<p>Thirteen years after the bruising 2008 presidential election made Sarah Palin’s family the target of endless media smears, Meghan McCain said members of her father’s presidential campaign “set [Palin] up for failure” and indicted members of the legacy media for trying to make Palin “look bad.”</p>
<p>“I have a whole new lens of viewing how Sarah Palin was treated,” said the younger McCain during an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News on Tuesday night.</p>
<p>“The people working for my father’s campaign really, in my opinion, treated her really horribly — set her up for failure,” she said.</p>
<p>During the 2008 campaign, Palin became the focus of numerous media <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/trashing-of-sarah-palin">leaks</a> that she lacked intelligence, obsessed over <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/us/politics/23palin.html">expensive clothing</a>, and branded her a “<a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2010/01/steve-schmidts-war-against-palin-031420">whack job</a>.” McCain said the legacy media gladly facilitated the internal war between the Republican Party’s more liberal elements and its conservative, grassroots base.</p>
<p>McCain referred to former “Today” show host “Katie Couric talking about how<strong> </strong>Ruth Bader Ginsburg<strong> </strong>is someone she helped look good” by concealing comments the justice made critical of NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem. “I thought, ‘Well obviously, she probably put Sarah Palin in a position to look bad,’” said McCain. “And by the way, [former McCain campaign strategist] Nicolle Wallace was the person who facilitated that interview, who now has a show on MSNBC.” Wallace now hosts the network’s dependably alarmist, two-hour “Deadline: White House” from 4 to 6 p.m. Eastern time.</p>
<p>The media verified McCain’s claims at the time. Two days after the 2008 election, CNN’s Campbell Brown <a href="http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0811/06/ec.01.html">reported</a> that “top advisers to John McCain&#8217;s failed campaign” are “desperate right now to find someone to blame for their long, long list of mistakes. They have been launching grenades at Palin and her supporters. Some of their allegations, we at CNN we have found to be patently false.” The next day her colleague, Anderson Cooper, <a href="https://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/11/07/palin-camp-fires-back-over-claims-by-some-mccain-aides/">reported</a>, “Former McCain campaign aides have been sources for a string of embarrassing stories about Palin that have become public since GOP defeat Tuesday night.”</p>
<p>Far from being a drag on McCain’s popularity, the RealClearPolitics <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/us/general_election_mccain_vs_obama-225.html">average of polls</a> showed that the only time McCain led Barack Obama after Obama secured the Democratic presidential nomination was a 10-day period stretching from shortly after John McCain <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/aug/29/mccain-nears-vice-presidential-pick/">named</a> Palin his vice president until <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/story/lehman-employees-describe-feelings-of-anger-and-uncertainty">Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy</a>, considered the height of the subprime mortgage crisis at the heart of the 2008 economic recession. Meghan McCain has <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinehoward/2010/08/31/sarah-palin-meghan-mccain-election-dirty-sexy-politics/">always rejected</a> notions that Palin had a negative impact on the ticket.</p>
<p>Yet the legacy media and the Republican Party establishment continued to hound Palin long after the 2008 election ended. Shortly after election day, numerous media outlets <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/editorial-reporting-fake-source-on-africa-story-about-palin-irresponsible/">reported</a> the fake story that Palin thought Africa was a country rather than a continent. The error — which was reported by MSNBC’s David Schuster, The New Republic, the Los Angeles Times, and Fox News — allegedly came from a McCain campaign insider named Martin Eisenstadt, who turned out to be a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/12/AR2008111202624.html">fictional character</a> created by two independent filmmakers.</p>
<p>Nicolle Wallace would become a short-term host on “The View” before Meghan McCain filled the conservative seat — which she said had been occupied by “women who claim to be Republican and are not, in my opinion.” McCain said she took the job on her father’s advice, because “I do think it’s important that we have to fight the culture war in their spaces, because quite frankly I think we’re losing it.”</p>
<p>Yet McCain says her communications skills actually harmed her relationship with her liberal co-hosts. “Being a conservative woman in mainstream media is deeply threatening; being a woman who can hold her own on a show like that proved to be ultimately threatening,” she said. “The more I pressed liberal candidates and liberal guests on the show, the worse it got for me backstage. And then ultimately, it started spilling out on air.” McCain left the show of her own volition this year, with two years left on her contract.</p>
<p>McCain said her views have become more conservative as part of her maturation process. “I fell in love with a really, deeply conservative man who runs <a href="https://thefederalist.com/">The Federalist</a>,” referring to her husband, Fox News personality Ben Domenech. “I have gotten older. It’s like the old adage: ‘If you’re not liberal when you’re young, you don’t have a heart; if you’re not conservative when you’re old, you don’t have a brain.’”</p>
<p>“I just really hope that the culture has some redemption for Sarah Palin in the same way that we have for so many other women right now,” she said.</p>
<p>You can watch her exchange with Sean Hannity below:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwJK7dC_Yts">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwJK7dC_Yts</a></p>
<p><em>The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire</em>.</p>

