It's All About Hiding Palin

John McCain's scandalous gambit to politicize the nation's economic crisis with still more wild political stunts this week sure looks like a desperate, last-ditch effort to keep Sarah Palin from being further exposed as a lightweight. Why else would the McCain team be pushing to get Friday's debate moved to October 2, the scheduled night of the vice presidential debate?

In politics as in life, big gambles tend to beget big gambles - McCain bet everything on jazzing up his tired, sagging campaign and appeasing hard-line religious conservatives with his choice of Palin, foolishly hoping that at the same time he would pick up disgruntled Hillary voters along the way. During Palin's Sanjaya phase, now mercifully over, she was a flavor-of-the-moment celebrity, but this week's polls showed the Palin bounce is gone, gone, gone. Panic started to set in among McCain and his handlers.

I've never been in the camp that sees Joe Biden as a dead-certain lock to clean Palin's clock in a nationally televised debate. As smart and experienced as Biden is, his chances of blurting out something weird or unfortunate in the debate (the much discussed gaffe factor) should not be dismissed; and with expectations of Palin so low, especially after her interview with Katie Couric (I recommend checking in with Glenn Greenwald on this), it always seemed to me that she could show up, stick doggedly to the mental note cards she has memorized, and smile and look plucky and make a sarcastic joke or two -- and many in the media would call that a draw or a win.

But the McCain people obviously fear the scenario of Palin melting under the pressure and shocking even many Palin fans. The issue is not so much Palin's ignorance of policy questions, such as her laugh-out-loud-awful problems with an earlier question about the Bush Doctrine, but her Bush-like utter lack of curiosity about the rest of the world through the first four-plus decades of her life.

Obviously the behind-the-scenes prep sessions aren't working. Otherwise the McCain people would not be hiding Palin from the press quite so shamelessly. So the cynical McCain campaign tries to make the media look like idiots by claiming with a straight face that this week's desperate stunt is anything other than a callow effort to distract people and avoid having to push Palin out there on October 2. Andrew Sullivan and others have been raising the point since last night and it looks on target. The question is whether anyone will step up to call McCain on going to such extreme measures to try to cover up the misguided - and badly mistaken - choice of Palin in the first place.

Comments

[GiggidyGeshmoygen]

picture this.........

(on YouTube)

IS PALIN IN AN ELECTION OR A BEAUTY PAGEANT ???

please, somebody out there with a little more talent than i have, intercut footage of this ridiculous ramble with the equally ridiculous footage of that tragic blond beauty queen who became an overnight celebrity (like sarah...remember britney and paris?) after giving one of the most convoluted and incomprehensible answers ever for a Miss America contestant

[brueso]

it's been done already. Andrew Sullivan had it up yesterday or early today.

[miamimando]

Yo CB.....although we have different viewpoints, it's always good to know you are doing well....gotta admit i agree with some of your points......say hello to your better half....oh and Gunther also.....

P.S. - CubanPete IS a Violent Femme.....LOL

[VillagesNancy]

Reading Steve's postings and then other postings is very interesting and informative.

Must disagree with a recent posting about Palin vs. Biden. It is known (and frequently mentioned on the news) that Biden is a loose cannon and it NOT a shoe-in to win the debate with Palin.

Also, one analyst, discussing Palin's pathetic interview with Katie Couric, said that he self-confidence has been seriously eroded by the Mc Cain group. They might want to reconsider their strategy with her and give her a chance. Compare the speech at the Convention to the interview - two different people.

[gopindrag]

Let's check in with our old friend Karnak the mentalist: Oct 1 headline: Sarah Palin to have emergency surgery the night before her vice presidential debate, for a previously undiagnosed and currently undesignated as yet specified medical condition. (pssst, I think she's going to be OK, but it'll give the news cycle 2 days of will-she-withdraw distractions)
Yeah Karnak. Yeah boy!

[Steve Kettmann - Huffpost Blogger]

Hear hear to Karnak in all his prescient glory - somehow,, the Karnak scenario sounds more likely than Palin actually daring to show up on the 2nd, even with poll numbers sinking for the McCain-Palin ticket, and try to avoid making any more bizarre statements.

