By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist
Sorry to be writing the obituary before the patient has expired, but the pick of Sarah Palin was fatal to John McCain's campaign, and he should have seen it coming.
Remember, McCain was finally gaining some traction in his campaign by derisively calling Barack Obama a "celebrity" and questioning his readiness to lead the nation.
So who does he pick for a running mate? A folksy mother of five who draws big crowds but
knows little about the U.S. government or world affairs.
I guess McCain was enamoured with the idea of a team of mavericks, but Palin's maverick credentials were inflated. She never really said "thanks but no thanks" to that Bridge to Nowhere, for instance.
Palin did irreparable damage to McCain's credibility. The strange thing is, her political future appears set to soar, even as she sunk McCain's.
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John McCain's
I wanted to thank you for you direct and truthful comment. Why doesn't the media really come out and say what the American people are thinking.
As a Vietnam Veteran, American working and living abroad, I was ashamed of Senator McCain for thinkin the people of america are Stupid and would go along with his Joke.
for the first time in my life I voted for a Democratic President, due totally to his choice of thinking a Hocky Mom should be a heart beat away for the hardest job in America
Respectively
Leland Baldwin
Cry Wolf
Wolf! Palin is a wolf! When the real wolf comes around you will be so complacent that you will ignore him or her. I suspect that the reason the Star is hellbent on destroying Palin's reputation is that they fear what she will do in 2012. The McCain Palin ticket won Kansas and Missouri - even without the Star's holy endorsement.
Cry Wolf? Bad analogy in regards to Palin
she is after all a proponent of the barbarian and cruel practice
of hunting wolves and other predators from a helicopter.
Disgusting and speaks volumes about her character!
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel
What we're witnessing is internecine war
What we're witnessing is internecine war. These reports were coming out of the party insiders & FOX with Rush in opposition. Us lefties are just observers now. It's the potential breakup of the Rebublican axis.
Follow the Yellow Brick Road...
Well, I know why the men connected with her...
http://babyboomeradvisorclub.com/what-most-women-already-know-about-sarah-palin-she-isnt-hilary-clinton/
But for the life of me I can not understand the women who fell under her spell. Perhaps it was that folksy Sarah'cuda that repelled me so...
She is a dangerous woman. I have not forgotten her pork barrels, her bridge to no where, her OVER 150,00.00 wardrobe, her indictments that seemed to vanish, Senator Ted Stevens, the fact that she knows nothing about government, she governs a state with less people then Los Angles. and was a Mayor of a town that equaled the same amount of kids in 2-3 high schools in NYC.
If her political career is sky rocketing it is because the Republican party has no one else to put out there. To me she is nothing but a hot air balloon.
Her one redeeming quality:entertainment on SNL.
My idea of a Maverick is not the Sarah Palins or John McCains in the world. I have too much respect for my self to print the words I would choose.
The race is over the winners and losers have been chosen.
Southern smiles and world peace,
Sharon/BabyBoomerQueen
http://www.BabyBoomerAdvisorClub.com
I was luke warm on McCain
I was luke warm on McCain until he picked Palin as a running mate. She is OUTSTANDING and I wish the RNC had let her go much earlier! She represents me on the issues right down the line. For those of you who make a big stink about what was spent on her clothes...if this was the kind of idiotic crap that was really important to you...you deserve the taxes you will get to pay regardless of your income....mark my words. Unfortunately for KC readers, they have to suffer Shelly's waste of space.
The problem is, your views aren't the Majority's View Iam6gun
Sarah Palin was OVERWHELMINGLY rejected by the majority of Americans who do not hold such extreme views. My faith in my country has been restored.
Hallalujah!
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel
Sarah Palin - Stupidity Rejected by a Nation
I voted as a hard core Republican for 30 years. McCain's choice of Sarah Palin was a defining moment for me that ultimately had me voting for Obama. I wasn't alone in my disgust that a legitimate candidate for President would choose a running mate with the level of stupidity that Palin displays. It said little for McCain's judgment as well. I have no regrets in voting for Obama.
