John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin for VP may have cost him the presidency

October 18, 2:16 PMProgressive Politics ExaminerKaren Harper

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Senator John McCain is a maverick.  He and his vice-presidential running mate have said it often.  Being a maverick can be a good thing.  But it can also be construed as being stubborn to the point of unreason.  The person holding the highest office in our country should be willing to work with others.  The dictionary  defines the word maverick as: “a lone dissenter, as an intellectual, an artist, or a politician, who takes an independent stand apart from his or her associates.” 

Perhaps it was the maverick streak in Senator McCain that compelled him to choose Alaska governor, Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate.  It has been suggested that he chose Palin as part of his campaign strategy, a calculated choice.

But it is also possible that his choice of Palin as his running mate was born of his maverick tendencies.  He has a history of making instant decisions.  It was during the first presidential debate that we heard McCain propose a government spending freeze when Jim Lehrer asked him how the financial crisis would affect his presidency.

What caused McCain to choose Sarah Palin as his running mate is something we can only guess at.  But his choice of Palin may be the ultimate off the cuff decision that cost him the presidency.  

Poll numbers suggest that McCain’s numbers got a big boost after Palin accepted his nomination and spoke at the RNC (the so-called Palin bump).  If choosing Palin was a calculated decision, as has been suggested, the strategy seemed to work for a short time.  But as time went on and more information about the Republican vice-presidential nominee came to light, many people started questioning how capable Sarah Palin is.  Reasonable and thoughtful people were concerned.  The McCain-Palin campaign tried to reassure growing concerns over the Palin choice by saying she had more ‘executive’ experience than any of the other 3 candidates.  

When Sarah Palin’s interview with Katie Couric went public, thoughtful, reasonable people were not merely concerned, some were shocked.  The ‘executive experience’ line couldn’t hold up for long and indeed, the idea that Palin was somehow better equipped to be president or vice-president than men like John McCain, Barack Obama and Joe Biden began to sound ridiculous.

The news media seemed strangely reluctant at first to talk about the Sarah Palin problem.  For days after the Couric interview went public, the news media continued to report on the election as if Sarah Palin was a legitimate and qualified candidate.  Then the concerns began to trickle in.  One of the first people to voice concern over Sarah Palin was former mayor of New York, Ed Koch.  Koch, who had promoted George Bush in 2004, said that the thought of Palin becoming president should she succeed John McCain scared him.  He wasn’t the only one.

CNN’s Jack Rafferty showed a clip of Sarah Palin’s interview with Couric on September 26 and then said, “If John McCain wins, this woman will be one 72 year old’s heartbeat away from being president of the United States.  And if that doesn’t scare the hell out of you, it should.”   

Cafferty then went on to say to Wolf Blitzer, “I’m 65 and have been covering politics as you have for a long time and this is one of the most pathetic pieces of tape that I’ve
ever seen for someone aspiring to one of the highest offices in this country.”

Wolf Blitzer answered, “...but she’s cramming a lot of information...”

And Cafferty replied, “There’s no excuse for that.  She’s supposed to know a little bit of this stuff.  Don’t make excuses for her. That’s pathetic.”

It seemed that someone had finally decided to mention the elephant in the room.

The McCain-Palin campaign continued its attempts to make Sarah Palin a palatable choice as vice-president.  Expectations were so low about Palin’s performance that when Sarah Palin managed to be semi-articulate in the vice-presidential ‘debate’, the McCain-Palin campaign appeared relieved.

As the election campaign presses on, it becomes clearer with each day that Sarah Palin is not qualified to be vice-president of the United States, much less president, should something happen to John McCain.  McCain’s choice of Palin has left a lot of us shaking our heads in bewilderment.  Many of the major newspapers that have begun endorsing McCain’s opponent for president have voiced exactly what many of us have been feeling and thinking.  What happened to John McCain?  In 2000, he ran a clean campaign against George Bush in his bid for the White House.  Many of us felt he was a steadfast politician.  What happened to the John McCain we used to know and have confidence in?  

60 newspapers have endorsed Barack Obama for president while McCain has received 18 endorsements as of this morning.  The Chicago Tribune has for the first time since its inception, endorsed a democratic candidate for president.  Most of these newspapers cite McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as one of the reasons they couldn’t endorse the Arizona senator.    

The Kansas City Star  put it bluntly: “Despite his age and previous health problems, McCain chose a vice presidential candidate who is so clearly unqualified for high office that the thought of her stepping into the presidency is frightening. That irresponsible decision casts serious doubt on McCain’s judgment at this point in his political career. And over the past eight years, Americans have come to know, all too well, the high price of carelessness and ineptitude in the White House."

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