McCain's Unsolvable Problem: Sarah Palin

Big Tent Democrat believes that:

The country is rejecting Republicanism and extreme conservatism, not Sarah Palin's "qualifications." The mandate is for a change away from extreme Republicanism and conservatism, not a rejection of Sarah Palin the person.

I agree that Sarah Palin "the person" is not being rejected. But her qualifications are being rejected, and as CNN reports today, her lack of qualifications are the number one reason voters are rejecting John McCain:


An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that in early September, when Palin was just starting out as a candidate, 47 percent of voters had a positive opinion of her, compared to 27 percent who felt negatively. Now 47 percent have negative feelings, compared with 38 percent who feel positively.

And the new poll found that concern about Palin's qualifications is voters' top concern about McCain, ahead of every other issue in the election. (Emphasis supplied.)

Most of Obama's supporters are voting for him because they hate the failed policies of the past 8 years and want change. If those were the only issues, it would be a close race. But Obama will win this election because of the many voters outside the core Democratic base who cannot accept the idea of Sarah Palin being so close to the Presidency.

In addition to her lack of qualifications, there's the rejection of her ties to the radical right and religious fundamentalism.

Turnout will be enormous because two factors are at work: Support for Obama and opposition to Palin.

Sarah Palin will cost John McCain the presidency. She is his insurmountable problem. He has no one to blame but himself and his advisers. He chose Palin in a desperate Hail Mary pass to save his fledgling campaign and it didn't work. Not with women who formerly supported Hillary, not with Independents and not even with leaders of his own party like Colin Powell.

Sarah Palin is the train wreck the McCain campaign didn't see coming. The rest of the country can't take its eyes away, which is why stories about her are number one on so many news sites and why SNL's ratings are sky high.

Nothing shows John McCain's lack of judgment and ill-suitedness to lead our country more than his spectacular blunder in picking Sarah Palin as his running mate. It's the prime reason that on November 4, voters other than true Obama supporters -- those that might have voted for McCain -- will run in the other direction.

Update: For clarity, my statement that Palin cost McCain the election does not mean I believe McCain would have won but for Palin. It means, as I said, without Palin it would have been a close race. Palin made it impossible for McCain to win, and it is in that sense that she cost him the election.

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/10/24/10444/537