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McCain learns he sidelines Palin at his own peril. I’m sure it was an innocent oversight, she was busy prepping for the debate, etc. Palin via Fox: Ditch Michigan? What?.
Sarah Palin criticized John McCain’s decision to pull campaign resources out of Michigan in an interview with FOX News on Friday, saying she and her husband Todd would “be happy” to campaign in the economically distraught battleground state.
The Republican vice presidential nominee, on the heels of her debate with Joe Biden, also took a second stab at questions that seemed to trip her up during recent interviews, declaring that she looks “forward to speaking to the media more and more every day.”
Palin said the decision to pull out of Michigan, which was announced Thursday, was “not a surprise” to her since polls show McCain slipping in the state.
But Palin said that when she read the news, she “fired off a quick e-mail and said, ‘Oh come on, do we have to?’”
“Todd and I, we’d be happy to get to Michigan …We’d be so happy to speak to the people there in Michigan who are hurting,” she said. “Whatever Todd and I can do in realizing what their challenges in that state are …. I wanna get back to Michigan and I want to try.”
She probably just won a bunch of votes there. Sending in Palin, with an appearance by McCain, won’t cost the $1 million a week they were reportedly dropping there. It might not win Michigan, but handled right, that kind of publicity, maybe a bump up in polls, can send a big message. Combined with campaigning in more viable states, maybe it makes a difference. As a number of commentators have said, maybe they need to let Palin be Palin.
Anyway, she said it clearly enough in last night’s wind-down. Old Hairplugs: I’m Obama’s guy. Palin: McCain’s got his thing, I’ve got mine.
Palin’s public break with McCain on strategy is surprising but not unprecendented. She has disagreed with him on policy issues like drilling in Alaska, and she said in Thursday night’s debate that it’s inevitable the two will disagree.
“What do you expect? A team of mavericks,” she said. “Of course we’re not gonna agree on everything.”
As McCain appeared to indicate in the last Couric interview he’s OK with that, though I could see it wearing thin. Could be a problem in a campaign or in an administration … or it could be a refreshing change from outside the Beltway. As William Randolph Hearst said about newspapering, “Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. Your readers might like it.”
Latest anguished cry of the Sarah Palin Liberation Movement. Wall Street Journal, Free Sarah Palin, she’s doing just fine being herself:
Maybe John McCain should fire the advisers who won’t let Sarah Palin do more interviews. The Alaska Governor has faced two major campaign challenges — her acceptance speech and last night’s debate — and each time she’s shown herself worthy of the national stage. Let Mrs. Palin be herself, and then when she makes a mistake, as every candidate does, it won’t be treated like some epic judgment on her fitness to be Vice President.
Mrs. Palin couldn’t match Mr. Biden’s fluency on Bosnia or Darfur last night, but not too long ago neither could Barack Obama. The Republican nominee more than held her own on foreign policy in general, and in our view won on points at least on Iraq and Afghanistan. She didn’t let Mr. Biden get away with interpreting the comments of a U.S. general in Afghanistan as a rejection of Mr. McCain’s strategy. And on Iraq she exposed both Mr. Biden’s change of heart on the war, and his change of heart on Mr. Obama’s views on the war. At times Mr. Biden even looked a little frustrated — as if he couldn’t quite believe he had to share the stage with someone who hasn’t hung out with Dick Lugar or . . . Mike Mansfield back when the Senate was still a civil place. Or someone who says “doggonit.”
In other aw shucks pronouncements, Palin re Obama: Not qualified to be commander in chief. via Fox:
“Some of his comments that he has made about the war that I think may — in my world– disqualifies someone from consideration as the next commander in chief.” Palin said, “Some of his comments about Afghanistan and what we are doing there supposedly– just air raiding villages and killing civilians. That’s reckless. So I wanted to talk about things like that. So I guess I have to apologize about being a little annoyed, but that is also an indication of being outside that Washington elite and being outside the media elite also and just wanting to talk and just wanting to talk to Americans without the filter and let them know what we stand for.”
I could have told you that. In fact, I think I did.
Topics: pols
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:35 pm on Friday, October 3, 2008
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October 3rd, 2008 at 11:02 pm
[...] Posted on October 3, 2008 Right Wing Nuthouse: AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY INSANE: THE MOTHER OF ALL BIDEN GAFFES Contentions: Joe Biden’s Alternate Universe Jammie Wearing Fool: ‘These Are Men With Sphincters of Steel’ And Still I persist: “An American Carol”: a brief review w/spoilers Riehl World View: If Accurate, Then McCain Is Done Amerpundit: Clinton says Palin Kind of Rocked Last Night Bill Hobbs: How McCain Can Win Sister Toldjah: PDS Brigade: Gov. Palin cheated! Marc Ambinder: Palin Didn’t Read Pre-Prepared Answers The Strata-Sphere: Record 69.9 Million Viewers Watched VP Debate - Polls Making Sense? Jules Crittenden: About That Maverick Thing … [...]
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:49 pm
I can see Palin running for president in 2012 or 2016, and frankly, I would vote for her if her outlook remains the same (given that this is not just more political theatre to win office). The facts are, if McCain wins, it will be with Palin’s help. In that case, I don’t care what he thinks. If he’s a good president, we’ll have him until 2016. If he isn’t, we’ll have him until 2012, and if the Democrats can’t come up with a viable candidate (which seems unlikely, since they are mired in 1968 and *cough* Vietnam), then Palin will be president, our first female president (sorry, Billary).
In any case, I’m beginning to think the Democratic Party is finished, and a third party is a viable option. We Americans have done it before, we can do it again.
October 4th, 2008 at 12:39 am
Total agreement there RebeccaH. Especially the third party thing.
October 4th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
“In any case, I’m beginning to think the Democratic Party is finished, and a third party is a viable option”
It is more like the republican party is finished. Secular conservatives are all ANTI palin. palin is only getting support from christian conservatives not secular conservatives. When George Will comes out as anti pailn that says it all.
October 4th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
That’s an interesting assertion, vladislaw. Any proof to back it up, besides George Will? Maybe you think of him as the voice of secular conservatives, but speaking as a secular conservative myself, I don’t. I’m also not anti-Palin, which proves your statement to be false. Besides, I believe that George Will’s problem with Palin is that she’s not qualified. By that standard, neither is Obama, not even close. In fact, George says exactly that! See below:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/02/AR2008090202441.html
“[Barack Obama] is by far the least experienced person to receive a presidential nomination in the 75 years since the federal government became a comprehensively intrusive regulatory state and modern weaponry annihilated the protection the nation derived from time and distance.”