next time….then again, maybe not. ahha But, yes, if she decides to run, she will need to make the rounds.
Cecelia

sarainitaly said:
But, yes, if she decides to run, she will need to make the rounds.

Yep.

And she’ll need to keep her head and think about what she wants, rather than her image of who she is.
catfishjuggling

NORBIT Jr. said:
All well and good Tommy… But what’s the latest on Anthony Weiner, and the lack of Honesty & Integrity in the Democratic Party?

Yeah. Because Mediaite is barely covereing this one. Only 5 of the top 5 most popular stories on the site are about Weiner. It’s like freaking tumbleweeds.

(Man, to vacation just for 5 minutes in the delusion pit that is Norbit’s head. It’d be like a trip to the Moon, for sure).
Anonymous

What an amazing dialogue of childish ideas … is there any adult on line?
Anonymous

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