The finger-pointing has begun. The McCain camp is singling out people and detailing the behind the scenes negotiation that took place with the selection of Sarah Palin. Jane Mayer of the New Yorker writes:
A week or so before McCain named [Palin], however, sources close to the campaign say, McCain was intent on naming his fellow-senator Joe Lieberman, an independent, who left the Democratic Party in 2006.
"They took it away from him," a longtime friend of McCain—who asked not to be identified, since the campaign has declined to discuss its selection process—said of the advisers. "He was furious. He was pissed. It wasn’t what he wanted." Another friend disputed this, characterizing McCain’s mood as one of "understanding resignation."
David Keene, the chairman of the American Conservative Union, who is close to a number of McCain’s top aides, told me that "McCain and Lindsey Graham"—the South Carolina senator, who has been McCain’s closest campaign companion—"really wanted Joe." But Keene believed that "McCain was scared off" in the final days, after warnings from his advisers that choosing Lieberman would ignite a contentious floor fight at the Convention, as social conservatives revolted against Lieberman for being, among other things, pro-choice.
. . .with just days to go before the Convention, the choices were slim. Karl Rove favored McCain’s former rival Mitt Romney, but enough animus lingered from the primaries that McCain rejected the pairing. . .Finally, McCain’s top aides, including Steve Schmidt and Rick Davis, converged on Palin. . . .In addition to Schmidt and Davis, Charles R. Black, Jr., the lobbyist and political operative who is McCain’s chief campaign adviser, reportedly favored Palin. . . Meanwhile, McCain’s longtime friend said, "Kristol [who had already been pushing for her selection] was out there shaking the pom-poms."
William Kristol is the editor of the Weekly Standard, and a frontrunner among the neo-conservative (GOP Base) elite. Mayer's article is fascinating on many fronts, and only validates McCain as the Republican puppet put in front of the neo-conservative stage for public viewing. As this article highlights, the choice of Palin was made for McCain by a clique of advisors from the GOP base, including Schmidt, Davis and Black.
And if you're interested in more information than just the New Yorker article, check out Democracy Now!'s interview with Mayer.
And if you're more interested in watching infighting break out among the GOP factions, 1115.org has the lowdown on the Kristol blame game.