Did McCain pick Palin to sink the religious right?

[Recursion]

I mused about this in a thread but I thought I would OP it and see what people thought. I just have this weird feeling John picked Sarah so that somebody besides him would "lose his election", and having a RR figure like her do it would be a final "fuck you" to the guys who derailed his campaign in 2000 (and, yes, the John McCain of 2000 would have been a better President than Shrub by a longshot, though obviously no Gore). He wants this loss to be blamed on the fundies both for personal vindication and to reorient where his party is going.

Just a nagging thought I keep having.

[Roland99]

1. No, he was told to pick her to solidify the base and pull back in the Fund-A-Mentals

[codjh9]

4. Yeah, I think that's what happened. n/t

[BrklynLiberal]

8. That is what I heard. He had no real voice in who the VP would be.

[Roland99]

10. He wanted LIEberman but Rove steered him to Palin (with Dobsons' help)

[annabanana]

2. (not that smart)

He was told he couldn't win without them.

[YDogg]

5. you beat me to it.

[lisa58]

3. You give him too much credit

[bowens43]

6. No, he picked her because he was losing the religous right.

He doesn't want to lose and he doesn't think that he will.

[TlalocW]

7. No

McCain realized he couldn't win without the religious nutcase faction of his party. That's why he did a 180 and started sucking up to people like Hagee, Falwell, Dobson, etc. Also, he wouldn't try to sink such an important voting bloc because he really, really wants to be president.

TlalocW

[iamjoy]

9. That Would Have Been Lieberman

I would not want McSame to win, but I really think if he wanted to win, Lieberman would have been the best choice.

We may not like Lieberman, or agree with his decisions, but I don't think anyone can question his qualifications/experience (as they are with Palin). If McSame had picked Lieberman he would have truly been showing himself to be a "maverick" by picking some one the base did not want. It would have been a bold move that hasn't been done since 1864. McSame would have demonstrated his willingness to put "country first" and "reach across the aisle." Independents and right leaning Democrats would have flocked to the ticket.

Had he picked Lieberman, I would have had some small comfort in McSame's victory - it would have told the so called "Religious Right" that they did not rule the Republican party anymore.

And that would have really been the f- you to those who consider themselves part of the "Religious Right."

[Allyoop]

11. Conspirancy theories

I've been wondering if the gang that ruined his changes in 2000 against B*** scuttled his boat on purpose this time too? Same gang that did that dirt are now in control of his campaign.

[SheilaT]

12. No one who runs for office does so intending to lose.

No one. Not ever. No matter how hopeless the race.

It's a fundamental misunderstanding of how electoral politics works, how party politics works, especially at that level, to think that anyone would ever plan to lose. I am not trying to flame you, and I can understand how someone, looking at what's happened, might think that way, but those who run do so with the intention of winning.

[holiday]

13. I can't help but think McCain was chosen because they wanted

to lose this election. Too many things are f*cked and they are tired of taking the blame (as they should) but that doesn't explain the Palin pick, because I do think they want her to be the next big thing in the republican party. But she needs more work, way more work. These are the people that got Bush elected, they could get Palin elected too *shudder*

[SheilaT]

15. No. That's not the way professional

politicians think. Honestly. They are always in it to win. Even a newcomer to electoral politics intends to win, no matter how hopeless the odds.

I'm basing this on my own experience with running for office (Kansas legislature, 2004) and my dealings with various campaigns over the years. I've volunteered and worked for winning and losing campaigns. I've attended a number of political functions, including election night events where I've chatted with Representatives and Governors, party feel-good gatherings, and so on.

I think that the only time they look ahead to the next election is the second Wednesday in November. They do not plan to lose this election with the idea that that way they can win the next one. No one is strategizing that Palin will be electable four years from now. It is, however, highly probably that at this point, mid-October 2008, various Republicans are thinking about their run in 2012, but you can be sure they are not verbalizing this except maybe, just maybe to a spouse or one or two very close confidants. The jockeying for that will begin by November 10 of this year, assuming Obama wins, which I hope, and think, he will.

And I think the Palin pick can be explained this way: some genius in the Republican party really thought that the die-hard Hillary supporters would move over to the Republican party en masse just because they were so angry at Hillary losing out to Obama. They honestly thought that for those people one female was as good as any other, and they'd get millions of votes. They also did nothing but the most cursory research about her -- I suspect that someone simply read the Vanity Fair article a year or so ago -- the same article, by the way, that also showcased the incomparable Kathleen Sebelius, Governor of Kansas (who I'm still sorry wasn't Obama's VP pick) and figured that Governor Palin was the obvious female to draw all those disaffected Hillary voters. In the end, real Democrats, no matter how disappointed they were at Hillary's losing the nomination, were in the end Democrats, and were going to vote for the Democratic nominee. Oh, there's a tiny number of women who simply wanted to vote for a woman, but those who have gone over to vote the McCain/Palin ticket for that reason were never Democrats in the first place.

Here's another way to think about it: Do you really think these people are competent enough to be planning at least four and a half years ahead? I don't.

[Recursion]

14. Sharpton? Kucinich? Paul?

I think McCain started intending to win, sure.

[AllentownJake]

17. What Presidential Nominee

Not minor primary players who are running on a few issues.

[jberryhill]

23. I hear you, but at this point, whether McCain wants to win is a nagging thought I can't rule out

He called these people "agents of intolerance" before coming around to realize he'd need them for maybe up to 20% of the vote.

Now that he's loosed Frankenstein's monster, I gotta think he's got a touch of buyer's remorse.

[AllentownJake]

16. There was no John McCain of 2000

It was a media myth. Read the Rolling Stone article. John McCain of 2000 only followed Reagan's rule of not smearing another Republican. He would have had no problem attacking Al Gore and John Kerry with all the vitrol that Bush did. He is mentally unstable and bad at his job.

[Matariki]

18. On some cosmic level he's not aware of perhaps.

She's certainly been a real gift to our side.

And she seems to be almost a symbolic culmination of the whole religious right thing, laid out for all to see in it's ugliness. The abuse of power, the ignorance, video of people in her church talking about 'infiltrating' branches of government, the failure of their ideas of 'family issues'.

[jberryhill]

24. When you lay it out like that, maybe she's right - maybe God really did choose her to do this...

...and shut up those that are worshipping something other than their professed God.

Mysterious ways, indeed.

[salguine]

19. McCain didn't pick Palin. She was picked for him.

[rebel with a cause]

20. Blind ambition is the sin of both mccain and palin.

He picked her because of it and she accepted because of it. They are both responsible for the spot they are in. These next weeks will be pure PR on their part. Him on Letterman and her on SNL. Geesh, you would thing they want to be celebrities. :rofl:

[mentalsolstice]

21. Nope, he sold his soul to the devil, and got Sayrah as a reward. nt

[jberryhill]

22. It was to rake in a huge chunk of pre-general donations

which wouldn't have come in otherwise.

Since she came with the Dobson Seal of Approval, even though non-vetted, McCain probably thought "how bad could she be if the religious folks want her?"

Well, he found out.

But nobody else would have drawn in the same money. Maybe Huckabee, who would have been a better pick. I don't agree with the guy, but he's personable enough.