Vetting

Marc Ambinder tells us what Team McCain didn't know about Sarah Palin before she became his soul mate.

They've bragged that Palin opposed the famous "Bridge to Nowhere," only to learn that Palin supported the project and even told residents of Ketchikan that they weren't "nowhere" to her. After the national outcry, she decided to spend the funds allocated to the bridge for something else. Actually, maybe it's more fair to say that coincident with the national outcry, she changed her mind. The story shows her political judgment, but it is not a reformer's credential.

Likewise, though she cut taxes as mayor of Wassila, she raised the sales tax, making her hardly a tax cutter.

She denied pressuring the state's chief of public safety to fire her sister-in-law's husband even though there's mounting evidence that the impetus did indeed come from her. Ostensibly to clear her name, Palin asked her attorney general to open an independent investigation--the legislature had already been investigating. (I am told that the campaign was aware of the ethics complaint filed against her but accepts Palin's account.)

McCain's campaign seemed unaware that she supported a windfalls profits tax on oil companies and that she is more skeptical about human contributions to global warming than McCain is.

They did not know that she took trips as the mayor of Wasilla to beg for earmarks.

They did not know that she told a television interviewer this summer that she did not fully understand what it is that a vice president does.

Perhaps if McCain had spoken to Palin more than twice, some of these facts might have come to light for them before now. McCain, of course, still might have chosen her. But at least then he'd have known what he was actually getting. On the other hand, if you talk to people you risk ruining the surprise.

Howard Opinsky, another McCain veteran, said calling attention to Ms. Palin's possible candidacy during the search process would have undermined the impact of her eventual selection.

"Had her name been played out in the press for months and months, she wouldn't have been seen as so bold," Mr. Opinsky said. "You either get freshness and you have to live with what you get in your vetting or you lose the freshness."

Lord knows, we wouldn't want to ruin the freshness.

It's funny, but for all the talk about the "judgment" thing, the judgment that really should be questioned is McCain's. As I've said before, I've been in the corporate world for a long time. I've lived through mergers, acquisitions, outsourcings, strategic partnerships, and just about everything else you can think of. And the one thing they all have in common is that they take months, sometimes more than a year, to go through due diligence before anyone signs on the dotted line. As well they should, since billions of dollars and the company's (or companies') reputation is at stake. What would Wall Street say about a Fortune 500 company that decided, after just a couple of phone calls, to merge with a little-known startup, and to make that startup a key part of its brand? In effect, that's what McCain did here. Is anyone surprised by what has happened so far?

Of course, since McCain knew he was losing and couldn't win the conventional way, he decided - not unreasonably - to take a gamble and try to change the game. It's just that taking such a risk is, well, risky.

Another week, another Frank Luntz/AARP focus group of undecided voters--this one in Minneapolis and with some bad news for John McCain: they don't like the choice of Sarah Palin for vice president. Only one person said Palin made him more likely to vote for McCain; about half the 25-member group raised their hands when asked if Palin made them less likely to vote for McCain. They had a negative impression of Palin by a 2-1 margin...a fact that was reinforced when they were given hand-dials and asked to react to Palin's speech at her first appearance with McCain on Friday---the dials remained totally neutral as Palin went through her heart-warming(?) biography, and only blipped upwards when she said she opposed the Bridge to Nowhere--which wasn't quite the truth, as we now know.

Link via Kevin Drum. I'll skip the bit about the Hillary delegate who is apparently only just now realizing McCain isn't a moderate because it's bad to grind my teeth so soon after visiting the dentist, but again, is anyone surprised by this?

Anyway. I've started to see some speculation that Palin will not be the nominee when November finally rolls around - the name "Thomas Eagleton" is being tossed around. The stuff that's now coming out about Palin's association with the Alaska Independence Party certainly has the potential to be devastating. Still, given the reasons why McCain chose Palin in the first place, I think he sinks or swims with her, but once again, this season has completely defied expectations, so who knows?

To wrap this up, check out James Fallows for why the task ahead for Sarah Palin is so tough, and the MOMocrats for their series examining where Palin stands on the issues, called Palin In Comparison.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on September 02, 2008 to The making of the President