Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin swung back hard Friday against aides to John McCain who have criticized her foreign policy knowledge and pricey wardrobe purchases, calling them "jerks" who were too cowardly to speak publicly.
The former Republican vice presidential nominee told reporters in Anchorage that a recent Fox News report -- which cited unnamed campaign sources as saying she did not know Africa was a continent and could not name the countries involved in the North American Free Trade Agreement -- was false, and that her comments were taken out of context.
"That's cruel. It's mean-spirited. It's immature. It's unprofessional, and those guys are jerks if they came away with it, taking things out of context, and then tried to spread something on national news. It's not fair and not right," Palin told CNN in an interview.
Palin's fierce defense was part of a broader push-back Friday by her loyal aides as she resumes her duties as governor and tries to repair some of the damage done in the rough-and-tumble of the campaign. Although Palin has brushed off questions about whether she will run for president in 2012, her supporters are eager to correct what they see as unfair attacks.
And McCain himself has privately expressed sadness and displeasure over former staffers' emerging criticism of his running mate, an aide said.
Since the Arizona senator's defeat Tuesday in the presidential election, some of his aides have said that as much as $30,000 in clothing was purchased for Palin after the Republican convention in September. That would be on top of the $150,000 in wardrobe purchases made for the Palins by the Republican National Committee, which were reported in September and October Federal Election Commission filings.
The aides -- who spoke on condition of anonymity while discussing the campaign's inner workings -- asserted that some members of Palin's traveling staff charged clothing for the nominee and her family on their personal credit cards and submitted reimbursement requests to the RNC.
The campaign has said that at least a third of the $150,000 in purchases -- which included a $75,063 spree at Neiman Marcus and a $49,426 trip to Saks Fifth Avenue -- were returned.
In a phone interview Friday, McCain foreign policy advisor Randy Scheunemann, who prepared Palin for her debate with Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden, bristled at the charges that Palin lacked a basic understanding of Africa and NAFTA. He too said that the reports were inaccurate.
