McCain's Latest Palin Lie
John McCain's duplicitous defense of his 2008 GOP running mate Sarah Palin this past weekend is as dishonest as it is shameful. He knows better--but for reasons that are rooted deeply in McCain's peculiar sense of chivalry and his political self-interest, he has refused to come clean about Palin with the American people.
"There are fundamental facts that cannot be denied," he asserted on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday. "When we selected, or asked, Sarah Palin to be my running mate, it energized our party. We were ahead in the polls, until the stock market crashed."
The implication is that the Republicans would have won were it not for the economic collapse that took place on September 15.
Many McCain and Palin operatives in the aftermath of the election have blamed the economy for their loss. That's like blaming a lake in the middle of the 18th fairway for costing one a golf match. The lake doesn't cost you the match--driving your ball into it does.
The economy collapsed for the Democrats, too. They had the same hazards in their fairway as the Republicans. Moreover, the economy was not Obama's strong suit. He didn't play well to white working class voters and he had a hard time articulating how he was going to address the banking collapse.
But let's take a look at some "fundamental facts" about McCain and the economy:
- In 2005, McCain told the Wall Street Journal: "I'm going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated."
- In 2007, McCain told the Boston Globe: "The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should."
- On August 20, only days before he selected Palin, McCain told the press he did not know how many houses he owned.
- On the morning of September 15, the day on which the McCain-Palin campaign tanked in the polls, John McCain said: "Our economy, I think still--the fundamentals of our economy are strong." (Even Rick Davis, McCain's ever-loyal campaign manager, said he wished that McCain had never made that remark.) The following day, McCain's economic adviser Carly Fiorina said that Sarah Palin was "not fit" to run a Fortune 500 company.
While McCain was undertaking his hackneyed "suspension of his campaign" and rushing back to Washington, Palin was nowhere to be seen. The campaign did not want to unleash her on the American people. And when McCain finally arrived in the capital, his Republican colleagues in Congress scattered. As it turned out, John McCain had very few friends in Congress on either side of the isle.
And what did Palin have to say about the economy? Here, in her immortal words, is Palin's response to Katie Couric's question about the federal bailout package:
That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, we're ill about this position that we have been put in. Where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh, it's got to be about job creation, too. Shoring up our economy, and putting it back on the right track. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade -- we have got to see trade as opportunity, not as, uh, competitive, um, scary thing, but one in five jobs created in the trade sector today. We've got to look at that as more opportunity. All of those things under the umbrella of job creation.
I would hope that John McCain would have the decency to re-read those words and follow his running mate's eyes as she delivered them. Comforting they were not. Tina Fey did not have to change a single word.
While McCain may have a difficult time accepting "the fundamental facts" of the 2008 election, the Obama insiders who conducted polls about Palin know what happened.
Joel Benson, Obama's chief pollster, noted that after Palin's devastating performance with Couric, "Palin went from having, in our poll, the highest favorable/unfavorable ratio to the worst of the four principals. By the time she got to the vice-presidential debate, in our polling, her negatives were almost as high as her positives." In other words, stick a fork in it.
One former key McCain campaign strategist has called his colleagues' excuses about Palin and the economy "intellectually dishonest." So be it.
Did Palin give a "bounce" to the McCain campaign in the early weeks of September? Absolutely. Did her balloon come crashing back to earth once the American people caught on to her act? You betcha.
It's time for John McCain to tell the truth about his campaign and, rather than blame his own failures on "the stock market crash," to accept responsibility for the failures of his economic credibility and the selection of his running mate. He's yet to address the real "fundamental facts" of the 2008 campaign.
Award-winning writer and filmmaker Geoffrey Dunn is at work on a book about Sarah Palin and American politics, to be published by Macmillan/St. Martin's next year.
Lincoln Mitchell: What Olympia Snowe's Support Could Mean
By supporting a moderate bill in committee, Snowe has made the GOP, or at least part of it, relevant again; succeeding where Michael Steele, John Boehner, Joe Wilson, Rush Limbaugh and others have failed.
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
Mr. Dunn, what happened to your column last week? Comments were closed the same day, and now do not see it at all. Guess the truth you wrote about did not please certain folks. Please let us all know what happened.
McCain lost all credibility when he signed on Alaska's very own "Rogue to Nowhere". Her presence continues to create uncertainty within the state. Her behavior has been very unAlaskanlike in every respect. Alaskans are givers and we share....we don't hold our hands out and collect money for non-existent legal fees. Now, when the RNC and the GOP is no longer interested in funding her, she forms her own party....collect all she can while she can. I feel like I'm watching people invest in a fraudulent stocks.
McCain was never suited to be President....Palin was simply the final nail in his coffin....had he picked Huckabee or another well known Republican he may have actually stood a fair chance....he banked on the fact that the Hillary supporters wanted a woman in the Whitehouse...any woman...bad choice...the Hillary supporters really did want Hillary...not this dimwhitt....once again McCain shot himself in the foot !
Assigning the label "intellectually dishonest" is fascinating. The guy didn't lose because of the economy (nice sport s metaphor by the way -- the golf course analogy). The guy lost because he did not convey as sense that we could trust him to be the commander and chief in perilous times.
in fact, he did much to demonstrate his lack of fitness to us. He picked Palin without really knowing what she was all about. He did not know how many homes he owns. He was unaware of how that whole internet thing works. All of these points are relevant because they speak to his sphere of understanding of how the world works (and whether he gets that it is undergoing big-time changes).
