The Worst Vice-Presidential Nominee in U.S. History

There was a TV ad for deodorant that said, "Never let them see you sweat." The John McCain campaign has just showed the world that it is drenched.

Selecting Sarah Palin as its choice for a vice presidential candidate is perhaps the worst such choice in American History. To be fair, maybe there are worse choices, but I don't know how bad William O. Butler was when he ran with Lewis Cass against Zachary Taylor.

But it's far worse than Dan Quayle, who was a sitting senator. Worse even than Geraldine Ferraro, who at least served in Congress for three-terms. And far worse than William Miller, a choice so obscure when selected by Barry Goldwater that he (honestly) later did an American Express commercial asking, "Do you know me?" And that ad was after the election. But even Miller had been a Congressman for 12 years. And been a prosecutor during the Nuremberg War trials against Nazis. Sarah Palin lists her credits as a hockey mom.

There was a point during the Republican primaries when I was trying to figure out who I hoped got the presidential nomination. Someone so weak he'd be easy for the Democrats to beat, or someone more challenging who at least wouldn't be a disaster for America. I decided on the latter because America has to resolve its serious problems and can't afford risking some glitch where another George Bush got elected. And so I felt that John McCain, for all his weaknesses, was the lesser of all evils and was glad he got the nomination. Throw that out the window. McCain-Palin is an unthinkable disaster.

I completely understand the reasoning behind the decision for John McCain to select Sarah Palin. Absolutely. It's the thinking that settled on Sarah Palin that's missing.

No doubt John McCain will get some women to vote for him who wouldn't have otherwise, and even some independents. But he will also probably lose as many Republicans uncomfortable with a woman on the ticket - let alone a woman with so little experience as Sarah Palin. Not to mention that the choice will cause many undecided Democratic women to be aghast and push them back to following their Democratic beliefs. And further, it will lose all the independents who look at the GOP ticket and say "This is who I'm supposed to give my vote for the next four years to lead and protect America??" It may even appeal to right-wing evangelicals for her strong pro-life stance and get some to vote - but that position and others related to it are specifically what loses even more women voters. And men. Ultimately, the nomination will lose far, far more votes than it gains.

But this is not the reason the decision is so terrible.

It's always said that the most important decision a presidential candidate makes is their pick for vice president. It shows their thinking and judgment. John McCain, in his first decision, has just told the world that he believes Sarah Palin is the most qualified person to be a heartbeat from the presidency. Forgetting all the available men for a moment, if John McCain felt it critical to select a woman in an effort to somehow grab the Hillary Clinton supporters, look at his choice of women he had available: Christine Todd Whitman, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Elizabeth Dole, Susan Collins, even - for goodness sake - Condoleezza Rice. Or Carly Fiorina. Each of these have marks against them, and perhaps some might not have wanted to run, but it's near-impossible to look at the list and suggest to the American public that Sarah Palin is the best choice of Republican women to be vice president. And again, this is ignoring the men he who could have been chosen.

It's not that Sarah Palin is inexperienced. It's that this is gross political misconduct.

Sarah Palin has been governor of Alaska for just a bit over 18 months. Alaska has a population of 683,000. (Though that doesn't include moose.) This would only make it the 17th most populous city in the United States. Just ahead of Fort Worth.

Before that, she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. Population 9,000. I know Republicans like to promote "small town values," but this is taking things to ridiculous extremes, don't you think? I'm from Glencoe, Illinois, population 8,762. It's so small it doesn't even have a mayor, it has an appointed village manager. I'm sure that Paul Harlow is doing wonderfully at his job in the village - but I don't expect that he sees himself as even wanting to be a heartbeat from the U.S. President in 18 months. You know what the top news story is on the Glencoe website? "Fire Hydrant Painting Underway." (To be fair, it's the #2 story. The top news is a clarification about displaying political signage.)

Do you know what the first two "powers and duties" are for the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska? Check their municipal code:

1. Preside at council meetings. The mayor may take part in the discussion of matters before the council, but may not vote, except that the mayor may vote in the case of a tie;

2. Act as ceremonial head of the city;

Swell.

