Well, here’s some very telling information about Sarah Palin’s first town-hall meeting as VP candidate, where she for the first time took questions from the public:
“The McCain campaign confirms that tonight’s event was advertised on the McCain/Palin Web site and local newspapers. People had to pick up their tickets at local GOP offices after RSVPing for the event. The Kent County GOP headquarters gave out about two thousand tickets. The rest came from GOP offices in Ottowa and Kalamazoo.”
Oh good, a hand-picked audience. You know who else regularly pulls this kind of crap? Our current president, who can talk real tough about terrorists and evildoers, but apparently can’t appear in front of people who might disagree with him. Whose widely-reported unwillingness to hear different viewpoints is credited with disasters in Iraq and here at home. Whose popularity rating hovers between 20 and 30 percent.
Great role model, McCain campaign. You go ahead with that plan and see how it works for you. Keep sending your candidates to friendly crowds in pro-Republican communities. Limit the interviews to a bare minimum, and when you do take questions, insist on interviewers like Sean Hannity or Bill O’Reilly.
There’s a basic truth to campaigning. You can run, but you can’t hide. The very fact that the McCain campaign keeps Palin away from the tough questions speaks volumes about her readiness for the Vice Presidency, and about their confidence in their pick.
The American people are starting to pay attention to this race. And they can see when one side is avoiding scrutiny. If McCain wants to turn this into a classic Rovian presidential race, where each side turns out their base, I think he’s in for a disappointment. Democratic registration is way up, Republican registration is down. It’s true Palin will bring out the hard-right evangelical base, but this year, I don’t think that’s going to be enough.
(update) ... and because it's not worth a new post but is worth reading, here's the best argument yet against Sarah Palin as VP -- from conservative pundit David Brooks.
4 comments:
Before becoming too outraged about the GOP hand-picking an audience for Palin, consider the following:
For Michelle Obama's visit to Charlotte, NC, this week:
"Tickets are free but required for both events and can be picked up at Obama campaign offices in Greensboro, High Point and Charlotte." (From http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/politics&id=6396744)
For Barack Obama's Town Hall Meeting in Farmington Hills, MI:
"Tickets are limited and will be available on a first come, first serve basis at: West Bloomfield Campaign for Change Office,4123 Orchard Lake Rd, Orchard Lake, MI 48323"
(From http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/joshpenn/gG5czk/commentary)
Every time the political circus goes to a new town, this is the MO-regardless of party affiliation. It's SSDC or Same S&^% Different Candidate.
And no, I didn't miss the pun of "DC" in the acronym.
Perhaps the upcoming televised debates (which won't allow for this kind of audience padding but will have different moderators firing questions)will be more of a challenge for the candidates and more revealing to undecided voters.
That's an interesting point. But I checked on events for Barack and Michelle Obama today (3 for Michelle, 1 for Barack) and all were listed as free and open to the public, tickets not required. So it may be different on different days and locations.
I think it's pretty clear there's a substantial distance between how far the two campaigns are going to, uh, manage their candidates. (Best word I can come up with.)
I don't see how anyone could argue that the McCain camp isn't handling Palin with kid gloves--and insisting that the media play along.
One can argue that they're just bringing her up to speed, but that argument just underscores the fact that she's not ready for prime time.
Michelle Obama is a lousy politician. She completely speaks her mind, and sometimes says something dumb. But they're not hiding her. Look at the campaign schedules.
Today, Michelle is speaking in Madison, WI, Wausau, WI, and West Allis, WI.
Wausau is not a Dem. stronghold.
Palin will appear once, with McCain, in Media, Penn., where she'll give the same speech she gives at every event. Tickets are apparently required, are only available from McCain offices, and they are busing people in to the event. "Remember to wear red," the Web site says.
Kid gloves. Staged enthusiasm. A winning strategy?
I agree that the two campaigns are managing their candidates differently, but I will argue the point about McCain's campaign handling anyone with kid gloves or asking the media to go along.
The candidates are handled by their campaigns based on a number of factors, including their tendancy to spout off when they shouldn't and their other roles in life. Michelle Obama can basically do what she wants because she's NOT running for office. It's interesting that the media covers her appearances and not Cindy McCain's-a bit of bias there or a less hands-on political spouse? Hard to say...
(FYI, Wausau may not be a Dem stronghold , but Madison and West Allis certainly are. And politics in Wausau are a bit quirky to say the least.)
To really compare apples to apples, we need to look at the VP’s speaking engagements, not Mrs. Obama’s. Biden appears to be reliving his football glory days and running off at the mouth to his entourage (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/18/joe_biden_enjoying_the_campaig.html) while his staff jockeys to keep him properly secured. (Very few formal press conferences, just staged speeches and local TV interviews) Biden is also running for re-election to his Senate seat, though he has just “token” opposition so there’s probably no need for him to worry about getting back to Delaware and taking care of business.
When this is compared to Palin’s schedule, which still has to include her running Alaska as governor, things start to balance out a bit. She can’t be running around blathering about the good old days. She has an elected job to do, and she’s doing it. What the Dems need to worry about, especially if they think the media is playing along with the GOP, is WHY McCain, Obama, and Palin all warrant such considerable press coverage but Biden doesn’t.
BTW, it seems HIGHLY unlikely that the media would play along with the GOP-about anything.
Well, we may see the media differently. Many on the right see the media as in the tank for Obama. Many on the left think the media has had a soft spot for McCain for many years.
Personally, I think it's not surprising that Palin would get so much attention. She's a groundbreaking candidate who's become a major celebrity with the most committed members of her party, and she gives a great speech. It kind of reminds me of someone else, just can't think who...
The press I've seen about Biden suggests that he makes several appearances before voters almost every day, and regularly takes questions from the audience.
To compare that to Palin, who is as tightly managed as any candidate in history, is beyond apples and oranges. I think her inability to do even a single press conference has basically nothing to do with her job as governor. They're hiding her. People have a right to ask why.
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