Dissention in the Ranks

Over the weekend we were treated to a storyline I saw coming—namely, the McCain camp setting up Gov. Palin to take the fall should their campaign fail to win the election.

This wasn’t a hard shot to call—by no means—for from the moment that Sen. McCain won the nomination back in the spring we were told that Sen. McCain was going to focus on independents and try to win the election by appealing to the middle—counting on the right to fall in line because of the fact that Sen. McCain wore an R at the end of his name.

The problem was, it didn’t seem to be working out that way.

So what did the McCain camp do?  They went and found a woman to put on the ticket—a woman to counter the “first black President” good will that Sen. Obama was getting.

And there was another important angle—choosing someone that could rally the base.  You see, Sen. McCain thought that having an R after his name and being to the right of Sen. Obama would be enough, but he was finding that he was having a hard time getting any support from the Religious Right, Fiscal Conservatives, etc.  It was going to be a blowout for Sen. Obama.

The tightrope walk was, how to bring in someone that would ignite the base, but that wouldn’t exactly help with the moderates.  The risk was that someone that would actually be more conservative than Sen. McCain could hurt him with people that he was trying to appeal to—which I don’t truly believe he ever had anyway.

So, we’ve watched it unfold—the McCain camp controlled her exposure, they took care so that she wouldn’t say too much to the press, carefully made sure that she answered questions like Sen. McCain would¹, and was carefully monitored.

Now that she’s been given more free reign, she’s saying things that are contrary to the rest of the campaign.  She’s talking about Sen. Obama’s past connections, she’s sounding more conservative, and she’s taking interviews that she’s not suppose to take.

And now someone is upset and trying to cover their behind.

The problem is that this race is not over, and there’s no reason to point the finger until after.  So, unless this is another false attack—like the “kill him” that never was—this is a dumb, self-serving move by the McCain campaign, and whoever said this to the press should be fired.

1. A part of me would like to blame a lot of the early bad interviews with trying to answer the questions the way that she was supposed to rather than the way that she believed. [↩]