Patrick Buchanan: McCain Pick is Paying Off Big Time

realclearpolitics.com ^ | September 03, 2008 | Patrick Buchanan

[kellynla]

The risk John McCain took last Friday is comparable to the 72-year-old ex-fighter pilot knocking back two shots and flying his F-16 under the Golden Gate Bridge.

McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his co-pilot was the biggest gamble in presidential history. As of now, it is paying off, big-time.

The sensational selection in Dayton, Ohio, stepped all over the big story from Denver -- Barack Obama's powerful address to 85,000 cheering folks in Mile High Stadium, and 35 million nationally, a speech that vaulted him from a 2-point deficit early in the week to an 8-point margin. Barack had never before reached 49 percent against McCain.

As the Democrats were being rudely stepped on, however, Palin ignited an explosion of enthusiasm among conservatives, Evangelicals, traditional Catholics, gun owners and Right to Lifers not seen in decades.

By passing over his friends Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge, and picking Palin, McCain has given himself a fighting chance of winning the White House that, before Friday morning, seemed to be slipping away. Indeed, the bristling reaction on the left testifies to Democratic fears that the choice of Palin could indeed be a game-changer in 2008.

Liberals howl that Palin has no experience, no qualifications to be president of the United States. But the lady has more executive experience than McCain, Joe Biden and Obama put together.

None of them has ever started or run a business as Palin did. None of them has run a giant state like Alaska, which is larger than California and Texas put together. And though Alaska is not populous, Gov. Palin has as many constituents as Nancy Pelosi or Biden.

[kellynla]

"With his selection of Sarah Palin, John McCain has not only shaken up this election, he may have helped shape the future of the United States -- and much for the better."

[atc23]

I don't think McCain got the memo. Obama was not supposed to run opposed. The MSM is in full panic because this was supposed to be a coronation, not a contest.

If God is with us, who can be against us?

[period end of story]

...the biggest gamble in presidential history...

Let's hope it pays off: BIG TIME.

[johnthebaptistmoore]

Republicans have no chance of winning in both Houses of Congress? I truly hope that Pat, as well as many others predicting the same thing, are very wrong about this prediction! How about also truly doing all that can be done to successfully make the next Congress, as well as all future Congresses, very conservative from now on?

[dschapin]

Excellent article by Pat. The tide is turning folks.

[Snurple]

It will pay off big time, the Dens feel that cold tingly numbness at the base of their spine as evidenced by the vitriol unleashed on Palin and her family.... a mere VP candidate, The dems are done for and the smarter ones know it. The stupid ones ( or I should say...the mentally challenged ones) at KOS and DU will keep up the fight...but its pointless and they are to ignorant to see it. I think its hilarious.

[Hattie]

My dream. John McCain/Palin win the election. By executive order (ha) he slaps a fairness doctrine on MSNBC, NBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox news.......

This morning I turned on Squawk Box for the stock market show and they were playing video of Sarah Palin, talking about her 17 year old pg daughter. Turned it off.

[infowarrior]

The MSM is in full panic because this was supposed to be a coronation, not a contest.

Then it wasn't McCain who didn't get the memo, it was the MSM... WE THE PEOPLE don't particularly *like* our elections to be coronations, particularly the coronation of somebody not ready for prime time...

the infowarrior

[snarkytart]

You know Pat is correct. McCain took a big risk in picking Palin, but McCain is the underdog, and he has to take a risk.
I love his choice, and I too hope it pays off in the end.

[goldfinch]

The risk John McCain took last Friday is comparable to the 72-year-old ex-fighter pilot knocking back two shots and flying his F-16 under the Golden Gate Bridge.

Just for the record...the F-16 Falcon is an Air Force plane. I think McCain flew an A-4 Skyhawk...

[PGalt]

Very good article by Pat Buchanan. Thanks for posting.

[matthew fuller]

"In choosing Palin, McCain may also have changed the course of history as much as Ike did with his choice of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan did with his choice of George H.W. Bush. For should this ticket win, Palin will eclipse every other Republican as heir apparent to the presidency and will have her own power base among Lifers, Evangelicals, gun folks and conservatives -- wholly independent of President McCain. "

I cannot, in any way, enhance or improve the above statement. Very well done, Senator McCain.

[PharaohBamaGonna]

A caliphate, (from the Arabic خلافة or khilāfa), was the Islamic form of government representing the political unity and leadership of the Muslim world. The head of state's position (Caliph) is based on the notion of a successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad's political authority

As it will be written.
The Caliphate of Obama will not come to pass.
Barack Hussein Obama will return to the Windy City to find his Mojo Message, then reinvent himself like a seductive snake shedding it's skin.