If you live in small town America (and I mean really, really small), look around you and be honest - do you see your mayor (or village manager) as a heartbeat from the presidency in 18 months?

But that's not the reason either that the decision to make Sarah Palin the VP nominee is so terrible.

It's one thing to discuss how unqualified Sarah Palin is. That's a national matter and huge. But on a grassroots political level, her nomination takes away the Republicans' ONLY weapon in the campaign - calling Barack Obama inexperienced. They haven't even been trying to run on the issues, or on the eight-year record of George Bush, which John McCain has supported almost 95% of the time. They've only been running on the faux-issue of Barack Obama's experience of 14 years in federal and state government. Yes, Sarah Palin is merely running for VP, not president, but with a 72 year-old candidate with a history of serious medical issues, this is who they're saying is able to step in as president in a heart-beat. She has so little experience that she makes Sen. Obama look like FDR, Winston Churchill and Julius Caesar combined. So, the Republicans pulled the rug out from under themselves. They have no issues. The economy? Housing? The national debt? Education? The Environment? Iraq? Afghanistan? Nothing. All they have is "Dear Democratic women: please pretend our VP candidate is Hillary Clinton. Just forget that she's pro-life. And against most things Democrats stand for."

But that's not the reason the decision is so terrible.

Because if the hope for John McCain is to get women to vote for him who otherwise supported Hillary Clinton - if anything could get Hillary Clinton campaigning in full force and fury...this is it. She likely would have campaigned hard, but it's in Hillary Clinton's best interest to be the leading voice for women, and the leading woman candidate for president in the future, so having another woman as the potential Vice President (and potential President) is a significant challenge to that. The Republicans just opened Pandora's Box and brought Hillary Clinton roaring to Barack Obama's side on the Democratic train. And Bill Clinton, too.

Yet even that's not the reason the decision is so terrible.

What this does in the most profound and grandiose way possible is give lie to John McCain's pompous posturing that he Always Puts America First. And that undercuts the most prominent campaign issue of his entire career, that everything he does is for reasons of honor. There is nothing honorable about making Sarah Palin your vice presidential nominee. Nothing. Unless you define honor as "blatantly pandering."

But that's not the reason either that this decision is so terrible.

But before we get to that, let's look at the actual announcement to make Gov. Sarah Palin (AK - pop. 683,000) the Republican nominee for president, and put the horrible decision in perspective.

First, John McCain stood at the podium, looking up-and-down reading his speech. It's impossible not to compare that to Barack Obama giving his majestic speech the night before that even conservative analysts were admiring in awe.

Second, the cameras were polite enough to avoid it, but there were empty seats in the gym. It's impossible not to compare that to a stadium of 75,000 people that Barack Obama spoke to the night before.

Third, when people around the nation were waiting to hear about Sarah Palin's qualifications and gravitas to be Vice President of the United States, the first five minutes of her speech were spent talking about her husband being a champion snowmobiler.

Fourth, when she finally got around to her qualifications, pretty much all we discovered was that she fought to cut property taxes. And then, she basically stopped there.

She did, however, mention becoming energy self-sufficient - by talking about how she supported drilling in Alaska!!! Perhaps to Republicans this is being an environmentalist, but to most of America, not so much. Then again, she's also against putting polar bears on the endangered species list (which the government did), so maybe her environmental qualifications are more lax than she thinks.

And then, finally, she spent the rest of her time praising John McCain. Fine, that's very supportive of her...except that the one question on everyone's mind was not -- "can you say John McCain is a swell guy and tell us that he was a POW", the question on everyone's mind was - "Who in God's name are you, and please tell us why you should be a heart-beat from the presidency?"

In the end, the only case she herself made for being on the ticket was praising Hillary Clinton! That's it, period. Now, it might be enough to attract some women -- but it doesn't make a case for the ticket. Why? Hint: some women did vote for Hillary Clinton solely because she was a woman. But most women voted for Hillary Clinton because she was a Democrat, as well as a woman, who stood for important Democratic values they seriously believed in. If Sarah Palin wants to praise Hillary Clinton, go for it. But at least understand what you're praising. Because it will likely come back and bite you.

