There have been several diaries here at Daily Kos that have urged that we ignore Sarah Palin and focus almost entirely on McCain. I respectfully disagree.
Instead, we should be MOSTLY focused on McCain while SIMULTANEOUSLY exposing Sarah Palin for the Ann Coulter with food wingnut she is. It is unacceptable that any major party ticket could select such a brazen extremist and cold blooded liar who comes from a 10% fringe of either the far left or the far right.
It is precisely the selection of Palin that enables us to reinforce the narratives that are John McCain.
Each narrative about John McCain is reinforced by the selection of Sarah Palin. That is why you highlight her corruption, her earmarks, her abuse of power, her book banning, her opposition to abortion in cases of rape or incest, her financial mismanagement as mayor of Wasilla (a town several hundred miles away from Russia), her vindictiveness, her blatant lying about the Bridge To Nowhere, her cluelessness about foreign policy, her admission that she doesn't know what a VP does, her cronyism with Big Oil, her attempts to impose creationism in science classes, etc...
The six key narratives about John McCain are as follows:
- John McCain is running for Bush's 3rd Term.
- John MCCain is more of the same.
- The John McCain of 2000 would never vote for the John McCain of 2008.
- John McCain doesn't speak for the McCain campaign, his lobbyists and advisers control him.
- McCain has completely sold his soul and integrity to Karl Rove, James Dobson, and the swiftboaters.
- The McCain campaign does not think this election is about issues.
Other than Mitt Romney and perhaps Rudy Giulian, there is no selection that McCain could have made that would better serve to reinforce the narratives above than the selection of Sarah Palin. The information about Sarah Palin needs to keep getting out there primarily to serve as a backdrop to the McCain narratives above.
Palin is George W Bush part two. McCain's selection of Palin affirms that McCain is running for Bush's third term. There is no governor in America more corrupt and vindictive than Sarah Palin. Thus, she's more of the same. The John McCain of 2000 would have labeled Sarah Palin an agent of intolerance. John McCain wanted to choose Tom Ridge or Joe Lieberman but since he is not his own man and doesn't make the decisions of the McCain campaign, he was overruled by his lobbyists. Next, McCain gave in to the fringe right wing 10% by picking Palin when there were far more qualified women out there like Senators Snowe and Dole, Governor Rell, and former Governor Whitman. Finally, remind people that Rick Davis says he doesn't think this campaign about issues. The Palin pick reinforces in people's mind taht the McCain campaign wanted to make this issue about personalities and that Governor Palin was a gimmick.
Palin's selection enables us to nail McCain on the six narratives above. (I've simplified to what I think are the best 5 in terms of symbolism.) We would be foolish to ignore the drip drip drip of her background. However, we can walk and chew gum at the same time. The mere fact that we should keep exposing Palin's lunacy does not mean we do not focus on McCain.