The Political Inquirer

First it was Kathleen Parker, a conservative syndicated columnist, who said out loud that “John McCain’s current running mate” must go. What she stated about her was dead on. She makes a strong argument in her defense but concludes with this.

What to do?

McCain can’t repudiate his choice for running mate. He not only risks the wrath of the GOP’s unforgiving base, but he invites others to second-guess his executive decision-making ability. Barack Obama faces the same problem with Biden.

Only Palin can save McCain, her party, and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first.

Do it for your country.

But the chorus is growing louder by the day as we approach the “debate” night. It is probable she may not even exceed the very low expectations. The debate, my friends, may not happen after all. So many are calling for her to step aside. I hope she hangs tough and doesn’t quit. She is insurance for the Democratic ticket.

Jack Cafferty the other day went off about John McCain’s current running mate the other day. He got a little irritated with Wolf Blitzer toward the end of this video when Wolf attempted a bit of fairness. Watch.

And now foreign affairs expert, author and CNN host Fareed Zakaria is making a strong case against her too.

Will someone please put Sarah Palin out of her agony? Is it too much to ask that she come to realize that she wants, in that wonderful phrase in American politics, “to spend more time with her family”? Having stayed in purdah for weeks, she finally agreed to a third interview. CBS’s Katie Couric questioned her in her trademark sympathetic style. It didn’t help. When asked how living in the state closest to Russia gave her foreign-policy experience, Palin responded thus:

“It’s very important when you consider even national-security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America. Where—where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to—to our state.”

There is, of course, the sheer absurdity of the premise. Two weeks ago I flew to Tokyo, crossing over the North Pole. Does that make me an expert on Santa Claus? (Thanks, Jon Stewart.) But even beyond that, read the rest of her response. “It is from Alaska that we send out those …” What does this mean? This is not an isolated example. Palin has been given a set of talking points by campaign advisers, simple ideological mantras that she repeats and repeats as long as she can. (“We mustn’t blink.”) But if forced off those rehearsed lines, what she has to say is often, quite frankly, gibberish.

And as Zakaria’s concludes his column, he doesn’t point the finger at “John McCain’s current running mate,” but at the real culprit here, John McCain. As I have pointed out, a Vice-Presidential pick is typically neutral. They rarely enhance a ticket and rarely hurt a ticket. In this case, however, McCain’s pick may have a inflicted a mortal wound to this campaign.

Obviously these are very serious challenges and constraints. In these times, for John McCain to have chosen this person to be his running mate is fundamentally irresponsible. McCain says that he always puts country first. In this important case, it is simply not true.

As a friend said to me the other day, Can we really elect an idiot to such an important office? Well I think we did: twice. And look at the current state of affairs: peace and prosperity are only a faint memory. Reading on Walden Bookstore.

Filed under: Barack Obama, Blogs, Congress, Democrats, Election 2008, John McCain, Politics | Tagged: John McCain's running mate, Unraveling of John McCain