More on Palin |
Despite a clear failure of the Republican ticket in 2008, it seems that some within the party still consider it sinful to criticize Gov. Palin, the now-former VP nominee. Unfortunately, there seems to remain a high level of what we might call “Palin worship” - those who will hear nothing bad about Sarah, and are determined to make her the nominee in 2012, likely to the detriment of both the Governor and the GOP.
Its true enough that Palin bears little responsibility for her own selection, and so much of the blame for the loss on Tuesday remains in John McCain’s lap. But that does not mean that Palin was a good pick. I never opposed Palin because I believed she would make decisions that would doom the campaign, but because I believed that she would come across as unprepared, inexperienced, and lacking in both knowledge of major issues and serious accomplishments. Say what you will, but it appears that my criticism was right on all counts.
There are some who will claim - as the already have in the comments section of this site - that Palin can only be considereda net positive because she “excited the base”. This may be true - the base certainly was energized in the short term, but in the long run, any benefit she may have provided disappeared by election day. Few, if any, polls showed John McCain in a better position on election day than he was the day before he picked Palin, and many statewide polls gave Palin a negative approval rating by the end of the campaign. Overall, more than half of the American public said that Palin was unprepared to be President.
Even if Palin did excite some within the GOP, I would challenge anyone to present evidence that the same excitement could not have been generated with another selection - perhaps one who would have been able to cover for McCain’s lack of experience on economic issues.
Tags: John McCain, Sarah Palin
