| HappySqurriel said: Realistically, this election will (probably) be so close because McCain chose Palin ... John McCain has difficulty relating to average-ordinary working/middle-class Americans, fiscally conservative people, and socially conservative people; these are the voters that are most commonly considered the “Base” of the Republican party and without them it would be difficult to win an election. There are no established conservative-republicans who could have attracted the attention and support from the Republican base like Sarah Palin has. |
That is a pretty damning assessment of the state of the Republican party.
But realistically, John McCain is the nominee because there was no other candidate that was perceived as viable to the middle/Independents. In the last three weeks Poll after Poll show Independents moving away from McCain specifically because of the Palin pick.
You can watch McCain defending Palin on YouTube. Here's some numbers that put it more succinctly:
Palin's negative rating "is the highest for a vice-presidential candidate as measured by The Times and CBS News" -- even worse than Dan Quayle's. - Source
I think the Palin pick is akin to the '72 pick of Eagleton. Nobody else wanted it. Oh a to be a fly on the inside of JSMIII's brain.
