Did McCain Botch the Sarah Palin Pick?

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I choose her as my VP.
I have the same vision with McCain

glm of FL 5:07AM December 29, 2008

It might help for some people to actually research before posting: before becoming Governor she served on the Alaska Energy Commission and helped clean up the fraud while there. If you think she is a ditz you would all do well to view the one hour interview on CNBC right before she was announced as running mate to McCain... she was concise and knowledgeable, Maria B was very impressed by her and had nothing but praise after the interview. The McCain campaign totally blew their roll out of Palin and so many jealous people in the GOP who had minions working on his campaign didn't help.

Rapunzel of AZ 10:08PM December 28, 2008

Firstly, energy was way down on the list of American's priorities by the time Palin got on the ticket.
Second, contrary to what you seem to believe, she showed a thorough misunderstanding of the role of energy. I'm sorry, but having gas in your state does *not* make you an expert on national security.
Third, unnamed pollsters? These are the best pundits you can find to back up your claims?
Finally, wasn't good at being an attack dog? Palin was only ever going to do one of two things: 1) get the alienated Hillary Democratic voter or 2) get the white bigot voter. She obviously couldn't do #1, but was very effective at #2. There was no way she could have done both. Her only "contribution" to the McCain campaign so far as I can tell was her ability to be the "attack dog".

Mike of NC 11:06AM December 28, 2008

Good. Maybe you should join the Alaska Independence Party and help your idol establish the Republic(an) of Alaska. Good riddance.

Happy Tina Fey has no target of WA 10:59PM December 27, 2008

The problem was (is) she is not qualified to speak with authority on much. Alaska is oil rich and receives millions in royalties which does not translate into knowledge into anything except royalty payments. Political independence cuts both way's. Republicans were less than thrilled with Senator McCain being too independent as it was.
A very attractive woman does not translate into not being well read. There is a huge difference between captivating a crowd with charm and beauty versus inspiring voters by winning their confidence with knowledge and ideas.
In order to play the role of attack dog, you have to have the skills to do so. The trick is to find the soft spot and focus on that without appearing insensitive or alienating a larger group. She came off as a air head and fool.
This was a bad choice for VP and that became apparent after 2 softball press interviews. She was her own worst enemy and not a victim of a overly zealous press. Her lack of knowledge and judgement in her words and deeds did her in and she committed the sin of losing support for her running mate.
If the GOP is smart they will forget about her, let her make money on the speaking circuit or take a job as a talking head on Fox and give up the notion of her being a viable national candidate. It is not clear to me that she can survive a Primary challenge for Governor if that were to occur.
My sense is her and her husband would be better served paying more attention to managing their family first. Clearly their daughter could have used more parental guidance and information about sex and picking friends. When your own house is not in order it is hard to posture yourself to manage the White House

geek of NJ 1:37PM December 27, 2008

Palin wasn't stupid, she was just uninterested in things outside her immediate sphere - you can see this if you look at her record and interviews in Alaska. She just wasn't interested in national and international events (even with a son headed to Iraq). Hence her inability to name even one national newspaper or magazine she read regularly.
Palin was well known for using her personal charm to deflect questions she didn't want to answer or couldn't answer long before selected for the VP position-not uncommon for a politician, but it leaves people with nothing to base their vote on. Palin liked politics and the public attention but wasn't too hard a worker on the actual issues except within her narrow range and for personal profit. The others (McCain, Biden, Obama) had dealt with national/international affairs in the Senate and so they at least had answers ready.... Intelligence and charm just aren't enough, she was seriously unready to be President (the only job of a Vice President is to be a spare) and many people realized it.
Palin was also very out of touch with the diversity of people in this country. For example, she didn't seem to realize how insulting her comments about non-urban areas with enough people who agreed with her being "the real America". That flew fine in Alaska, but not elsewhere. We are ALL the "real America".
I think she took on the "attack dog" role quite willingly, because she really sees the world in that simplistic way and also it was her previous pattern as a politician.
Again, it's not a matter of lack of intelligence but just extreme narrowness of world view. People claimed Palin would be a "quick study", but she wasn't. You don't suddenly remedy decades of disinterest and lack of attention to the rest of the world in a few weeks of coaching.

jwoolman of IN 9:48PM December 26, 2008

Sarah Palin is a skilled governor and knows how to get ideas across to people, but they gave her the talking points and marching orders until she finally rebelled and did it her own way. She definitely knows more about running a campaign than McCain seems to.
Palin has managed to get the state moving toward a gas pipeline after it was stalled for 30 years. She faced down Big Oil and won. She negotiated a good deal with a Canadian firm to run a pipeline across Canada to the lower 48. She has turned the state's budget into a sizeable surplus. None of this is the work of someone who is stupid or unknowledgeable.
Some of the interviews she did were shamelessly edited and slanted against her. Now that she is choosing interviews and talking points for herself, we'll see her in a different light. I think it would be fair to hear her without any previous bias. I hope people will do that and show their own intelligence and fair-mindedness.

lawhite of ID 10:06PM December 25, 2008

I was vacationing in Alaska when Governor Palin was named as the VP nominee. It was easy to see why she is the highest rated governor in the nation. Alaskans are passionate and enthusiastic about thier governor because she successfully fought corruption and passed a landmark ethics reform bill. She has the courage to use her veto to cut budgetary spending. Alaska is the only state without a state sales tax or income tax.
Alaska has the smallest population density, but it may be the most patriotic with American flags everywhere. A sign at the Anchorage airport, proudly welcomes home and thanks troops on behalf of Alaskans and signed by Governor Palin. Her son is serving in Iraq.

Mike of CA 9:54PM December 25, 2008

I hope the Rovepublicans put her right out front - this will guarantee they get at least 25% of the popular vote.

Chris of MO 6:21PM December 25, 2008

***Sarah Palin's college education has been much discussed on the Internet. Various years and the number of colleges attended have been posted on message boards. Much of the info is inaccurate.
For the record, Sarah Palin attended five colleges in six years***
I might be wrong myself. I've been doing some research on this online, and information on Sarah Palin's college history is really confusing.
My best estimation, based on what I can find out online: Sarah attended either 4 or 5 colleges, which lasted anywhere from 5 to 6 years.

The chirping bird of OH 4:41PM December 25, 2008