It was a thin, nothing, empty speech. It was a speech to be head of the Chamber of Commerce. Compare that to the speech by Joe Biden when Barack Obama introduced him. Eloquent, soaring and explaining in blunt detail why John McCain should not be president. Joe Biden must have been watching Sarah Palin's speech, in order to take notes in preparation for his debate with her and thought, "This isn't fair."

And all that's not even the reason the decision is so terrible.

The reason is because the election is not about Sarah Palin. Or about Joe Biden. As much as TV analysts want to be excited by the balloons and hoopla, tomorrow the air will be let out, and there are still over two months to go for the campaign.

The campaign is about Barack Obama and John McCain.

Sarah Palin's nomination doesn't change that. In fact, it reinforces it. Nothing about putting Sarah Palin on the GOP ticket changes a word that Barack Obama said in his vibrant acceptance speech - about himself, about his issues, and about John McCain's repeatedly faulty judgment on the critical issues facing America.

What Sarah Palin's nomination does do is focus attention on John McCain's age. Indeed, the nomination was made on his birthday, when he turned 72, the oldest man ever to run for president. As the crowd sang "Happy Birthday to You," you almost sensed that through John McCain's clenched smile, saying, "Thanks for reminding me," that what he was thinking underneath was "Please, oh, please, don't sing the 'How old are you now?' part." And how good a message was it that he's saying he supposedly forgot it was his birthday?

Vice presidents are usually selected as people who are adept at blasting the other side's presidential candidate, because it's only the presidential candidate that matters. Joe Biden has already done that - twice - at length, spoken as someone who knows John McCain well and likes him. Sarah Palin had her first chance...and whiffed. Didn't even try. And it's hard to imagine what she has in her arsenal that will remotely allow her to do so in the future.

The election is about the presidential candidates. And the selection of Sarah Palin now allows Barack Obama to campaign untouched by the Republican ticket. John McCain's only other option is for himself to personally become negative for two months - which is disaster in presidential politics.

Now add on all the problems expressed above. Sarah Palin's inexplicably laughable lack of substance, most-especially on the foreign policy stage. Her taking away the one issue, experience, Republicans were even attempting. Her pushing away voters who might otherwise be willing to vote for a senator with 26 years in the Senate. Her bringing Hillary Clinton aggressively back into the campaign. Her inability to offer anything to off-set Joe Biden. Her standing as supposedly the most-qualified Republican woman as John McCain's first decision.

And, in the end, it all focuses back on Barack Obama, with his indictment of eight years of the Bush Administration and of John McCain's flawed judgment - and John McCain's defense of all that.

Republicans might be dancing earlier today, because there was a lot of fun music playing. But the music has stopped. The actual campaign has now started. For Republicans, it might have ended.

Read more reaction from HuffPost bloggers to John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate

Comments

[scordsdu]

Hey Bob:

Palin is a fine choice for Senator John McCain. No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States. Period!

[Jamchinadian]

But, as she proudly declares, she is "Sarah Barracuda". That is admirable honesty on her part. Merriam-Webster defines Barracuda: "one that uses aggressive, selfish, and sometimes unethical methods to obtain a goal especially in business ".

[bannorhill]

Worst VP pick ever:

Eagleton. He lasted haw many days?

[Bitsko]

It may of been a lousy (to use the newest cliche) "vetting" job by McGovern's people, but Senator Eagleton was a pretty good guy who did a lot of good things for his state and country.

He was in the U.S. Navy, and was Missouri's Attorney General (elected at 31), Missouri Lieutenant Governor, and U.S. Senator.

According to Wikipedia: "In the Senate, Eagleton was active in matters dealing with foreign relations, intelligence, defense, education, health care, and the environment. He was instrumental to the Senate's passage of the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, and sponsored the amendment that halted the bombing in Cambodia and effectively ended American involvement in the Vietnam War."

Sounds pretty impressive to me.

[thinkaboutit3]

Although McCain's choice might prove to show a lack of judgement, many of the arguments against Palin (so far) seem to lean toward the opposite end of the spectrum: judgmental. Its true that she is unknown. Get to know her before you determine whether or not she is incompetent.

