Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

July 10, 2009

Not So Rogue

Had Gov. Sarah Palin "gone rogue" in last year's presidential campaign when she accused Barack Obama of "palling around" with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers? 

According to a book out next month -- The Battle for America 2008: The Story of an Extraordinary Election by Haynes Johnson and Dan Balz -- she was acting on directions from the very top of the McCain campaign, Marc Ambinder reports.

Emails show the McCain campaign had suggested the following line: "This is not a man who sees American as you and I do -- as the greatest force for good in the world. This is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country."

At the event, Palin said this: "Our opponent... is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country. This is not a man who sees America as you see America and as I see America."

If you haven't rounded out your summer reading list yet, this looks like a book to add.

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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