The Palin Problem

Scene from McCain campaign headquarters, just after Palin's first interview.

Problem?  That's right.  For McCain, bitches!

Right now, the only good thing she's doing for him is making him look marginally more qualified.  But it's not much of a boost in that department. 

As for the rest, it's like Jefferson's old "wolf by the ears" adage.  McCain can't keep her, but he can't safely let her go. 

The longer she stays, the dumber she proves herself to be.  Right now, she's somewhere between "bag of hammers" and "box of rocks."  So she looks like a terrible, terrible choice.  She's such a bad pick, I've begun to wonder whether or not Matt Millen is doing consulting work for the McCain campaign.

But McCain can't fire her!  That would be admitting a mistake, which, to the wingnuts (and, to no small degree, to the media jerkwads), is the one unpardonable sin.  It's why 25% of the people still think George W. Bush is such a great Preznit.  'Cause he's the steely-eyed rocketman who never, ever admits a mistake.  You know, that horrible thing called re-evaluation.  Can't have that.

So he's stuck with his terrible, terrible decision.  And it's helping to sink his crummy, tired-ass campaign.  Can't say I feel bad for them.  Nope, I can't say that at all.

Comments

[Elspeth Ravenwind]

I'll drink to that! :)
Elspeth

[karen marie]

why does palin (and mccain) keep doing these couric interviews?

is couric on retainer with the mccain-palin campaign?

they sure aren't getting their money's worth.

but it doesn't matter who the interviewer is. have you seen the latest? mccain did what i'm calling the "get off my lawn!" interview with the des moines register. go to their site and watch the whole thing. he enters palin territory with many of his responses.

[MapleStreet]

I wouldn't blame him so much for Palin as one bad decision. What would bother me more (if I had a shred of support for McCain, which I don't), is that the Palin pick is indicative of and the result of a continual roll of a bad decision making process which has revealed itself in the past and continues apparently into the future.

Inadequate vetting. Doesn't check the facts. Partied away his days at the academy and graduated near the bottom.

see The economy is strong. Iraq has won.

[Chuckago]

"She's such a bad pick, I've begun to wonder whether or not Matt Millen is doing consulting work for the McCain campaign."

That's a great line. It's a good thing I wasn't drinking when I read it.

[Aaaargh]

She's a great pick. She's a religious nut, like most of America, and she's dumb as a box of rocks, like most of America. It's no wonder people love her.

[Elspeth Ravenwind]

I don't love her, Aaaargh, but then I am not a religious whackaloony.

Actually, I loathe her and her insistence that pregnancy as a result of rape/incest should be an abortion non-starter. She needs to go back to her faaabulous gov's mansion and her First Dude and passel of mealy-mouthed brats (in the family way and not so...yet) and keep her opinions and restrictions on rights to herself.

And someone please swap out the real bullets/shells for blanks in her guns - the wolves she loves to shoot from a plane/helo have better family planning skills than she does, plus they only hunt for what they need. If only we could have a pic of a bear's den w/a Palin-skin rug on the earthen floor...
Elspeth

[pansypoo]

palin is going to do a reasonable job. thurs. it is set up that she can't fuck up to much.

[Elspeth Ravenwind]

Pansypoo - or worst case, what a great night to spring the October Surprise?

Elspeth

[Jude]

Pansypoo--are you serious?

She can't even name one fucking newspaper. Not even a local one in Wasilla, or Anchorage, or Juneau. There's no way she's going to be able to answer anything coherently. She fucked up interviews with Hugh Hewitt and Sean Hannity. Come on! That's like striking out at tee-ball. When you get twenty strikes.

[leinie]

Jude, if she doesn't drool, and the sentences are complete, she will have beat the expectations.

At that point, she's won.

They rigged the game so this debate will have shortened time for answers, and none of the give and take you saw last week.

So it will be a series of soundbites. Talking points, repeated over and over.

She isn't going to have the CHANCE to be incoherent, unless Ifill sneaks in a questions she doesn't have a talking point for.

The only way this goes south for her is if the pinball drops into the wrong hole and she spouts the wrong soundbite at the wrong time.

[Aaaargh]

She will be fine at the debate; she has the questions ahead of time and she can cram the answers in amongst the talking points.

[Robert]

What defies logic is that we are even talking about a VP selection like this. If Chaney had an interview with Couric or Gibson, the review wouldn't be "how did he do" or "were there any new gaffes?." The review would be one line: "he took it easy on her/him, didn't lose his temper," etc. (Or "Cheney was in a bad mood and chewed Charlie a new one over an Iraq question."

The fact that we are even doing this inquiry proves that everyone knows she is unqualified. There is no way I would vote McCain/Palin.

[pansypoo]

biden will look like a know it all to the stupids. that is how THEY think. they are not one of us.

[pansypoo]

HE'S GONNA SOUND GAY!!

[Nora]

My husband lost forty dollars today because he bet two co-workers that Palin wouldn't last the month.

I'm still surprised that she's still around, with all her baggage and scandals and her lack of curiosity and knowledge, and her inability to even do a credible job of faking curiosity and knowledge.

But then, as someone (H.L. Mencken, perhaps?) said, you will never go broke underestimating the taste of the American public, and so Sarah Palin is still on the ticket.

Go figure.

[Mike]

Hey she cant be that dumb after all she read ALL the newspapers. :-)

[Jude]

Too true, Mike.

Too true.

That, combined with her vast knowledge of Russia, no doubt will make her a a formidable debater.