Are we going to make another big election about small things?
I still don't know what to make of the Palin pick, but increasingly, I think it is a deliberate attempt by McCain to distract the electorate from the bigger issues, where the Democrats have an edge this time around. Why would anyone knowingly pick a VP with a four-month old baby and a pregnant unmarried teenage daughter, unless he thinks that the inevitable soap opera coverage would benefit the ticket? George Lakoff has the best analysis I've seen of the pick so far:
"The Palin Choice and the Reality of the Political Mind" [Huffington Post]
UPDATED 9/2/08:
On the other hand, after reading this New York Times article, maybe the McCain campaign just botched the whole thing completely:
"They didn’t speak to anyone in the Legislature, they didn’t speak to anyone in the business community," said Lyda Green, the State Senate president, who lives in Wasilla, where Ms. Palin served as mayor.
Representative Gail Phillips, a Republican and former speaker of the State House, said the widespread surprise in Alaska when Ms. Palin was named to the ticket made her wonder how intensively the McCain campaign had vetted her.
"I started calling around and asking, and I have not been able to find one person that was called," Ms. Phillips said. "I called 30 to 40 people, political leaders, business leaders, community leaders. Not one of them had heard. Alaska is a very small community, we know people all over, but I haven’t found anybody who was asked anything."
The current mayor of Wasilla, Dianne M. Keller, said she had not heard of any efforts to look into Ms. Palin’s background. And Randy Ruedrich, the state Republican Party chairman, said he knew nothing of any vetting that had been conducted.
State Senator Hollis French, a Democrat who is directing the ethics investigation, said that no one asked him about the allegations. "I heard not a word, not a single contact," he said.
Andrew Sullivan is right - the story here isn't about Palin, it's about what the pick says about John McCain, especially in contrast with the Obama campaign's cautious, research-intensive vetting process.
"The Palin Choice and the Reality of the Political Mind" [Huffington Post]
UPDATED 9/2/08:
On the other hand, after reading this New York Times article, maybe the McCain campaign just botched the whole thing completely:
"They didn’t speak to anyone in the Legislature, they didn’t speak to anyone in the business community," said Lyda Green, the State Senate president, who lives in Wasilla, where Ms. Palin served as mayor.
Representative Gail Phillips, a Republican and former speaker of the State House, said the widespread surprise in Alaska when Ms. Palin was named to the ticket made her wonder how intensively the McCain campaign had vetted her.
"I started calling around and asking, and I have not been able to find one person that was called," Ms. Phillips said. "I called 30 to 40 people, political leaders, business leaders, community leaders. Not one of them had heard. Alaska is a very small community, we know people all over, but I haven’t found anybody who was asked anything."
The current mayor of Wasilla, Dianne M. Keller, said she had not heard of any efforts to look into Ms. Palin’s background. And Randy Ruedrich, the state Republican Party chairman, said he knew nothing of any vetting that had been conducted.
State Senator Hollis French, a Democrat who is directing the ethics investigation, said that no one asked him about the allegations. "I heard not a word, not a single contact," he said.
Andrew Sullivan is right - the story here isn't about Palin, it's about what the pick says about John McCain, especially in contrast with the Obama campaign's cautious, research-intensive vetting process.
posted at 8:00:00 AM | permalink
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