If you still think Gov. Palin was thoroughly vetted before she was named, you really need to read this:
In Alaska, several state leaders and local officials said they knew of no efforts by the McCain campaign to find out more information about Ms. Palin before the announcement of her selection, Although campaigns are typically discreet when they make inquiries into potential running mates, officials in Alaska said Monday they thought it was peculiar that no one in the state had the slightest hint that Ms. Palin might be under consideration.
“They didn’t speak to anyone in the Legislature, they didn’t speak to anyone in the business community,” said Lyda Green, the State Senate president, who lives in Wasilla, where Ms. Palin served as mayor.
Representative Gail Phillips, a Republican and former speaker of the State House, said the widespread surprise in Alaska when Ms. Palin was named to the ticket made her wonder how intensively the McCain campaign had vetted her.
“I started calling around and asking, and I have not been able to find one person that was called,” Ms. Phillips said. “I called 30 to 40 people, political leaders, business leaders, community leaders. Not one of them had heard. Alaska is a very small community, we know people all over, but I haven’t found anybody who was asked anything.”
The current mayor of Wasilla, Dianne M. Keller, said she had not heard of any efforts to look into Ms. Palin’s background. And Randy Ruedrich, the state Republican Party chairman, said he knew nothing of any vetting that had been conducted.
State Senator Hollis French, a Democrat who is directing the ethics investigation, said that no one asked him about the allegations. “I heard not a word, not a single contact,” he said.
McCain was flying blind with this pick. The party elders wouldn’t let him pick who he wanted, so he just went impulsively with Palin, without the requisite caution one would expect.
DrDave
I think we ought not look a gift horse in the mouth.
But we might consider starting a pool on when she drops off the ticket because I am not sure her candidacy will survive until Election Day.
KRK
All signs indicate that the “vetting” amounted to one person on the campaign spending a couple hours Googling her but spelling her name wrong. Or, perhaps more likely, the campaign only read the wingnut “draft Palin” blogs and didn’t consider that those bloggers might not be presenting a full picture.
Napoleon
McCain and his campaign are nearly comically inept. Can you imagine if these people managed to rule the most powerful country on Earth?
I gave Obama more over the weekend even though I said I would not (giving instead to congressional candidates) because it scares me so much what could happen if these clowns should win.
greynoldsct00
John, I have a very interesting letter re Palin that I’d like to share with you. It’s not on the web, it’s an actual letter forwarded by a personal friend of mine who received it from a former college classmate from Alaska…
I apologize if this pops up more than once, Word Press keeps kicking me out…
QDC
DrDave, Intrade contract on her being withdrawn is up, and is trading at 12%.
rekroc
But… but…
That’s just a testament to McCain’s super-secret ninja skills! And who wouldn’t want a ninja president??
J Smith II
You missed my favorite part of the article –
So really, they didn’t start vetting till the day before? Yeah, I want that kind of impulsiveness in charge of the most powerful military force on earth…
SpotWeld
This is just getting wierder and wierded.
Somoeone had to have told McCain that Palin was his “top choice” and McCain just went along with it.
It is really sounding like that Palin was chosen because she was a “good an loyal Bushie” (for whatever the new definition of Bushie is).
Is McCain even in control of his own campaign anymore?
TheFountainHead
Eenie Meenie Miney Mo, catch a VP by the toe, if she hollers, let her go, Eenie Meenie Miney Mo.
The Thinking Man's Mel Torme
What does it say about Ms. The Governor-in-Chief that so many in her own party are falling all over themselves to narc on her? Given the Alaskan love of graft and greasy-pole-climbing, one would think they’d do anything to glom on to glory.
cleek
she’s McPOW’s soul-mate, so he has full access to the inner workings of her mind. and if McPOW says she’s good people, we should rest assured.
rob!
say it with me: President Barack Obama.
oh heck, let’s say it in a way that really drives the Right nuts: President Barack Hussein Obama.
Balconesfault
I don’t know about the Party Elders – but it’s clear that the people who really objected to Lieberman … the Viguerie wing of the Republican Party … made it clear that Lieberman was unacceptable. It’s also very possible that McCain is following marching orders from above, but those marching orders came from the Council for National Policy ( http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters?pid=352178 ).
gbear
Crap. Bush isn’t staying away from St. Paul. He’s going to speak at the convention tonight. Bad news for my city.
