John, Sarah, And Joe

McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt on the issue of John Sidney's veep:

What Schmidt was, mostly, was resigned: He recounted the frustrations and desperation of the campaign, culminating with the decision that insiders continue to debate: To nominate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, rather than McCain’s first choice, Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, for vice president.

After taking soundings on Lieberman, Schmidt said, “It was communicated back to us very clearly from within the party that not only was Senator Lieberman not acceptable, but any pro-choice nominee was not acceptable, [and] it would lead to a floor fight at the convention with an alternate nominee for Vice President put into play.”

“Blowing up the party wasn’t one of the menu items of things that were going to improve our situation,” he said.

He also explained his decision to deny Palin an election night speech as a nod to the fact that the concession is a “singular moment” in American public life.

“It begins the process by which power is transferred peacefully,” he said.

So it really would have been Joe F'ckin Liebrman, only McCain's own party stabbed his ass in the back.

I still say McCain would have lost, his "fundamentals of our economy are strong" gaffe still would have killed him, and Lieberman would have driven the wingers insane. What independent support he would of had would instead have been more than canceled out by the Winger core whou would have walked out on him at the polls. It's therefore entirely possible that McCain would have lost by a significantly larger margin, and he would have most likely been stuck with Sarah Palin anyway, only the GOP Pretty Hate Machine would have been on display much earlier in the race, and instead of exciting the base Palin would have been the symbol of the massive schism in the party. For McCain's personal political fortunes, he made the right choice by going with Palin.

On the other hand, the defeat of the GOP would have been total, the moderates in the party would have been ejected totally, and the party could finally have begun its long climb back to relevance as a meaningless rump...but a dangerous meaningless rump with a mission. By avoiding the Lieberman as VP floor fight however, the GOP instead is still in slow decline. And the civil war floor fight remains ahead of this party for another two years, if not four. Right now the party is still too torn apart to do much of anything, and that future bloodletting means the Dems can continue to make gains.