Conservatives Call for Palin to Stand Down is Just Plain Dumb

Conservative columnists such as Kathleen Parker have called for Vice Presidential contender Sarah Palin to stand down. Their reasoning is that she is so stunted on foreign policy questions that she'll drag McCain down to flaming defeat. Their call is just plain dumb. If McCain loses it won't be because of anything Palin says or does. This would be true even if he ran with Howdy Dowdy. The issue is still public fury over Bush's colossal domestic and foreign policy bumbles topped by the economic pain and misery his sleep at the wheel policies have exacerbated. If voters buy Democratic presidential rival Barack Obama's mantra pitch that McCain is a warmed over facsimile of Bush, he loses.

A VP is more than just window dressing on the presidential ticket. He/she must be able to actually help the top man win. If Obama or McCain had been able to widen the poll gap comfortably over each other the vice presidency would still be important, but not as crucial. That hasn't happened and isn't likely to happen anytime before or maybe even up until the eleventh hour on November 4th.
This might not have been the case if McCain had played it close to the vest and picked say Mitt Romney. That would have left him wide open to the rap that the best the GOP could do was put up two aging, multimillionaire white party warhorses. With the financial meltdown and public rage over Wall Street wheeling and dealing, along with the Bush administration's bailout plan that thumbs its nose at in the tank workers and middle class wage earners, Obama almost certainly would have routed that pairing on Election Day.

Palin is the only possible antidote to that. She is the signal that McCain needed to send that his administration is not simply a recycled four more years of Bush policies. Democrats wore that line out at their convention. And Team Obama will continue to pound it home relentlessly in every breath, sentence, speech, statement, and in every nook and cranny on the campaign trail. And with Bush approval ratings wallowing at ocean bottom depth and showing absolutely no sign of rising before November, the McCain-Bush Siamese Twin joined at the hip graft will remain Obama's hoped for trump card.

This is only part of the reason Palin must stay. Palin exploits the opening McCain spotted in the Democratic camp and is the fix to the problem in his camp. The opening was the fissure among Democrats, to be more exact, the legions of middle aged, centrist female Democrats who were absolutely passionate about Hillary Clinton. In exit polls in the must win battleground states of Ohio and Pennsylvania, Hillary women said they liked her because she was a politically savvy woman, and a mother and struggling woman who mirrored many of the struggles and challenges they faced as working women. A quarter or more of them said they would bolt the party in November if Obama was the nominee. This was hot air talk for a lot of them and most have since said that they'll back Obama, but who can really be sure? If Palin does nothing else but make many of them waver in backing Obama, then that makes her a priceless asset.

This alone wouldn't guarantee that McCain could keep things close enough to eke out a victory. He also needed to make sure things were fixed with the packs of social conservatives frosty to him. There is no real danger that they are so disgusted with him that they will stampede en masse to Obama. They will wiggle their nose and vote for McCain anyway. The question though is how many will show up to vote for him? Who can really say for sure? What is sure is that in a tight race if just enough stay home, McCain will lose.

Palin is insurance that that won't happen. Even as the much of the press and the pundits continue to bash her harder than any GOP candidate since Hoover Herbert, the crowds that wildly cheer her hasn't slacked up one bit. And neither has the endless refrain from them that she's one of us. Since winning elections is still as much about which candidate can win the hearts not the heads of the voters, Palin is the one to tug at the voter's heart strings.
Palin's allure will not guarantee a McCain win, but it will not insure a McCain loss. Palin is no presidential ticket wrecker and to say that she is to repeat is just plain dumb.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His new book is The Ethnic Presidency: How Race Decides the Race to the White House (Middle Passage Press, February 2008).

Comments

[SplendidMarbles]

McCain's selection of Palin was exceedingly cynical. The main purpose was to woo the moral crusaders in his party, the second was to court disaffected women who supported Hillary (hey, they're chicks, she a chick- swish!). As far as the latter is concerned; it is not working because Palin stands for eradicating the rights that most independent women value the most.

McCain's main problem is that he is being cast as Bush-lite. He is the insider who basked in the glow of his maverick image while supporting the deregulation crusade that led to the mess we're in.

His choice of Palin was supposedly a master stroke because it brings an average American to the campaign. We don't need a W. in drag so close to the presidency.

