So who will replace Palin as McCain’s VP nominee?
With the revelation today that Sarah Palin was not vetted prior to McCain panicking and selecting her to be one heartbeat away from the Presidency, and with a team of Republican operatives and lawyers now en route to Alaska at this very moment to investigate her after the fact, I have to state the obvious.
There is no way Sarah Palin remains on the Republican ticket. If McCain keeps her on the ticket, there will be a drumbeat of reports of Palin’s past statements and positions and associations, all culminating in a debate in which operate as the ultiminate cross examination or her, instead of being a debate between Joe Biden and John McCain’s potential vice presidents.
From almost being recalled as mayor, to being a former member of the Alaska Independence Party which sought not only the secession of Alaska from the United States, but also for the dissolution of the federal government of the United States “should certain conditions occur,” to calling the Iraq War a “war for oil,” to endorsing Barack Obama’s energy plan, to abusing her power as Alaskan Governor on two separate occassions, resulting in the current Troopergate scandal, which has just recently caused Mrs. Palin to lawyer up, to her admission that she has “never really focused on Iraq,” to her laughing and snorting on a radio show while a Republican opponent (who happens to be a woman and a cancer survivor) is called a cancer and a bitch by some right wing shock jocks, to blatantly lying in her announcement speech about opposing the Bridge to Nowhere, to her opposition to having polar bears placed on the endangered species list because she wants to drill drill drill in the artic…..whew…., Sarah Palin is already fatally damaged as a Vice Presidential pick. And that is without even considering the other revelations today, which I will not consider in evaluating what remains of her candidacy.
Yes, I realize that by withdrawing her name, or having Palin withdraw her own name, McCain is essentially admitting that he used horrible judgment in choosing her in the first place, which will destroy his candidacy as well. So it is a lose-lose situation for McCain. Perhaps he will stay with her, knowing that he will lose anyway so he might as well expose the truly vapid socially conservative right wing in the process. Perhaps he will stay with her because he is a prideful stubborn idiot, who can never admit a mistake, not unlike his mentor, George W. Bush.
But let’s say McCain does withdraw her name, or let’s say Sarah Palin decides that now is not the time, given her recent family difficulties, to run for Vice President, or actually be Vice President. Who does he pick as his new running mate?
Huckabee. I’m going to win a WDEL t-shirt.
Not gonna happen. When did the GOP ever admit to a mistake? Party bigger than country for these guys!
Who would have him? Seriously, I don’t see any other option for him but sticking it out. What’s he going to say? “Oops! I call do-over.”
You say:
If McCain keeps her on the ticket, there will be a drumbeat of reports of Palin’s past statements and positions and associations,..
It’s like watching the clowns pile out of the clown car at the circus:
Members of “Fringe” Alaskan Independence Party Say Palin Was a Member in 90s
September 01, 2008 6:52 PM
The campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., likes to herald the independence of its new running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
Officials of the Alaskan Independence Party say that Palin was once so independent, she was once a member of their party, which since the 1970s has been pushing for a legal vote for Alaskans to decide whether or not residents of the 49th state can secede from the United States.
And while McCain’s motto — as seen in a new TV ad — is “Country First,” the AIP’s motto is the exact opposite — “Alaska First — Alaska Always.”
Lynette Clark, the chairman of the AIP, tells ABC News that Palin and her husband Todd were members in 1994, even attending the 1994 statewide convention in Wasilla. Clark was AIP secretary at the time.
The only way it could possibly work is to have Sarah Palin remove herself, citing her family, and then by having an outraged convention condemn her critics for her withdrawal. That way, McCain would not have to admit anything.
I think it is a 50-50 chance that such plans are already being made.
my wife asked me today if they can do a “re-pick”
has it ever happened before?
they can get her to do a harriet Miers and withdraw right?
sort of “woops, my bad” and get a mulligan.
She has not been officially nominated yet, and even if she was, yes, they can renominate another VP pick. It has happened before. In 1972, George McGovern chose Missouri Senator Tom Eagleton to be his running mate. After the convention, it was revealed that Eagleton had undergone electro-shock therapy.
Eagleton withdrew his name and the DNC chose Sargent Shriver (Maria Shriver’s dad) to be his running mate.
