Although they did not accomplish all they intended with Palin, the McCain campaign was able to advance a meme they intend to hammer on for a while, and we're helping them with it. That frame is that we're insulting women by criticizing the selection of Palin.
Wrong? Yes, of course, just as the Swift Boat controversy was wrong. That doesn't mean it won't get traction. The Obama campaign recognizes the danger, and has shown us what to do; let me show you specifically the game being played, and our part in it.
Let's go back to the so-called vetting process for Palin. It's inconceivable (pardon the pun) that Palin failed to mention her daughter's pregnancy. It's also crystal clear that this couldn't be hid for long. Once Palin was chosen, therefore, Bristol Palin's pregnancy was part of the McCain strategy. When the time was right, the pregnancy would be announced; some in the blogosphere (and, McCain's camp hoped, the media) would go crazy; then McCain would denounce Obama by association as anti-women.
I doubt that McCain's folks anticipated the initial blog eruption about Trig; but they had Bristol waiting, and they jumped in with the news. Watch how they're handling this. From Steve Schmidt:
Governor Sarah Palin is an exceptional governor with a record of accomplishment that exceeds, by far, the governing accomplishments of Senator Obama. Her selection came after a six-month long rigorous vetting process where her extraordinary credentials and exceptionalism became clear. This vetting controversy is a faux media scandal designed to destroy the first female Republican nominee for Vice President of the United States who has never been a part of the old boys network that has come to dominate the news establishment in this country.
Then there's this media blitz:
MCCAIN ACTIVITIES PLANNED FOR TODAY:
• Mayor Rudy Giuliani will be on all three network and cable television stations defending Governor Palin’s family and her historic candidacy.
• The McCain campaign will launch a television ad directly comparing Governor Palin’s executive experience as a governor who oversees 24,000 state employees, 14 statewide cabinet agencies and a 10 billion dollar budget to Barack Obama’s experience as a one-term junior Senator from Illinois.
• Former Democratic Vice Presidential nominee current U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman and Congressman Eric Cantor will hold a press conference calling on Barack Obama to condemn and/or dismiss his official campaign spokesman who implied Governor Sarah Palin supported Nazi sympathy because she wore a Pat Buchanan pin on one single occasion.
• McCain-Palin surrogates Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, Former Ebay CEO Meg Whitman, McCain Senior Advisor Nicolle Wallace, McCain Communications Director Jill Hazelbaker and McCain Senior Advisor Nancy Pfotenhauer will do television and radio interviews to demand better treatment for Governor Palin’s family.
The McCain campaign is not just making lemonade; this was planned in advance.
...
What we need to do is actually quite simple. Palin is a lightweight with a baggage train that would have slowed Sherman's march to Savannah. The media, led by the New York Times, already is doing the heavy lifting. As McCain's vaunted media availability dries up, the trad media attacks will increase in frequency and volume. Anyone who seriously thinks that Palin can pull significant numbers of Democratic women to John McCain by mere virtue of a pair of X chromosomes doesn't know Democratic women very well. The only thing that could accomplish that would be for the charge that we're all insulting women to stick. Although I doubt that would be sufficient, why give them the opportunity?
Obama, you'll note, immediately called Bristol Palin off-limits; he appears to be fully aware of the trap. I have no doubt that Joe Biden is retooling his debate preparation so that he doesn't attack Palin at all, but rather lets her self-destruct; he'll have knives ready if necessary, but won't use them if they're not needed.
All of this leads up to my rant. It's time to ignore Palin. She is no longer of any consequence whatsoever unless we give McCain a controversy to work with. Yes, we could continue to fire away at her lack of experience and her many and varied scandals; but why bother? The blogosphere and the media have done the vetting McCain missed; he's now stuck with a flawed running mate; the only value she might bring to the ticket is that of the wronged woman.
Don't give McCain the satisfaction.