It's Not the Pregnancy. It's the Vetting.

I'm curious... how much of a story would this all be if Sarah Palin were a man?  I think her husband ought to come out and say that he'll raise both Trig and Bristol's baby while she serves as VP.  I don't see what the Left would have to complain about then.

A fully vetted and clearly qualified VP choice would help the voters to stay focused on differences in policy and leadership between the presidential candidates.    McCain himself  has stressed  the  importance of  a VP candidate ready to lead on day one.  Obama  has spent over a year talking with voters, responding well in  tough interviews and debates, and running the most effective campaign from either party to convince people he has the skills and judgement  needed.  With Palin,  it feels like watching a contestent in a fall reality show "An American President" where we tune in for the next  8 weeks  to see if can she learn the ropes and demonstrate her fitness to serve as backup to the most powerful leader in the world.  It's entertaining but distracts from the goal of electing the candidate  with the best vision,  policies and skills to lead our nation in these challenging times.

I read lots of progressive blogs and listen to talk radio at both ends of the spectrum and it's really not about the baby (and only indirectly about the vetting .) What gives me pause is  Mccain's impulsive decision making style and willingness to gamble the country's future on Palin's unknown and untested quaifications for leading a county of 300 million. A long hard fought campaign in 2012 is a more appropriate proving ground.

First, I guess Patrick cannot find a way to spin the Palin story into a post about how internet gimmicks can fix everythign wrong with the Republican Party.  Since McCain's incomptent staff appears to have only used goggle to vet Governor Palin, it looks like the internet caused part of this problems.

McCain knew he was going to be the nominee since Feb, yet he waits until August to begin vetting VP candidates.  That alone is enough to warrant firing everyone on his staff.  They should have been working on packets for the top 20 candidates since Marsh.  Her name was being circulated and his staff would have before due diligence.

The Palin selection also shows that McCain's staff is either incompetent or that McCain will not listen to his staff. Either way, it means that McCain does not have the management skills to be president. Does anyone really want a president (not that McCain is going to win) that is either too stupid to understand his staff or incapable of putting a competent staff together.

The time for Republicans to make excuses for failed politicians needs to end.  McCain has demonstrated his incompetence and he should take the steps to correct instead of depending on others to make excuses.

I don't get why the "he didn't vet sufficiently" has that much weight. If Sarah Palin is an honest person, and John McCain's campaign asks her - "What embarassing things do we need to know about", wouldn't she just tell them?

It is far more likely that the campaign knew Bristol was pregnant and was waiting for an opportune moment to (gotta love the political parlance) 'flush the toilet'. They got scooped, that's all.

This whole rush to decry judgement is way over the top.

A more real issue is the hypocrisy the media are getting away with. Two points (there are others):

1. They want to attack her on her family because they hate the Republican meme of 'family values'. But they know this a vile form of attack, so they try to blame the victim - 'she put her children in the spotlight for ambition'.

2. They are demonstrably guilty of partisan bias in whose families and children they will embarrass.

Ace of Spade has a somewhat profane and vitriolic view on this, but is spot on, nonetheless.

http://ace.mu.nu/archives/272283.php

Your call, Republican candidates. You "assumed the risk." Do you want to hold office, or do you love and wish the best for your children?

We in the media will not permit you to have both.

You want to talk judgement to lead?

How about starting your political career at the home of an unrepentent leftist terrorist.

That shows great judgement doesn't it.

How about sitting in the pews for 20 years of a radical (by mainstream standards) pastor, and not saying or doing a thing about it.

That shows great judgement doesn't it.

To me it shows someone who's willing to use those around him, no matter how dispicable, to advance his political career.

Everyone knows, that's how politics are played in the Windy City.  You scratch the right peoples backs and they keep you in power.

Obama did absolutely squat about trying to reform that system, and even helped move it along.

I'm glad the left wants to have an honest debate about the judgement of our candidates.

Love that opening sentence: “By far the most odious part of the smear-mongering around Sarah Palin is its intrinsic dishonesty.”

Glad to see you are back in the fold Patrick, for a while I thought that Talk Right would introduce a bit of diversity into Republican machine. By the way, Republicanism is a three legged stool, one of which is the inflexible, uncompromising, fundamentalist Christian Right. And we all know that without that group being on board, the three legged stool will topple…

The patriotic path to the White House is clearly outlined in your post. Issues are irrelevant and will not be discussed (Mr. Davis has already pronounced this as a mantra). If any questions are raised by the press (Did Ms Palin, as Mayor of her town, try to ban library books?), attack with the usual: The Left leaning “media has overreached and is really stepping in it”.

Let us not confuse Conservative principles with the Republican Party of Carl Rove. They really are different. How different? Facing the challenge of remaking the Republican Party, changing the brand identification if you wish, and probably losing, McCain caved, and sold his soul Rovian politics.

Once, in a land far away, Barry Goldwater faced a similar question, lost, yet became the father of modern conservatism. Does anybody really think he would embrace the fundamental Christian right the way McCain has done?
 

I've been reading The Next Right since it was launched in a hope that there could be a higher level of discussion and analysis here. So much for that.

If you can't, on your own, figure out why the media and the public are intensely focused on all things Palin right now, then there's no point trying to convince you as to why.

If you can't understand the very real need of the media to vet this candidate, then you're delusional.

If you don't understand that you, on the right, would be going crazy if the roles here were reversed, then you've gotten yourself too inside your own viewpoint to be of any value in analysis of this race beyond being a cheerleader for the right.

If you aren't offended by the suggestion, put forward by the McCain campaign, that Sarah Palin shouldn't be vetted in all regards, just as vigorously as all other candidates for the highest offices in our Nation, then you're sacrificing your ability to reason for your need to win.