"We don't need another hero, we don't need to know the way home"

[SAJ]

Of course he did. Buchanan is pretty shabby on details, always has been.

[cherry]

McCain had a great chance even before Sarah.....the polls were very close, Mr. Buchannon.....

but I agree.....SP is a powerful force.....

[Waco]

I was going to sit this one out. Now it looks like I’d have to stand in line all day to vote.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

"As the Democrats were being rudely stepped on, however, Palin ignited an explosion of enthusiasm among conservatives, Evangelicals, traditional Catholics, gun owners and Right to Lifers not seen in decades.... Indeed, the bristling reaction on the left testifies to Democratic fears that the choice of Palin could indeed be a game-changer in 2008. Liberals howl that Palin has no experience, no qualifications to be president of the United States. But the lady has more executive experience than McCain, Joe Biden and Obama put together. "

Those "bitter" voters in small towns who "cling" to guns and religion? Hillary was supposed to get them when Obama was ridiculing her as "Annie Oakley." She was doing shots with beer chasers to look like one of the boys. But who picks up more, Biden or Palin? Who gets more energized? Did the Dems make a fatal mistake by passing over Hillary for the VP spot?

[arthurus]

I would rather, so long as McCain wins the White House, that Republicans be slightly less than the Democrats in both houses of Congress. In the minority the Republicans in recent years have tamed the spending of the liberals and have stopped many of their excesses. When in the majority- in control- they have become wild spenders hauling money out of the treasury for themselves and their districts with both hands and a shovel. Republicans are lousy at Congressional majority.

[arthurus]

It looks like a risk but I don’t think there was much risk there at all. McCain had apparently had his people doing background-”vetting” on Sarah Palin for a long time and thoroughly. He knew how she would react to the scheissfall that would immediately occur from the bolsheviks. His risk was more that the MSM would congratulate her and then ignore her. That would have minimized her effectiveness altogether. That wasn’t much of a risk, though. MSM folks and bolshies are pathological.

[arthurus]

Palin would have made Mrs Clinton look like a bag lady. I doubt that her choice was influenced by Hussein’s NOT picking Mrs. Bill. I really don’t think anyone in McC’s organization ever considered Mrs. Bill to be a real possibility unless they really do consider Hussein to be Low Intelligence. Hussein surely understands snakes.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

His inexperience was more of a concern than defections from female Hillary supporters. But McCain was already doing well with older women.

[johnthebaptistmoore]

And exactly how are any conservative judicial appointees by a President McCain supposed to truly have any serious chances of actually happening, if leftists stay in the majority in the next U.S. Senate?

[arthurus]

They don’t have to be in a majority in the senate and there is no chance they will decline below the 40% necessary to veto judicial appointments. They have proven that they will use that status to stop Constitutionalist non-bolshevik judges. Republicans are more energetic and more effective in all conservative areas when they are “in opposition.” In the majority they are only concerned with “getting theirs.” I don’t want to see Republicans in the majority ever again or a Democrat President.

[BlueLancer]

"And exactly how are any conservative judicial appointees by a President McCain supposed to truly have any serious chances of actually happening, if leftists stay in the majority in the next U.S. Senate?"

Well, I look at this way: the ones that are on the brink of retiring are liberal justices ... if they go and are not replaced, that's a de facto increase in the percentage of conservative judges and shifts the balance on the court. Even with a majority in the Senate, the Democrats can't nominate justices; they can only provide their "advice and consent". So, if McCain nominates someone they don't like and the nominee is put on hold or voted down, it's still a net pick-up for the conservative portion of the court.

[arthurus]

The retiring liberals won’t be replaced by conservatives. So long as the Democrats are 40% in the senate= less actually, because two or three “RINOs” will vote with them- they willnot permit a conservative judge to be approved and McCain, rather than leave a seat empty will appoint a 2nd or 3rd pick who will be more what the Democrats want. At best we will get more Souters. If I thought he would leave a seat vacant before he would nominate a liberal, I would be more optimistic. There is no constitutional requirement that there be 9 Justices. There can be 1 or there can be 1000. I don’t think there is a Republican now living who would not keep naming less and less conservative Justices until he got one through. To change that “tradition” will require a Democrat president and a Republican congress unwilling to allow Liberal judges. The Democrat would leave a seat vacant. That won’t happen. Republicans offer token opposition then vote them through. The Stupid Party, remember? Republicans only do conservative things, especially with money, when they are in “opposition.” In the majority they just shovel my money and yours into their pockets and out the door.