<script async src="https://www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script><div data-widget-host="revcontent" data-pub-id="165152" data-widget-id="290588"></div><script src="https://delivery.revcontent.com/165152/290588/widget.js"></script>

GOP Treated Sarah Palin ‘Really Horribly, Set Her Up For Failure’: Meghan McCain

‘He Was A Live Donor’: For The First Time, We Have Proof Of China’s Organ Harvesting Operation

3 Times Liberals Condemned You For Their Sins

Everything You Need To Know About The Durham Probe

The Washington Post Says The World’s Second-Largest Church Supports Abortion. We Don’t. 

How Joe Biden Made Christian Persecution Even Worse

‘The Biden Administration Is A Loser’ In The 2022 Midterms: Democratic Strategist Offers Warning To His Party

News and Analysis

Media Bias

Meghan McCain

Nicolle Wallace

Sarah Palin

The View

A video goes viral showing a baby being refused his mother by two gay "dads". This is just the tip of the iceberg, which is why we will have an important discussion today about surrogacy. 

Hour 1

The Matt Walsh Show

Ep. 1765 - This Video Is One Of The Worst Things I've Seen In A Long Time 

The Strait of Hormuz officially opens for business (kind of), the Pope makes “shocking” comments on immigration, and President Trump promises UFO disclosure at TPUSA. 


The Michael Knowles Show

Ep. 1956 -  Pope Leo's "SHOCKING" Immigration Comments EXPLAINED

A false miscreed has corrupted our leadership class.


The Andrew Klavan Show

Ep. 1275 - Dumb, Dumber and Progressive

President Trump announces a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, a murder-suicide involving former Democratic Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax shakes Virginia, and France and Britain hold a conference to secure the Strait of Hormuz – after the Iranian conflict ends. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.

- - -

Ep. 2738

- - -

Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3

- - -

Today's Sponsors:

Alliance Defending Freedom - Visit https://JoinADF.com/WIRE or text 'WIRE' to 83848 to learn more.

Pocket Hose - Text MORNING to 64000 to get a FREE pocket pivot and their 10-pattern sprayer with the purchase of ANY size Copper Head hose. Message and data rates may apply.

Morning Wire

U.S. Expands Hormuz Blockade & VA Fairfax Deaths Investigated | 4.17.26

U.S. Expands Hormuz Blockade & VA Fairfax Deaths Investigated | 4.17.26 [Member Exclusive]

A ceasefire goes into effect between Israel and Lebanon, a tragic murder-suicide rocks Virginia, and Dairy Queen deploys AI in the drive-thru. Get the facts first with Evening Wire.
- - -
Ep. 2737
- - -
Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3 
- - -
Today’s Sponsor:

Alliance Defending Freedom - Visit https://JoinADF.com/WIRE or text “WIRE” to 83848 to learn more.


Evening Wire: Lebanon Ceasefire Begins & Murder-Suicide Rocks VA | 4.16.26

The Pendragon Cycle

Menu

— News and Analysis —

GOP Treated Sarah Palin ‘Really Horribly, Set Her Up For Failure’: Meghan McCain