It's official: Nicolle Wallace really doesn't like Sarah Palin. On today's Morning Joe, Wallace—who was Palin's chief handler during the 2008 campaign—took the occasion of Palin's speech at the Iowa Freedom Summit on Saturday to swipe at the former veep candidate.
Wallace had been asked to comment on conservative columnist Byron York's panning of Palin's speech as "long, rambling, and at times barely coherent." York's column also passed along criticism of the speech by a number of Iowa Republicans. Wallace said that it was interesting to see York come "full circle," since back in 2008 he had been a staunch Palin defender, blaming the campaign for the way she was packaged. Wallace then doubled down with this dig: "This is who she is. This to me is evidence that she has finally shed every last one of those annoying handlers." Reeoorw!
Readers, weigh in!
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Byron York writes about what he calls the GOP's Palin problem. He quotes conservative activists who called the speech long and disjointed, weird, and terrible, adding it didn't make any sense. York also quotes Craig Robinson of the Iowa Republican blog who writes in part, "I'm not comfortable sharing everything I heard about the speech. It was that bad. No offense to Governor Palin, but I do think it is problematic to have someone give a speech like that in the middle of a string of serious speeches by people who are seriously thinking about running for president.
. . .
BRZEZINSKI: Obviously, Nicole, I would think you would have more insight than anyone. What do you think when you're watching this?
NICOLLE WALLACE: Well, it's interesting that Byron York came to that conclusion. In 2008 he was one of her staunchest defenders. I remember being on the cell phone with him; he was one of the harshest critics of the campaign's handling of her. I think he really thought the problem with Palin was in our packaging of Palin and to see him kind of come full circle. I mean, this is who she is. This to me is evidence that she has finally shed every last one of those annoying handlers.
