Where Hope is Coldest and Despair Most Fits
In what can be described as either as a final death knell or the last punch in a beat down, Alaska Senator Ted Stevens was found guilty in his corruption trial and has vowed to keep running despite his felony conviction. This comes on top of Governor Palin is causing strife in the McCain campaign by going off message at almost every given opportunity. McCain aides have responded by calling her a diva, and her people have responded that she is not allowed to be herself and that's why she's losing popularity in the polls. In any event, a healthy campaign doesn't point the blame all around. Kennedy once said "Success has many father, but failure is an orphan" and clearly, this campaign is already being declared and orphan. There are already discussions about the future of the Republican party, and whether or not to go more or less Christian conservative. Add into this the rumors that these rumors about Palin being a diva are being planted by former Romney aides to make his path to running for president in 2012 easier. Either way, this is not exactly the character campaign that McCain wanted to run, nor is it the campaign Palin wanted to run, where she could preach to the choir and call it a victory. McCain is trying to control what's left of his campaign, which has been out of control since Steve Schmidt took over most of the real head of the campaign. Rove's protege and a man that used to hate Rove were at loggerheads, and throw in a "true maverick" like Governor Palin who's new to the scene and not good at being handled, and it's a miracle this didn't all get out of hand sooner.
Starting off with Senator Ted Stevens, he was convicted of seven felonies while trying to hide work that was done on his house for free by a large campaign contributor. Now, the internet will no doubt be aglow at the conviction of Senator Ted "it's a series of tubes" Stevens. He is also famous for the Gravina Bridge, also known as The Bridge to Nowhere. He is the longest serving Republican in the US Senate and the senior senator from the state of Alaska, and the last thing Sarah Palin needs at this point is another public reminder about the corruption that happens a lot in Alaska. Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) has already gone on television saying what he did was wrong and that's all there was to it, which is more than Sarah Palin did, who did a half way condemnation but didn't call on him to resign. Now, it might just another nail in the coffin that is the McCain-Palin ticket, or this might be the perfect storm that reminds people of an old, Alaska senator who was corrupt, pork loving, stupid and out of touch. Otherwise known as every criticism of the McCain-Plain campaign in one convenient package. The other thing is that he's about to lose a race to a Democrat, which had previously been up for grabs and possibly leaning Stevens. Now, well, it's hard to get a man elected when he's a convicted felon. Yes, he will appeal and honestly, there are good grounds for appeal in this case, but in the world of politics, that doesn't matter. The perception is a week out from the election, he's a felon convicted of corruption related charges. Even if in 6-10 months from now he gets this overturned because the prosecution fucked up as badly as they did, he'll still probably be sitting home in Alaska rather than sitting in the Senate. He asked for the trial to be moved up to before the election so he could get it out of the way before the election and now it's backfired and he's a convicted felon in time for election day. But he was always a man who did it his own way.
Sarah Palin has now been complaining that she has been mishandled and mistreated by the McCain campaign. She saw how popular she was right after the convention and can see how far she fell in popularity and she feel constrained by the campaign. Then again, every candidate feels constrained by a campaign. The problem is, this is her first national campaign. She first ran as a mayor of a small town, which means she could meet everyone and get them attracted to her personally. Say what you will, and I will, she is personally charismatic. No, not just physically attractive, but she's got a way to connect to people, lots of people. She has a Communications degree, she knows how to talk to people. She spent large amounts of time as a pageant winner and sportscaster. She knows, better than McCain probably, how to talk to people. The problem is, in a presidential campaign, that's just not enough. You either need to have a history and record that can show you know what you're talking about, even if you gaffe. This is what Biden has; no matter how often he chews his own toes, we know he's authored legislation and worked hard. We don't know Palin well enough to give her the benefit of the doubt. All that said, a Republican can win by being good with people and a better speaker than policy wonk. This is what worked for Reagan. He didn't know more politics than George Bush, but he could talk about it well and could learn and process quickly. Also, he had been governor for years and had to run for president twice. She hasn't had a lot of time to learn everything she needed to for this campaign, and well, Biden and Obama know policy. You might disagree with it, but they know. McCain knows. Palin, well, I'm sure she's trying her best but let's face it, running for president is hard work. Then again, I can't help shake the feeling she's running for VP because she thinks it's a good gig rather than honest desire to serve. She didn't go in for any kind of service related career before running for mayor; no military service, no community service, no government work or even legislative elected office. Right from sportscaster to mayor. Again, same could be said of Reagan. She put herself out there as the outsider maverick who's coming in to clean up the town.