W.S. Blevins
I AGREE!
John McCain HAD my vote...but lost it when he chose Sarah Palin. I just couldn't ignore that awful interview with CBS, the $150,000 "make over" and the troubles brewing in Alaska over her administration. McCain played the "appeal to the Conservatives and the Hillary voters" card and lost. A better choice would have been Elizabeth Dole.
Palin Again
Undoubtedly Palin connects with a great number of people in America in a way most politicians can not. Had she been a cheerleader for McCain, she would have gone down in history as a great politician. Unfortunately she was selected to run for national office, which she dramatically proved she was not qualified for. Being a "regular gal" is not a qualification for V-P or President. You can say what you want about how she has executive experience, but she didn't demonstrate it during this campaign. Obama ran a well-organized campaign with well-reasoned answers to the issues of the day. Palin demonstrated an inability to formulate a coherent reply to most of the questions posed to her by the media or simply avoided answering the questions in the debates. I'm NOT saying she is dumb but she came off that way. She may have "energized the base" so to speak but she turned off anybody else who may still have been sitting on the fence. The "base" needs to recognize that a good many of us out here want moderation. What we got out of McCain and Palin was a bunch of ranting and raving and erratic behavior, and Obama and Biden showed themselves very cool under pressure. The more the right screamed that Obama was a radical leftist, the more the right looked radical, not Obama. The Republicans need to recognize this if they want to move forward.
I personally think McCain blew this election. He started in with a great reputation among moderates and a good deal of experience. He abandoned the experience issue when he selected an inexperienced V-P candidate. He lost his reputation as a moderate by running a smear campaign, which he never did before. It was like he was running against himself. Why did he deny that he voted with Bush 90% of the time? Why not show pride in your own record? I don't like Bush but not everything Bush did was bad. Instead of saying, "I'm not George Bush", how about, "I'm proud I voted with George Bush 90% of the time, because 90% of the time he was right, and the other 10% of the time he was wrong and I stood up to him!" At least it's an honest pitch. Had he run on his own record and picked a strong and moderate V-P candidate (Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice come to mind), things might well be different today.
barbshelly wrote:...The
I'm not too sure about her having a soaring political future. Starting with 1856, when the Reps. and Dems. became the major two parties contesting for the position of pres / vice-pres, only one candidate for v.p. who lost has gone on to achieve the office of the president. That candidate was FDR who lost in 1920 running with James Cox.
Perhaps I am interpreting your meaning of "her political future appears set to soar" to only refer to the role of president...
Palin
Palin did not cost McCain the election. Palin was a great choice, she represents traditional America and connects with them in a way most politicians can not. She is smart enough, I get a little tired of hearing about intelligence levels. Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar and he was and is still undisciplined with a zipper problem that almost cost him his presidency.
The media hated her because she was not one of them. She reperensents what most women in this world are, touch, hard working women who balance career and family in a way that is better than most. If she was for abortion the media would love her, but then she would be like all the other women in the democratic party. The Media gave Biden a huge pass on all the stupid things he said and while Joe was locked up and kept away from everyone, Palin was out speaking with the media and people making the case for McCain. She is a better campainger than Obama, McCain or Biden and with a little more executive experience and worldly experience if she desires a national office she will become a formidable candidate.
Palin was a great choice ???
I guess our nation keep forgetting that Palin had abused her office power when she fired Alaska offical Mr. Walt Monegan, the commisioner of public safety in 2005 when he refused to fire Wooten , a state trooper who is also Palin's ex-brother in law. Read more here ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/15/fired-commissioner-palin_n_126484.html ).
She had abused taxpayer money to decorate herself to be more pretty with the public. Read more here: ( http://teamsugar.com/group/2385592/blog/2440680 ) ( http://www.newsweek.com/id/163438 ) ( http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedishrag/2008/10/save-taxpayers.html ). and as you all know, recently she spend over $ 150,000 just for her wardrobe for this 2008 presidental race.
