McCain's Indiscretion

John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin isn't a mistake. It's a disaster. Like a moonstruck teenager, McCain was smitten overnight with Palin. But as the revelations keep pouring out about Palin, McCain is surely starting to realize that he has hitched himself to a volatile partner who threatens to upend his entire campaign.

Already media coverage is focused almost exclusively on the Palin drama rather than on McCain. Palin has the upper hand in the relationship with McCain. Her convention speech on Wednesday will likely upstage McCain's. The GOP hasn't experienced this big a mess since 1952, when Dwight Eisenhower mulled over dumping a young Richard M. Nixon. But were McCain to dump her overboard, the religious right would, in effect, accuse him of jilting her -- of political infidelity. In short, McCain is hostage to Palin, and she will begin to savor it. "To tie a prominent statesman to her train and to lead him about like a tame bear," wrote Henry Adams in Democracy, his nineteenth century Washington novel, "is for a young and vivacious woman a more certain amusement than to tie herself to him and to be dragged about like an Indian squaw."

McCain should have seen this coming, but as the New York Times reports today, his campaign apparently failed to examine Palin's record adequately. The choice of vice president was the first test of McCain's judgment. Barack Obama passed it with flying colors. McCain flunked it. If he can't pick a vice-president, how on earth is he going to run an entire government?

Read more reaction from HuffPost bloggers to John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin

Comments

[micmac]

I hope she stays.

[MsLiz]

Until November 5th, then she can go home to Alaska.

[KAP08]

How funny is it that the last vice president to be PTA president was Spiro Agnew!!!

The more 'maverick' McCain gets the more he seems to be the independent, follow-his-gut, do it MY way George Bush! And remember the Maverick theme song:

Who is the tall dark stranger there? (substitute "short pallid")
Maverick is the name.
Riding the trail to who-knows-where
Luck is his companion
Gamblin' is his game. (...and he antes up the country to win the election!)

[NABNYC]

If you listen to the political leaders, it is obvious that the Democrats want to keep Palin on the ticket because she's such a disastrous choice for McCain. They're all, to a person, saying "Leave her alone -- her family life is personal."

It's the Republicans who are lovingly, oozing and gushing with great kindness, suggesting that perhaps the lady Palin may need to go, although they'd hate to see it happen. You've got Republicans saying "We absolutely love her. She's terrific. We're the party that chose the woman leader. The only thing is ... it may be that with 5 children, and with her daughter requiring special attention, she may not have the time right now to be V.P."

The party elders are setting it up and will get rid of her. They're appalled at McCain's reckless choice. Someone as we speak is drafting the Harriet Myers letter (you know, the one that says "although I'm thrilled to have been chosen, it turns out, for entirely personal reasons, I won't be able to serve after all.)

[albertBarr]

If after all this McCain wins...I dunno...my brain just melted

[lovethesinner]

Excellent post, Jacob, and you point out something I hadn't noticed before.

Because of this trap McCain has walked into, the Republican party is now OWNED BY THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT. The troika of greed, guns and god, was only created in the sixties, by Pat Buchanan for Nixon. Fiscal and Defense Department Republicans never meant to let Evangelicals have any function other than collecting votes. Now, slowly but surely, they have TAKEN THE PARTY HOSTAGE.

There's nothing conservative about a radical, as E. J. Dione pointed out, recently.

"McCain's Reckless Choice Says A Lot About Conservatives":
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080831_mccains_reckless_choice_says_a_lot_about_conservatives/

[ajax2]

With the Palin selection shouldn't the ticket at least be reversed?

[JXB]

If it's true that he wanted Lieberman, then clearly standing up to elements in his own party and picking the person he felt best suited for the position would be a "maverick" thing to do. Buckling to party elements and picking someone they want seems to be the opposite of what a "maverick" does.

