The Sad Fate of Sarah Palin

If John McCain loses his bid for the presidency on November 4th, Sarah Palin will probably follow the path of Katherine Harris. Having sold her soul to the Republican Party leaders, she will be dumped and turned into a laughing stock, the butt of jokes about an ambitious female politician more concerned with her appearance than with real issues.

But what if McCain wins and Palin is sworn in as vice president of the United States? There is one school of thought that Palin, supported by the hard-right evangelical branch of the Republican Party, will seize effective power from the increasingly weakened McCain. I'm not so sure. What if it turns out that McCain was much cleverer in choosing Palin than he is being given credit for?

When I picture Sarah Palin as vice president, I don't see a younger version of Dick Cheney; I see a new Spiro Agnew.

For those who are too young to know about Spiro Agnew, here's a brief summary. Agnew had served less than two years as governor of Maryland (sound familiar?), and was unknown nationally (ditto), when Richard Nixon chose him to be his vice-presidential running mate. Agnew made a name for himself as Nixon's anti-media, anti-intellectual attacking bulldog. Nixon and Agnew won the 1968 election. But after they were reelected in 1972, Agnew was forced to resign after pleading no contest to charges of tax evasion and money laundering dating back to his days as governor. Following the procedure set out in the 25th Amendment, Nixon then nominated Gerald Ford to succeed Agnew, and Ford was quickly confirmed by both houses of Congress.

To get back to McCain and Palin, the conventional wisdom seems to be that McCain wanted to choose as his running mate one of two good friends, Joe Lieberman or Tom Ridge. However, the Republican Party establishment revolted against these pro-choice moderates and convinced McCain that if he wanted to win the election, he had to appease the conservative wing of the party by choosing one of their own. Thus, Sarah Palin.

What if it turns out that McCain was actually well aware of Palin's "Troopergate" problems? What if McCain accepted the fact that he needed Palin to win the election, but reckoned that he could deal with her later, after they were inaugurated? So here's the scenario: on January 20, 2009, Palin is sworn in as vice president of the United States. But soon thereafter, with McCain's behind-the-scenes support, the Troopergate investigation explodes and Palin, forced to cop a plea, resigns as vice president. McCain then gains his revenge on the conservative wing of his party and appoints Lieberman or Ridge to the vice presidency. Like Gerald Ford 35 years earlier, either of these gentlemen would be likely to receive bipartisan support from Congress.

Mind you, there is another devious possibility. What if the leaders of the conservative wing of the Republican Party were familiar enough with Sarah Palin to know that she would ultimately damage the ticket? They then tricked or bullied McCain into choosing her, and are now waiting for him to lose in a landslide so that they can retake control of the party.

Of course, these scenarios are pure speculation. But if I was Sarah Palin, I wouldn't just be taking a crash course in foreign policy, I'd be taking some time to learn about Katherine Harris and Spiro Agnew.

Comments

[TommyMcCarthy]

Well, obviously we can't have Ms. Palin treated as a laughingstock, can we?

I'm told that could bring on another great depression.

Guess we'd better either give her $700B, or go ahead and elect McCain.

Let's see, WHICH would be more painful?, .....hmmmmm
tm

[RedDogBear]

"What if it turns out that McCain was actually well aware of Palin's "Troopergate" problems? What if McCain accepted the fact that he needed Palin to win the election, but reckoned that he could deal with her later, after they were inaugurated?" A nice bit of speculation but pretty unbelievable. You are talking as if the president has to worry about controlling or managing the VP after they are elected. That's just not the case. On paper the VP is pretty powerless. The position caries virtually no responsibilities except to cast tie breaking votes in the senate. Of course Cheney was a special case but he seized power due to the human vacume that is George Bush and even Bush was able to curtail some of Cheney's powers in the last years of his presidency. Just look at Lyndon Johnson. There never was a more adept, forceful politician and he was virtually impotent once JFK used him to get the Southern vote and win the election. Like many people you make the mistake of seeing secret Republican machinations where there is just incompetence.