This is just some facts about Mrs. PALIN, beside these I don't know how many other bad deeds that she gotten away with. Words from her mouth said she would fight to benifit the people but underneath, her hand keep spending taxpayer money for her own personal need.
I don't think PALIN deserve to hold any position in the United States office.
Sarah Palin spent more than $150,000
She even made some of McCain's aides pay for her clothes with their personal credit cards which have been turned in as a bigger expense
Check out the Newsweek article. She spent $20,000-40,000 on her husband Todd, alone. Now some of the clothes are missing.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/167581
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel
Katie Couric & Tina Fey decided this election
I don't agree that Sarah Palin damaged McCain's reputation but she was one of the major reasons why he lost this election.
Sen Mc Cain may refuse to believe this but Palin had a very negative impact on his campaign. For one thing, Sarah hogged the headlines for too long with very damaging stories. The wardrobe, the trooper saga, her daughter's out of wedlock child
(this for a politician mother who preaches family values to voters), the Katie Couric interview, the Sarkozy prank, Tina Fey stole the spotlight from McCain and real issues. Instead we had a Sarah circus.
You can blame the media partially but at the end of the day it was Sarah Palin who provided the material. She was unfit for this position and this fact became abundantly clear under the harsh media lights and national exposure. She hurt McCain big time.
I remember how during the Gwenn Ifill moderated debate she turned to the cameras, winked and declared that she would just
talk to the voters instead of answering questions. As a voter I felt angry at this woman's willful ignorance. A politician participating in these debates has the obligation to respect the format and try his/her best to answer each and every question.
Colin Powell as running mate:
Honestly I do not understand why Senator McCain had to pander to the ultraconservative wing of the party. If Obama's lack of experience was going to be made into a campaign issue, why did he insist on a two year governor as his running mate? He undercut his own message by choosing a brash and divisive rookie.
With the much respected and well liked General Colin Powell as his running mate, he would have run an extraordinarily succesful and smart campaign against the Democrats. Instead we had to deal with Sarah eruptions on a daily basis.
Senator McCain is an honorable man who is a rare hero. His wife, Cindi McCain is a kind and beautiful woman who would have made a fabulous First Lady. I would have voted for Sen McCain had it not been for his VP pick. Sarah Palin was scary and kept people away.
I feel bad for McCain losing this election but I feel very happy that Sarah Palin will not get to be the "President of the Senate" (Palin's answer to a 2nd grader who had asked her the duties of a VP).
Richie123: Believe me, WE KNOW!
Please don't presume that Americans are so clueless. YOU don't live here! You are not telling us anything we don't already know!! Bush and his cronies are ALL crooks and they've stomped all over our American principles for 8 long years. They STOLE the last two elections with shady, illegal tactics.
Why do you think Obama just won in a LANDSLIDE?? You have no idea what message this sends to Bush and his ilk. WE DO!
The Nail in the Coffin
I agree: The Palin pick was McCain's undoing. My staunchly Republican mother said this about McCain's choice: "He's sunk himself."
Polls confirm the distaste for Palin.
While the "base" has embraced Palin, "thinking" Republicans, Independents, and Democrats alike have obviously rejected McCain's irresponsible choice.
"The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly." - John McCain
America's final "hail Mary" pass on Palin: We're going long on sending her back to Alaska!
Godspeed.
Ahhh...the fatal pick
I agree. Whole-heartedly! I am not a Republican but am from Upstate New York. I like John McCain. His concession speech speaks volumes for what we will be missing, as a nation. I was happy that he had tried so hard to bring a refreshing face to the stifling, typically-political republican party. I cast my ballot for Obama simply because of Sara Palin. I did NOT want another hick puppet anywhere near MY Oval Office, my constitution, my health-care issues, and or my family. There was no way that I could vote for him after hearing her in the debates, during interviews, any speeches. She spewed rhetoric after rhetoric. I prayed everyday since I first heard her speak that McCain would lose. A necessary hurt, as I could not stand by and watch the Devil's spawn (S.P. and her children) take the pilot's seat.
