http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2008-10-10/palins-talent-scout/by Scott Horton
No wonder Bill Kristol has remained so positive about her while other neocons have fled. He helped push her to the veep ticket—and won out against Karl Rove.
In June 2007, a cruise liner sponsored by the political journal The Weekly Standard set anchor in Juneau, Alaska. Editors and guests of the publication were then treated to a reception with Governor Sarah Palin. It was a moment of discovery to equal Hernando Cortez’s landing at Veracruz. A writer for London’s Daily Telegraph interviewed one of the participants in the Juneau junket about the meeting with Palin:
“She’s bright and she’s a blank page. She’s going places and it’s worth going there with her.” Asked if he sees her as a “project,” the former official said: “Your word, not mine, but I wouldn’t disagree with the sentiment.”
On June 30, 2008, Kristol confidently predicted that McCain would select Sarah Palin and as a public display of support, oil prices would miraculously fall.