[Londre]

Nice work, Steve. I hadn't thought of it, but it certainly makes sense. That being said, I'm wondering how big a factor Palin is going to be come election time, and how closely voters will be following the vice presidential debates. No one seems to be noticing Biden's blistering attacks against McCain and Palin in the last week. I know that the chance of Palin leading the country (seriously, how long was the medical report on McCain? Like 200 pages?) are a hell of a lot higher than Biden, but, given the enormous amount of attention that will be paid to the McCain-Obama showdown over the Bush bail-out plan, I'm not sure voters will give her more than a couple of glances as we roll towards Nov. 3

[Steve Kettmann - Huffpost Blogger]

Good point, Londre, and thanks for the comment - quite true that in general, the VP candidate does not determine many votes. But in this case, the selection of Palin - quite clearly the least qualified person ever to be nominated for the No. 2 spot on a major party ticket, or at least the least qualified person chosen for that role in recent decades - fits in with the narrative of McCain being impulsive and unsteady, in short a gambler. As I've said, I think the expectations will be so low for her at the Oct. 2 debate that if she avoids making any more references to the disembodied heads of foreign leaders violating air space, and sticks to the perky platitudes, the cable-news talking heads will be ready to gush over her surprising performance. But if she gives us fresh reason to consider her unqualified, the pressure will grow on the McCain to do what conservative columnist Kathleen Parker has advised and drop Palin from the ticket.

[Rescisco]

Excellent analysis of the McCain "gambit." My wife reached the same conclusion when the news of his desire to cancel Friday night was announced. This is a "Strawberry Fields" election. "Nothing is real."

[PJ10010]

The McCain campaign's plan to hide Palin has already backfired. People want to know more about her and will pick up any scraps they can. But rather than seeing hundreds of interviews and articles with her, which might have actually yielded some decent soundbites, we are reduced to watching this video over and over again: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/25/palin-talks-russia-with-k_n_129318.html

[Steve Kettmann - Huffpost Blogger]

I agree. By pulling such transparent stunts, they only look desperate - and only raise more questions. I hope we all watch the video over and over - it could become like Howard Dean's famous "scream" moment, which really only looked bad when it was repeated over and over. Palin looked ridiculous the first time. How will her gibberish look after we've seen the video a hundred times?

[LeftLeanerN08]

Yes, I watched the excerpts of the Couric interview, and all I could think is WOW! McCain really did not vet this woman at all. Watching her attempt to respond to Couric's questions was painful to watch. Especially when she still could not answer the question about foreign affairs experience via her view of Russia from Alaska. I almost felt sorry for the woman. She is in way over her head, and this is even before you get to the scandals, and religious stuff. personally, I think the media does not even have to bring attention to that type of stuff and focus on the 3 interviews she has given. That's more than enough to give even the staunchest Palin supporter pause. Maybe in '12 or '16 she can represent the GOP as VP or Pres, but right now she is not even close to ready.

[lord bunsky]

The Reps should better hide that moose-hunting arctic queen! Who knows what strange comment will come out of her mouth next? What will she reply to questions concerning the financial catastrophe? That you can see banks from Alaska as well? Or perhaps that there is also a street named Wall Street in Wasilla, Alaska?

Following the Rep convention (especially those martial video bites) I thought for sure that I was tuned into a satiric take of the whole event rather than the convention itself. However, what Sarah Palin is doing now is poltical satire at a level that perhaps only Bill Hicks was able to deliver.

[GiggidyGeshmoygen]

for your reading pleasure and alarm >>>>>>>

PALIN'S PARTY
by Michelle Goldberg
September 24, 2008 --- The Nation

The whole community [ of Wasilla ] changed," she said. "It became extremely rigid and intolerant, and you can see that in every election since." Palin, said O'Hara, "represents the worst of those values. She feels that because she's a member of the right church, she's chosen by God to inflict her values on everyone." The whole community changed," she said. "It became extremely rigid and intolerant, and you can see that in every election since." Palin, said O'Hara, "represents the worst of those values.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081013/goldberg

[Steve Kettmann - Huffpost Blogger]

Thank you for posting that - we should all read up, and be as informed as possible. In that spirit, I recommend David Talbot's reporting at Salon. I have no idea if he's working on a Palin book, or what, but David has done an amazing job with his round of stories from Wasilla.

http://dir.salon.com/topics/david_talbot/

Also over at Salon, my old friend Joan Walsh calls the Putin's-head-flying-into-our-air-space head-scratcher Palin's worst moment yet, and says - who can argue? - "John McCain should be ashamed of himself."
http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/?last_story=/opinion/walsh/election_2008/2008/09/26/russia_palin/

[BeaFrank]

Thank you for a wonderful post. Obviously the economic crisis should be a pressing issue for the government. As a presidential candidate one should be able to multi-task. It is preciously moments like the ones that we have been experiencing ie. hurricane in Texas, and economic peril that the American people need to hear from the prospective future president. I am not at all comforted by the fact that McCain wished to suspend his campaign and delay the debate. Stand up like a leader and face the questions head on. I believe that you hit the proverbial nail on the head by bringing Palin's utter incompitance into play. It is extremly evident that she is not prepared to debate next week. Delaying the doom will not fool the American public and I hope that the MSM will not allow this slight to pass without comment.