One day we'll have a chance to read how they prepped Sarah
before her meeting with press.
I wish her and her family the best.
Just not having any thing to do with me of my family.
The genral consensus outside the US.
To me and many others in the UK and I think, outside the USA, the USA and its current administration are disliked for some rather obvious reasons which seem to be unknown by the American public. Republican senators and their esteemed friends benefit financially by taking the country to war with oil rich opposition. This smacks of corruption no matter how you look at it and the government have made many irritating people disappear to conceal their crimes. I don't hear about them going in to Zimbabwe or North Korea any time soon on a moral crusade... Big business runs America and the fatcats have everyone they need in their pocket to control things. How can you possibly consider yourselves the "land of the free" with your criminal policy on detaining untried individuals based on trumped up terrorism charges? Bearing in mind that Bush took your country to war on blatant lies and scaremongering, don't you think it's about time that these so called terrorists were actually tried to find out if they have done anything illegal or not? I don't know if Obama is the answer to your problems as I am a cynic and I believe that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely but one thing is certain, something's got to give. On the flipside, there needs to be a super power in control and despite my cynicism regarding the US, I'm not sure who else I'd like to play this important role.
Adieu Sarah Palin, parting is such sweet sorrow
It's back to the frozen tundras of Alaska for you sans the posh wardrobe.
Bon Voyage.
Mush on home, Sarah.
I don't think Sarah has a future in national politics at ALL. She just plain isn't smart enough. Even if she were to spend the next four years trying to get a Master's Degree, she STILL isn't smart enough.
She is going to rip the Republican Party apart, just like she tried to do with America.
Not to mention the fact that the woman doesn't even have a firm grasp of basic civics principles!
I can envision her as a news reader on Fox. She is definitely effective as a right-wing propagandist when she sticks to a script, but she reached her political zenith as governor of Alaska. In fact, she's a little out of her league in THAT job!
Oh, and she LIES, too. A lot! A WHOLE lot! She's told many, many blatant lies and is extremely dishonest. THAT is the main problem with Sarah Palin!!
chazzy - not 99%
Dennis Hopper is an example .
Sarah Palin is the reason ( thank you Lord) he is voting Democrat for the first time in 30 years.
Thank you Sarah.
McCain the Gambler Went all-in on Palin
We can blame Palin for McCain's defeat but she is who she is. He is the one who made the wrong choice after minimal exposure in a vetting process that was incompetent. McCain is an instinctive gambler and he went all in on Palin (like he gambled on the debate cancellation ploy). That was the wrong call so he must carry the blame. McCain makes poor and hasty judgments which is not very presidential at the end of the day.
Within hours
Within hours of McCain announcing his pick, Barb was right here on this site saying "how insulting this was to Hillary Clinton supporters". (Of course, Barb spent the previous few months doing nothing but trashing Clinton, but somehow felt the need to speak for her supporters). Later in the day, it was some other talking point. The next day, it was another talking point.
Spare me the analysis of McCain's pick, Barb.
When you spend the past the past six-to-eight months regurgitating Obama press releases you lose any credibility you might have.
If the financial crisis
If the financial crisis never taken place Palin would have been what sealed John McCain's presidency.
But because the market collapsed the media focus on Palin and McCain's obvious weakness which is economic policy. The media painted them as a couple of bumbling idiots who were the reason for the market crash. Then McCain made the retarded error of suspending his campaign to head back and make a deal...a plan that would have worked better with a congress that was lead by republicans.
Of course the media didn't focus on the fact that Obama and Biden had no cure for the economy or that their policy proposal dooms everyone. No they were silent and thus made to look far more presidential.
