Rumors are swirling that Tim Pawlenty is furious - that he was on the edge of McCain announcing he was the GOP VP running mate - but that at the last moment, that course was rejected in favor of a person McCain met once, six months ago, and did not interview again.Tristan Snell at Open Left discusses what this means for the Dems and their plan of attack:Huckabee is not pleased that he wasn't even vetted - and he's letting his followers know.
But it may be that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin wasn't vetted either!
This should be our refrain, our only talking point about the selection:That's a damn good question. What it means is John McSame is not only not a maverick and now fully under control of the fundie wingnut arm of the GOP, but that he no longer has control over his own Presidential campaign. Tim Pawlenty canceled all his appearances for Friday late on Thursday, with the understanding from the press that he was McSame's choice. All of a sudden, first thing Friday morning, Pawlenty is on the radio saying he's "not going to be in Dayton" and that he was now not the pick.Who chose Palin?
Well, it certainly wasn't John McCain.
McCain only met Palin once, six months ago. Unlike every other major party VP nominee in recent memory, Palin did not meet McCain for a final interview before her selection. A few weeks ago, she wasn't in the running at all. The scandals and unorthodoxies involving Palin -- she flip-flopped on the Bridge to Nowhere and even raised sales taxes on her small town to pay for an overpriced boondoggle -- show that the McCain campaign didn't vet her. The McCains and Palins looked visibly awkward together, not even speaking as they went their separate ways on a brief shopping trip in Ohio yesterday. McCain is on record as saying he wanted a running mate with whom he had a strong personal relationship -- and who was ready to be president.
This was clearly not his pick. So again: Who chose Palin?
Was it Dick Cheney? Or Karl Rove? Or maybe James Dobson?
Something happened on Thursday the 28th. That something is somebody in the GOP gave marching orders to McSame, gave orders to somebody running for President, and said "You will take Sarah Palin." If John McSame is going to be President, we need to know who is giving him orders. John McSame isn't ready to be President if he can't stop the extremist neo-con arm of his own party from making his Presidential decisions for him...period. He's no maverick, he's one of them and always has been.
This is going to backfire miserably for the GOP. It will get out who made the choice. And then McSame's run at the White House is over. As the Open Left article concludes:
The new Time piece on McCain already suggests that he's being increasingly controlled by his advisors and consultants, no longer allowed to speak off the cuff or be open with reporters -- leading him to be prickly and gruff. So raising these questions could lead to a wave of media stories on McCain's weakness and frustration at being controlled. Similar stories about Kerry and Gore were devastating to their images and thus to their campaigns.Karl Rove is running for a third term. It's time to attack McSame on that point.The Palin pick won McCain some initial good press, and it has raised some concerns among progressives. But it has revealed a huge weakness in McCain's candidacy -- and if we take advantage of it, intelligently, it could be a tremendous gift.
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3 comments:
You know, I've not thought about that possibility. The assumption is that the presidential candidate is in control of the campaign.
Now, there were some questions with Hillary on that, but still, Hillary was at least controlling it to an extent.
Thinking of Rove/Cheney/company as the power behind the throne is disturbing enough. But if they pretty much went out and said "we are in charge, you will do what we tell you" to a future president, even as boneheaded as McCain is...
Somebody is either supremely confident or supremely stupid, and possibly both. Maybe there's more on the table than we think.
Although, to make a second comment... I remember now something I've said on another forum, maybe three years ago. Someone said "oh well, it's only a few more years, and we can put someone decent in charge". Something along those lines.
And all I remember saying is that "They don't need a third term of Bush, they just need someone just like him." And now with McCain, it's so freaking apt. I feel like I called it now, and I'm not at all happy.
Anyways, just a random thought.
Obama to an extent is being guided by his advisers and handlers, but Joe Biden was his choice in the end.
On the other hand there's no way McSame picked Sarah Palin. Somebody did it for him. Somebody in Washington is driving the Straight Talk Express, and it ain't John McSame.
He's not running his own campaign anymore.
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