[melissau]

My husband shamed me. After I finished my ranting over McCain’s choice of vice president, offended that McCain, as well as the Republican Party powers that be, believe that women are stupid enough to fail to see the obvious pandering to disaffected Hillary supporters, my husband reminded me that even the most alienated among them are bright enough to eschew McCain’s strategy. My husband is right. I would like to think that women who supported Hillary’s nomination bid (myself included) did so because they trusted her ability to lead our country and they endorsed her views. I would not like to think that these women’s only agenda was simply to put a woman in the White House regardless of platform. Any previous Hillary supporter who now votes for McCain and Palin because of some misguided feminism should not have voted for Hillary to begin with. Hillary Clinton was and continues to be about bringing our country back to reason. This election is not about gender politics. Rather, it is about intelligent and thoughtful choice. Sarah Palin, the moose hunting ex-beauty queen is an insult to women who have fought for equality in all sectors. She is an embarrassment to the Republican party but possibly and, hopefully, the nail in McCain's presidential bid coffin.

Barack Obama is right: John McCain just doesn't get it.

[Americanliberty]

John Mcain and his pick for VP might not be the best choice, but they will be better than Obama would do .. Remember Obama was with a church that when you look it up on Google the church policy is BLACK before America . Obama had to be forced to wear the America flag pin and will not use the can flag on any of his campaign items . Maybe it will be a real change to have a female VP that lives as close to a regular American as you can get. Also in her short time her experience out does Obama's.The McCain/Palin family also have active miltary members (their children) in the Armed services of the United States of America I would thinks they would want the best for there family and America.Most important to me is McCain/Palin won't inrease taxes. Obama said he will tax the rich which is $200,000.00 or more. Remember the rich is Corp. America when you Tax Corp. America then Corp. America put it back on us with price increase on our goods that we buy that make them rich or they move there company out of America and we Americas loose jobs. WAKE up AMERICANS your next President and VP will be McCain/ Palin .P.S. Any CEO that look at Obama resume stated they would not hired him to run a Corp. Not enough experience. But you think he has enough to run America what a joke.

[kel fm ks]

This is the best, most comprehensive analysis of this debacle in waiting that I have read. As an Obama supporter I am delighted by McCain's selection of Governor Palin as his VP candidate, because I am confident that it will, rightfully, cost him the election. As an American, I am horrified by the prospect that this absurdly inexperienced neophyte would have any chance to occupy the most powerful office in the world. However, I am not all that worried because I think that by mid September she will "resign" for "family reasons" and go the way of Harriet Meiers and Thomas Eagleton.

[DSPinPW]

And she has personally reduced the moose population!

[MyCountry]

For the last ten years I have honorably served my country in the US Military. With all due respect, I am in no way criticizing Gov. Paline, however, I due question how Sen. McCain can justify the selection of this person for the VP slot. Knowing this was a gamble, I would hate to see a Command/Chief use the same risky logic he used during this selection. Presidents need to be thorough and concise. He will make decision that will put my and many of my friends lives in dangerous situations. I do not want a CIC who gambles on situations that could affect my fellow service members and friends.

[pstrauss]

Revealing is when McCain intriduced Palin, and within earshot of the microphone, told her to "Take her time" or "you don';t have to hurry" Grandad micromanag­ing/contro­lling. Maybe this is why he picked her, because no other competent professional would stand for this type of behaviour.

[majikposhun]

A highly well-written piece Robert. As a women - I believe the choice for Palin is an absolute insult to women - being that the palpable reason for choosing a women is to gain the Hillary votes - JUST b/c she is a woman - does not mean she is not qualified for the job and does not mean that I or any other woman will vote for McCain and Palin. She is by far NOT a Hillary, or any other woman mentioned in your article. McCain should have just said - "YES, we are conceeding, yes this is what we are doing - but we will continue to waste the time, money and energy - b/c that my friend is what I do best"!

Not only for McCain, but for all the evils wrought by the NeoCon/ Repub gov during these last years, and of more dire threats for the future. The evidence of harm caused and of danger present, is all around.

