Index Cards: When it Won't all Fit on the Palm of Your Hand

This is my last argument that Sue Williams heard the inside scoop from the Heath household during the first few days when truth was being blurted out by the stunned Wasilla-based friends of the family. To make this point, I first provide a set of depictions found in the 2010 book  Game Change, by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin who interviewed hundreds of people for their behind-the-scenes book. This is what they report happened inside the McCain/Palin camp during the last days of August and the first days of September, 2008:

• ·     Wednesday, August 27, McCain operatives Schmidt and Salter commenced grilling the governor of Alaska. “They asked her nothing to plumb the depths of her knowledge about foreign or domestic policy. They didn’t explore her preparedness to be vice president. They assumed she knew as much as the average governor, and that what she didn’t know, she would pick up on the fly” (pgs. 361-362).
• ·     From the moment Palin stepped ontstage in Ohio, McCain headquarters was in turmoil. The phone lines were jammed with calls from reporters trying to figure out who she was…the McCain press shop was just as clueless (366).
• ·     By the time Palin arrived in St. Paul on Sunday night, August 31, there were plenty of queries.  What foreign countries had she visited? Had she ever been to Iraq? Had she really killed the infamous Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska, as she claimed? Did she worship at a Pentecostal church where people spoke in tongues? Had her son, Track, been busted for drugs? And most incendiary of all, was her infant son, Trig, who had Down syndrome,  really her baby –or was he Bristol’s? (366)
• ·     Cloistered in a suite on the twenty-third floor of the Hilton, Sarah Palin was in the midst of an atmosphere of anarchy. “The place was a freaking madhouse, a Grand Central rush hour of aides, kids, and minions. But Palin had to concentrate. There was so little time and so much to do, so much to change. She was having an Eliza Doolittle moment, and it was keeping her mighty busy (369)
• ·     …Neiman Marcus bags were everywhere, along with several rolling garment racks loaded with suits and dresses. A fleet of Hollywood stylists in tight black jeans and high heels were hovering and strutting. Palin was in her robe, seated at a desk. [Nicole] Wallace was there coaching her on the pronunciation of the proper names in the text of her address, repeating them over and over like a speech therapist. Every so often, they would pause so that Palin could model a new outfit.     (369)
• ·     The McCain people knew so little about Palin that every time a press controversy erupted, someone had to race to the suite and find out directly from her what was true and what was false. Palin had barely settled in on Sunday night before she had to deal with drafting the statement concerning Bristol’s pregnancy.  Palin called her daughter in Alaska to tell her the revelation was coming – I love you, she reassured Bristol, you’re a good person—then turned to her fledgling team and said, all business, “Where were we?” (370).
• ·     It was amid this bedlam that Schmidt’s desired policy tutoring took place…In the days since the pick, Schmidt had spent enough time with Palin to get a sense of how much instruction she would need. “You guys have a lot of work to do,” he warned [Randy] Scheunemann.. “She doesn’t know anything.”…They sat Palin down at a table in the suite, spread out a map of the world, and proceeded to give her a potted history of foreign policy. (370-371).
• ·     Early on, she told her team that she absorbed information best from five-by-seven index cards…soon enough, she had multiple towering stacks of cards, which she referred to constantly, sitting quietly and porting over them, lugging them back to her room to memorize late at night (371)

All of the above sounds like the Sarah Palin we’ve watched, heard, read about, and learned about. All of it.  I left out the part where she wanted the media consultant to confirm for her “My brand is hair up, isn’t it?”  Oh yes, that’s Sarah from Wasilla, daughter of Sally and Chuck Heath.

Doesn’t it all sound exciting? Certainly she called her parents, and her sisters. Sarah must have been on the phone with her parents more than once, making plans for them to fly out for the convention, telling them not to worry about clothes, giving them the inside scoop of the whole whirlwind experience.

Do you think she mentioned the five-by-seven cards? After all, Chuck was a school teacher – a person who gave his life to helping others learn. 

Sarah might say, “Oh Dad, there sure is a lot of stuff I never gave a thought about. But it’s okay, I’m makin' cards just like you taught me. It’s like bein’ in high school again, except the test is going to be televised and that Senator O’Biden is going to try to show off like he's the teacher's pet. 

But, Dad, don’t worry.  I’ll memorize the talking points, you betcha.  They are just talking points. I can handle that. Just like we all did with the whole Trig birth story…ooops, I better not be sayin’ that, these phones could be bugged!”

In my imagination, Sarah's family told friends,  “Sarah says she’s being tutored on national issues and foreign affairs stuff. That McCain, he sure picked the right gal. Sarah will learn that stuff. No problem. She’s smart. Besides, it don’t mean anything yet,  it’s just campaign talkin’ points. Sarah’s a real trooper. Ooops, I forgot we aren't supposed to use that word."

And again, in my imagination, the close friends of the Heaths who heard that whispered to each other that Sarah would be exposed as the unqualified candidate she truly was.

Sue Williams said,  “there is no way Sarah is qualified for this post… will Sarah be another Eagleton?” and “She can’t be prepping for the cursory answers she’s going to have to memorize on every national and intl issue – AND remember what she said when and to whom re: her Troopergate cover-up attempts.”  

See? Sue Williams KNEW Sarah was “prepping for the cursory answers” to the issues.  

In those very first 24-48 hours the most that I would imagine would be that Sarah was busy getting wardrobe prep, locating family members including Levi (who had multiple voice messages left on his phone from both SP and Bristol), being introduced to the members of the McCain “Straight Talk Express,” posing for publicity shots, giving a couple interviews, and receiving instruction from the Secret Service, etc. 

But someone KNEW and was talking about Sarah memorizing national and international talking points. Which is easier to believe,  that insiders and friends of Heaths heard from Chuck and Sally and Molly that Sarah had to learn alot asap, or that,  on August 31,  Sue Williams made that up out of her head so she could engage with strangers on a blog?

Sue Williams is, to me, a proven resource of information regarding all Bristol pregnancies, be it Tripp, an earlier pregnancy and/or Trigg. 

It's time to accept that the Palins and Johnstons knew Bristol was carrying Tripp in early March 2008, and yet misrepresented his due date and his birthdate.  SW comments are part of the body of evidence supporting that. (If you are new to The Palin Place, and want to understand this more fully, you have some reading to do. Start with the oldest post.) 

My cold case review is finished for now. I've got something else I've been anxious to get on to. Bristol, the green sweater, and 2006. Oh, baby!