Tuesday
Sep022008
The Sarah chronicles
Tuesday, September 2, 2008 at 06:21PM
Adage quoted me for a story on the PR aspects of McCain's Veep announcement Friday morning. I basically parroted my own blog post about the "leak that there will be a leak" and the "leak every half hour who hasn't been selected" strategy -- two brilliant tactics that helped steal the spotlight from Obama's amazing acceptance speech. Of course, I didn't have the hindsight to know that Sarah Palin had more skeletons than Halloween, and that the race would devolve into an episode of Melrose Place.
I think if she can deliver the speech of her life Wednesday night, and continues to go gangbusters on the stump, then she stands a chance of getting past all this. Remember Bill Clinton took the triple hit of Jennifer Flowers, the draft dodging letter, and the "I didn't inhale" quote all in the same week, and though he got pummeled for two weeks, survived.
The bigger problem for McCain -- and the one that may not go away -- is the judgment issue. If he knew about her skeletons, why did he still choose her? That could dog him much longer than Palin's own personal issues dog her. McCain can't afford to lose the judgment debate, and it may be too late to put that genie back in the bottle.
Reader Comments (6)
More Palin vetting...this from Wash Post. Boy, for a family values right winger, she sure seems to know the wrong things to slash in her state's budget...must have slashed before her daughter got knocked up.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/02/palin_slashed_funding_to_help.html?hpid=artslot
Nice adage quote, NR.
Here's a theory - McCain didn't forsee skeletons because he (and McCain camp) is discovering them along with the rest of us. Common knowledge - claimed by Palin - that the two are "practically strangers." In George Bernard Shaw's words, if you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you'd better teach it to dance.
Palin needs to pull a Heather Locklear, aka Amanda, in Minn to impress.
Interesting the parallel you drew between a notorious and well known womanizer (so incredibly common in both parties) and a female politician no one in the real world had heard of until Thursday last week.
If Palin gives a stellar speech tomorrow night she should could transcend this, but McCain, I think, might not for exactly the reason you give.
It is possible that Palin's family situation, the "she's just like me" position, may likely be received positively by middle America. But I can't help but think that stinks of something we see virtually everyday in the media. This is exactly what the celeb rags do with overpaid, pampered celebrities (oh look, they shop for ammo and Natural Light, just like US!) -- and celebs are NOT just like us. A VP candidate for the Republican party is NOT just like us, regardless that she's from rural Alaska; regardless that she hunts and regardless that there is speculation she was already pregnant with son Track when she married husband Todd in 1988 at age 25. Palin appears to have built a wonderful life for herself and her husband and five children. I don't think anyone can dispute what she has achieved in terms of position and experience in her party and overall, professionally, while managing to raise a large family. I applaud her loving family and her clear devotion to them. However Sarah Palin is NOT "just like us" in many ways whether you're from NYC or Chicago or Des Moines. And you know what else? Neither is McCain, Biden, Obama...
Palin may ultimaely been seen as sympathetic to the middle/lower middle class moms/families out there experiencing the same types of situation. But many average Americans in those similar situations do not have the "love & support" of a large extended family and the Republican party who are holding them up as the ideal family unit. There is no disputing that the U.S. has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the western world. Statistics from a variety of reputable organizations state that only 33% of adolescent mothers will graduate high school, and only 1.5% will earn a college degree by age 30. One in three teen mothers drops out of high school. Teens traditionally do not have great parenting skills and they also do not have the social support systems to help them deal with the stress of raising an infant/toddler/pre-schooler etc.. A typical teen mom in urban and/or suburban USA doesn't even have health insurance. How is Sarah Palin dealing with this on a national level, let alone in her own home? How is McCain addressing this in his own campaign?
Bristol Palin with all her family support and impending marriage, is unfortunately being dragged into the crossfire and that burden falls on her mother and her father for making that decision. Teenage pregnancy is difficult enough to deal with -- I don't see how choosing a career path, which involves dragging your child's personal life and privacy to the forefront of political debate, is in the interest of that child, and ultimately their unborn grandchild.
Ultimately, I think this (almost unfairly) falls on McCain's tired shoulders as his team of advisors and vetters didn't do their job. I can't believe that so far no one has lost their job on his campaign for this debacle.
BTW -- I'm a registered Republican. True story.
I normally agree with Nick's assessment but I think the comparison to Clinton is off.
Clinton's "triple hit" were all things about him. HE slept with Gennifer Flowers, HE didn't inhale, HE dodged the draft. Honestly, I never cared about any of those things - they didn't make him a crappy President. Dismantling the military - that made him a crappy President.
Palin's knocks are not her. Her daughter got pregnant. Her husband got arrested for DUI 24 years ago. In short, I think what her family does is not what SHE does. It was not a knock on Gore when his son when he got arrested for DUI before the DNC, right? All we heard was how we had to be compassionate.
The only knock I've seen so far that is a legit question mark is whether she improperly extered influence on her ex-brother in-law 's firing. That's still under investigation and, really, if that's the worst thing she's done we're still in pretty good shape.
Nick got this one wrong - he's buying the media hype about these "family issues" being drawbacks for her as a candidate. They're being played as if they are when they really shouldn't be.
Regarding the mention of that Washington Times article above:
“Covenant House’s IRS Form 990 (link) shows the funds that Paul Kane describes as “slashed” was over a threefold increase from the government funds they received from all sources in 2006 (FY2006 ending 12/31/06).”
Someone else has gone through the trouble of looking up official documents:
http://24ahead.com/blog/archives/007978.html
Oh, the trouble with the mainstream media! What has become of reporting today? It's truly awful.
Sarah could not turn down the offer of VP, nor should she have. How on earth would her daughter feel living out the rest of her life knowing that because of her, her mother turned down one of the most incredible job offer of her life.
I'm incredibly excited about Palin and think she was an excellent, excellent choice. The problem with living in the NYC area is that we're not really tuned into how the rest of the country feels and thinks. I didn't think people actually thought those in the midwest weren't as smart as those on the coasts until I heard someone actually say it recently. Completely ignorant.
My comparison to Clinton was just to say that candidates can survive media firestorms. Clinton proved that. If she gives a great speech tonight, and if she is great on the stump and in the debate, all this stuff becomes background noise. She's going to give the most anticipated speech in modern memory. What happens if she nails it? Game on ...