New McCain Mailer Pushes Palin As Ticket-Head And Moderate

The McCain campaign and the RNC are sending out a mailer that pushes Gov. Sarah Palin as both the figurehead of the GOP ticket and a centrist.

A reader in Pennsylvania sends over a four-page pamphlet titled "McCain-Palin Solutions for Our Family," which labels as priorities for the Republican team non-traditional conservative positions such as climate change and stem cell research. The inset includes a copy of a USA Today article with the headline: "In targeting big oil, Palin 'governed from the center': She didn't press conservative views on lawmakers."

The next page includes a campaign statement on how "John McCain and Sarah Palin will work with Democrats and Republicans for sensible solutions." And underneath is a graph about how Palin "as the mother of a special needs child... knows first hand the value of advanced medical treatments research."

The final page is a photo of McCain and Palin which noticeably features the vice presidential candidate in a more prominent placement than the presidential candidate himself.

What's noteworthy here is not just the push to feature Palin -- whose popularity and favorability ratings have fallen drastically over the past few weeks -- in a leading role. It's also how consciously the campaign is trying to track away from conservative orthodoxy. The pamphlet was sent from a reader in Philadelphia -- obviously not the state's Republican stronghold. And it is tradition for presidential tickets to move towards the center as the election approaches.

But the desire to break from the party has really become a defining feature for McCain-Palin. Over the last few days, some of the loudest applause lines at their rallies have come when McCain declares that he is not George W. Bush.

Comments

[JackND]

McCain is really pushing for Pennsylvania, since there is no early voting there.

Thing is, McCain could steal Pennsylvania, but if Obama takes Ohio and Virginia, McCain still loses.

[Sparty1]

I hope that PA continues to stick with Obama and that VA holds on too. I'm from MI and I have family in OH where we'd be for the summer. I know that OH will be a hard nut to crack for Obama. They don't care that he wants to help low to middle income families. All they see is his color.

[NamelessGenXer]

Change IS Coming --- to a GOP in disarray, that will be out of power until they lose the right-wingnut religious extremists or for 20 years (whichever comes first).

[tuttlemsm]

Yes. For all the talk about what a "center-right" country this allegedly is, there is a limit to how much extremism you can forcibly bring into the mainstream. The Republicans need to show the fundamentalists the door and start rebuilding their relationship with the center.

And the whole country will be a center-center country again, not a center-right country.

[write2bheard]

Plafayette - good line "half-baked Alaskan". You know , a pit-bull with lipstick is still a pit-bull. If I didn't have so much respect for the breed, I could draw some very interesting comparisons between SP and the pit bull. However, pit bulls can be noble and servicable pets, therefore I will not malign their name with any further association with this extremeist, divisive, eco-terrorist nincompoop.

[SydneyS]

Dear Senator McCain, I think you need to realize that the joke is on you.

Your ‘shadow handlers', the so-called new-cons, the true followers of Milton Friedman (1912-2006), are planning to go for a 2nd Bush, and this time in a skirt.

Friedman's idea that a created chaos will open up opportunities which will be needed to change the world to what he saw it must be, or should be. From his part in a bloody military coup in Indonesia, to a bloodier coup in Chile, his doctrine was that a shock is needed for the population to accept free-market policies for the benefit of multinational corporations.

Aside from the America’s new-cons, one of the many countries he ‘advised’ was Iceland, the first nation to file for bankruptcy 10 days ago. There, one of his protégés was Davíð Oddsson who became Iceland’s Prime Minister in 1991, and held his post for nearly 14 years. He, a true follower of Friedman, cheered by the American new-cons, will be remembered as a leader whose idiotic work bankrupted his country.

Senator McCain, uncle Milti’s doctrine, as Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and Carl Rowe so lovingly refer to him, is a medicine that America no longer can afford.

Proud Independent voter, donating to, and voting for Obama/Biden

[kelvinstinks]

Being that winter is coming, it looks like those mailers will create some great warmth in my fireplace. It''s "Burn Baby Burn".

[BatedBreath]

Palin/McCain? now that is scary...wo­rthy of Halloweeen.

[puffthedragon]

We went to a halloween attraction last weekend...­.called the seven floors of "Hell".. after going through all seven floors..I said none of this was as terrifying as the thought of Palin being one 72 year old, cancer ridden ,heart beat away from the presidentc­ey....

