by Damozel | Matthew Dowd, a political strategist and chief strategist for Bush's reelection campaign, says that the Sarah Palin Veep pick put the whole country at risk.
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. (HuffPost)
Fair play, as Dowd himself says: McCain wanted Joe Lieberman. I myself have wondered how you get from Lieberman---who was Gore's running mate--- to Sarah Palin. But this is idle speculation.
Dowd said it while participating in a panel discussion. A McCain aide, also on the panel, chided Dowd for mind-reading. He also said he didn't agree that McCain knew he was putting the country at risk.
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....
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."(HuffPost; emphasis added)
Jesus. He should try not mincing his words so much. Will he go on record tomorrow to "clarify" his comments and if so....HOW?
Joe Klein---who is sometimes right--- intones:
[T]he bottom line on the Palin selection is increasingly clear: it was a historically bad decision by McCain, a gimmick that backfired--not just because Palin is so clearly unsuited for high office, but because it demonstrated McCain's own severe deficiencies as an executive.
It has been striking to me this year that the public seems far more serious about this election--far less tolerant of diversions--than some of my colleagues in the media. In this particular case, with Palin's support evaporating in the polls as people get to know her better, the public (with the exception of the Republican base) has proven that it is taking this election more seriously than the Republican candidate.
Yeah, well, the public has had a pretty clear demonstration---though I'm sure the "chief strategist" would differ----of what Republican election tactics gets you if you fall for them. In other words, Mr. Lincoln was right: you can only fool some of the people all of the time or all of the people some of the time. This time, a substantial number of people are saying they won't get fooled again.
Kyle E. Moore is as entertained as we are by the scurry on the part of pundits, politicos, and experts of various sorts and kinds to put distance between themselves and McCain. While I can't see Dowd and his ilk actually turning out to vote for Obama, I imagine that a lot of conservatives will end up sitting this one out, at least with respect to the presidential campaign.
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