Posted on 09/11/2008 4:45:34 AM PDT by BibChr
This has become the first (mirabile dictu) well-run GOP Presidential campaign in recent memory. But I do hope they're preparing for two major eventualities which could become derailing distractions.
Not long ago, I would have said "well-run GOP Presidential campaign" had become an oxymoron. And I'd never have guessed that I'd be applying the phrase to anything related in any way to John McCain, who was about my 479th pick out of the GOP field. But give the man his due: this has become a well-oiled, disciplined, focused machine. The selection of Palin was a daring act of sheer brilliance.
But now two threats loom, and I dearly hope Team McCain is ready to counter both.
First, I'm increasingly worried that Obama is going to throw Biden under the bus, and beg Hillary! to save him. His ego craves the offices, so he'd have something to write about in his next memoir. Her ego craves power, so she'd do it. The only question is whether Biden's ego would allow it.
So Team McCain must be pro-active. Here's one way:
The key was laid down by another non-favorite of mine, Rudy Giuliani. We all admit he gave a terrific speech at the Convention. In that speech, Giuliani traced out a number of Obama reverse-courses and fliop-flops.
Then he said: "Well, I’ll tell you, if I were Joe Biden, I’d want to get that V.P. thing in writing."
That's it. That's the key. We need to frame this that, if Biden is off the ticket for any reason, it's yet another disastrous Obama flip-flop.
Because never forget: we all love the Biden choice. He's the gift that keeps on giving.
So they have to get signs, slogans, and spokesmen all over the place saying, "Obama's in big trouble. Who is he going to sacrifice now to save himself? Is he going to throw Biden under the bus, and beg Hillary to save him? Is he that desperate, and that aware of his unfitness to serve?"
We need to make that a meme.
Thanks, Rudy.
Second, Team McCain needs to ready further for attacks on Palin's religious faith.
I can be briefer here, because I've written on it elsewhere. First, I laid out the premise, and gave a number of questions that she is almost sure to be asked by bloodthirsty LSM sharks.
Then I added to that list.
Then I gave a two-part detailed suggestion as to how she should think about and approach the situation: Part One; Part Two.
Of course, those are my suggestions, and wiser minds can improve on them.
My point is they need to be ready. Don't do the Huckabee, oh-my-gosh-I-had-no-idea-I'd-get-questions-like-this thing. That'd be a disaster.
I disagree with you here.
No way is Hillary going to want to jump in now.
Firstly, too many of her supporters HATE Obama and they'd have to also vote for him, in order to vote for her.
Secondly, if Hillary were VP and they pulled off a win in November, the Dem's would be in such bad shape by 2012, that Hillary would never, ever get a chance to run for President again (she'd be too old by the time the Dem's have another shot, given what a four-year, Obama-lead Presidency would do to this country).
Thirdly (and lastly), Obama would look like a huge pu**y if he changed his running mate right now. The only people who would not switch to McCain/Palin would be the one's who would never switch in the first place. And there's no way he's going to get 50% (or close) that way.
On the religious front, I am pretty sure that the campaign doesn't want to go there, because of Jeremiah, the bullfrog.
Time will tell, of course, but I agree that this campaign appears to be doing a good job and I am willing to let them go with it (rather than calling me for my brilliant advice!)
No, not really. But whatever.
COLORADO AND NEVADA
COLORADO AND NEVADA
COLORADO AND NEVADA
Fourthly, Hillary will not take the VP candidacy because it eliminates her main weapon(and defense), “victimhood”! She would no longer be able to use it were she to run against a woman. It is one of the reasons she has not attacked Palin while stumping for zer0bama.
One question that needs to be asked is why Baraq Hussein Obama is running so hard against the VP candidate? Is it because he just doesn't measure up to McCain?
Expect the dims to get much deeper in the gutter - that's their habitat.
I agree. I don’t think Hillary wants anything really to do with the Obamanation. She’s looking at 2012.
“Thirdly (and lastly), Obama would look like a huge pu**y if he changed his running mate right now.”
He looks like a huge pu**y right now. No need for waiting on that!
Believers are mocked (if not too publicly at election time). Sen. Barack Obama's behind-closed-doors remark in San Francisco to the effect that worried blue-collar chumps cling to God and guns perfectly captured the left's worldview, equating faith and firearms as equal menaces to an enlightened society.
Then along came Palin to appall the establishment - a moose-hunting Christian with a working-class husband, the precise stereotype Obama had mocked. The media's attacks on her since her nomination have been the most unfair I've ever seen.
But even given that you're right, Obama has so few original ideas of his own that I can easily see him saying to himself, "That game-changing thing of McCain's was cool. I want some of that. Let's see... who to pick? Who to pick?"
We'll never regret being prepared for the worst. Agreed?
But, whatever.
You sure that “Savior” doesn’t appeal to her even more than “Victim”? I know it’s a big thing to Dems these days... but I’m not so sure.
There are ramifications to just dropping a VP candidate. The delegates have officially nominated both of them, by name, so it isn't just a matter of Obama shoving Biden over for Hillary. I am not sure of the exact procedure (it is pretty unprecedented), but it would -- at the very least -- involve the DNC changing some rule, some how. That, in and of itself, would be a spectacle.
That is an column, and very apropos. Thanks for it.
Well hell yeah. Look at all the questions Obama's gotten and the flack he's taken over Wright? You think the Democrats are just going to roll over and leave Palin's church out of it? They're thinking payback.
Things that would humiliate and ruin a conservative Republican don't even cross a Dem's radar screen. So — gosh, we could just let our imagination roam. Biden could say he knew he wasn't helping the campaign, the issues are too important, McCain too dangerous, he loves America too much, yadda yadda yadda — and so, for the good of This Great Country, and the wonderful Obamessiah, he will fall on his sword to make way for a much better and visionary candidate, blah blah blah.
We'll never be prepared if we think the Dems will be fair or rational.
If the last sixteen years have taught me anything, they've taught me this: power means more to Dems than anything in the universe.
She can’t ‘save’ her party if she can’t defeat her opposition. Without the shield of ‘victim’, she is toast. Just look at how she played that card against Lazio. She won’t be able to pull that crap against Palin.
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