[faith]

"Sad fate" you state? Baloney. Palin gets exactly what she deserves. That is that the good people of Alaska will know just what she has been up to. Including the $20 million dollar deficit she left Wassilla with. Palin is vapid, as she personally demonstrated in her Couric interview. She's mean, as she demonstrated with her firing antics. She is very very clever, as she demonstrated by stating the "Palin-McCain ticket". McCain is in for a rude awakening.

[w8aminute]

Please don't bring her the 'pity vote'. I think that's what articles like this do - make people feel sorry for her.

[USexpat]

The scenario laid out is certainly a real possibility. However, the conclusion is ALL WRONG.

McCain will dump Palin, and nominate....Katherine Harris! This will return balance and order to the Universe resulting in peace, harmony, and the dawing of the Age of Aquarius.

McCain/Harris 08

[Nommo]

History, a good servant but a bad master...

[deliriousgod]

what if, on january 21, it's McCain who's getting replaced but he doesn't know it?

[CostaDelBarto]

McCain picked her knowing about troopergate and he wants that to explode... but only after the election?

That seems insane to me. I mean McCain is not exactly the epitome of rational, but... come on.

Asking Palin to run for VP was a dreadful blunder. Palin's ordination didn't seem such a blunder at first because it moved a lot of undecideds toward him, but the longer run has proved her to be a really dreadful choice and not because of troopergate, just because of Palin herself.

She's not really so good in interviews. She doesn't seem to have a firm (or even a weak) grasp on foreign issues, economic issues... Actually, issues generally - any issue at all - causes her trouble.

What her strength might be I am at a loss to say. So far she is good at this much: 1) generating hype she fails to live up to and 2) getting busted for serial lying.

[lobo1939]

The repugs are using Sarah Paylin as a distraction just like they used Paula Jones. She's a stalking horse so we won't notice their fascist tendencies or their rotten policies. Its a shell game and the MSM and all the dim witted fools in America fall for it every time. They pick some hapless female, flatter her with attention, give her a face-lift, run her around the country and then dump her when they have achieved their goal. PT Barnum said it better, "There's a sucker born every minute."

[hopeless277]

You probably want to talk to Todd about all this. Sarah's busy chasing witches out of Alaska.

[xxxDjoolsxxx]

That is a far fetched scenario. If Troopergate turns out bad for Palin, it is not written in stone she has to resign.

[thecanadian]

I doubt there is any question at all they will dump Palin. Another McCain trick on the public and slam against women. USE USE is McCains motto! #1 Wife gone #2 Vicki Isman gone #3 Cindy who just keeps following him around and who he calls "c - - t in front of reporters, #4 PALIN!

This week - they are introducing her to the press - they are testing her. If she doesn't measure up before Thursday - they will dump her. There will be a big announcement about "leaving for family reasons or such" . Fox News - tried to delete - erase - get rid of a story, but if you read the posts on this site - (found by a determined blogger and internet journalist) a link was found. You have to read the POSTS after the story here!! Click on every link here and then read Pat Buchanans post. If Palin is not ready by Thursday - they are dumping her!

[SharonAustinTX]

What is it with the McSame campaign? How do we the people/media let them get away with

1) not revealing full medical records on McCain, and
2) limiting the media access of Palin?

Don't we as voters in a modern democracy have the absolute right to find out about the candidates running for high office? Apparently not.

I sincerely hope this strategy BACKFIRES big time. Obama wins in a landslide.

[notthistime]

The bigger issue -- the 600 lb pink and blue spotted elephant in the room is this --

What does this say about John McCain's judgement? This is not about Palin so I would lay off the personal attacks, instead we should ALL point the finger to John McCain. He made the decision, he "vetted" her. He said he was putting country first when he made his choice.

While the media/HuffPo should talk about the Sarah's responses, they should also link it back to JOHN MCCAIN'S JUDGEMENT. He put her there and said Palin was the most qualified person to run this country.

[freddog]

NEWS CONFERENCES FOR SARAH PALIN!!! After the debate, we the people must DEMAND from the networks that they DEMAND access to Sarah Palin for news conferences with the national press corp!! Flood the networks with calls and emails putting pressure on them to give the American people an opportunity to see Sarah Palin answer tough questions about her knowledge of the issues and to defend her record. Write and call often please.