Again, I could be wrong here, but I thought it was common knowledge that he more or less had her forced on him by the party. Am I misremembering this all?
I don’t care if you’re misrembering or not. McCain accepted Palin as a potential President. Fuck her, and fuck him.
Oh, how I hope she does.
Do it, Sarah, so it! It’s just the move that Conservatism in America needs! Don’t hesitate!
I don’t recall that at all (and its kind of hard to figure what it would even mean. McCain had the nomination locked up, there wasn’t really any way to “force him” to do anything without sabotaging the GOP as a whole).
Palin was occasionally tossed out as an outside possibility for the VP nod by bored editorial columnists, but there wasn’t really anyone pushing for her, and she was regarded as a pretty remote possibility. The idea for choosing her seems to have been pretty much the McCain camps, as they desperately grasped around for a “Hail Mary” that would shake up a race they were clearly losing.
Pretty much what I remember. “OMG, McCain just picked a WOMAN with charisma! He’s going to win it now!”
And then she opened her mouth…
Huh. My bad I guess.
I always thought McCain, although I disagreed with his politics, honestly believed he was doing the right thing for the country while it was clear that The Ditz With The Tits was in it for her and her alone.
I guess I projected my good feelings for McCain into some kind of separation from Sarah.
My understanding was McCain wanted someone else (Lieberman, according to Google), but was convinced by his campaign manager to pick Palin, because he needed someone to shake things up. At least, that was the story in 2008.
Since then, it seems he’s gone on record to advocate for her, so much that I can’t find the original stuff on Google unless I restrict the search to just a year after the election. Instead, he’s constantly saying that Palin didn’t hurt him and that he thought she was the best candidate (Well, better than Romney, at least). And Palin says that the McCain campaign staff did not support her.
Sure, she can disown the party. The party should have disowned her four years ago but it didn’t. The GOP could have distanced itself from this brain-dead ideologue but it didn’t. Like it or not, Republicans absolutely need the people that think Sarah Palin has a brain in her head. She can leave and start her own party, it may take a fraction of a percent of voters, but all of them are former Republican voters and none of which they can afford to lose.
I’m betting that the party will keep to the right in order not to lose the Palinista vote and leave the center right, center, center left, and left to the Democrats. I’m also betting that Sarah had a moment of fame withdrawal and had to do something to get her name in the news.
Only a matter of time, though.
That’s how I remember it, and it’s also the reason I lost pretty much all of my respect for John McCain. Picking a brain-dead ideologue just to get the ladeez on board showed a shocking (IMO) lack of integrity and leadership.
This article describes it pretty much the way I recall: McCain really wanted to pick Lieberman, but the Christian conservatives forming his party base would have revolted, so he had to go with a “safer” pick.
Well, I say “had to.” He didn’t have to. He chose to, to mollify a bunch of conservative harpies. As it turns out, it was a pretty poor choice.
I don’t think he made the pick to energize the Christian Right. If a woman became president than a woman might also be able to preach, or wear pants. They don’t want that!
Well, they’d prefer a woman over (gasp) abortion-loving Joe Lieberman.
I thought that picking Palin happened right on the tail end of Hillary leaving the race and was a really pathetic attempt to woo female democrats.
Eh, again, the she was responding to a leading question (“If the GOP ignores conservatives, will you leave the GOP?”), and even then just said she’d “think about it”. I think people are making more of this then there is. Palin isn’t leaving, or considering leaving, the GOP.
Sure, but there’s a big difference between not being able to pick Lieberman and having to pick Palin. There were any number of candidates that were acceptable to the Right and at the same time weren’t Palin.
An erroneous belief that she’s related to Michael, maybe.
It seems pretty clear that Sarah Palin is not a serious political figure. Her claims about “leaving” the party are similar to a disgruntled sports fan swearing he/she won’t attend another game. You can bet that once the tide turns (or she needs to juice her Q-rating) she’ll be back on-board. John Oliver had the best advice regarding Ms. Palin: “We can just ignore her.”
More generally, I’ve occasionally read blather from Tea Party members about forming a new, more conservative party. IMO that just shows how gullible they are, to believe they are really in charge of this thing.
some of the stupid rubbed off on McCain. he just hasn’t seemed right (not that right) since.
They’re NOT fucking?!
I love how flat-earth conservatives like Palin keep name dropping Lincoln and Reagan.
I’m pretty sure Reagan would’ve tongue-kissed Tip O’Neal on national TV before subscribing to this brand of uncompromising “conservatism.” And Lincoln? Come on. If Palin had been alive during Lincoln’s term, she’d have been the first to line up behind Jeff Davis to show those progressive power-hungry federal-gubmint fools that the states’ power comes from God Himself and no Washington elites can take away the south’s right to own people. Boy, I say, boy, endin’ slavery would *destroy *the economy and hurt those good Christian plantation owners where it matters most-- in the britches.
Aw come on, American culture would be all the poorer if we never had Palin thrust upon us. She’s a gem. Someone who spreads that much happiness and joy is a saint.