In the end, Palin would be a massive rockstar had the economic issue not have happened.
It did...and the republicans have suffered. But if you think she is going away and wont be seen again you are are as stupid as you come across.
My prediction is Stevens wins re-election. Gets sent to prison and resigns. Palin appoints herself Senator to "go clean up washington" and in 4-8 years comes back at this with more experience in the Senate than Obama.
Fatal pick
Dead right, Barb. Palin's pick insured that this little boat sank faster than ever although I do believe that it would have sunk at some point regardless of the pick - our nation is ready to hope again.
2 for 2 in the poppycock dept today Barb
99% of the folks who viewed Palin as doing "irreparable damage to McCain's credibility" were lefties like you, Yael, loonie looie, tiller the truth killer and jokeman who would never in a million votes cast one in his favor.
She clearly brought more votes to the McCain ticket than did Biden to the messiah's.
You guys really do live in an alternative universe ...you watch MSNBC, read the NY Times and Newsweek and believe you are well informed.
what a comedy central parody of a newspaper you have become.
According to the Gallup
According to the Gallup poll, John McCain was down 8 points the day he announced Sarah Palin as his running mate. So he was hardly "gaining some traction," as Barb Shelly writes. In fact, the McCain campaign was stuck in the mud, with little enthusiasm.
Sarah Palin gave the McCain campaign a much needed shot of adrenaline and excitement. What has crippled McCain's candidacy is the economy tanking.
The mood of the country right now, and with the media so pro-Obama, makes me doubt whether any Republican could win the presidency this year. I certainly hope I am proved wrong tonight.
Anyway, I wish Sarah Palin all the best for the future.
Bible Spice?
First of all let's not blame McCain's problems on outside influences - the economy. He did himself in, especially by picking Palin.
Her negatives have continued to rise to where she is now viewed negatively by over 50% of the voters.
The only people who have gotten excited over her are the Republican base made up of the one or two issue wingnuts.
She was supposed to attract disaffected Hillary voters. Ha! Not bloody likely.
McCain was beating Obama
McCain was beating Obama until the Economic Collapse.
So this supposed fatal pick was doing well until that point. When the markets went down the people pointed at republicans with the finger of blame. Then McCain started to fall and thus so did Palin.
Then again had the media been fair and covered Biden's idiotic statements and outright fabrications maybe his approval ratings would have gone down.
If the media had actually done their job and vetted Obama and looked into his past and looked at his total and complete lack of any record what so ever maybe things would be different.
Maybe, if the democrats used the same system republicans use, ie winner take all, in their primary nomination process Hillary Clinton would be the nominee today and Barack a distant memory.
A lot of what ifs in life
Disagree with you Rockslide
Rock, you indicate that Sarah had no negative impact on the election and that only the economy caused McCain to lose. The economy has been in a down hill slant for a year now, it did not suddenly happen in the final weeks.
Sarah gave the party a fresh bounce as the cute well prepared speaker at the convention. However, once the public began to see the real Sarah, everyone rightfully had a valid concern that this person could become our next president in the event something happened to McCain.
Two months ago, my wife and I were undecided and I even talked about not voting for the first time in over 20 years, as I wondered if there was a valid option to chose from. However, as we watched McCain's condescending attacks, his ever changing plans on how he was going to address the economy and then SARAH, the choice became clear for my wife and me.
I do think McCain is a fine man and I felt bad that it had to go down this way. However, I think you are really missing the picture if you do not think Sarah had a major role in this loss.
Take care.
Palin factor
**Rock, you indicate that Sarah had no negative impact on the election and that only the economy caused McCain to lose. The economy has been in a down hill slant for a year now, it did not suddenly happen in the final weeks.**
This comment was not directed to me, but I would like to address it.
It is true the US economy has been on shaky grounds for a while now. But the subprime mortgage situation really fell apart in late September 2008. Before this happened, McCain was even with Sen. Obama in most polls, and a few even had McCain slightly ahead. I attribute that boost mainly to Sarah Palin.
