Another new insider’s book on the 2008 presidential campaign, another opportunity to see whether John McCain will blow a gasket when asked yet again about whether he regrets the choice of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate. This time the occasion was a Matt Lauer
interview on NBC’s
Today show about claims in the new
book Game Change by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann that Palin was not sufficiently vetted for vice president.
Since his loss in the general election, I have seen McCain asked about the choice of Palin as his running mate so many times that I have lost count. It is usually in the context of whether she was sufficiently qualified, prepared, vetted, etc. McCain has adopted an almost zombie-like response to all variants of the Palin question, typically responding that he is proud of both Palin and his entire campaign. The Lauer interview was no different in that respect, but McCain was noticeably testier than his usual shrugging reply to the question.
We will probably never know what McCain truly thinks of Palin, but the media seems intent on getting him to one day admit that he made a mistake in choosing her. It is as though they are hell bent on assigning someone culpability for bringing Palin onto the national stage, especially since she seems to have no
intention of leaving anytime soon. For all of his unwillingness to take the media bait, I’m guessing that McCain is privately disappointed that this is shaping up to be the lasting legacy of his
ten years spent running for president.
Comments:
Posted On: 01-13-2010 06:38:33 by Jim Splaine
Dean -- since you're a good professor and accomplished researcher I'd like to ask your assessment on something that I have wondered about for years. HOW do we know that an "insiders" book about recollections is accurate, or anywhere near accurate, when he/she wasn't there? It seems to me that the writers are relying on people telling stories as they wish to spin them. Unless conversations between John McCain and a staff member or with Sarah Palin were recorded, how do we know someone's recollection of them is accurate? How can anyone know what was actually said in a phone call between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama about whether she would become Secretary of State? History is written by those who write it, and sometimes invent it. Change a word here, another there, and a different story is told.
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