Heshe
Up until this point the VP pick seemed comical at best. But forget about Palin. It’s what this says about McCain, how he shoots from the hip and asks questions later. Obviously, he’s impulsive to the extreme. This should scare the pants off of anyone. To think he could be president!
Conservatively Liberal
I heard a rumor that Kay Bailey-Hutchinson passed on the offer. If true, that would really be a laugh!
This showcases McMaverick’s poor judgment and shows that McMaverick will do whatever it takes to give himself some short-term gain. Palin was not picked for her ‘executive experience’, she was a last-second desperate grab that is clearly a blatant attempt to win the race by putting a woman on it. McCain knows that he is going down for the count unless he comes up with a game-changer.
McMaverick’s solution puts him and his party first while the rest of the country gets to ride in the trunk once again.
I’m taking the kitty to the vet this week and I bet that she will be ‘vetted’ better than Palin was.
bago
Is it too soon to say “slap in the face”?
SGEW
Once again, David Rees of GYWO fame nails it:
[Hope kitty’s “vetting” turns out better than Palin’s, CL. Otherwise you’ll be bringing home a turtle, or something.]
Soylent Green
What is it exactly that the VP does every day?
And how does it help Alaska?
dmsilev
The GOP is living out Gandhi’s famous quotation in reverse:
First, they won
Then, we started to fight them.
Now, we’re laughing at them.
Soon, hopefully, we’ll be able to ignore them.
-dms
r€nato
What are you talking about? Of course McCain vetted Palin.
And then Cindy caught him at it and slapped him.
Tim Fuller
She’s toast. All other scandals aside, the fact that she has FIVE kids, the youngest of which is four months old and a special needs child and a teenage daughter pregnant out of wedlock spells the end of her chances at holding out.
There just isn’t any way to twist the notion of family values
so much that you can excuse the actions of this woman. The mother obviously needs to spend more time studying
the needs of her family and less tending to the needs of big oil. I don’t think she is even going to make through the
convention. She will use the excuse of ‘family in need/crises” to quietly bow out. Saves McCain the
ongoing embarrassment of all the OTHER scandals.
Enjoy.
r€nato
Is McCain even in control of his own bowel movements anymore?
Depends.
r€nato
good points Tim Fuller – where is Phyllis Schlafly screeching that Palin should obey God’s will and stay home with her children????
Path
Luckily for John McCain, someone decided to make a website to help him Vet Sarah Palin!
Even James Carville gets into the act and destroys her ‘experience’!
jibeaux
GodBlessAmerica WordPress ate my brilliant response, but basically McCain is hamstrung because he just can’t pick a pro-choicer (which KBH is). That ruled out the guys he preferred, too. (To be fair, I think pro-choice orthodoxy would also rule out any pro-life Dem VP contenders, were there potentials of any of real national stature).
If there’s anyone out there who still doesn’t think this pick is excellent news (for
Hillary!the Democrats), the Kristol Ball came out in favor of it. WIN!gbear
Please excuse my off-topicness this morning.
Via Minnesota Independent:
As of 8 p.m. this evening, 163 protesters had been processed through the Ramsey County Jail. This includes 73 felony arrests, 42 gross misdemeanors and 48 misdemeanors, according to the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office. Arraignments will be held beginning at 8 a.m. tomorrow. Police estimate the crowd at today’s protest rally was between 8,000 and 10,000. If accurate, that’s far short of the 50,000 anticipated by parade organizers.
So that means that up to 2% of the people protesting in St. Paul yesterday were arrested. Total suck.
Here’s the protest that I’m looking forward to this morning:
a convoy of semi-trucks is en route to St. Paul to bring a protest about high fuel costs to the Republican National Convention.
Wonder what the cops are going to do to them?
NonyNony
I didn’t believe it before, but now I’m seriously wondering if McCain really DID want Joe Lieberman as his running mate. And when his “advisers” finally won the argument against Lieberman, McCain just gave up and took their top choice – Palin. McCain has apparently surrounded himself with wingnut advisers who really think that winning hard core fundamentalist Christian votes is key to getting Republicans into office, I guess.
AkaDad
Q. Who is the happiest Republican today?
A. Dan Quayle.
Optimus Prime
He doesn’t react, he over reacts. And once he’s dug his heels in he won’t change his mind, no matter how many other people have to pay the price for his stupidity.
