Has the McCain campaign mis-used Sarah Palin?

[Stranger in a strange land]

When John McCain selected Sarah Palin, it created a huge media sensation. Middle America couldn't get enough. They just loved Sarah. When she first appeared, she could be all things to all people, and represented a refreshing new face for the Republican party. Suddenly, it didn't matter that the party's incumbent president had some of the lowest approval ratings on record and their presidential candidate promised to continue most of his policies, just to execute them more competently: the Republican party had been able to wrap it's agenda up in the package of the American Supermom, one of our most beloved cultural icons. Sales of rimless glasses went off the charts, and wig designers began offering wigs based on her hair-do. McCain had been able to out-celebrity Obama, the biggest celebrity in the world.

However, the McCain campaign just couldn't resist: their Alaskan beauty queen had to be a pit bull with lipstick. The campaign's writers put some of the sharpest, nastiest, most divisive attacks of the entire cycle into her speeches when there was really no need to: McCain was ahead up until the Economic crisis. This had the effect of alienating Democratic and Independent women, who McCain had hoped to attract by choosing her as VP. He mainly chose her to placate the base, but her pro-life, pro-gun credentials would have been enough by themselves.

Why did they have to do this? Why couldn't they just let her keep her lovable small town hockey mom image? Why not have her give speeches about being a hockey mom, moose hunting, or how much she and Todd loved raising Trig, or how proud she was to welcome Levi into the family? The media would have ate it up, and the public would have continued to love her. Why not leave the attacks and mudslinging to surrogates, ads, and direct mail?

[Padfoot]

Because the VP is supposed to be the pit bull so that the guy on top doesn't have to get his feet dirty.  Palin was used as she was supposed to be, they just did a terrible job casting the part.  In addition, McCain has been wading around in the mud with her.  Instead of rising above the fray, he dove right into it.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

McCain did try to have it both ways. If he wanted a pitbull so he could stay clean, he should've went with Romney.

Palin coming across as stupid didn't help either though.

[cinyc]

They misused Sarah Palin in the first few weeks by hiding her from the press and having her do three high-stakes interviews.  They're using her correctly now, by having her do talk radio and local media with a few national interviews and press conferences on the side.

The Veep's role IS to be the attack dog on the campaign trail, so she's never really been misused in that sense.

They also could have handled the roll-out better by playing up the foreign policy experience she actually does have - meeting and coming to an intergovernmental agreement with the Yukon Premier, meeting the Prime Minister of Iceland, meeting various consuls (three of whom are permanently stationed in Anchorage) and trade delegations (including the Chinese Health Minister), and negotiating a gas pipeline deal with a Canadian company - instead of talking about Russia, Russia, Russia.  Small potatoes stuff?  Perhaps - but strikingly similar to the small-scale foreign policy experience of your typical governor, and somewhat remarkable for a governor who hasn't even completed a full term in office yet.

[Lunar]

The McCain campaign was also woefully underprepared to justify their vetting process, a huge mistake.  It seemed that the only thing they were prepared for was to argue the "two years of experience" issue, which they did well.  They seemed completely overwhelmed by the pregnancy issue (which they knew about), the censorship issue, etc. and accusations that they didn't research her enough.

They very well may have researched her enough, but they were outright stupid to not be prepared to argue that they did.  It made McCain look political (just chose a woman after Hillary got turned down) and rash.

[Torie]

He mis-used her by picking her.

[Firefly]

He mis-used her by picking her.

This.

[Likely Voter]

He mis-used her by picking her.

you betcha

[Associate Justice PiT]

He mis-used her by picking her.

     Abraham Lincoln couldn't have said it better himself.

[Lunar]

He mis-used her by picking her.

Now now, I predicted from the start that she would be a net negative.

But, she has done a world of good in terms of revitalizing his activist organization.  There have been many missteps along the way, starting with about day two when it became a media/blogosphere narrative that perhaps McCain's campaign had prioritized tactical, bold political strategy over the best possible leader.

I think if they were going to choose someone like Palin, it would have been best to start adapting their message a few weeks in advance to the maverick image.  And no go from unready celebrity, unready celebrity, unready celebrity.. oopsy, we chose a perhaps unready celebrity as our VP, now we'll go with "team of mavericks."  Y'know?

I mean, CRAP, if Charlie Crist can get married and Tim Pawlenty could shave his mullet, all for the veepstakes race, why couldn't Palin also get trained on handling the national scene and tough questions?  It certainly wouldn't hurt, VP or not.  She's a smart and ambitious woman, she would have been willing if someone had suggested it.

I said myself early in the announcement time that Palin, as a small town mayor who has spent most of her life in rural areas, might not be well versed on say, the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite or where Afghanistan is on the map.  Some people even attacked me on this forum my liberal dismissal of small town values despite the fact that I've spent most of my life in a town smaller than Wasilla.

