Lehman's Fall and Palin Pick Did McCain In

IBD ^ | 11/6/08 | Charles Krauthammer

[Blackhawk73]

In my previous life, I witnessed far more difficult postmortems. This one is easy:

The patient was fatally stricken on Sept. 15 — caught in the rubble when the roof fell in (at Lehman Bros., according to the police report) — although he did linger until his final, rather quiet demise on Nov. 4.

[ameagle]

Kraut is an elitist. He's good sometimes, but he believes his own press. You are clueless with the types of Politicians that down to earth, patriotic Americans relate to. Even semi liberal Greta Van Susteren relate to the Palins. Those of you who attempt to paint the Palin’s as outside of mainstream American need to shut it.

McCain deserved our support. But that support is sooo 2008. Sarah Palin is sooo 2012.

When you and your ilk diss her, you are dissing us. So just stop. You need to be going negative on B Hussein Obama. Not Sarah Patriot Palin. You don't like her? You mock her and her family? Get lost...because you are a loser if you would DARE to go negative on Sarah Palin - A Reagan Conservative.

What we need is a organized on-line, yes...On-Line organization to defend the Great Sarah Palin from liars. Someone needs to coordinate Sarah Defenders as volunteers to defend her and her family's great name. We need to shut down liars like you.

[org.whodat]

I have seen at least six polls that show that Sarah Palin, who I like, just isn’t appreciated by the masses as much as she is by you and I.

Bingo, seems many don't like the polling results so they are making up there own. Sort of how we got sold the ideal that mccain could win. The liberals in the media were the ones pushing that line, setting up the weakest person to run against their candidate.

[JasonC]

Barclay's bought them, in case you missed it. The question was always the bond holders, everyone knew Barclay's would buy in bankruptcy or after, and would only do the "in" with bondholders ahead of them if those were made whole. It wasn't Lehman, for the millionth time, but the third of the world that lent to them or dealt with them. And the cost of telling them "tough toenails" was $10 trillion, and counting. Because they simply will protect themselves, and that means no one on the planet has any credit at all.

[reasonisfaith]

There is no rational argument that Palin was a bad choice. Krauthammer, I demand you start using the rational method. It has worked well for all of western civilization during the past few millenia. You have no excuse. The question, what is your motive?

Krauthammer, I have been watching you. You are not what you pretend to be, and this article proves it beyond any doubt. I have seen your comments on the forgotten news channel, time and again your true beliefs have shown through like sewage flushed into virgin waters. You trashed Fred Thompson at a time when the only possible motive was that you didn’t want him to be the presidential nominee.

The liar is discovered in time and the fool basks in plain sight, from dawn to dusk. Corruption drowns both while their hearts bleed in vain.

Palin took on the corrupt in her own party, against the odds, and won—giving her the highest possible victory that can be achieved by a politician. (Krauthammer, crank up your brain a little and you’ll understand.) This obliterates the argument that she lacked experience—the problem was McCain didn’t advertise it well enough. The “she lacks experience” cliché was only given legs by the lying, biased, sinister media. You lie with them.

[mrsmith]

You both ignore the media. That argument was marginalized from the start. Obama was 'qualified', he was portrayed that way and was going to be portrayed that way no matter what. McCain being 'more' qualified was not important.

McCain's only mistake with Palin was that her nomination was too late.
The enthusiasm for her was needed for contributions, registration and building the 'ground game'.
(which is where Obama won the election)
She also needed more time to prepare for her national role and to recover from the media attacks- to define herself.

Thus McCain erred in choosing her- but he had no choice: he had to get the base on board. Other VPs would have failed in other ways- worse ways probably.
However choosing her was not an error in any way that Charlie or anyone else is claiming.

[freekitty]

And listening to his you know what friends.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

I won’t quote you because I don’t appreciate the term that you used, but McCain did himself in by being a democrat running in the republican party. Said it all along.

[SalukiLawyer]

Obama's inexperience and unreadiness to lead was never a strong argument against him, and C.K. should get it. He was the candidate of "Change" and "Hope" and "Yes We Can." He was a vessel who purposely kept himself empty of real ideas so the weaker among us could project their dreams and desires upon him. No intellectual argument about qualifications was going to overcome the emotional pull of a chance to reject Bush and "change" the country, even the world. This was not a job hire where the best resume was going to win. It was an opportunity to participate in "history" by electing the first black president.

On that basis alone, Gov. Palin had nothing, zero, to do with it. She was a plus to what I realize now, was a doomed ticket. The elitists will never admit that, nor miss the opportunity to savage the kind of Republican they find embarrassing.

This is not about experience, it is about elitism. The woman's a breeder. A hunter. A Christian, and not the tolerable Episcopalian kind. The talks with a funny accent. She "simply isn't one of us." Most of us aren't "one of us," though. That's what the pundits will never understand because they live in a bubble of snobbery, whether they realize it or not.

We are stuck in a party that despises us, in the true sense of the word. A few dozen snobby intellectuals command the television airwaves to articulate the GOP world view for all of us, and we don't get a say. We're so A.M. radio, listening to Rush in our pickup trucks as we go to Wal Mart to buy grandma a new Bible and a shotgun. Don't you get it? We embarrass them. They are happy to take our money, and use our votes, but how dare one of us actually take to the political stage!

I am sick of the GOP and the oh-so-superior attitude of our party masters. I will not support another Republican candidate who is not conservative. All other considerations aside, it doesn't work. And if it did, I don't see much of a difference anymore.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

This house of cards was going to fall some time. Having the treasury force some sort of shotgun wedding between Lehman and Barclays before bankruptcy would only have put off the inevitable.