One word, Protack.
Even if she withdraws her name it doesn’t help McCain on the judgement issue. The damage has been done. Keep her, cut her loose… doesn’t matter.
I can see it now; she’ll use her family as the excuse for backing out….if she’s forced to go.
Precisely.
Well, it has happened – Thomas Eagleton who indeed “withdrew” after it became clear that he had not told McGovern of a previous treatment for mental problems. Which started the modern process of “vetting” VPs that McCain strangely decided to drop.
As you said, I don’t know see how either solution works for McCain.
Either he keeps her and while the drip-drip-drip may stop but clearly all the attacks on Obama (“risky”, inexperienced, Love of the country, …) are now off the table.
Or he ditches her and he looks like a fool AND he pisses off the evangelical base which loves her.
I have not been as excited about the campaign since mid-July.
But there have been so many twists and turns so far that I am not counting the eggs just yet.
And to answer your question … Lieberman. If he has to destroy his campaign by changing VP, he will say “Screw it” and go with his heart.
BTW – Washington Post is sending investigators to AK. Wonder what else they’re going to find?
To answer the question, my guess would be Gingrich
Lieberman! Could Christmas really come twice in one month?
pam shriver’s dad…never new that?
oh shit turn on Cnn?
“Carver just held up a picture of Palin’s old City Hall. Said it looks like a Bake Shop. This is the best they can do”
Slammed!
In the meantime, a certain someone seems to have found a certain voice that people had been saying he had been missing;
http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/09/obama_on_gustav.html
I do not consider her kid being pregnant a sufficient reason for her to be replaced as McCain’s VP pick.
CNN’s Larry King Live is on right now and it is brutal. Republican Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann said that Palin is qualified because she sold the Governor’s plane on eBay. To which both King and James Carville laughed out loud.
Mike…..
Neither do I, that is why I did not mention that situation in the litany of other reasons why she is a disaster of a candidate. Try reading next time.
I thought that this was interesting info on the so-called “vetting”.
So they are doing it NOW, one step ahead of the WaPo. The more interesting question might be who has the better vetters….
I don’t think that she will withdraw. They’ll get their victimhood on and try to beat up the media enough to tough it out. Withdrawing now definitely confirms that McCain’s judgment is not what it should be and they can’t recover from that.
In a righteous world, DelDem, your litany would be evidence enough. However, to Republicans, I’m sure you’re just “a bully.”
McCain’s most important decision of the campaign and he bushed it.
McCain can’t withdraw his offer to Palin, and the party really refuse to nominate the pair. The MUCH more likely path is for Palin to withdraw her name, quickly. This gives McCain the ability to save face, to aim to get credit for having named a woman, and an evangelical, as running mate, but without actually having to walk this talk. It’s win-win for McCain.
One large issue is whether the party elite (including Rove) pitch this as bailing out McCain, resulting in him owing them even more favors. If McCain owes the party, then expect a ‘conventional’ replacement VP (Pawlenty, Crist?); if McCain is unfettered (which I DON”T see), expect Lieberman to be picked.
This episode reminds me of the emptiness of ‘the experience’ criticism of Obama. There were 20 or so presidential candidates in the two major parties. These campaigns are national, and the more successful ones involve managing a slew of employees and volunteers. One campaign stood out head and shoulders above the rest (of both parties)–Barack Obama’s. He overcame amongst the lowest initial name recognition, managed the raising and the expenditure of the largest budget.
McCain’s argument of being ready to lead is at odds with his frequent stumbling during the campaign, his inability to fire harmful campaign insiders, and this incredible failure of judgment and due diligence on the most significant decision of his candidacy.
If he can’t run his own campaign competently, why should folks believe that McCain can run the country well?
Oh I forgot–he was a POW.
LOL. The same people who bullied Hillary Clinton for decades will now claim that any criticism of Sarah Palin is bullying. I just love, and hate, their hypocrisy.
And they’ll be abetted by stuff like this.
Bill Kristol in the NYT saying that “Many are insiders who highly value — who overly value — “experience,” when doing his bit to fluff up Palin, when just a few days before Kristol was fluffing Joe Lieberman as the McCain VP pick for his extensive experience. Oy.
