Bush Strategist: McCain Knows He Put Country At Risk With Palin Pick

Matthew Dowd, a prominent political consultant and chief strategist for George W. Bush's reelection campaign eviscerated John McCain on Tuesday for his choice of Sarah Palin as vice president.

Dowd proclaimed that, in his heart of hearts, McCain knew he put the country at risk with his VP choice and that he would "have to live" with that fact for the rest of his career.

"They didn't let John McCain pick the person he wanted to pick as VP," Dowd declared during the Time Warner Summit panel. "When Sarah Palin got picked instead of Joe Lieberman, which I fundamentally believed would have given John McCain the best opportunity in this race... as soon as he picked Palin, that whole ready versus not ready argument was not credible."

Saying that Palin was a "net negative" on the ticket, he went on: "[McCain] knows, in his gut, that he put somebody unqualified on the ballot. He knows that in his gut, and when this race is over that is something he will have to live with... He put somebody unqualified on that ballot and he put the country at risk, he knows that."

The other panelists were surprised, a bit, by Dowd's bluntness. Not least because McCain's well-known campaign motto is "country first."

"No, I don't agree," said Mark McKinnon, a former McCain aide, after chiding Dowd for claiming particular insight into McCain's soul.

"Well," responded Dowd, "that's even more disturbing than my thought" -- the implication being that it would be truly frightening if McCain didn't know how bad Palin truly was.

Time columnist Joe Klein summed up what seemed to be the panel's Palin consensus.

"It was a gimmick," he said of the pick. "It was one of the most disastrous decisions I have seen in a presidential campaign since I've begun covering them."

Later in the session, Hilary Rosen, the Huffington Post's Washington editor at large, noted that the Palin pick had been successful in energizing the Republican base -- and McCain himself. But Dowd wasn't biting.

"To me it is like Halloween," he said. "You get energized by eating all that candy at night but then you feel sick the next day."

Comments

[deckbose]

01:27 PM on 10/18/2008

Part 2--
The answer was as easy for them as the choice was for Sarah Palin. Only a political neophyte with unbridled ambition would willingly prostrate him or herself, and very likely brand his or her reputation for generations to come, in the service of racism. Palin "never blinked" at the assignment; indeed, blinded as she was by their servile attentions (which should've alarmed her in its mysteriousness rather than confirming in her mind her predestined greatness), she never understood what their plan for her was.

Make her say horrible things, use her up and throw her away. And in that way alone, she has achieved all her goals.

I know some people will say that Palin's payoff for her vile behavior is that she has now cemented her place in the vanguard of the Republican party and likely put herself at the top of the next ticket, but I don't think that's any truer for her than it was for Dan Quayle.

[deckbose]

07:54 AM on 10/18/2008

Part 1 --
The day the Palin pick was announced, my first reaction was that McCain had just delivered the White House to the Democrats. Palin's selection seemed wrong on so many levels that, knowing nothing about the Alaska Governor, I figured she must either be an amazing speaker (and, consequently, campaigner) or have unforeseen talents that would surely become obvious in short order. Well, the former evaporated with her first national exposure and the latter crapped out soon thereafter.

So what were the McCain people thinking? Could the selection really be as empty-headed as the woman herself?

The answer has been clear in the last month, revealed by the vicious nature of the Republican campaign. In much the same way the Democrats were initially anxious about attacking Palin lest they be charged with sexist, or worse, ungenteel behavior, the Rovian mentality driving the McCain strategy knew that the attacks they needed to make against Barack Obama were so close to racist that only an easily manipulated and ultimately disposable presence on the ticket would do. Politicians of long-standing reputation would likely bristle at the direction of Schmidt & Davis, et al., to attack Obama with genuinely despicable untruths.

[Prayforchange]

07:26 PM on 10/17/2008

WELL PUT Spesabsquemetu!!!

What is the answer to the theorem?? watch The Thinking Man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KzbJtG9V2E

[USAPresidentialPoll]

10:41 AM on 10/18/2008

Good video. Thanks.

[Spesabsquemetu]

03:19 PM on 10/17/2008

The governance of McCain's campaign is an insight into HOW McCain would govern.

In this regard, it is all too clear that McCain is NOT the leader of his own campaign, and therefore would NOT be calling the shots in his administration.
And that makes his entire premise upon which he runs ...false, because the American people are not being afforded the opportunity to question WHOEVER IT IS that makes THE DECISIONS FOR HIM.

[ritenow]

10:50 AM on 10/17/2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8Bzp0Fxq28&eurl=http://www.manifestobama.com/

[StephenJK]

06:23 AM on 10/17/2008

He knew damn well and that's why John McCain is a great American. He knows the GOP is full of half-wits and thieves. Which is why he sabotaged his own party's chances. John McCain knows the GOP stands for Gutter Operation Politics.

[blissiseasy123]

09:45 AM on 10/17/2008

McCain puts Arizona families at risk for 26 years!!!

Did John McCain ever lift a finger to stop the human rights violations in Colorado City, Arizona, the largest polygamous enclave in America?

ABSOLUTELY NOT.

Arizona Senator Linda Binder talks about John McCain who wouldn't even return her calls when she asked for help.

While thousands of innocent Americans were forced into white slavery and young girls were raped by FLDS pedophiles, John McCain stood idly by.