If W or Bernanke or Paulson had any real cred they would have warned us about the MBS and CDS credit bubble one or two years ago. The market would have tanked earlier and would now be on the upswing as McCain was being welcomed as the next president.

Instead they suppressed the M3 money supply and put their heads in the sand just like W did when he kept Rummy around until after the Republicans took heavy losses in '06.

Timing is everything.

[theymakemesick]

The ONLY reason I voted McCain is because of Sarah P. and Supreme Court justices, PERIOD.

[JasonC]

You are unwilling to admit even the possibility of error on the part of your puritanical stupid ideology. That is why you have no power. You don't deserve any. I want you run out of my party on a rail, but in default of that I'll settle for you never having power again. I'll be fine regardless. When you make up your mind and admit that no, losing $10 trillion really isn't just OK in the name of your idiotic desire for puritanical consistency, rational men might bother paying the slightest attention to you. Until then, you are a rock, not a man, and nothing that happens in the real world can penetrate your skull. Making you a political liability and a useless human being.

[reasonisfaith]

Palin didn’t fail. McCain did.

Think about Palin’s accomplishments as governor. They weren’t discussed as a campaign issue. McCain failed to advertise them. What in the hell can they say about that? Nothing. Nobody has anything on Palin. I say take your whining and go back to mama, crybabies.

McCain is as bad as I thought, during the primaries.

[gotaz]

I am active duty military (Navy Senior Chief). I have always admired Senator McCain’s patriotism and willingness to buck his party for issues he believed even if I did not agree with his opinion. I was thrilled when he selected Governor Palin as a running mate. I also have traditionally voted Democratic and was a strong Hillary Clinton supporter. Sarah Palin was one of the main reasons I voted Republican this year after contributing the the Hillary Clinton campaign during the primaries.

I am VERY ANGRY and DISAPPOINTED over the the recent smears ....

Governor Palin rallied the Republican base and as a former Hillary voter, she inspired me. She made me rethink my pro-choice opinion. She brought her son out on stage every bit the strong leader and proud mother. She walked the walk of her convictions! She dared us to question his right to life in a way that no other presidential candidate has ever done. This is the real reason that the liberal media and others have attacked the Governor in such a rabid manner. She made us question choices that we have made or supported in the past. She made us question what has always been the baseline for feminism. Should pro-choice really be the basis for feminism? Can we still support equal rights, equal pay and other “everywoman” issues such as childcare, healthcare, and maternity leave? Will we be taken seriously if we put emphasis and focus on the later? Or will we be seen as weak?

Governor Palin did not hang her head in shame over her daughters choices. Instead, she did a very difficult thing...She supported her daughter and showed the world that she did not want her daughter to hang her head in shame or hide away. She wants her to take responsibility for her actions and choices. She wants her to embrace life. She did what every good leader and parent in America does...adapt, improvise and OVERCOME!! That is real life. Real life happens. Our job as parents and leaders is teach our young to keep rolling with the punches and still succeed. Life does not have a perfect play book. We roll with the punches but we learn from our choices that were perhaps not the best planned. In fact, the best lifes lessons are most often those that we learn the hard way. They can also ultimately bring the most joy!

Governor Palin emboided leadership, motherhood and feminism in a way that is very often difficult to master. Trust me this is difficult...try maintaining a sense of your female self, control your nuturing instinct and train young men (and women) to go into battle. It is not easy to compartmentalize. Yet Governor Palin does this compartmentalizaton, leads her state and still retains her feminity. Which is what essentially angers so many Americans. Men do not like to be led by a woman that they are also attracted too...that is a simple fact. Women are jealous of strong female leaders that still retain their feminity, also a simple fact. It makes us rethink our own sense of self-worth and rethink what we have been told our whole lives. We are told that we can have it all but we get angry at those who actually do because most of us have had to compromise some part of ourselves to succeed...Governor Palin did not. She is an example of how you can be strong, in charge and still have a family. Something that many career women who have made other choices secretly resent.

[thinkbevoyouspeak]

This election was over 6 weeks ago. Some were blinded for a week after Palin was picked, but in the end, everything Krauthammer says in his analysis is correct. He isn’t bashing Palin - he is being honest.

[thinkbevoyouspeak]

Isn’t it obvious after losing 2-1 WITH the base showing up that the base might not be enough anymore? Maybe what constitutes the base and what the base attracts is the problem...

[reasonisfaith]

“She was a plus to what I realize now, was a doomed ticket.”

It was doomed from the beginning. (What did Washington do to John McCain?)

[justa-hairyape]

Without Sarah, this election would have been over 6 weeks ago.

In his concession speech, McCain called Sarah one of the best campaigners he had ever seen. I guess McCain's own analysis of her abilities means little to the Palin bashers. She was McCains pitbull and his fundraiser. You cannot do any better then that for a campaign. McCains decision to stop his campaign and fly back to Washington to support the Elitist bailout plan was just plain stupid. Sometimes doing whats best for your country means doing what is best for you.

[Atticus]

If we had a fair and honest press in this country McCain and Palin would have won handily.

[Question_Assumptions]

Had the issues stayed on energy with high oil prices, Sarah Palin could have talked energy and recovered from those bad interviews. Had the media reported on Sarah Palin’s achievements in Alaska, her efforts against corruption in her own party, her dealings with the oil companies, and her bipartisanship, she wouldn’t have looked like an empty suit or a bad choice and had the media made a fair comparison with Obama, the experience argument would have still been there. The biggest problem was McCain’s “fundamentals are strong” statement followed by his campaign suspension, not talking about Obama’s roll in the economic crisis and how it played out, and letting the media do a hatchet job on Sarah Palin without fighting back.

[Snurple]

If we had a fair and honest press in this country McCain and Palin would have won handily.

Boy you said a mouthful there, absolute truth if there ever was any.