Attention snot-nosed, children of privilege whose wealthy daddies had to gain your inexperienced, arrogant and unqualified sorry asses jobs with the McCain campaign.
What happened on Tuesday was ALL your fault. Scratch that. Blame should go to your boss too.
Like many Republicans, I took more pride in Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as running mate than I did with US Senator John McCain at the top of the ticket. Why? Because I knew she was fighting for her future, unlike McCain who apparently used the 2008 presidential election to polish his legacy and tack on a final paragraph to his obituary.
The hyper-competitive Palin was chomping at the bit to knock the ball out of the park while McCain was satisfied playing the role of Al Downing, remembered in baseball history only for being the pitcher that gave up Hank Aaron’s record-breaking 715th home run.
In less than 48 hours, McCain aides have thrown Palin under the “Straight Talk Hearse” in an attempt to shift the blame away from the total humiliation they and their sponsor brought upon themselves and the GOP.
Continuing the spirit of this post-election Festivus, here is a sampling of their airing of grievances:
1. Palin didn’t know much about African geography.
2. Palin treated her running mate status as a golden ticket to go crazy at Nieman Marcus and other high-end stores to the tune of $150,000.
3. Palin’s aides fell for a prank call from Canadian radio hosts.
4. After working her heart out and enduring down right mean attacks from the entertainment industry and having her personal life hacked by liberal cyber-goons, Palin had the audacity to want to speak during McCain’s self-delivered eulogy.
My response:
1. You think the old man knows what the capital of Togo is? (It’s Lomé…and yes I needed to consult the Wikipedia to learn that nugget of knowledge)
2. Had the numbskulls (aides and the presidential nominee included) eschewed federal funds, Palin could have really torn it up! Seriously, so what? And supposedly her duds will be donated to charity. At least her shopping sprees didn’t delay people’s flights like Bill Clinton’s pricey haircuts on Air Force One did.
3. That kinds of stuff happens, including to the likes Bill Gates, the Pope, the Queen of England and two presidents of France amongst others. Big deal. It speaks far worse of the CBS Morning Show that they think enough to put the two professional clowns on their program.
4. On this count, the McCainihacks unintentionally did Palin a favor. After all, it’s largely McCain’s fault he had to give a concession speech that night.
John McCain’s candidacy was in the throes of a death rattle when Palin brought
excitement, energy, and a lead in the polls after the Obamapalooza in Denver. The Alaskan would have brought in gobs and gobs of money too had McCain not honored a pledge on public financing Obama had shredded and instead lied to tens of millions of Republicans when he said he would fight to win.
Now I will admit that there were times that I winced when Palin misstated things during interviews and her lone debate with Joe Biden, but whose fault was it that she was not properly prepared for such encounters? Or better yet, realizing she needed more time, who threw her to the media lions before she was ready? Who said she had to sit down with a hostile press on Katie Couric’s terms and not Palin’s own? Though we all know McCain wouldn’t want to risk angering his “base”.
Obama is a gifted orator, i.e. the Pablo Picasso of bullshit artists. Biden has been yammering on and on in the well of the Senate, committee rooms and on Sunday news shows nobody watched or cared about until Tim Russert died for the past thirty years. Yet Palin still ran circles around “Stand Up Chuck”.
And there was nothing, NOTHING, Governor Palin said that hurt the ticket more than McCain’s comment back in 2007 about how economics was not his strong point. As soon as I heard him say those words, I knew they had been immediately catalogued by Democratic operatives and would be replayed ad nauseam at a time of his least convenience.
My question is this: why wasn’t the McCain campaign checking Palin out back in March? I was touting her as the only hope McCain had of winning as early as May. Surely this blogger could not have more political insight than the well-healed pros running a national campaign, right?
Perhaps the professionals working for McCain could have spent time less time chasing DWI records of their own volunteers and more time quietly laying down the groundwork of her candidacy. Why did McCain dither so long about a running mate?
The blame for the worst run Republican presidential campaign since Barry Goldwater’s 1964 “profile in sanctimony” should be squarely affixed on McCain and that pack of jackals he calls aides.
It was McCain who uttered the gem “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.”
It was McCain who chose to handicap his candidacy by foolishly thinking an Obama renege on accepting federal funds would somehow compensate a $400 million plus deficit in campaign money.
It was McCain who behaved like a drama queen prior to the first presidential debate on the financial crisis and then embraced the unpopular bailout and all the pork loaded in it.
And it was McCain who spent the past 9 years antagonizing the GOP base and diluting the differences between himself and the Democrats on immigration, conservative judges and cultural issues.
If John McCain had any class he would immediately call his aides out on what they are doing to a woman who trust him with her name and her political future. Keep in mind this petty conduct towards Palin is nothing new and was happening weeks before the general election.
Sarah Palin has conducted herself with passion, enthusiasm and, amazingly, good humor in the face of the most vicious and demeaning slings against a vice-presidential candidate in American political history from the Democrats, the media and her own party.
Try as the McCainihacks might to salvage their careers at the expense of the Alaska governor’s future, at the end of the day it’ll be Sarah Palin, not John McCain, GOP congressional candidates will be begging to appear at their fundraisers.
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1 comment:
I am with you (for the most part) Mike. The McCain campaign was focused on tactics, not strategy and now they want to blame others for their lack or organization and vision. Sarah Palin is the reason the race was as close as it was. Sarah Palin but John McCain into the game. She is NOT the reason he lost.
1. I don't know if I believe some of the things McCain staff are saying about her. While I do not expect her to know the capital of Togo, I do expect her to know that Africa is a continent -- and, in fact, that there are seven continents and their names.
2. I am more inclined to believe the shopping spree issue, which was beyond stupid, because she charged the state a per diem for her breastfed infant child when he was at home. But the campaign was under NO obligation to reimburse her for unauthorized expenses. And she could have taken it all back, if she decided it was too expensive for her.
3. She had no choice but to believe that she was talking to Sarkozy. Her staffer told her that was who she was talking to and it is perfectly believable that he might call. And just because a foreign official seems to say something inappropriate, does not mean you doubt their identity. Does anyone think Bush never said or did anything considered strange to a foreign official? Being respectful in the face of that is called being a statesman.
4. VP candidates don't give concession speeches. But there is nothing wrong with her asking.
The long and the short of it is the McCain campaign mishandled many things in the race, and she was one of those things. The sound bitter and whiny now.
But she is a force and will be back on the national stage.
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