Controversy over vetting could be part of clever GOP ploy

[slackmaster]

By John Marelius
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

September 4, 2008

If the two unquestioned inevitabilities in life are death and taxes, a third could be that when a presidential candidate picks a running mate hardly anybody has heard of, the news media are going to find out everything there is to know about that person....

...“The vetting controversy is a faux media scandal designed to destroy the first female Republican nominee for the vice president of the United States, who has never been a part of the old boys' network that has come to dominate the news establishment of this country,” said Steve Schmidt, senior member of the all-male McCain campaign high command.

So far, none of the issues raised about Palin seems likely to inflict serious or long-term damage....

...“This is part of a very clever strategy to lead the Democrats into a trap that will end up with them dumping on Governor Palin and paying a very heavy price,” Galen told the Associated Press....

Dead on.

Please see the full copyrighted article at http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20080904-9999-1n4notebook.html

[gateley]

1. I think this gives the Reps too much credit, although the result might be the same. nt

[slackmaster]

5. Don't sell them short - The frenzy of frenzies we've seen this week looks Rovian to me

They floated rumor after rumor that turned out not to be true, but each one spun up a tempest of controversy in the blogosphere.

The one about Sarah Palin's fifth child actually being that of her daughter.

The story about Sarah Palin's alleged affair, which had obvious flaws from the get-go.

The even managed to get "the list of books that Palin wanted to ban" posted on DU.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6924063

It's happening too frequently to be a coincidence.

[gateley]

17. You're right - but still, they're awfully stupid at times, too. nt

[endarkenment]

2. Oh bullshit. This is just their damage control over a massive screwup.

Palin, man, woman, or moose, is unqualified and an inappropriate choice. McCain has demonstrated rash judgement here and his actions make a compelling argument that he is unfit to serve.

[TwilightGardener]

3. Um--MOST of the issues raised about Miss Mooseburgers will do damage.

Disagree with this article--it's another one of those "no matter what, it will hurt Democrats" pieces of drivel designed to scare Dems from ever attacking Repubs.

[slackmaster]

6. Most of the tabloid rumors have fallen flat on their faces, and they keep coming

As for Mooseburgers, either you are OK with eating them or you are not. There is no controversy there.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[slackmaster]

10. Which Enquirer story are you referring to?

Her alleged affair, or the really shocking one about getting into a big argument with her pregnant, unmarried teenage daughter?

:eyes:

[TwilightGardener]

11. Uh, oh, someone has a crush on Miss Mooseburgers! Looks like the GOP plan

to dangle a hot piece of meat in front of the male vote is working!!

[slackmaster]

12. That's just plain stupid, wienerdoggie

Pearls before swine.

[Ian David]

4. ...

[slackmaster]

7. ZING!

Go bolts.

[Kablooie]

8. I thought this before but I've changed my mind.

It seems McCain has a history of making surprising snap decisions.
It's his style. This seems to be one of those.
I hope he doesn't get a chance to make a snap decision about using nukes.
Brrr.

[torbird]

13. Oh COME ON!

Let me see if I have this right: whenever something happens to the Democrats, it's dastardly Rovian tactics at work. And whenever the Republicans make a massive screw-up, it's dastardly Rovian tactics at work.

Well, then. That's clear.

WHY do some of my fellow Dems insist that everything is attributable to a conspiracy? Everything. Palin, who is not some secret weapon superhuman, but an obviously deeply-flawed choice for VP, is suddenly at the center of a be-all end-all master plan from the Republicans to discredit Democrats??? Oh, PLEASE!! Somebody explain how making your own VP pick look like crap for a whole week (and not just ANY week, but during your own convention), and also making your nominee for president look like an idiot for a whole week is going to blow back on the Democrats? I'm sorry, but did WE pick this person? Did WE break laws in Alaska? Did WE repeatedly lie to the press, to investigators, and just last night to the RNC? I really am sorry...for the conspiracy-pushers on this board. This is beyond asinine at this point.

When confronted with a question that has more than one solution, the simpler solution is almost always correct.

Palin is either the center of an obscure, massive, secret operation to ?somehow? make us look bad, or else she really is just a poor choice for VP. I'll take the latter, thank you.

[slackmaster]

14. Did you read the article I posted?

Sounds like you are overgeneralizing a bit.

Palin is either the center of an obscure, massive, secret operation to ?somehow? make us look bad, or else she really is just a poor choice for VP.

Those positions are not by any means mutually exclusive, and the operation to make Democrats look bad is rather shallow and obvious.

The sad thing is, it's working.

[TheWraith]

15. It's not clever, and it's not a ploy. It's just a massive fuckup.

People, quit overthinking this. It's blatantly obvious why they picked Palin: they assumed women would blindly flock to vote for the first penis-free candidate they saw. All the other bullshit, the charges of sexism, the idea that we can't criticize her because she's a woman, is all rooted around that same basic tactic. They're gambling and losing, here.

[slackmaster]

16. GOP is not so stupid as to think Hillary supporters would go for a conservative Christian

It's blatantly obvious why they picked Palin: they assumed women would blindly flock to vote for the first penis-free candidate they saw.

No, they picked her to shore up support among their conservative bases. They're not trying to appeal to moderates or independents. They think they can win by going far to the right.

McCain is viewed by the far right as a flip-flopper on issues like abortion.

All the other bullshit, the charges of sexism, the idea that we can't criticize her because she's a woman, is all rooted around that same basic tactic. They're gambling and losing, here.

I hope they are losing, but just to be sure I suggest that we all strive to keep our "inner sexist" at bay.

Focus on real issues, not inherently sexist tabloid stories.

The "Asked a librarian about how to censor books" story may have some real substance, if it turns out to be true. My adivce is to focus on that kind of thing, and her well-documented positions on issues like abortion.

[TheWraith]

19. Actually, they are exactly that stupid.

Look at the number of women who went out and supported Hillary first and foremost because she was a woman. She wasn't anti-war, she wasn't particularly liberal (at least, not after having spent years running to the right), and she wasn't mounting the kind of crusade-like campaign that Kucinch or Edwards were for some cause like impeachment or poverty.

The Republicans just grossly underestimated the insult that they'd send to Hillary and her supporters by trying to poach them with Caribou Barbie.

[That Guy 888]

18. The first thing I thought of when I read that was Pee-Wee's Big Adventure

Pee-wee: [falls off bike after attempting tricks] I meant to
do that!