As far as media criticism, look at how Dan Quayle was treated- my God the man was crucified by everyone in the press. No one stood up to defend him, it was all part of the game. Why are so many being hypocrites when it comes to this female candidate. Oh, and by the way, look at the ridiculous things that were said about Hillary by media pundits.

Bottom line: McCain is 72. She really could be president, and has not convinced anyone other than the uber-religious that she is up to the job. Calling for her replacement is sensible. Keeping her on the ticket is not.

[DNeal]

How was 700 Billion going to help this?


Total Notional Value Of Derivatives Outstanding Surpasses One Quadrillion Dollars
By Jim Sinclair
6-10-8

The notional value of all outstanding derivatives now totals approximately $1.144 QUADRILLION DOLLARS.

The Bank of International Settlement announced the largest gain in derivatives outstanding since they started to report the number. As of the last report it appeared that both listed and OTC derivatives was under $600 trillion. Now listed credit derivatives alone stood at $548 Trillion. The OTC derivatives are shown as $596 trillion notional value, as of December 2007. One can only imagine what number they are at now.

Well we hit ONE QUADRILLION DOLLARS. We have more than $1144 trillion dollars in all derivatives outstanding. That is simply NUTS because notional value becomes real value when either counterparty to the OTC derivative goes bankrupt. $548 trillion plus $596 trillion means $1.144 quadrillion. That is 1144 TRILLION DOLLARS. This cannot be BAILED OUT it is TOO BIG!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pottery]

I'm sure you're right on some level, EOF. As erratic as some think McCain, his choice of Palin serves some vital role not easily grasped by some, or even most people. I doubt that McCain thought that any successful politician could be quite as inarticulate before the press as sometimes Ms Palin appears.

She simply isn't tailored for the national stage, but is nevertheless very appealing personally. Could that not so secret cabal of fundamentalist Christians hoping to bring Armageddon to Israel be a monolith that will turn the election over to Republicans? Crazy talk? Hmmmm?

I think this situation requires even more humor, and I enjoyed Laurie Kilmartin's post over at 23/6!
"Sarah, darling, don't listen to that nasty slut Kathleen Parker. She has an ulterior motive-she's trying to get McCain in the White House. I'm not."

http://www.236.com/news/2008/09/26/sarah_do_not_listen_to_those_b_9168.php

[EbonBear]

cont...

Finally, how are Hillary voters going to be attracted to vote for a woman who is violently opposed to everything Senator Clinton stands for? OK, you'll get the PUMA morons, that's perhaps a few thousand votes. But the vast majority of women, and seemingly Hillary herself, view Palin as insulting tokenism. The vast majority of Hillary's supporters liked her because she was a woman AND bright, capable, experianced (as a Senator, if nothing else), had a decent record and was a good politician. Simply having ovaries is not an acceptable substitute. Sarah Palin is certainly a woman but her positions are Jesse Helms with breasts, as far from Hillary as it is possible to get without actually being Vlad Tepes.

[EbonBear]

Either this is very subtle satire or it confirms my opinion that teh only way to be a Republican these days is to be outright delusional.

First off, the media has been critical of Palin? Really? On which planet? Because the American media I've seen has been fawning all over Palin. An interview such as the ones she gave with "Charlie" or Couric would have killed any other political career stone dead. Outside the three hour island of liberal commentry (Olbermann, Maddow, Stewert, Colbert) in the sea of 21/7 conservative bias, Palin has been treated with kid gloves. Virtually no-one has taken her to task for her abstinence-only views that failed within her own family, her ignorance, her terrifying religious views or even her husband's wish to commit treason.

Secondly, how is Palin in any way a counter to the image of McCain as a third Bush term? Palin is virtually a clone of Bush: Militaristic, ignorant, actively hostile to learning, rabidly pro-life to the point of frothing at the mouth, secretive, corrupt and a religious zealot who ignores every aspect of science. Palin isn't an antidote to Bush, she's a reiteration of Bush.

cont...

[LeftRight]

Earl,

Your analysis is all wrong. It is based on the assumption that they are actually calling for her to step down. In fact, the ONLY reason that they appear to be asking for her to leave the campaign is so that they will appear to be reasonable. They are recognizing that ALL Americans know that sarah moose-olini is useless, and so they are trying to look like they are on the side of Americans. In other words, Conservatives are calling for her resignation because they are trying to keep their own power!