Sound like anyone we currently know?
gbear
But who is he going to get to replace her? He pissed off all of his other choices so badly that they won’t accept, and who’s going to want to be sloppy seconds after this first disaster? He’s screwed.
wasabi gasp
When I see this post’s title, the first thing that pops into my head is this Bee Gee’s number:
How deep is your love
I really need to learn
cause were living in a world of fools
Breaking us down
When they all should let us be
We belong to you and me
I believe in you
You know the door to my very soul
You’re the light in my deepest darkest hour
You’re my saviour when I fall
And you may not think
I care for you
When you know down inside
That I really do
And its me you need to show
r€nato
McCain is Bush without the calm, reasoned judgement.
Tim Fuller
Another thought here. Seems to me if McCain had picked someone who turned out to be a closet serial killer, many of the rightwing hacks would be trying to tell us what an admirable character trait that serial killing is.
We’d be inundated with stories of the ‘good’ work of serial killers and how much we need a good pool of sociopaths (they
make excellent torturers).
If that sounds absurd, consider what we really got. A woman who was so busy fighting for Alaskan Independence that she ignored the needs of her family. A woman who has no idea what the job of the Vice President entails, probably because she was more concerned with removing Alaska from clutches of these UNITED STATES than studying the AMERICAN constitution.
Enjoy.
thomas
The Palin stunt says all it needs to about both McPOW and his chosen running mate. McPOW fails to vet the choice and she fails to tell him about all the baggage she carries. (If she had been vetted the baggage would have knocked her out)
Rash decision – McPOW.
Aggogant opportunist – Governor Mooseburger.
whack
With the most important decision of his candidacy going south fast, it’s looking like St. John McBungle needed to be vetted more himself.
Soylent Green
Pay attention to how this is already getting turned around to being Good for McCain. Palin is “real.” Millions of American moms can relate to her and her family situation. She stands up for her values. She is One of Us. Et cetera.
It’s probably safer to keep her on board and keep spinning this tale than to cut her loose, which would cement into place the charge that McCain makes rash, reckless, ill-considered decisions.
Besides which, who does he replace her with? Joe Lieberman? That will turn out well.
AkaDad
It really does take a maverick to pick a secessionist VP.
Shinobi
The fact that people on the right (see QandO which used to be such a good blog) are comparing Obama and Palin’s experience in any way makes my head explode. It compelled me to look up the following.
In 2004 3,597,456 people voted Barak Obama into the US. Senate.
The population of Alaska in 2006, 670,000.
Five times more people VOTED for Obama than live in Alaska.
What does that mean? I don’t know, but it does illustrate certain… differences.
Marshall
Here is the interesting subtext I think a lot of people are missing :
Palin has a lot of Republican enemies in Alaska. If they were her friends, or even neutral, then they would be discrete
It is to be expected that Democrats such as French would spill the beans, but for Republicans still in office to do so (knowing that she will likely still be Governor come 2009) is I think pretty extraordinary.
Now, the question arises, what did she do to piss so many people off ? There is some gold here, and I hope people keep digging to get it.
The Moar You Know
I am beginning to understand how he crashed five planes. It takes a certain disregard for one’s own safety and a total disregard for following any kind of rules.
D. Mason
Compare this election cycle to previous iterations of McCain. Has it seemed like he was in control from the start?
dbrown
Looks like the storm let McCain down – playing hero without destruction surrounding him won’t work. His profamily values just crashed and burned, and even the vetting process looks to be a joke – so his first action as a possible pres looks like a screw up. Can he even get help from a short convention? Dosen’t look like it so far. Maybe bush can help by giving his speech after all – yeah, right.
This convention may make history by being the first to create a negative result on the polls.
So we now have:
Obama batting 1000;
McInsane -123 (ok, not possible but McSame is making a good try.)
Incertus
No one wants to be this year’s Jack Kemp. Not even the crusty old white guys.
Punchy
She aint leaving. Cuz the nextest worstest thing McCain can do besides fucking this up, is admitting that he fucked it up. The next VP selection would be sloppy seconds.
IMO, zero chance they dump her. They ride this out, decry all and every negative word abuout her as “sexist”, and get the media to ignore the rank hypocrisy of the “family values” party having getting statutoried at age 17….
TR
She filed an ethics complaint against a fellow Republican.
