Watch very closely for signs of a McCain-Palin meltdown as next week progresses. Often, in the final days of an ill-fated campaign, after the sobering realization that almost two years of yeoman work will go unrewarded, personal enmity springs forth from the candidate's inner sanctum and the invidious rot quickly spreads outward. From CNN:With 10 days until Election Day, long-brewing tensions between GOP vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin and key aides to Sen. John McCain have become so intense, they are spilling out in public, sources say.
Several McCain advisers have suggested to CNN that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin "going rogue."
A Palin associate, however, said the candidate is simply trying to "bust free" of what she believes was a damaging and mismanaged roll-out . . .
. . . A second McCain source says she appears to be looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign.
"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," said this McCain adviser. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else."
"Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom."
Count me in the camp assessing this election as still too close to call and teetering ever so close to the margin-of-error. However, if John McCain's campaign truly now finds itself on the brink, it is customary for the vanquished party to air the dirty laundry and reconfigure the power structure for future prospects. Remember: The 2012 campaign begins on November 5, 2008.
***UPDATE***: Christian Science Monitor reports senior advisors for the McCain campaign are distancing themselves from Governor Palin. Palin, in turn, is distancing herself from John McCain's policies.
7 comments:
The he-said, she-said off-the-record comments on this one were oozing out fast and furious today. Denials, counter-denials, and more fingers pointed than... well, a lot of fingers pointed.
What is amazing is that some GOP strategists see Palin as the future of the party, as she falls deeper into scandal in Alaska and her approval numbers sink faster than a stone in the ocean. She's the future of the party? My fingers couldn't be crossed any tighter.
The irony she is the future of the 2000 Rovian incarnation of the Republican Party - which makes her a figment of the past.
The GOP will split after the election. No doubt.
I agree, DP, and actually I think it might be the best thing for America if it did. The "fringers" will become the American Conservative Party, with conservative social policies dominating. The low tax, small government, moderate social policy Repubs will become a middle ground party, and many moderate Dems will flock there. The rest of the socially liberal Dems will remain at the left, and voila - a viable three party system.
Okay, so it isn't that simple. But it SOUNDED good, didn't it?
I would welcome a non-fundamentalist conservative party (or just for those types to take back the GOP). Why must social liberalism and fiscal conservatism be mutually exclusive?
Side note, this McCain/Palin conflict is going to get VERY interesting. It sounds like Palin is starting to buy her own hype, and may allow interviews. That would be gold - pure gold.
I'm not sold yet on the big split. I think the hard-line, sanctimonious, fire and brimstone GOPers will not let go like a parasite on the thinking conservative's back and suck the lifeblood until there is nothing left.
Polls are a bit tighter today. Democrats should put down the bubbly for a second and actually vote.
Disagree. I think the non-social fundamentalist conservatives were willing to go along for the ride because they thought that the governance they were getting was ultimately conservative. But that hasn't happened over the last 8 years. You may see the evangelical control over the GOP continue, but the tent will be smaller.
Where will all the George Wills, David Frums and others go?
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