Watch the video:

http://www.bankingonheaven.com/

[norkas]

09:48 AM on 10/17/2008

Mc Cain selection of Sarah Palin proves beyonfd a doubt that he does not put country first.

Sarah Palin attracts the EXTREME RIGHT WING and consertives are running fast to support Barak Obama .

Consertives have lost there party over the years with Cheny and others taking control of the future of this great country.

Bush always defered to Cheny and many educated brillant consertives see what will happen if Mc Cain gets into office with his stroung support from the extreme right who will futher undermine our freedom .

Please understand many mnay comsertives will be voting for Obama once they are in the voting booth . They will not have heated conversations why they support Obama but will keep it to themselves.

My brother is a Mc Cain Palin supporter and i told him no converstion about politics. He used the N word several times during past conversations and i stoped from doing it ever again while speaking to jim.

Yes the extreme right is very dangerous to this nation and many consertives no it.

[StephenJK]

10:37 AM on 10/17/2008

I think true conservatives are pragmatists first and party affiliated second. Which I respect. They won't blindly vote with the majority of their party, like you point out. It's the half-witted dim bulbs that listen to the likes of Mark Levin and Limbaugh who don't use their noodle when considering who to vote for in their own best interests.

As for your brother, I feel bad for him. My mother and father ran from their closeted racist families back in the 70s to raise me out in the Bay Area of San Fran. I'm MUCH better for it today. So I understand about having to deal with bigots like your brother. I hope someday he'll understand his folly, along with the rest of the bigoted America. Bigotry is so 40 years ago.

[enyapjeff]

11:56 PM on 10/16/2008

Put the country at risk!!! Look who's talking.

[ILOVELOSANGELES]

09:34 PM on 10/16/2008

Palin said " she has nothing to lose " in a U.S.A. general election for President / VP. That is the ultimate insult to our great democracy! Palin betrays her innermost thoughts and feelings about our democratic institutions and government. If Palin holds them in such low esteem she should have done everyone a favor and declined the nomination. I hope she is impeached by the people of Alaska!

[Hopeington]

12:48 AM on 10/17/2008

Yes.... I was wondering what John thought about that "nothing to lose"statement.
He still hasn't figured out she thinks it's the Palin/McCain ticket she's running on.
And by the way, she's an insult to our intelligence also.

[nanners0808]

02:51 AM on 10/17/2008

this shows again his lack of planning and insight in picking her.

i am now for obama but i was for hillary first. i ultimately understood and gave obama alot of credit for not picking hill for his VP pick. he knew that he would have given her too much power and it would have caused problems with his campaign. he chose someone not based on what would be politically expedient, but really considered who would complement his skills and whith whom he could be a true partner.

mccain did not realize that he was giving palin so much power - he needed her more than she needs him - and that it could end up backfiring on him cause face it, the right wingers love palin not mccain. he better watch his back cause she has her own agenda and is looking out for herself esp. as it becomes clearer and clearer that obama will win. she's looking out for her own political future.

[earlwarren]

08:37 PM on 10/16/2008

Since the press isn't getting to ask Sarah Palin any questions, the hecklers will have to keep getting in her face. Here's one example from Wed in Dover NH where a heckler yelled out "Give us some straight talk about Joe Vogler and the Alaska Independence Party!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4C9LP8lzj4

[SocialismSux]

08:21 PM on 10/16/2008

OH Please!!! Like Obama has soooooooooooooooo much experience!! You big drama queen! Get a freaking life. I bet you won't publish this.

[aflyinyoursoup]

12:23 AM on 10/17/2008

Obama is a brilliant man.......Palin is "dumb as a stump".
She can't construct a coherent sentence!
How can you possibly not see that?

[nanners0808]

02:53 AM on 10/17/2008

She can't construct a coherent sentence!
How can you possibly not see that?

---------------------------

i don't understand how people don't see this as well???? but i guess if they voted for bush jr, the bar is set pretty low. which is even more reason to vote for obama -- education as a priority for this country!

[rose london]

07:31 PM on 10/16/2008

What the Media is not telling us is


WHO IS TODD PALIN???????????????????????////

[olgraydawg]

06:14 PM on 10/16/2008

Tyler. I was born at home on Oct. 08. 1946, served in Nam 64-65 and here I am loggin' and bloggin' , I got a bad hip, too bad for joggin'. Take you to the court and give you a ride on my good side and win by two. Fat Lever wasn't the first power guard...

[pioneer8]

06:12 PM on 10/16/2008

She's unqualified for sure,but her husband really scares me!

[mjc]

05:02 PM on 10/16/2008

Matthew Dowd is in the tank for Obama and has been for some time. Any pose that he is an analyst is a crock. Yes, McCain should have picked Lieberman but that still wouldn't allow folks like me to vote for that ticket. In fact Lieberman is even more distasteful to me than Palin. Sarah at least has an act to give and Lieberman has nothing but a sad countenance and message to give.

[That Guy]

05:01 PM on 10/16/2008

Can we PLEASE be done with having candidates for high office who believe that Jesus is coming back within our lifetimes to purge the earth of the sinful??? Am I the only one who has a problem with somebody that delusional (and with that particular delusion) being in charge of the nuke codes?

[InTheSouth]

07:59 PM on 10/16/2008

I'm right there with you on that.

[happytrails]

12:30 AM on 10/17/2008

As am I and everyone I know!

[kate coyote]

11:32 AM on 10/17/2008

it's terrifying.