Posted on 09/05/2008 2:33:30 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Nobody was more surprised by John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate than the people who run Barack Obama's campaign. "I can honestly say that we weren't prepared for that," says David Axelrod, Obama's top strategist. "I mean, her name wasn't on anybody's list. It was a surprise to a lot of Republicans as well."
Their shock was evident in their initial, clumsy reaction, a hard-hitting two-sentence statement from Obama spokesman Bill Burton that included this zinger: "Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency." Eighty-six minutes later, the campaign corrected course, issuing a second statement from both Obama and his running mate, Delaware Senator Joe Biden: "While we obviously have differences over how best to lead this country forward, Governor Palin is an admirable person and will add a compelling new voice to this campaign."
Later that afternoon, Obama, almost apologetically, explained the discrepancy: "You know campaigns start getting these hair triggers, and the statement that Joe and I put out reflects our sentiments." The do-si-do by the campaign reflects its initial uncertainty on how to deal with Palin, a rare moment of unsure footing for the usually flawlessly managed 19-month-old operation.
The dilemma the campaign has about the sudden emergence of this political superstar comes down to this: it can't possibly ignore her, but going after her directly could easily backfire. If anything, the past week has shown that Palin wears a similar coat of Teflon as Obama. Just as many of Obama's opponents suddenly found themselves accused of playing the race card, many of Palin's supporters have been quick to accuse Dems of outrageous sexism in the frontal assault on Palin's record and family.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
Another illustration of what the Obama administration would be like. Palin's name has been mentioned for months as a possible VP, albeit as an extremely dark horse. So how come the Obama team didn't have SOME type of file on her? "Her name wasn't on anybody's list?" It's been on FreeRepublic lists for months. Doesn't the vaunted Obama campaign have any kind of intelligence capability at all?
The DOD plans scenarios for all kinds of unlikely things. This guy wants to be Commander-in-Chief. How is it that nobody thought to do any research on Palin and develop at least the guts of a counter strategy, just in case?
This from the same guy who has at last been forced to acknowledge how utterly and arrogantly wrong he was about the Iraq War in general and the surge in particular.
Obama daily displays his managerial and decision-making incompetence. Too bad more people don't seem to notice.
Geeez, even I had Sarah Palin on the list! (Admittedly I thought McCain would take "Troopergate" as seriously as the MSM. Thumbs up for McCain about that!)
If Axelrod is that obtuse, we really have an excellent chance in November!
Clever. Very clever!!
Exactly my (unstated) points - he’s a whiny misogynist baby - or as El Rushbo calls him - whiny Man-Child.
Just goes to show that McCain is an outside the box thinker by picking Palin, while Obama and his team are not.
We're all proud that she put country first and even I, who loathes how McCain has let Washington transform him, will work our utmost to elect this ticket for this nation's and Sarah's sake.
I knew of her and knew her record, but had no idea about how well spoken she was until Wednesday night.
There are 80 fewer workers laughing at the Dallas Morning News today...
Nothing like a military man to apply the element of surprise.
Political jujitsu that may actually work. Congrat’s Mac.
On September 28th the Democrat party, placed into nomination for President of the United States of America, a self-promoting, community organizer, who embraced the Chicago political machine, and manipulated radical associations to advance his political career.
He managed to attach his name to a few pieces of legislation, without contributing much effort to the actual writing of the bills.
The impression is that being a minority socialist is a sufficient credential to receive the support and adoration of the left wing media, to be promoted to the office of President of the United States.
Yeah, Laura Ingraham and Newt Gingrich were on the radio telling us all to keep it under our hats. What a dope.
Good community organizers should be able to deliver good press releases. ;O)
Obama is finished thanks to Sarah...for now.
But one must remember the far-left extremists are dangerous,ruthless,powerfull and mendacious.Obama is,perhaps,their last ticket to national socialism this generation.So I believe that they will contrive an October Surprise on the last day of that month.Friday,Oct.31 at 3:00 PM,to be exact,the biggest lie in American history will flood the MSM outlets.
Borrowing from the experience of keeping secret until most effective to reveal,as in the Bush DUI story in 2000,and the technical skills to fabricate “documented” lies,as in Rathergate of 2004,a bogus bombshell will drop on Gov.Palin that Fall afternoon.It will be so bad and so soon before election day that McCain will dump Gov.Palin over the weekend and then Obama wins the following Tuesday.
Of course the truth will out and maybe even criminal prosecutions of the fraud will begin—until President Obama,on January 21,pardons everyone in the interest of healing and unity.There will then be calls for impeachment by the GOP minority-—”calls” the Dem majority will pooh pooh as partisan sourgrapes and with the “Fairness Doctrine” already imposed on all media nobody is even aware of the construction of the concentration camps.
What will the Oct,31 big lie be?
I think we will “find out” that Sarah Palin had a secret abortion when she was fourteen because her father would beat her even worse than ever if he found out.
Planned Parenthood will supply the “documents” and Katie Couric will “break” the story.
You know, the people that want royalty should move to countries that have royalty.
We Americans like our way.
It's amazing how well the McCain/Palin ticket contrasts to Obama/Biden. They put the rookie in charge. He talks about change but creates a bloated campaign staff of "experts" and picks an old party hack to bolster the ticket with someone who gives the appearance of experience. While McCain wisely chooses an outsider who can demonstrate a record of real reform and connects with mainstream America in a way that the Democrats can only dream of doing.
Is it any wonder why they can't get their message straight? They need to create a new game plan from the bottom up because McCain stole all their best stuff and he's making it work better than they could.
“I mean, her name wasn’t on anybody’s list..”
McCain you old warrior fox! Isn't the element of surprise one of the most basic cornerstones of war strategy?
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