[guillotine]

Responding to commenters who say the public should "be afraid" of a McCain/Palin administration:
Don’t be afraid.
Instead, be rightfully angry!
The nomination and the pushing forward of Palin is an intended whack job on American freedoms, on American unity, on the whole concept of democracy (as anything more than a mockery of what our nation’s founders imagined).
How so? Because a main electoral strategy promoted by GOP think tanks post-Goldwater has been to divide and conquer. Divide the public into interest groups—ant­i-abortion­ists, anti-taxers, anti-immig­rationists­, anti-secularists, USA-except­ionalists, business anti-regul­ationists, etc. – and push their buttons by insisting that Democrats are everything they fear or loathe. Repeat and repeat and repeat until you conquer the common sense perception that neither party can be ALL BAD or ALL GOOD. Do this long enough, and you can completely DISUNITE the USA and ride your coalition of motivated niche voters to power.
Once in power, you can plunder. (Especially if the nominal head of your party is sure he/she can do no wrong, and thus can absorb or ignore outcries of protest.) During George W's reign, the 400 richest Americans have boosted their total net worth from around 900 billion dollars—on average, just over 2 billion bucks apiece—to 1.6 trillion $$ (today's average, a cool 4 billion bucks a head).
Corporate CEOs grinned. But you weren’t at that money orgy, were you?

[Independent-for-Obama]

Notice the complete lack of enthusiasm at McCain only rallies? It may be because his supporters are older but many of them don't even clap.

[kadene]

They're just there for the numbers. Half of them turn the hearing aids down or don't wear them at all...

[One Two Three]

Poll Update [10/20] + Obama and the Importance of the World Series
http://voteforamerica.net/editorials/Comments.aspx?ArticleId=113&ArticleName=Poll+Update

[BJD44]

Ugghhh....­this woman just absolutely nauseates me!

What WAS John McCain thinking anyway?

I wouldn't vote for this woman if she was the last person on earth. I just wouldn't.

And I'm a single, full-time working Mom of a 17-year-old son with Down syndrome, too! Plus, an Independent swing voter.

She'd NEVER get my vote.

[ICANSEERUSSIA]

Listen people, McBush AKA Mc L i a r and his trusty side kick and VP choice Sarah McBlunder and his gang of thugs are gonna hit us with everything they have this month! We need to flood Obama's campaign through the home stretch with as much money as we can give through October. We all started very strong and now we all have to pick up even more steam and finish what we started, our families and our soldiers are counting on us to fight the good fight to the end! Let's continue making this about the Economy, Health Care, Equal Pay, Education, Etc and we will win this Election! My family and I are struggling like many other American Families, we have donated a $150 dollars every month even though we really cant afford it but if we lose this election to McCain, the loss will be much bigger. Even my thirteen year old daughter and my seven year old daughter are engaged in this Election and have took money out of their piggy banks to help invest into a better future for not just them but for everyone that believes in Fairness, Justice, Equality and Hope in America. I've always told my children, that the rule is in everything they do in life, you always start strong and you always end strong. Obama/Biden/08

VOLUNTEER AND GET OUT THE VOTE!

CLICK ON THIS LINK

https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/main

[peterhowitt]

SARAH PALIN is an ANAGRAM of:

"A SHARP NAIL".....­.

... in the coffin of the GOP

[puffthedragon]

you are soooooo...­..cool..!!­!!!!

[MilesTone]

That takes the cake..... best post yet.

[kadene]

Good. While you're at it, do McCain, Obama and Biden.

[plafayette]

I watched Morning Joe et al. talking about how Sarah Palin is just so bright & fabulous and how she would have faired much better had she been given time to study and learn the issues pertinent for national politics. It is clear that the GOP plans to repackage this half-baked Alaska and serve it up again in the near future. Everything she professes to stand for runs counter to her words, deeds, and campaign behavior. Country First? Transparency? Experience? Diversity? Inclusion? Reform? Family? Values? Ethics?Honor? I actually pray to never hear from her or see her again in the public spotlight. She "feels" like slime or some kind of wickedness­... Maybe she is that wicked siren, standing at the gate calling lustful men to their eternal doom. I do think she is an attractive woman, but it feels strange that men who are used to being around beautiful women can't seem to stop watering at the mouth when they see her...and are willing to forget whatever it is that she has been saying. General Colin Powell's endorsement was like a bucket of ice cold water releasing enchanted republican men from a heated thrall.

[puffthedragon]

Yes.....wh­at is that term "fem-fatal" ? Please someone correct me on this one.. It is French.

[BrickSykes]

I think it is "femme fatale" but I'm probably wrong. Nope, I'm right....

1 : a seductive woman who lures men into dangerous or compromising situations 2 : a woman who attracts men by an aura of charm and mystery

Brick

[natenash]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Femme_fatale

[BatedBreath]

I like "fem-fatal" though.

[kadene]

femme fatale

[JamesInDenver]

That last photo of Palin, with her jaw set and her chin sticking out, just like a spoiled child, it makes me pull out my checkbook for Obama every time. Where does she get that confidence, its not from ability or accomplishment.

[BrickSykes]

It's not confidence­...it's BRASS! Or CHEEK! She's been using her 'Looks' all her life in place of intelligence. Modern American girls can get away with it, though, because American men have such a f'k'd up obsession with 'Beauty.' How do I know? Because I used to be the same way!

What is her saving grace? At least she's NOT Obese!!

Brick

[NamelessGenXer]

Palin is the UGLIEST thing I've ever seen.

[OutsiderSA]

In that last pic, she's got Jay Leno's jaw :D