So, should the McCain campaign be surprised she's so willing to go off message and do what she wants? Seriously. She's a political naif on this stage and she hasn't had a whole lot of time to get ready. If she had been picked in June, she could have been more quietly educated and introduced more slowly and we wouldn't be down her throat judging her every move. As a result of some early flubs, McCain has placed her in a deeper bubble away from most of the media to prevent further gaffes. Palin, used to dealing with people on a personal level, has been stymied by this. McCain, who knows how random and vicious the media are, has tried to minimize damage to the ticket by letting her just throw red meat to the base. Honestly, she doesn't bring a lot of independents to the table. Her views on abortion, gay marriage and hunting wolves from helicopters are pretty fair away from what is considered to be the American moderate views. Some women might go with her simply because she's a woman, but there are far more independents who get scared of someone that zealous about being anti-abortion possibly being able to appoint judges and Supreme Court Justices. Palin, now cornered and afraid of being scapegoated, has gone back to form. She's speaking her mind, she's defending herself against any number of petty charges and she's condescending portions of the national population that don't really exist in Alaska. She used to filling small rooms with people who agree with her and calling that a serious part of the electorate, whereas here in the "Lower 48", that's just one small part of the larger pie. She's billed herself as a tough talking maverick who's a Washington outsider who doesn't play Washington games. Is there REALLY surprise from the McCain camp she's trying like hell to throw off the professional handlers from Washington? Is there surprise she wants to run things her way and behave like a "diva"? Surprise, McCain, you're Washington insider to people like her, and since she's run on being against all that, wanna guess where that puts you?
This might be called irony, hubris or another Greek word. The man who fought so hard to be a maverick all of his Senate campaign, and the one time he has to give up many portions of his independence to get the Republican nomination for President it ends up killing his chances of being President as some one else tries to out maverick the maverick. Bush and his proteges were hoping to form Palin as a more Bush like successor in Palin; someone more Christian right, more socially conservative and less willing to "reach across the aisle" than McCain. Of course, Bush's handlers played it like a normal campaign and treated her like a veteran who had run in the Bush style for years. That's not Palin. Forget about people being sick of a plain speaking but chronically disengaged executive, forget about people wanting a bit of sang-froid in their leader, forget about people not wanting much of anyone with an R after their name, Palin is not the great veteran at this. She's run two campaigns and both in small place with limited media market savvy, or put in more polite language, less Bullshit to deal with from fringey psychos. She claws and fights like she can, McCain wants to run a more dignified campaign and Palin wants to win and doesn't care if she looks like all kinds of things to do so; after all, she knows she's a good person. The other thing now killing her is that she keeps getting investigated or looked into for abuse of power, and specifically, strongarming people in possibly legal but shady kind of way, which feels all too familiar to people. And now, she has to deal with a man who was inextricably identified with Alaska politics convicted for multiple felonies relating to corruption.
And that's a brand no maverick can shake.
So it is written, so do I see it.
Starting off with Senator Ted Stevens, he was convicted of seven felonies while trying to hide work that was done on his house for free by a large campaign contributor. Now, the internet will no doubt be aglow at the conviction of Senator Ted "it's a series of tubes" Stevens. He is also famous for the Gravina Bridge, also known as The Bridge to Nowhere. He is the longest serving Republican in the US Senate and the senior senator from the state of Alaska, and the last thing Sarah Palin needs at this point is another public reminder about the corruption that happens a lot in Alaska. Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) has already gone on television saying what he did was wrong and that's all there was to it, which is more than Sarah Palin did, who did a half way condemnation but didn't call on him to resign. Now, it might just another nail in the coffin that is the McCain-Palin ticket, or this might be the perfect storm that reminds people of an old, Alaska senator who was corrupt, pork loving, stupid and out of touch. Otherwise known as every criticism of the McCain-Plain campaign in one convenient package. The other thing is that he's about to lose a race to a Democrat, which had previously been up for grabs and possibly leaning Stevens. Now, well, it's hard to get a man elected when he's a convicted felon. Yes, he will appeal and honestly, there are good grounds for appeal in this case, but in the world of politics, that doesn't matter. The perception is a week out from the election, he's a felon convicted of corruption related charges. Even if in 6-10 months from now he gets this overturned because the prosecution fucked up as badly as they did, he'll still probably be sitting home in Alaska rather than sitting in the Senate. He asked for the trial to be moved up to before the election so he could get it out of the way before the election and now it's backfired and he's a convicted felon in time for election day. But he was always a man who did it his own way.
