With the election over, Sen. John McCain‘s campaign manager Rick Davis is speaking out about the thinking behind Gov. Sarah Palin‘s initial interviews (via Jossip).

The National Review’s Rich Lowry takes a lengthy look at the McCain campaign in the upcoming issue of the magazine, but gives some of Davis’ answers in a blog post on National Review Online.

The reason for putting “Palin out in a big, hostile network interviews,” beginning with ABC’s Charlie Gibson was, “Our assumption was people would not let us release her on Fox or local TV,” said Davis.

As for the second network interview, with Katie Couric, Lowry writes, “Davis says Palin thought [it] would be softer because she was being interviewed by a woman: ‘She was under the impression the Couric thing was going to be easier than it was. Everyone’s guard was down for the Couric interview.’”