Palin: McCain aides 'jerks'

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Friday McCain campaign aides who pushed negative stories about her after the election are "jerks."

Several news organizations, including Newsweek and Fox News Channel, reported several unflattering stories about Palin in the wake of the Republican presidential ticket's loss to the Democratic ticket of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Citing unnamed McCain campaign sources, media reports said Palin did not know Africa is a continent and did not know that the United States, Mexico and Canada are parties to the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Reports also characterized Palin as a "diva" and described her throwing tantrums in reaction to negative campaign news coverage.

As she returned to Alaska Friday, Palin told CNN the post-election stories may have been pushed by campaign staffers who helped prepare her for a debate with Biden.

"Those were taken out of context and that's cruel," Palin said. "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."

A source involved in Palin's preparation for the debate and media interviews told CNN Palin "had not paid attention to a single policy debate that's gone on in this country for 10 years."