A Reaganite would say that she violated the 11th Commandment and is getting what she deserves as payback.
But given how many Republicans are convicted felons these days, I’d say there’s a simpler dicutm at work: Snitches Get Stitches!
Tim Fuller
Since I believe Palin is toast, here’s who replaces her.
First, McCain was BULLIED into this pick by the extreme
religious right (DOMINIONISTS). It was HIS decision and
he totally blew it, but now he can do whatever he wants with a replacement. He can (not sure he will, but it would be very smart) pick a pro choice candidate who is also a warmonger. Some say he’s pissed off everybody else, but that underestimates the lust for power that all the other possible choices obviously have. Watch and see.
Enjoy.
Napoleon
I say we keep it in Sargent Shriver’s family and make it Arnold.
Shinobi
Y’know, when a coworker of mine in college who I vaguely knew (can’t even remember his name) applied for a government internship they interviewed half of his coworkers and all of his friends.
Sounds like he was more thoroughly vetted than Palin.
dewberry
McCain’s not going to ask her to resign. He cares most about his mavericky mcmaverick image and he NEVER will admit that he made a mistake.
Beyond that, it’s a weird dynamic, because he actually needs her more than she needs him. The balance of power between the two of them is off. I feel that SHE always has a way out, claiming that her family needs her and she underestimated the rigors of the campaign trail, etc. In a weird way, she’s more in the pilot’s seat than he is.
McCain has no plan B and no back-up.
dewberry
McCain’s not going to ask her to resign. He cares most about his mavericky mcmaverick image and he NEVER will admit that he made a mistake.
Beyond that, it’s a weird dynamic, because he actually needs her more than she needs him. The balance of power between the two of them is off. I feel that SHE always has a way out, claiming that her family needs her and she underestimated the rigors of the campaign trail, etc. In a weird way, she’s more in the pilot’s seat than he is.
McCain has no plan B and no back-up.
chopper
pass the popcorn, this is just awesome. i always hoped that the GOP would self-destruct in slow motion, i just never thought they’d actually do it.
Stuck in the Fun House (nj)
From he David Brooks morning Maverick missive.
Bwaahaa hee!
chopper
when i applied for a government job i was vetted more than this.
gbear
If it’s any consolation, rain showers (some of which could be heavy) are closing in on St. Paul this morning.
oh really
Why, when the Palin nomination is by every reasonable measure, a total clusterf*&k, am I worried that somehow this will all blow up in…Obama’s face?
Man, that just shows what eight years of the worst president ever accompanied by the worst MSM ever can do to you.
Imagine the high-level meetings that must be taking place in the offices of Fox News, The Washington Post, etc. all for the purpose of saving McCain.
Why do I feel like I’m going to look at the the NYTimes site and read the headline:
PALIN UNQUALIFIED! THIS IS GREAT NEWS FOR JOHN MCCAIN
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
Funny you should put it this way, since this morning Richard Cohen posted an Op-ed in the WaPo comparing this pick with Caligula appointing his horse to the Roman Senate.
Dear John McCain,
The Village (the one in DC, not Alaska) called today, to say We Are Not Amused.
PeterJ
Tim Kaine got a “faith-based opposition to abortion”.
Obviously that isn’t enough for people like Palin…
Harry Reid is pro-life. But he wouldn’t pass a purity test, and I don’t think he has ever been considered for VP.
dewberry
Ack. Double post. Forgive me. It’s the gremlins.
gopher2b
Here’s my prediction: She’s off the ticket within two weeks citing “family pressures” and mud-slinging politics. They try to blame it on Obama’s camp as evidence that its the same old kind of politics. Party elder (who, don’t know) is appointed VP.
Ned Raggett
Folks I’d strongly recommend tuning into Andrew Halcro’s show today:
Should be a doozy.
The Moar You Know
It’s OK, guise! Our crack team of fixers fixed the interweb and now it’ll be nothing but smooth sailing for our gal Sarah!
The technological incompetence of the McCain campaign is incredible.
PK
My question is, who is going to be McCain’s next pick for VP? Can he possibly top this?
Ben
Please get that Hugh Huwitt retarded lookin’ mofo add off of this site. I throw up in my mouth every time I see it.
