"I never asked for anything more than a Diet Dr. Pepper once in a while,"

Palin allies: She's no diva

“I’m appalled by it because Sarah Palin was one of nicest people I have ever had the chance to work with,” says Biegun, a former Bush NSC aide. “I’ve worked in Washington for 20 years, on the Hill, in the White House and in the private sector, and she ranks at the highest levels of decency, kindness and graciousness of anybody I’ve ever worked with.”



After enduring three days of brutal post mortem attacks, Sarah Palin and a group of Republicans who worked with her during the presidential race are pushing back hard against claims that she was a “diva” who helped tank John McCain’s campaign."I never asked for anything more than a Diet Dr. Pepper once in a while," Palin told reporters as she returned to the governor’s office Friday.

She said she “never forced anybody to buy anything for her” – a reference to the $150,000 in clothes and makeup the RNC purchased. And, as the Associated Press reports, she lashed out at unidentified GOP sources who told Fox News that she didn’t know that Africa was a continent and couldn’t name the parties to NAFTA. Palin said it was “cowardly” for people to make those charges anonymously.

The back-and-forth between Palin, her fans and her foes is a continuation of a feud that began even before the campaign ended, when Palin loyalists charged that she had been mishandled and her critics called her a “whack job” who was mostly out for herself. And it underscores the degree to which the No. 2 on the ticket continues to overshadow the principal. Now, though, the stakes are even greater, as the conversation about who Palin is — and whether she helped or hurt the GOP’s prospects this year — shapes the party’s future, determining whether the suddenly-famous 44-year-old becomes the party’s heir apparent, a cringe-inducing footnote or something in between.

The Republicans who worked most closely with Palin – the ones who were with her from when she first walked into that swooning Ohio basketball arena in August until she walked off the stage after McCain’s concession speech in Phoenix Tuesday — are now having their say in that conversation. And they want it known that they’re sick of Sarah Palin being dragged through the mud.“It’s depressing,” said Steve Biegun, a veteran foreign policy hand who tutored and staffed Palin and travelled with her through the fall. “We worked our asses off. It was a tough campaign. Then we have this?”

Biegun emphatically made the case for his much-maligned former boss.“I think she was fantastic. She just brought a special energy to our ticket. Look, I was there at those rallies.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15313.html

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