Shaun Mullen of the once Moderate Voice says that Sarah Palin’s nomination for Republican Party’s vice-presidential slot is in jeopardy:
Party elders not in the thrall of Phyllis Schlafly and James Dobson understand that McCain’s candidacy already is crippled by his own lackadaisical performance on the stump and twin albatrosses glowering on his shoulders by the names of George Bush and Dick Cheney. They further understand that his White House bid probably has been dealt a fatal blow if Palin isn’t bounced quickly
That’s wishful thinking on Shaun’s part, probably driven by the fact that Palin is a grave threat to his candidate of choice, Barack Obama. Obama blew it by nominating an old, dull warhorse in Joe Biden and now McCain’s outdone him in a big way with Palin.
Sarah Palin isn’t going anywhere. As Shaun notes, the media is in a frenzy over her, both for and against. Reasons for the latter are obvious: Christian, pro-life, pro-gun ownership, pro-business – need one say more?
But many people are elated that Sarah Palin is McCain’s choice. Any chance McCain has of catching Barack Obama depends on his standing behind Palin through the media blitz and fully embracing the Republican base.
the Palin pick lets me leave on a good note full of tangy condiments. I feel like the party is rallying back in the right direction and that conservatism is finding its voice again, and the Left is beclowning itself with its unhinged Palin-hatred, declaring her daughter “fair game“. I don’t know whether the GOP will pull this off but it looks like there’s now a fighting chance
Matt Welch interviewed Bill Scannell, Alaskan anti-government activist:
Sarah Palin has been a pretty freaking awesome governor. She came in saying that the entire system was corrupt, and that Republicans were evil, and she was going to just mix everything up and get us a gas pipeline and end of story. And she got to power, she was elected overwhelmingly by independents, beat Tony Knowles, who had been governor before.
The Republicans hate her. If you go and talk to the Alaska delegation here, they despise her.
…
She is what McCain would like to be: She really is a maverick. In two years she stuck it to the two largest oil corporations in the United States of America. That’s pretty fucking impressive, you know, that she has antagonized her party to the point that they despise her. And her ratings are still in the 80s.
Scannell also says that he thinks the pressure will force McCain to drop Palin as his running mate
…my personal prediction is that I give her two weeks. … everyone loves Sarah. And look — I love her so much that I’m really looking forward to having her back in 63 days
That, of course, is exactly what Mullen and many others in the left-wing media would like to see come to pass. It’s not going to happen, though, because if he drops her now, McCain is done. Women and Christians, neither enamored with McCain, will leave him in droves and his candidacy will die instantly. You see, once you’ve given people a taste of what they want you can’t take it away.