PeterJ
There’s no need for any vetting, her dentist vouches for her.
chopper
and everyone sees right through it.
no, mccain is stuck with her. she’s going to drag the whole ticket down to the ground.
rachel
He could drop dead. That would get him out of having to campaign, and at his age and in his state of health, nobody would be very surprised.
Darkness
Can we get that VP debate scheduled as quickly as possible so Biden can demonstrate what she really is before the coaches make her over?
Tim Fuller
Quik-E Mart vets employees better than this.
Enjoy.
NR
I don’t think it’s working. Rasmussen has Obama at 51% today and Palin’s negatives are climbing fast (up 10 points since she was announced).
I think she’ll stay on the ticket, because I don’t think McCain can afford to drop her, but if the Republicans are trying to turn this around, so far, it’s not working.
Anyway, we’ll know soon if she’s going to be dropped. Aren’t we right at the ballot deadline for a lot of states?
Ned Raggett
The Kos headline is overblown (what a surprise!) but I’d sure like to know more about these books she tried to have banned and the librarian she threatened with firing.
rob!
How Deep Was The Vet–Lyrics
I know your four eyes in the morning sun
I feel you lie for me in the pouring rain
And the moment that you wander far from me
I wanna see you on the stump again
And you come to me on an Alaskan breeze
Keep me warm in your policy positions and then softly leave
And its America you need to show
Chorus:
How deep was the vet
How deep was the vet
How deep was the vet
How deep was the vet
I really need to learn
cause were living in a world of fools (liberals)
Breaking us down
When they all should let us be
We belong to you and me
I believe in you
You know the door to my very soul
Youre the light in my deepest darkest hour
Youre America’s saviour when I fall
And you may not think
I care for you
When you know down inside
That I really do
But its America you need to show
Chorus
Repeat and fade on November 4.
Michael D.
John: I think all this talk about Palin not being properly vetted is a little over the top.
For years, John McCain was in prison in Hanoi and had no one to vet there.
PeterJ
His dad died at the age of 70, his paternal grandfather at the age of 61. Both sudden deaths.
Punchy
That’s cuz they blocked for, like, forever, from being a OTC. And allowing Jesus Pharmacists to decline to dispense it.
montysano
Listening to Rush while running errands at lunch. An Alaskan caller guarantees, GUARANTEES dammit, that Palin will eat Joe Biden alive in a debate.
Yeah….maybe…..maybe she will. All I know is: Popcorn for everyone!
PeterJ
The follow-up question should have been to ask if Palin were among the three…
Mark
I shouldn’t read so fast, or was it a Freudian slip…
First pass sure looked like “McCain was flying blind with his prick.”
JDRhoades
Shows what happens when you don’t use the Internet.
I’m just waiting to see the YouTube of the Miss Alaska Pageant.
Mike in MI
Via Yglesias: Washington Independent
chopper
it’s basically a google.
Rome Again
Hardcore right-wing God-fearing Republicans don’t need to vet no stinking VP choice; all they have to do is choose someone and God will see to it and make sure it was a great choice!
::rolls eyes::
Rome Again
Yes, she’s scouring the scriptures for soundbites as we speak.
Stuck in the Fun House (nj)
Mickey Mouse
Strom Thurmond
Sarah Palin.
I would have gone with Mickey, but hey.
Cain
Reading Andrew Sullivan, he posted up a letter from someone from the city of Wasilla. It seems apparent that the entire city is ready to shove her under a boss as payback for what was done to them. Secondly, the Republican Party of Alaska is also ready to shove her under the bus. She’s made a lot of enemies, this “Sarah Barracuda” due to her unbridled ambition and ruthlessness. I suggest that even McCain better watch his back cuz she looks like George Bush but more competent.
Here is the story that Sullivan posted. It is a good read. I think the area is ripe for some awesome drama.
Polls show Obama climbing. Fuck you McCain, suck on those higher numbers, biotch!
cain
Tsulagi
I’m guessing he didn’t hit bottom.
Yeah, the more that comes out seems like in a bold multitasking strategery move to capture both the disaffected Hillary vote and the Dobsonites he focused solely on 3 Fs for the bottom of the ticket: Female; Fundie; and Fine. Check on the first two and close enough for government work on the third. Anything else apparently was just nuance to the maverick.
L. Ron Obama
I had honestly believed for the last month that McCain was going to pick Lieberman despite the reaction of the base. So, I think you may be on to something.