[rbloom]

I think they have Alan Keyes warming up in the bullpen.

[wingman1]

Hey Earl, you cover a lot of ground in your article but you forgot to mention Palin's train-wreck interviews which have made her a national and international laughing stock. If you don't think they reflect badly on McCain's electoral chances - and on his judgment in picking her - then you just ain't thinking straight, my friend. Palin's Couric interview is an American phenomenon, something that will go down in election folklore as a crucial element of the race in 2008 and which will be remembered for years and years. It has undone all the positives Palin brought to the McCain ticket except one - the unwavering support of the nutjob religious right.

[thepurpleocean]

Everyone ready for this Thursday's debate?

I believe that in this week's debate, Sarah Palin's true colors would show: her lack of ability and knowledge to support the United States as Vice President. Her interview with Kathy Couric clearly proves it. I do respect the fact that she is a woman running for office, but what matters is whether or not she is suitable for the position. George W. Bush (our Republican President, a.k.a. the party Sarah Palin belongs to in this election) said: "Americans will look closely at the judgment, the experience, and the policies of candidates..." in the Republican National Convention on September 2nd. If Sarah Palin doesn't come strong on very important issues like foreign policy, how can we expect her to be a good Vice President?

I learned a lot about Sarah Palin at http://www.dailysource.org/palin

[EbonBear]

I disagree. I think Biden has been placed in a no-win situation because, as Bill Maher put it, there is no way to speak honestly about Sarah Palin without sounding condescending. If he doesn't argue with her, she wins. If he does argue with her, he'll crush her and he'll be instantly painted as the mean old sexist picking on the poor widdle girl by the Republicans and their media echo machine.

[DNeal]

---- VOTE INCUMBENT CONGRESSMEN OUT WHO VOTE FOR IT. NO 2nd chance ----NO BAILOUT RESCUE SCAMS for PAULSON"s RICH WALL STREET FRIENDS using TAXPAYER $700+ BILLIONS. PAULSON got $163,000,000 SALARY FROM WALL STREET just 2 years ago. Wall Street gives (bribes) millions to congress. NOW PAULSON WANTS GIVE WALL STREET $700+ BILLION TAXPAYERS MONEY. 1. "RESCUE BAILOUT" = GREEDY PAULSON/BERNAKY SCAM for WALL STREET. THEY DON"T FIX ANYTHING. Past "RESCUES" ALL FAIL. STOCK MARKET GOES LOWER AFTER EACH. YOU CANT ERASE TRILLIONS BAD DEBTS BY SHIFT TO TAXPAYERS. ---CHECK DOW CHARTS, DOWN MORE AFTER EACH BAILOUT SCAM: TAF, SIV, Bear, Freddy, AIG, Fanny, IndyMac, WaMu, etc.---2. First need $30 BILLION to "FIX IT", fails, next $50B, Next $200 BILLION for Freddy friends who gave (bribe) congress $700 MILLION, next AIG $80B, now $700+ BILLION. ---3. WALL STREET FIRMS MADE BILLIONS PRIOR YEARS, THEY DIDN"T GIVE IT TO TAXPAYERS. SO WHY SHOULD WE PAY THEIR STUPID BILLIONS LOSSSES NOW? (oh I forgot, because Paulson is paid $163 Million by them 2 years ago.) Their CEO"s & PAULSON made MILLIONS. ------4. WHY NOT GIVE $700 BILLION TO CITY & STATES, SCHOOLS, UNIONS, TEACHERS, STUDENTS, AIRLINES, taxpayers? Why only to PAULSONS RICH FRIENDS WITH NO CONTROLS,? ---- ----6. A desperate Paulson got down on one knee to plead Congress, "Please don't blow this up" after Republicans balked. PAULSON IS DESPARATE FOR BILLIONS & POWER. ALREADY SPENT $1 TRILLION TAXPAYER MONEY & FAILED.----7. VOTE CONGRESSMEN OUT http://www.conservativeusa.org/mega-cong.htm --www.NoWallStreetBailout.com

[Justsaynodeal]

You are shouting so loud I can't hear you!