[Torie]

He mis-used her by picking her.

Now now, I predicted from the start that she would be a net negative.

But, she has done a world of good in terms of revitalizing his activist organization.  There have been many missteps along the way, starting with about day two when it became a media/blogosphere narrative that perhaps McCain's campaign had prioritized tactical, bold political strategy over the best possible leader.

I think if they were going to choose someone like Palin, it would have been best to start adapting their message a few weeks in advance to the maverick image.  And no go from unready celebrity, unready celebrity, unready celebrity.. oopsy, we chose a perhaps unready celebrity as our VP, now we'll go with "team of mavericks."  Y'know?

I mean, CRAP, if Charlie Crist can get married and Tim Pawlenty could shave his mullet, all for the veepstakes race, why couldn't Palin also get trained on handling the national scene and tough questions?  It certainly wouldn't hurt, VP or not.  She's a smart and ambitious woman, she would have been willing if someone had suggested it.

I said myself early in the announcement time that Palin, as a small town mayor who has spent most of her life in rural areas, might not be well versed on say, the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite or where Afghanistan is on the map.  Some people even attacked me on this forum my liberal dismissal of small town values despite the fact that I've spent most of my life in a town smaller than Wasilla.

Well, McCain picked her on the fly at the last minute due to pressure from his campaign adviser Davis, so there was not like there were weeks of time to get her up to speed. She isn't that fast a learner of lacunae anyway. But then McCain isn't either. Some of it is of course the financial crises. Voters at that point got serious about what was really serious, and both McCain and Palin suffered as perceived financial and economic dummies. At that point, suddenly Mitt looked better, or even to a much lessor extent, Pawlenty, who has a Sam's Club aura about him, without coming across clueless.

[Erc]

It was a gamble.  We all knew that at the time.

It turned out it was a bad gamble...but that doesn't necessarily mean it was a bad decision given the information at the time.

It's rumored (in this week's New Yorker) that Charlie Black basically said to McCain:
'If you pick anyone else, you're going to lose.  But if you pick Palin you may win.'

[Stranger in a strange land]

It was a gamble.  We all knew that at the time.

It turned out it was a bad gamble...but that doesn't necessarily mean it was a bad decision given the information at the time.

It's rumored (in this week's New Yorker) that Charlie Black basically said to McCain:
'If you pick anyone else, you're going to lose.  But if you pick Palin you may win.'

but McCain was doing pretty well up until then by portraying himself as the safe, steady, experienced white choice. Had he kept pounding the message of "I have the experience and the scars to prove it, Senator Obama is an untested celebrity" and had he opposed the bailout rather than pulling his campaign suspension stunt, he would very likely be ahead right now. It wasn't the financial crisis that sank the McCain campaign, it was his reaction to it.

[Lunar]

He mis-used her by picking her.

Now now, I predicted from the start that she would be a net negative.

But, she has done a world of good in terms of revitalizing his activist organization.  There have been many missteps along the way, starting with about day two when it became a media/blogosphere narrative that perhaps McCain's campaign had prioritized tactical, bold political strategy over the best possible leader.

I think if they were going to choose someone like Palin, it would have been best to start adapting their message a few weeks in advance to the maverick image.  And no go from unready celebrity, unready celebrity, unready celebrity.. oopsy, we chose a perhaps unready celebrity as our VP, now we'll go with "team of mavericks."  Y'know?

I mean, CRAP, if Charlie Crist can get married and Tim Pawlenty could shave his mullet, all for the veepstakes race, why couldn't Palin also get trained on handling the national scene and tough questions?  It certainly wouldn't hurt, VP or not.  She's a smart and ambitious woman, she would have been willing if someone had suggested it.

I said myself early in the announcement time that Palin, as a small town mayor who has spent most of her life in rural areas, might not be well versed on say, the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite or where Afghanistan is on the map.  Some people even attacked me on this forum my liberal dismissal of small town values despite the fact that I've spent most of my life in a town smaller than Wasilla.

Well, McCain picked her on the fly at the last minute due to pressure from his campaign adviser Davis, so there was not like there were weeks of time to get her up to speed. She isn't that fast a learner of lacunae anyway. But then McCain isn't either. Some of it is of course the financial crises. Voters at that point got serious about what was really serious, and both McCain and Palin suffered as perceived financial and economic dummies. At that point, suddenly Mitt looked better, or even to a much lessor extent, Pawlenty, who has a Sam's Club aura about him, without coming across clueless.

I'm saying that if she was being considered (she sent all of her paperwork for McCain's vetters much in advance), she should have been perssured to get up to speed.  Again, it's comparable to Crist getting engaged or Pawlenty shaving his mullet.  Covering up ones potential weaknesses is a standard part in the vetting process, no matter who the decision is made for.

[opebo]

No, but I bet those randy little Vietnamese 'mis-used' McCain.

Or anyway I've always wondered about that.