[CubanPeteAZ]

Only thing I would add, and with great respect to that awesome band from Milwaukee -- The Violent Femmes -- is to say that Palin's bounce isn't just gone, gone, gone, but it may very well be "Gone, baby gone, yeah the love is gone." Outstanding piece! Keep this writer writing.

[independent12]

Simple solution to help her come out of hiding. The media big wigs
should get together and REFUSE to cover the McCain campaign
until she does in-depth press conferences and interviews.
Then we will see how much she doesn't need the media.
What a joke. Mavericks don't hide.

[ptillen]

Great song, but now I got that tune stuck in my head.

[sharri]

I never realized how naive I was until this year. There has been 10 presidents in my life, but I was caught off guard by the tv reality show this election is. I keep waiting for Steve Allen to pop out at Sarah Palin and say "Smile, you're on candid camera"

[JustaHeartbeatAway]

Or Goldie Hawn on "Laugh In," giggling unstoppably

[AMTHEONE0999]

GREAT POST STEVE!

[RepublicanBrain]

There's a better reason why the debates were pushed back. Because of the economic crisis. That needs to be tackled immediately, and it's more important than a debate. Besides, postponement does not mean abandonment. Until there is evidence that he gets rid of the VP debate completely, it's not really about hiding Palin. If she's going to sit there with foreign dignitaries, it's not about hiding.

What seems to be the more "hiding" thing is Obama retreating to the debate rather then to Washington to attend to the economic kickback. He's retreating behind his rhetoric as his actions won't save him.

[Steve Kettmann - Huffpost Blogger]

There you are, RepublicanBrain. I was hoping you'd weigh in. I agree with you on your main point: The economic crisis is more important than the debates. But based on everything we're hearing today, there's no evidence that McCain's grandstanding has moved us any closer to a deal. In fact, it looks like he's done the opposite.

[research]

I don't know why we need to address all of RepubliucanBrain's lies.

McCain's lying about suspending his campaign.

McCain is afraid he will lose the entire GOP Conservative deregulation argument in the debates, so he's putting it off.

The more we get to know Pailin, the less we like her. So she does no question asked photo ops at the expense of the USA's foreign relations.

BushCo is committing another impeachable crime by using his office to advance McBush's campaign.

You have to call out these GOP folks lies. Yeah you have to state the disproof, but you don't need to spend your time on it. Call it out at the highest logical level it fails at: trustworthiness.

All these GOP folks are liars. Organized, liars.

[Tenebrae]

Add to this the fact that White House Aides have been briefed/briefing about the trouble with these companies for more than a month, don't you wonder why this issue has been allowed to fester until it's a must-do-something-about-NOW crisis? Because the WH didn't act promptly to head off the (then potential) crisis.

It's a manufactured crisis whereby Bush tries to stampede Congress into passing emergency legislation giving unparalleled authority to one man and allowing NO oversight by anybody. And conveniently setting up a photo-op for McCain (who hasn't voted in the Senate since April!) to ride into town and try to play hero.

What a joke. It would be funny if the American people weren't being made the butt of the joke.

[RepublicanBrain]

And good to hear your responses, Mr. Kettman. I've "fan'ed" you so I know when you blog. I enjoy our discussions.

It's truly a difficult thing to address. As someone who is in the real estate market, I know exactly what it is like. The strange thing about it is it's not a new thing, but it's a problem that has been going on for years. Over a decade, even. What happened was that people would get loans on houses and be unable to pay them back.

We saw much of the advancement on this during the Clinton years: He allowed welfare money to be used as collateral for home loans. People wouldn't be paying any interest or much money until now. Basically, Clinton made a bubble (there's many reasons I can think of as to why, but I'm trying to narrow it down at the moment) and now it burst. Much of this problem comes back to the people.

As for McCain, this issue is a tough one to tackle. I don't expect it to happen right away. It's better then what Obama's doing to address this crisis, which is absolutely nothing.

But, I apologize. We were discussing Palin, no?

[NamelessGenXer]

Republican Brain is as much of an oxymoron as Maverick McCain.

[JKKlingner]

How can soccer moms and cosmetology college dropouts think that having someone "just like them" in the White House would be a good thing?! I feel as though I'm in the twilight zone! (And I mean absolutely no disrespect to soccer moms--I've been one myself, or to cosmetologists.)

[ptillen]

I find this one mystifying too. I don't want someone just like me in a position of that much power. I want someone way, wayyy smarter than me, and with a much more comprehensive skillset than I have.