Interesting Palin read/ Bush's chief pol. strategist

Bush Strategist: McCain Knows He Put Country At Risk With Palin Pick

Matthew Dowd, a prominent political consultant and chief strategist for George W. Bush's reelection campaign eviscerated John McCain on Tuesday for his choice of Sarah Palin as vice president.

Dowd proclaimed that, in his heart of hearts, McCain knew he put the country at risk with his VP choice and that he would "have to live" with that fact for the rest of his career.

"They didn't let John McCain pick the person he wanted to pick as VP," Dowd declared during the Time Warner Summit panel. "When Sarah Palin got picked instead of Joe Lieberman, which I fundamentally believed would have given John McCain the best opportunity in this race... as soon as he picked Palin, that whole ready versus not ready argument was not credible."

Saying that Palin was a "net negative" on the ticket, he went on: "[McCain] knows, in his gut, that he put somebody unqualified on the ballot. He knows that in his gut, and when this race is over that is something he will have to live with... He put somebody unqualified on that ballot and he put the country at risk, he knows that."

The other panelists were surprised, a bit, by Dowd's bluntness. Not least because McCain's well-known campaign motto is "country first."

"No, I don't agree," said Mark McKinnon, a former McCain aide, after chiding Dowd for claiming particular insight into McCain's soul.

"Well," responded Dowd, "that's even more disturbing than my thought" -- the implication being that it would be truly frightening if McCain didn't know how bad Palin truly was.

Time columnist Joe Klein summed up what seemed to be the panel's Palin consensus.

"It was a gimmick," he said of the pick. "It was one of the most disastrous decisions I have seen in a presidential campaign since I've begun covering them."

Later in the session, Hilary Rosen, the Huffington Post's Washington editor at large, noted that the Palin pick had been successful in energizing the Republican base -- and McCain himself. But Dowd wasn't biting.

"To me it is like Halloween," he said. "You get energized by eating all that candy at night but then you feel sick the next day."

I have to agree that Mc Cain's first decision was not based on what's best for the country but rather on what was best for the election. That tells me that his first 4 years will be swayed by the same choices. He completly lost any chance of my vote on that.

That is a very interesting read, spongie. I have noticed that so many Republicans are having a hard time with many of McCain's decisions. In watching the news, I have been asking myself a lot, "Now wait, isn't he/she a Republican???"

What I think happened was that the Republicans thought by nominating a more liberal candidate (which McCain is) they would have a better chance of distancing themselves from the Bush administration hoping to cash in on some of the Democrats who (for whatever reasons) won't vote for Obama and also the large undecided's going into the Presidential campaign. But now, things are turning against him in the polls and they are distancing themselves from their own decision to nominate him.

I do have to agree with Matthew Dowd though. He hit the nail on the head when it comes to the choice of Palin. After the romance wore off, there were a lot of people saying WTF and questioning McCain this first major decision a candidate makes. To McCain's credit though, I wonder how much input he had in the final decision? I can't see placing total blame on him for choosing Palin....I'm sure it was done to attempt to woo Clinton supporters and as a token "outside Washington insiders" nomination.

spongie wrote:

Bush Strategist: McCain Knows He Put Country At Risk With Palin Pick

Matthew Dowd, a prominent political consultant and chief strategist for George W. Bush's reelection campaign eviscerated John McCain on Tuesday for his choice of Sarah Palin as vice president.

Dowd proclaimed that, in his heart of hearts, McCain knew he put the country at risk with his VP choice and that he would "have to live" with that fact for the rest of his career.

"They didn't let John McCain pick the person he wanted to pick as VP," Dowd declared during the Time Warner Summit panel. "When Sarah Palin got picked instead of Joe Lieberman, which I fundamentally believed would have given John McCain the best opportunity in this race... as soon as he picked Palin, that whole ready versus not ready argument was not credible."

Saying that Palin was a "net negative" on the ticket, he went on: "[McCain] knows, in his gut, that he put somebody unqualified on the ballot. He knows that in his gut, and when this race is over that is something he will have to live with... He put somebody unqualified on that ballot and he put the country at risk, he knows that."

The other panelists were surprised, a bit, by Dowd's bluntness. Not least because McCain's well-known campaign motto is "country first."

"No, I don't agree," said Mark McKinnon, a former McCain aide, after chiding Dowd for claiming particular insight into McCain's soul.

"Well," responded Dowd, "that's even more disturbing than my thought" -- the implication being that it would be truly frightening if McCain didn't know how bad Palin truly was.

Time columnist Joe Klein summed up what seemed to be the panel's Palin consensus.

"It was a gimmick," he said of the pick. "It was one of the most disastrous decisions I have seen in a presidential campaign since I've begun covering them."

Later in the session, Hilary Rosen, the Huffington Post's Washington editor at large, noted that the Palin pick had been successful in energizing the Republican base -- and McCain himself. But Dowd wasn't biting.

"To me it is like Halloween," he said. "You get energized by eating all that candy at night but then you feel sick the next day."

I love how he's speaking for John McCain. I believe John McCain can speak for himself, and I, like many others, are still thrilled with his pick. She brings one hell of a lot more to the ticket than this man claims. These sort of Monday morning quarterbacks drive me nuts.

Ultimately, who gives a rat's ass what this man thinks? I know I sure don't. Then again, I don't really care about any of the political pundits. There's so much spin going on both ways not a one of them will tell the truth. I say, listen to the candidate's words and judge for yourself.

Quote :

I say, listen to the candidate's words and judge for yourself.

I agree with that for sure.

I will say, Jamie (who is deeply into politics since he's related to the Kennedy's and there is a picture in my living room of his grandfather who was a politician standing posed with John Kennedy) Jamie says that he has never seen a party criticize its own they way they have Mc Cain. He's really suprised by it.