The American Spectator

M. Tobias| 11.6.08 @ 2:26PM

Just one little point here. What swing voters? John McCain was doomed by his own campaign. It wouldn't have mattered who he put up. His vanilla campaign convinced no one. Without Palin, or some other personable, articulate Conservative, he was doomed. He should have turned up the reverb on his speeches as Obama did.

Crusader| 11.6.08 @ 3:42PM

Look, the bottom line is this election has me convinced the amerikan people are just plain stupid. They worried more about how much $ Sarah's clothes cost than Joe Biden telling them there will be a "generated crisis" and you need to "support us in your communities" because our reaction "won't seem right at the time." I mean what is more important, Sarah's heels or Joe forecasting a terrorist attack followed by martial law?

Rebecca Mansour| 11.6.08 @ 3:46PM

What's truly extraordinary is that Sarah Palin was expected to both solidify McCain's support among the social conservative base and also attract disenfranchised liberal women who voted for Hillary. Gee, that's simple! No tall order there! Anything else they needed her to do?

Captain America| 11.6.08 @ 4:10PM

How could you even remotely consider Palin a "net drag on the ticket?"

She consistently outdrew McCain at campaign events. Her RNC acceptance speech was the most highly watched in history, as was her appearance on SNL.

My God, you people really need to get a clue. Gov. Palin is the only positive thing that came out of McCain's lame campaign. She didn't lose it for him, he did that himself.

Dave Mace| 11.6.08 @ 4:26PM

Hey, don't blame Sarah for the loss. If you are asking this question in D.C. you are looking in the wrong direction. Turn and face West. Ask the rest of the country. They know. With grace and charm Governor Palin took on the very difficult task given her. In spite of the most bitter and cruel personal attacks by the opposition party and by some very insulting digs from wags within her own party, she remained optimistic and genuine. The evidence is at the rallies where she spoke. There was a real connect taking place between this newcomer and the electorate. With Sarah, McCain suffered a respectable loss on Tuesday. Without Sarah, an election debacle of major proportions might have taken place. Too bad the rest of the country was caught up in the hype of the opposition candidate who is bright and charismatic but totally untested. I am very sorry that our nation missed out on having Sarah as Vice President. She would have been an amazing ambassador of goodwill from America to the world.

Dave Mace, Birmingham, Alabama

Krimia River| 11.6.08 @ 5:54PM

> I think we have to remember where John McCain was before he
> picked her. He had a serious base problem and enthusiasm gap.

Yes, he looked like the 2008 version of Bob Dole -- the guy whose turn it was to be the party's sacrificial lamb in a hopeless election almost entirely because of his seniority and war service, that it was his "turn".

Unfortunately, whoever was the braintrust for the campaign didn't have the imagination to realize that Palin really was a huge game-changer, and that they needed to adjust almost everything accordingly in a big way to make the most of all she brought, or could have brought, to the ticket. Instead, they just pretty much plodded along to the inevitable conclusion with only minor course changes, almost as if she didn't matter that much after all. It was totally puzzling, like they were stuck inside their little campaign bubble, which they'd fixed in cement back during the Spring. This was indicative of a general inability to be nimble and adjust to rapidly changing conditions.

Trurl| 11.6.08 @ 7:58PM

I don't know how representative I am of anything but I absolutely would have voted for Bob Barr just on Libertarian principle (even though IMHO he was kind of a lousy candidate as well) were it not for Palin. When people asked me who I voted for I would say "Sarah Palin and her running-mate."

Craig Goodrich| 11.7.08 @ 5:57AM

The idea that Mrs. Palin was a drag on the ticket is completely in keeping with the delicately objective analysis of The New York Times and CNN. She was the only one of the four candidates with a record of positive accomplishment in her political career -- neither of the Democrats had any accomplishments at all, and McCain's record is one of "maverick" support for dreadful ideas.

As to Barr -- I'm a libertarian, but if I have to choose between a Republican and a Republican, I'll pick the Republican...

Smarlinghue| 11.7.08 @ 9:57AM

"I have no idea whether the less flatterring bits about Sarah Palin's knowledge are true, though I do know that her lack of preparedness made these accusations believable."

I find it astonishing that any journalist, much less one at this publication, could write that second clause. It's believable that she thought Africa was a country? Are you serious?

Dude, you need to take a tip from the Buddhists, stand underneath a waterfall, and chant some sutras. It focuses the mind, and you might actually start thinking about what you're saying instead of slinging words together.