The 2008 vice presidential nominee was seen as a likely presidential contender in 2012 and had proved formidable among the party’s base. But the last week brought a highly critical piece in Vanity Fair magazine, with unnamed campaign aides questioning if Palin was ever really prepared for the presidency. The backbiting continued with follow-up articles recounting the nasty infighting that plagued her failed bid. Her advisers sniped with other Republicans, underscoring the deeply divided GOP looking for its next standard bearer.
So, to recap: The base -- you know, the people who could put the Republicans over the top -- loved her. But the aides to McCain -- perhaps the worst presidential candidate since Bob Dole, for a number of reasons -- hated her. And don't you love how those chickenshits won't pony up their names? More of the "he said, she said" BS. Contrast that with the men who signed the Declaration of Independence 233 years ago. They risked a hell of a lot more than mustering the worthless ire of some spaghetti-spined politicians, and still they put their names to that document.
And considering, again, that many if not most of those "other" Republicans were responsible for the fielding of such a piss-poor candidate, why the hell should ANYONE care what they think? If Palin was such a bad choice, why was the election not a blowout? I know it was a pretty big win in the electoral college, but the McCain-Palin ticket still garnered 48 percent of the vote. I really liked the way Bill Whittle put it:
On Tuesday, the Left – armed with the most attractive, eloquent, young, hip and charismatic candidate I have seen with my adult eyes, a candidate shielded by a media so overtly that it can never be such a shield again, who appeared after eight years of an historically unpopular President, in the midst of two undefended wars and at the time of the worst financial crisis since the Depression and whose praises were sung by every movie, television and musical icon without pause or challenge for 20 months… who ran against the oldest nominee in the country’s history, against a campaign rent with internal disarray and determined not to attack in the one area where attack could have succeeded, and who was out-spent no less than seven-to-one in a cycle where not a single debate question was unfavorable to his opponent – that historic victory, that perfect storm of opportunity…Yielded a result of 53%
Folks, we are going to lick these people out of their boots.
I think Mr. Whittle could very well be right...but if he ultimately is, it will not be with another establishment candidate that stirs no passion in the base, ESPECIALLY one like John McCain. And the sooner the suits in the GOP figure that out, the better.
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