Talk Elections

I have always wondered about this, I mean, shouldn't he have realized not to choose her when they talked?

never. I think they get along even now. Of course if you were to get McCain drunk, he might say something different.

When she did that Katic Couric interview. As did with Herman Cain, it was a self inflicted wound, as knowledge about foreign policy, wasn't good.

The instant she opened her mouth. My dad calls her the Second Coming of Dan Quayle. While I'm glad their loss reduced her to her current role of being the resident troll of American politics, sitting on the sideline and talking s*** about all the players on the field, it could have been worse. She could have been a breath away from the Presidency, and worse, she would have been President of the Senate. And she even displayed in an interview that she had no idea what that job involved.

If McCain would have won, I think that 2012 would have been a huge Democratic landslide. McCain would have been Bush's 3rd term, and as a result, the economy would have still been in free-fall four years later with an unemployment rate in the 20% range.

My father says that the best political cartoon he's ever seen ran on January 20, 1993: the day Clinton took office. It was all the cartoonists standing around a newspaper weeping and crying their eyes out. The headline: DAN QUAYLE LEAVES OFFICE

At the Convention.

I'd say the Katie Couric interview for sure, with the follow-up of her not being able to name a newspaper that she read to stay informed. That surely was the cherry on top of the cake.

Had McCain picked Lieberman he might have won.  He should have picked Lieberman and impressed upon the GOP the fact that picking Lieberman was the ONLY way to win in 2008. 

I am not convinced that Palin particularly hurt McCain.  Yes, she's an idiot, but "vetting" her would probably have only revealed that she had nothing going on that would lead to an indictment in September, 2008, or whether or not her husband was sleeping with another woman (neither of which were true).  "Vetting" doesn't really show how someone will perform at the next level, but despite her performance with Katie Couric, Palin continued to energize the GOP base on behalf of a candidate they weren't crazy about. 

I tend to believe that McCain was more put out over intra-campaign divisions Palin caused and enhanced moreso than any bad media performance.  The Katie Couric debacle didn't really cause many people to sour on McCain.  What sealed McCain's fate was the financial collapse, McCain's bumbling response to the financial collapse (suspending his campaign to "deal" with the financial collapse, then failing to present coherent ideas or being seen as "leading") had more to do with Obama sealing the deal than anything else.  Palin would have been a terrible President; indeed, she is, IMO, a terrible person.  She's dishonest, totally self-serving, and shameless.  But Palin would have been a great VP for McCain in the Spiro Agnew tradition.  Every moderate President needs a loyal VP to toss out the red meat to the base, and Palin could have done that well for 4 years.  Of course, under those circumstances, I'd be praying and fasting for McCain's continued good health and vigor, lest I lived to see Palin's Presidential inauguration.

Two words. Tina Fey. For a previously unknown SNL comedian to upstage a VP nominee from a major party is inexcusable, and shows what a bad pick Palin was.

Undoubtedly the convention and the Couric interview were factors as well.

I think Palin hurt the ticket. The electorate of 2008 was way different from the electorate in 1968. Anyone willing to consider Wallace / LeMay as good leaders / second in command in the free world would be impressed by a Spiro Agnew. On the other hand, anyone willing to entertain the idea of a President Obama would probably not be impressed by Palin. Personally, I thought Palin was a poor choice from the day she was announced, though plenty of people I knew felt she was a good choice.

On Election Night.

Well, the problem with Palin was that her great speech (it was!) at the RNC was overshadowed by 101 scandals like her husband being a member of the Alaska Independence Party, her daughter being Pregnant and not married, her supporting the bridge to nowhere, her basically having no foreign policy experience, troopergate.

Basically vetting is two stage-you want to the dirt on your pick and how to respond to it. Secondly you want to know that they'll be able to stand up under the pressure of a national campaign. IIRC correctly Mccain didn't pick Palin because they lost Lieberman-they picked her because they were losing really badly. They needed someone bold on the ticket rather than Romney or Pawlenty.

Tbh I think Joe Lieberman would have been just as bad-I mean the numbers didn't even show that he'd get a massive boost among independents because Joe was another old cranky war hawk after 8 years of Bush. No only would the conservatives piss themselves but it's just a paper tiger-like Kerry/Mccain in 2004

The Katie Couric interview exposed Palin's complete lack on knowledge on pertinent issues outside her home state of Alaska.

Not soon enough

After he lost.

Any effect she made on base turnout was neutralized by any effect she made on independents, and vice versa.

I don't think he feels it was a mistake. Sure, he lost; and many people blame her for it. However, you need to remember that the environment in 2008 was toxic for the GOP. McCain was going to lose big-time if he played it safe and went with Pawlenty, Romney, or Leiberman.

McCain needed a hail-mary pass, and Palin served that purpose. It failed, but hail-mary passes entail that risk.