Now let me get this straight: Sarah is a drag on the ticket, although she was recruited to re-energize the base, dramatically increase fundraising, solicit volunteers to GOTV, appeal to SC voters, solidify the evangelical and NRA vote, make McCain competitive in the swing states,enhance McCain’s fiscal conservative credentials, and appeal to working class voters and PUMA’s. Except for the last two Sarah performed pretty well in these areas. With respect to them I read somewhere (I can’t remember where) that Reagan Democrats vote Democratic in bad economic times and GOP in good economic times; with respect to PUMA’s I don’t know what happened there. But regarding McCain he did not do his job with these constitutencies: independents, moderates, liberation theology RC types and Hispanics. That’s where the election was lost. McCain let the team down.
Sarah Palin, as far as I’m concerned, walked lock step with McCain’s shamnesty agenda and the GOP did everything possible to keep that under wraps. While she may be conservative in other respects, adding her to the ‘team’ did nothing to change my mind.
I agree with your comments. McCain let the Republican Party down - but he has had a habit of doing that.
Yet, “for a brief shining moment,” after Sarah came on board the ticket was actually ahead in the polls. Then came September 15 and our Wall Street firecracker, Treasury Secretary Paulson, screams that the sky is falling. McCain, Bush, and part of the GOP agree - and Pelosi, Reid, and the Dims eagerly concur.
It was downhill after that.
Whoever wrote that seems to have forgotten that 1980 was a real bad economic time after Jimmy Carter. And 1984 was 'Morning in America' time. The Reagan Democrats voted for Reagan in both bad and good times.