newsminer.com

•A story posted on the influential Web site politico.com claims that Gov. Sarah Palin's top advisers are a "gang that couldn't shoot straight."

The harsh assessment published Sunday begins: "A seemingly unending series of public relations gaffes has Sarah Palin loyalists frustrated and worried she is diminishing her stature. And they blame an inner circle they say is composed of not-ready-for-primetime players.

"Interviews with Alaska and Washington-based GOP political professionals who are familiar with the Palin operation describe the governor’s team as a gang that couldn’t shoot straight, a staff whose failure to execute basic political maneuvers too often entangles the governor in awkward and embarrassing situations that could have easily been avoided.

"The state of confusion is compounded by two separate Palin spheres that don’t communicate with each other, one based in the governor’s office and another based in the D.C.-area, where Palin’s political action committee is located—and the incongruous presence of a high-profile Democratic trial lawyer among her political advisers."

"The lawyer, John Coale, is a former supporter of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign who became a Palin confidante as his wife, Fox News host Greta Van Susteren, interviewed the former GOP vice presidential nominee and her family numerous times during and after the election.

"Their presence around Palin has become Topic A among many of her allies as well as other Republican insiders who are mystified as to why an anti-abortion rights conservative who ran against Washington elites is now turning to a pair of capital insiders for counsel."

The full story is at http://mobile.politico.com/story.cfm?id=20603&cat=topnews

•A Politico blog said Sunday night that "Fox's Greta Van Susteren has responded to a POLITICO story about Palin's circle of advisers — including her husband, Washington lawyer John Coale — dubbing it "fanciful and silly."