How could we trust him to do right by the country, with so many gaffs?
The difficulties we face have a common thread -- integrity issues. The last thing we need, is to put someone in charge who is "intellectually dishonst". I think voters felt that and acted.
Mc Cain knows very well that Palin was a mistake but somehow those who run don't really have the power, someone pulls the strings from behind the scene and the candidate has to play along. And being married to a wealthy heiress, doesn't need Mc Cain to worry about economics. The Budweiser sale alone made mrs Mc Cain mega millions!
As I recall, the period following the republican convention was one of the very few times McCain edged past Obama in the polls. That post convention bounce is typical in a campaign and can be expected to wane over time. While McCain's reaction to the economic collapse caused the bounce to vaporize rather than gradually dissipate, the fact is he was behind throughout most of the campaign. For him to act as if it was just the economy is either dishonest, disingenuous, or delusional.
The reason McCain is not coming clean is, I believe, a lot simpler than that: He is confused and his message is confusing. As it was last year during the campaign. McCain is something of a loose cannon and he chose a loose cannon. But she is, for him, a cannon anyway, something that fires away.
As for her popularity, it was with a certain brand of fringer, and McCain knew he had them wrapped up. But she carried it too far, and really heated them up.
What amazes me, is that Palin did not get a real media lashing for criticizing the Obama administration when she was in Hong Kong a few weeks ago....
Check out the comment at
http://radkai.wordpress.com/
I had to re-read the "Palin paragraph", 3 times. I had forgotten it. I have printed it out, and will carry it in my wallet, for those times, I find myself in the company of rabid Palin supporters. If they would just tell me what it means, I would be so greatful.
That is Palin, in a nutshell, so unless her book, sounds like this...she definately did not write it. (was there ever any doubt !)
That graph is as good at this one from Miss Teen America:
"I personally believe that US Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don't have maps, and I believe that our education like such as South Africa, and the Iraq, everywhere like, such as, and I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., or should help South Africa, it should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future, for our children." -
omg.....is there another language that I just dont get? Is there a class, I can take somewhere?
they were a good team. they both lied.
I'm sorry Geoffrey, but you got your timeline a little "off". Sarah's jig was up when she had her first "interview" with Charlie Gibson, and he asked her about her foreign policy experience.... and incredibly, she gave him that "deer in the headlights look" and said the words that NO ONE on this planet (or any of the other ones either) will every forget..... or could believe that they were hearing for that matter:
Charlie Gibson: "When I asked John McCain "specifically" about your foreign policy credentials he cited your command of the Alaska National Guard and the proximity of Alaska to Russa".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwhO8a1PLMQ
Notice she cited "reforming this country" and "victory in the war".... which is very much "christian warrior talk".
Sorry Sarah.... YOU SHOULD NOT ONLY HAVE "BLINKED" WHEN JOHN MC CAIN ASKED YOU TO BE HIS RUNNING MATE (wired up or not) and you should have been BRUTALLY HONEST with yourself on whether or not your were even remotely qualified for the position.... even when those little voices kept telling you that you were.
"And I'm happy to say we have some great people out there, and Sarah is one of them." - John McCain
"There's no doubt in my mind that we will prevail and there's no doubt in my mind, once these people are gone, that we will be welcomed as liberators."
John McCain, March 24, 2003.
"I remain confident that we will find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq."
John McCain, June 11, 2003.
---------- ---------- ----
I don't know about you but 0 for 3 isn't a good record.
Yep terrible record/
Well McCain, you Dishonest Daredevil.
That's it.
I like that Homer Campaign sign!
Wow. It's been a long time since I looked at those video clips.
Last year I was shocked, amused and all about the 'fight' for the presidential election.
Must say, watching those interview clips again tonite, I'm even more flabbergasted than then. Palin is seriously an idiot - as in WAY beyond any media portrayal of deficiency.
My admiration for Katie not completely losing it during the interviews has grown.
John McCain seriously f'd up his campaign with Palin as his VP choice. But he will never admit it.
That election was nearly unwinnable for the Republican candidate 2 years before the close of voting. Under ordinary circumstances, parties running on a record like theirs do not return to power, no matter whom they choose as the Candidate. McCain won a poisoned chalice, and then like a good soldier tried to make it look good. Picking Sarah Palin was a hail Mary play that didn't beat the odds. It's more McCain's fault than hers because he asked of her more than she was capable of doing. Much more. Being McCain, odds are it was a hasty, yet last minute blurt of a decision, but he at least has the grace to stand by it.
John McCain may well make Sarah Palin rich, but he may well be the worst thing that happened to her career.
The problem is that he let this evil genie out of her bottle and she has now been set upon an unsuspecting world, ready to run amok and to try and become devine Empress. McCain needs to stuff this woman back in her bottle and throw it out to sea never to be found again.
"When we selected, or asked, Sarah Palin to be my running mate, it energized our party. We were ahead in the polls, until the stock market crashed."
__________________
No John, you were ahead in the polls because of a post convention bounce and that bounce bounced back on you the minute Sarah opened her mouth at an interview.
Good memory, I remember Palin gave her Sept 11/09 interview to Charlie Gibson and we had the inkling of what she was.
In what respect, Charlie?
That's true isn't it? Both candidates received a bounce from their respective conventions. That is a natural phenomena, isn't it?
So they give Palin credit that might have happened anyway.
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