The American people were understandably angry and frightened by this mess. Fairly or not (unfairly, IMO), most of this anger appears to have been directed towards the Republican party, which is the main reason they got hammered in the election yesterday. This financial crisis (and the way he responded to it) has been a political disaster for John McCain and polls show he never recovered from it.
If the mortgage crisis had not occurred, I believe the Presidential election would have been a tossup, with a slight lean to Sen. Obama with his enormous financial resources and superior organization.
I wouldn't have been involved in this campaign at all if it had not been for Sarah Palin. I have enormous respect for John McCain, but I wasn't excited about his candidacy until he picked her. Sarah Palin has the charisma, youth, communication skills, charm, and ability to relate to average people that McCain (IMO) clearly lacks.
No doubt Sarah Palin has made some rookie mistakes during this election, but don't underestimate her. If she so chooses, Palin may be back on the national stage in the future. This time on her own, and without the McCain team managing her every move. Should be interesting.
Ridiculous...you are
Ridiculous...you are obviously an ardent water carrier for the Obamamessiah and clearly off base. For you to say she has damaged John McCain shows that you aren't following her sell-out rallies and they way people connect to her. I don't think someone whose "political future appears set to soar" could possibly damper a current campaign. Try again, you really missed this one.
Sarah Palin did damage
Sarah Palin did damage McCain's run for office! This is fact. Proof? Well, I was for McCain until he picked Palin. My wife and many of my friends were also for McCain. This all changed when he picked Palin. I know at least 15-20 people in my workplace who would have voted for McCain had he picked someone else. It doesn't matter how good her rallies looked, she did cost a lot of votes on a national level. That sad thing is some believe that because she had good values, that was enough. I am pro-life, very conservative, more so than Palin ever thought of being. I say this using the facts of her life as an example. Yet as a conservative, I could not support McCain's decision. She was not and is not qualified. Yes, she may be a hero of some sort to many people, but they are not thinking clearly. When I was growing up, John Wayne was one of my heroes. I would have probably thought he would make a great president. But really, would he have been? I doubt it. Same thing with Palin, people need to grow up. If the conservative side of America (I count myself on this side) wants to be heard, they need to be realistic in their choices. If in 4 years Palin or someone like her is presented as a presidential choice, expect the same result. There are a lot of republican conservatives out there who are rational and who do think for themselves. Unfortunately, there are many who are not.
New poll data on Sarah Palin and her impact on the election
Rasmussen Reports, a polling firm that was proven to be the most accurate of the presidential polls, has new data regarding Sarah Palin and her impact on the election. The data is mostly favorable for the Alaska governor, and contradicts the view that she hurt the GOP ticket. In fact, the data shows Palin was more popular than McCain among Republicans.
Even more distressful for the anti-Palin crowd: she is the current overwhelming choice among Republicans for president in 2012:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_2012/69_of_gop_voters_say_palin_helped_mccain
100% of Democrats want Sarah P to run in 2012
She's the gift that keeps giving. America has rejected an extremist who is unqualified and intellectually, well to be kind, not terribly bright.
If she comes back, she'll lose again.....
By the way, it's the Republicans who have turned on Governor Palin.
I wonder why McCain hasn't come to her defense?
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel
It's like polling the chior to see if they like their singing
The Rassmussen poll was of GOP voters only. I'd like to see a poll of independents. I think that's where that damage was done. I'm not a John McCain fan but prior to her pick I could have lived with him as president. Aferward I was dead set in oppostion. It was a Faustian bargain I could not accept. The extreme right, or for that matter the extreme left cannot govern. They are slaves to their ideology. We need bi-partisan pragmatic practical solutions not demagoguery. Obama needs to build a coalition of open minded Redemlicrats.
Are you an Alaskan?
How dare you write such trash? Do you really know her? Do you have any self interest over the public interest? Have you ever live in Alaska under her adminstration?