Sarah Palin has now been complaining that she has been mishandled and mistreated by the McCain campaign. She saw how popular she was right after the convention and can see how far she fell in popularity and she feel constrained by the campaign. Then again, every candidate feels constrained by a campaign. The problem is, this is her first national campaign. She first ran as a mayor of a small town, which means she could meet everyone and get them attracted to her personally. Say what you will, and I will, she is personally charismatic. No, not just physically attractive, but she's got a way to connect to people, lots of people. She has a Communications degree, she knows how to talk to people. She spent large amounts of time as a pageant winner and sportscaster. She knows, better than McCain probably, how to talk to people. The problem is, in a presidential campaign, that's just not enough. You either need to have a history and record that can show you know what you're talking about, even if you gaffe. This is what Biden has; no matter how often he chews his own toes, we know he's authored legislation and worked hard. We don't know Palin well enough to give her the benefit of the doubt. All that said, a Republican can win by being good with people and a better speaker than policy wonk. This is what worked for Reagan. He didn't know more politics than George Bush, but he could talk about it well and could learn and process quickly. Also, he had been governor for years and had to run for president twice. She hasn't had a lot of time to learn everything she needed to for this campaign, and well, Biden and Obama know policy. You might disagree with it, but they know. McCain knows. Palin, well, I'm sure she's trying her best but let's face it, running for president is hard work. Then again, I can't help shake the feeling she's running for VP because she thinks it's a good gig rather than honest desire to serve. She didn't go in for any kind of service related career before running for mayor; no military service, no community service, no government work or even legislative elected office. Right from sportscaster to mayor. Again, same could be said of Reagan. She put herself out there as the outsider maverick who's coming in to clean up the town.
So, should the McCain campaign be surprised she's so willing to go off message and do what she wants? Seriously. She's a political naif on this stage and she hasn't had a whole lot of time to get ready. If she had been picked in June, she could have been more quietly educated and introduced more slowly and we wouldn't be down her throat judging her every move. As a result of some early flubs, McCain has placed her in a deeper bubble away from most of the media to prevent further gaffes. Palin, used to dealing with people on a personal level, has been stymied by this. McCain, who knows how random and vicious the media are, has tried to minimize damage to the ticket by letting her just throw red meat to the base. Honestly, she doesn't bring a lot of independents to the table. Her views on abortion, gay marriage and hunting wolves from helicopters are pretty fair away from what is considered to be the American moderate views. Some women might go with her simply because she's a woman, but there are far more independents who get scared of someone that zealous about being anti-abortion possibly being able to appoint judges and Supreme Court Justices. Palin, now cornered and afraid of being scapegoated, has gone back to form. She's speaking her mind, she's defending herself against any number of petty charges and she's condescending portions of the national population that don't really exist in Alaska. She used to filling small rooms with people who agree with her and calling that a serious part of the electorate, whereas here in the "Lower 48", that's just one small part of the larger pie. She's billed herself as a tough talking maverick who's a Washington outsider who doesn't play Washington games. Is there REALLY surprise from the McCain camp she's trying like hell to throw off the professional handlers from Washington? Is there surprise she wants to run things her way and behave like a "diva"? Surprise, McCain, you're Washington insider to people like her, and since she's run on being against all that, wanna guess where that puts you?
This might be called irony, hubris or another Greek word. The man who fought so hard to be a maverick all of his Senate campaign, and the one time he has to give up many portions of his independence to get the Republican nomination for President it ends up killing his chances of being President as some one else tries to out maverick the maverick. Bush and his proteges were hoping to form Palin as a more Bush like successor in Palin; someone more Christian right, more socially conservative and less willing to "reach across the aisle" than McCain. Of course, Bush's handlers played it like a normal campaign and treated her like a veteran who had run in the Bush style for years. That's not Palin. Forget about people being sick of a plain speaking but chronically disengaged executive, forget about people wanting a bit of sang-froid in their leader, forget about people not wanting much of anyone with an R after their name, Palin is not the great veteran at this. She's run two campaigns and both in small place with limited media market savvy, or put in more polite language, less Bullshit to deal with from fringey psychos. She claws and fights like she can, McCain wants to run a more dignified campaign and Palin wants to win and doesn't care if she looks like all kinds of things to do so; after all, she knows she's a good person. The other thing now killing her is that she keeps getting investigated or looked into for abuse of power, and specifically, strongarming people in possibly legal but shady kind of way, which feels all too familiar to people. And now, she has to deal with a man who was inextricably identified with Alaska politics convicted for multiple felonies relating to corruption.
And that's a brand no maverick can shake.
So it is written, so do I see it.