Stacey Abrams is the Democrats’ Sarah Palin

The Washington Post ^ | May 19, 2020 | Marc A. Thiessen

[fwdude]

Stacey Abrams is running a less-than-subtle campaign to be Joe Biden’s vice-presidential running mate. Republicans should hope she succeeds. If selected, she would displace Sarah Palin as the least-qualified person ever to serve on a major-party ticket.

Biden should understand this, because he saw firsthand how much damage Palin’s selection did to then-Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the Republican presidential nominee in 2008. Preelection polls showed that 6 out of 10 Americans said Palin was not qualified for the job, and a Stanford University study found that she cost McCain more than 2 million votes.

[DarthVader]

ROFLMAO!!! +1000!!

[KC_Lion]

It is just awful! >:(

[KC_Lion]

Thank You a little elbow grease!

That means so much!

[JerseyDvl]

I suppose that Nancy Pelosi would have to call Abrams “morbidly obese”.

[Rockingham]

Steve Schmidt had an undistinguished record as a GOP campaign strategist, but he developed enough in the way of personal connections to attain a key position in McCain's dysfunctional campaign. Although Schmidt is a snake, my guess is that as to Palin, Schmidt was taking direction from McCain, who in turn often relied on campaign advice from his supposed pals in the news media.

The epic failure of the McCain campaign and Schmidt's inglorious role in it put an end to his career as a GOP consultant. A friend of mine who was hired for McCain's general election campaign described its epic disorganization and the astonishing scene every Sunday as a couple of dozen of McCain's campaign paladins and senior NRC strategists gathered at his palatial ranch in northern Arizona, with McCain at the head of the table.

The strategy meeting was usually held at the outdoor barbecue pavilion, with a meal and drinks beforehand catered by McCain family servants. The campaign staff and attendees might begin the meeting in a structured manner, but they were soon diverted by McCain asking for more detail, posing questions, and launching into jokes and stories of war and politics.

Every weekend, the result was a constant backlog of campaign management issues unaddressed and decisions unmade, which McCain might (or might not) take up chaotically during the ensuing week. One does not need a graduate degree in psychology to recognize that was how McCain wanted things, vainly and foolishly maximizing his role in the management of his campaign.

Due to character flaws, McCain sabotaged his campaign, but he contrived to have the glory of making some of the best GOP talent available sitting at his feet, awaiting his favor. As for Palin, I think that, initially, McCain liked her maverick ways. Soon though, he soured on Palin due to the enthusiastic GOP grassroots approval of her as injecting new life into a flagging campaign effort. And so, from McCain to Schmidt to Wallace, the order went out to serve Palin up to the news media.

[thinden]

palin should have been on top of the ticket & mcturd off the ticket, imo

[KC_Lion]

The Double Standard is the only one Pelosi has.

[jonrick46]

I think Sarah Palin’s “Going Rogue,” said nothing to put McCain as the cause of her sabotage. It was Schmidt who had ultimate control over the “B Team.” He waged so much control over Sarah Palin, it destroyed her positive contribution to the campaign. Schmidt did nothing to destroy the attacks against her. The prank call Sahah took from a impostor of French President Nicolas Sarkosy, was a good example. It was a prank that even Schmidt would have fell for. But he used it as his final straw: “As Schmidt’s rant blazed on, I pictured cell towers between D.C. and Florida bursting into flame.” It was the final event that revealed Schmidt’s hyper efforts to control Sarah Palin was a sign of his own incompetent management style. Soon afterwards, her team staffer, Jason Recher, announces that, “Someone from headquarters was calling to tell the B Team to “put her back in the truck!” I am sure it came from Schmidt who blamed everything that went wrong on Sarah Palin and when she needed his support, did nothing.

If Sarah Palin were the VP pick for someone like Donald Trump, The campaign challenges would have been handled. Sarah’s attacks would have been countered. She would have attracted huge rallies and guaranteed a landslide victory.

[miserare]

How about Trump-Palin this November?

[miserare]

Wicked funny!

[miserare]

You're killing me. 😜😱🐄

[luvie]

It’s an insult to Sarah and not even close to the truth.

The truth is, WE voted for Sarah, not McLame! Sheesh!

[Rockingham]

After the 2008 campaign, Palin and McCain seemed to have had the good sense to avoid taking shots at each other. As to the main point, why would Schmidt have risked a lucrative, prized role in McCain's campaign and his career in GOP consulting to torpedo Palin during the campaign unless it was at McCain's initiative?

There are standard, well-tested tactics for coping with VP candidate defects: intense coaching; limiting exposure to the news media; well-designed and controlled campaign events that put the candidate in a good light; one or more keepers who are always with the candidate to keep them on track; and strong support from the campaign and the top of the ticket. Why weren't these approaches used with Palin?

I think that the vain, jealous, and mercurial McCain secretly turned on Palin and set Schmidt the task of tearing her down. I am unaware of any postelection criticism from McCain as what Schmidt and Nicole Wallace did to Palin.

[x]

Maybe they just weren’t that good at their jobs. Maybe they didn’t like her and she got on their nerves. Or maybe Palin wasn’t that good at taking direction. If she was determined to do things her way was there all that much that the staff could do to stop her? Trying to destroy your own running mate is too over the top even for McCain. Palin was shaky and uncertain early on, so it wasn’t like McCain would have been jealous of her when the country was still trying to make up its mind about her.

[Rockingham]

In the abstract, your suggestions are plausible, yet they seem inadequate as explanations for how Palin was treated. On the other hand, McCain’s life was marked by episodes of carelessness, impulsivity, self-indulgence, and stupid misconduct. While wrecking your own VP running mate is over the top, it seems like something that McCain might do.

[jonrick46]

Great analysis. When Sarah Palin never exposed NcCain’s underhanded treatment of her, it revealed the greatness of her character. You will remember that Sarah Palin was never invited to McCain’s funeral. Sarah’s interview with Piers Morgan gives an insight to what I have considered the effort to “get the crap beat out of me” (her words) by the snakes in the GOP, like Schmidt, throughout the campaign and afterwards. She describes the non-invite to the funeral as a “gut punch” that she believes came from others and not McCain himself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TetyhaG1f8

[Nateman]

The funny thing is that if Creepy Joe picked Palin it would increase his chance of winning which is why Sarah would turn him down.

[Rockingham]

As Catholics, the McCain family ought to have put aside any hostility toward Palin. In the traditional form of Last Rites, the recipient is called on to forgive his enemies, and while the modern Catholic funeral is solemn, it also has an element of celebration in that the deceased is commended to eternal life and the joy of Heaven as a faithful Catholic. A punitive attitude toward Palin conflicted with the point of a Catholic funeral.

[gundog]

Mine was one. I’d given up on Juan.