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Eagleton Chatter

By Robert Stacy McCain on 9.3.08 @ 12:20AM

Allahpundit at Hot Air notes murmurs of an Eagleton-like dumping of Sarah Palin, from Joshua Green and Ben Smith, overlooking my own categorical statement on the subject:

At this point, McCain and the Republicans cannot win by backing away from Palin. The choice of a running mate doesn't allow for second chances, as Democrat George McGovern discovered in 1972. Having made his bet, the maverick must play out the hand.

Rick Davis and Steve Schmidt surely know this. Team Maverick holds the high ground, and ought to defend it fiercely. The worst scandal attached to Palin so far is the effort to have her ex-brother-in-law fired from the state police and this was a matter where (to quote Allah), "she's morally right even if she's ethically wrong."

I still maintain that the McCain campaign mishandled the news about Palin's daughter -- the Palins should have been warned to go public with that before the announcement -- but a P.R. blunder is not a scandal. If Palin performs well in her Wednesday speech, that will change the subject, and the campaign can move forward from there. But there's absolutely nothing to be gained by dumping her at this point, and GOP spokesmen ought to speak very forcefully in ruling that out.

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