REUTERS/Chris Keane
On Friday afternoon, 24,199 printed pages of Sarah Palin’s e-mails were released. Reporters went crazy. Here’s what they found out so far.
1. Palin had her eye on the VP spot for months. In the summer of 2008, the Associated Press reports, Palin and her staff had been trying to get the governor more name recognition, though supporters had mentioned the option over e-mail as early as that April. Vice presidential sentiments grew after she appeared on Glenn Beck’s radio show in June.
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2. She spoke (and joked) with President George W. Bush about her chances. About a month before John McCain selected Palin as his running mate, she told her chief of staff about the chat she had with the then-President, Politico reports. “The [president] and I spoke about military, [including] Track’s deployment and how Iraq is a different place than it was a year ago,” Palin wrote. “He also spoke about (and we joked about) VP buzz.”
3. When McCain actually picked her, things moved quickly. According to the Los Angeles Times, the e-mails poured in after she first appeared on stage as McCain’s vice presidential choice. “Can you believe it!” Palin responded to one. “He told me yesterday — it moved fast! Pray! I love you.”
4. As governor, Palin stood with Democrats on an oil profits tax. In one of the few times Palin could be considered a Democratic ally, she joined with the left to fight for a tax on petroleum profits — one that would cost oil companies billions of dollars, according to the Los Angeles Times.
5. Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, once posed for a picture with an Elvis impersonator. You know, just so you’re aware.
Want to look through all the emails? Well, good for you for having all that free time. You can check them out at the New York Times.