There are two images that might convey the present situation. One is a kind of Trojan horse. A beautiful, dynamic, charismatic woman as a trojan horse. To allow her in the gates is to unleash once again the darkside agenda - NOT, repeat NOT from herself, but from those who are hidden within the party she represents - the warmongers, the war profiteers, the corporate interests over individual lives, the blueprint for fascism, for loss of individual rights, for bringing the planet to the brink of

[BCubedReg]

Robert Elisberg, you are the greatest. I read everything you write and laugh hysterically through the whole thing. The way you keep identifying the shortcomings and then right behind it say.. "But that's not the reason the decision is so terrible".

Keep up the good work, and I'll keep reading. I am definetly a fan of Robert Elisberg.

[telebob59]

A perceptive analysis of one of the most inept moves in the politics of our republic. And it did not include one word about her teenaged daughter's pregnancy! This "choice" by McCain is perplexing and frightening enough in its' own way. What I find even more frightening is the awareness that there are legions of wacky, self-aggrandizing, careerist women of around her age out there who may feel inspired to smash the "glass ceiling" in their own way before their next Chamber Of Commerce meeting rolls around -- and they all have her to thank! Ohhh! I'm somehow reminded of a Richard Nixon quote where Tricky Dick weighed in on George H.W. Bush's qualifications as a candidate for POTUS by remarking that Poppy was "...a lightweight...the sort of person you appoint to things." So much for Dan Quayle, huh?

[Profsky]

I agree with Mr. Elisberg's politics, but his reasoning is seriously flawed. He writes: "the first five minutes of her speech were spent talking about her husband being a champion snowmobiler." Actually, she mentioned this in passing while spending 5 minutes talking about her family. That's far less time than Mrs. Obama and the Bidens spent speaking about their families - except the Bidens left out the part about Joe's sons getting rich off of lobbying firms. Regardless of how Mr. Palin spends his recreational hours, he is a union member and a working man.

Elisberg also misconstrues the cleverness of the pick. He sees this as undermining the McCain critique of Obama because now experience doesn't matter. But the VP pick equally undermines Obama's rebuttal that it is judgement, not experience, that matters. The Democrats cannot critique Palin's lack of experience because they've spent the last year saying experience is not measured by time in office.

McCain has chosen someone who is similar to himself (or at least to his image), thus reinforcing his message. Obama attempted to cover his weaknesses with his VP choice, thus suggesting that the criticisms are valid. Both are political moves, but it's far from clear which is the worse choice.

[FactsRStubborn]

Wait a minute, not even the last was the most poignant reason this was a horrible choice.

McCain only met Palin twice, with one of those being her job interview for VP. Once. One measly stinking interview, and wham, here's the person who (if McCain wins) shall be a 72+ year old heartbeat away from being handed the power to destroy all of human civilization, 100x over.

My God, I am just a middle manager in Marketing, and through a 20+ year career in Corporate America which spanned four jobs, I was put through an average of five hours and seven interviewers per position. Sometimes my boss-to-be interviewed me two or three times before offering me a position. For one position I had to pass a full day battery of psych and intelligence testing. And McCain only interviews this unknown quantity ONCE? ***INCOMPE­TENT!!!***­* Palin, perhaps. McCain, definitely!

[STAYATHOMEMOMMY]

I agree that McCain picked Palin just to satisfy women, however being a woman means that we want a VP who is qualified for the job. You shouldn't be a VP based on your gender. Palin has a journalism degree, not a law degree. She said she has no idea what a VP does. My guess is that McCain wants her to be his yes- woman where she has no opinion because everything is over her head. Obama did not chose Clinton because in my opinion the ticket was too much change at one time. Hillary is a qualified lawyer and Senator but Barack would've alienated his voters by picking the person he campaigned so hard to defeat. Barack didn't snub the female voters, he snubbed being associated with the Clinton mindset. He wanted them to vote for him because of his character and experience and not Bill and Hillary Clinton's. Palin is unqualified and her gender should not be an issue any more than Barack's Kenyan heritage is.