And a couple of blogs are reporting that Campbell Brown just eviscerated Tucker Bounds on CNN, so maybe the media narrative won’t help him this time.
mike w,
It’s not because of her daughter’s pregnancy.
The revelations today:
– she lied in her speech about opposing the “Bridge to Nowhere”
– she was a Buchananite
– she now has a lawyer for troopergate, and will be deposed (under oath) in the next few days
– (the most damaging) she was a member of the AIP, a party that advocates secession of Alaska from the U.S.
Not quite “country first,” is it? But please, keep telling us how pleased the Republicans are with the pick. It’s fascinating, really.
Seriously, though, I think that the odds are less than 50% that she withdraws. Her withdrawal doesn’t help him all that much, the damage is done. If she does withdraw though, I’ll bet she cites “family privacy.”
To answer the question . . . . Dick, Dick Cheney.
Cass, I just posted the video of Campbell Brown. Wow. Maybe the media is finally growing a pair.
I was thinking more along the lines of who is the GOP going to replace McCain with now that he is proven to be completely out of touch with reality.
Bob, they are all out of touch with reality. So that does not matter.
Jason–I dropped my drink when you said “Huckabee”….was that sincere…or to win a T-shirt? Man..we got enough problems…you need a T-shirt? I’ll give you a Joanne Christian for Senator T-shirt….I’ll even stencil WDEL on the back…but lay off the bullpen….
Actually, if McCain wants to soothe angry evangelicals after Palin’s withdrawal, Huckabee would be the natural choice.
And what does that do to us liberal-moderate Republicans, who are only going to tolerate so much? Do you think we want to be viewed as evangelical? Observant perhaps…but evangelical? We’re holdin’ on as it is!!!
Joanne, I hope you can take your party back.
The current story (not well sourced, I admit) is that McCain wanted to pick Lieberman as VP, but the evangelical and other wingnut right simply went berserk. Palin was “mavericky” and solidifies the base. Which pretty much boxes him in for reaching out to independents. Lieberman would have let him speak to independents and liberal-moderate republicans more forthrightly, I think.
I have a suggestion – Jeb Bush. That ought to shake things up.
You say McCain picked Sarah Palin?? well Lara Bush today on the morning show said that she and Georgie Boy stopped in Alaska on their way to the olympics to talk to Sarah Palin in regards to her running for V.P. So this is not a last minute pick as the REPUKES want you to believe. i’ll bet you ol’e Georgie Boy chewed her ass out for spilling that info on National T V.
Since it becomes more and more obvious that Palin has little more to offer the McCain camp than a strong Christian right (pronounced ‘nutjob’) viewpoint, it stands to reason why McCain didn’t pick Huckleberry in the first place.
He has that same strong Xtian tie, but with more experience and less skeletons in the closet.
Watch the Republican spin machine turn every liability into a strength for Palin. It’s what they do and they do it so very well. Palin is here to stay folks.
“the secession of Alaska from the United States, but also for the dissolution of the federal government of the United States “should certain conditions occur”
Sounds to me like she’s a State’s Right’s fan and respects the Constitution, hence the “should certain conditions occur” and her strong support for the 2nd Amendment.
And she still have more experience than Obama.
Mike W. just got the spin award of the day.
Nope, no spin, I just don’t consider that a negative.
The Palins in the Whitehouse would be like an episode of the Beverly Hillbillies!
LOL, Suze! Too true!
Whats with the secession thing?
How many times have we read in our Geography books that Alaska would be the X largest country by size, and Y largest country by GNP?
Tell us again why Alaska benefits by being in the USA?
Surely, the USA would jump to include Alaska in its Defense Treaties. And would supply weapons and technology, free.
Alaska would not have to be troubled by environmentalist in the lower 48.
Priceless.
To not consider the options, STUPID.
Sorry, I forgot for you enlightened youngin’s
– They stopped Teaching Geography in Schools.
.
I ‘m for it McCain I love you and its not too late I beg you remove Sarah Palin ,she can’t even answer the simple questions from tv talk show hosts and she cringes at the sight of news reporters. Come on get Dick Cheney
Cheney for prez!
If he had run, it would be 60 to 40 over Obama.
Cheney is the kind of guy who takes a nail-studded baseball bat to an eloquence fight.