[JaneEyrez]

Please, somebody with standing and gravitas needs to put it out and SOON that the McCain campaign will have to dump Palin and that the attempt will be made to make her a martyr of the liberal blogasphere. If someone with standing puts that into the mainstream media, it will do two things. Alert the electorate that she was an outstandingly bad choice and the result of poor judgment in that they didn't vet her properly and, now that they're beginning to realize that, they have to find a way to get rid of her that doesn't weaken McCain. The only way to do that is to splash mud on US, the posters of the liberal sites. Please, if you have any connections that would get this out there into the public, say with Keith Olbermann of Countdown on MSNBC, please see if we can do a little preventive strike, sort of like using a condom.

[MsLiz]

Oh no, don't let it come from the Democrats. Let it come from the Republicans.

[Fernando]

I have no idea what your point is; no one is going to blame liberal media posters for anything since we just express our opinions and don't have that much influence in persuading hardcore republicans. Palin will fall by the weight of her own baggage; the McCain campaign has been in defense mode since he announced her.

I'd pay top money to peek into his campaign right now, I'm sure he's regretting his choice.

[BatedBreath]

He will be tied to her until the election. There's no way McCain will let a woman lead him around by the nose or any other appendage if he gets elected. He is one of those repub men who has little regard for women as we have witnessed with his treatment of both his wives.

On the other hand, if being tied to her before the election drags them both under water, I say h-o-o-o-o ray!

[Pupadup4oBama]

But I don't think there's any way he can let her go either.
Which is worse...saving face or being led around by a woman.

[DennyCrane]

McCain showed the kind of leader he would be. He wanted Lieberman, but didn't want to upset the right wing who wanted Romney. He also wanted to upstage Obama who just had a great convention. So what does he do? He picks the wrong person for the wrong reasons. That's not the kind of leadership we want for 4 more years.

[mbh78213]

"That's not the kind of leadership we want for 4 more years."
As Obama said, "Eight is enough." Actually, eight is eight too many.

[Malacandra]

That sounds like precisely the kind of leadership we've had for the past 8 years.

[robXdion]

But he will HAVE to dump her because of her scandals. Changing a VP for any reason short of sudden health issues is DOOM. Either way he's thru.

[LondonTownNY]

I never looked at it this way. I wonder whether the trial balloons about dropping Palin being from the ticket are actually came from inside Republican circles. At this point, I agree, if McCain drops Palin the Evangelical community will revolt against him.

[Cramus]

I have to agree with everything here. He just castrated himself. When you walk around and talk like you've got big balls and act on it, they become big targets. John McCain over exposed himself with self admiration with the size of his balls. Palin carries a very sharp knife Mr. McCain.

[Ged2012]

I pity Sarah Palin. She is supposed to be brighter than this.

Bottom line: Do not allow yourself to be used by the GOP for their selfish ends.

[zedthewizard]

like many i keep wondering where john mccain is? you are right. if he gets rid of her, he's lost on reformer image, decision maker and campaign strategist. difficult to go back on experience. without her he loses the base and likely the middle. with her he keeps the base but loses more than wins in the middle. he threw the dice for himself, and america.

i have always believed that this election was for mccain's legacy. that's why he's become a plow horse to the conservative agenda. now, if in a clear mind mccain thinks about it, he should lose palin and pick ridge. lieberman is too far fetched. mccain's legacy might be a valiant attempt to bring the republican party back to moderation and reasonableness. if mccain realizes where is true interests lie, then he can still be a continuing american hero, but not the president.

[BBackSoon]

“If he can't pick a vice-president, how on earth is he going to run an entire government?”

Indeed!!

This entire stunt was to take the news cycle away from the DNC Convention. It worked but perhaps it worked a little too well. Just look at Huffpo’s main page. There is at least a dozen Palin stories, mostly negative, about half a dozen McSame stories, again mostly negative, and only a couple of Obama stories.

Maybe we are seeing Obama giving McSame enough rope to hang himself. Or is it, Never miss a good opportunity to Shut Up!