Every minute we spend debating palin's misstatements at the RNC and her missteps in Alaska is one minute we don't spend whacking John McCain on his own plethora of misstatements at the RNC and missteps everywhere.
Here is a simple sentence we all need to drill here, and drill now, deep into our brains: We are running against John McCain, not sarah palin.
We are running against John McCain, not sarah palin.
What is absolutely unacceptable is our utter loss of focus in the last week, since McCain's announcement of his #2 pick. That's right: I'm no longer going to name her. She is John McCain's #2 pick; meaning, this is about John McCain. Get it?
As often as I disagreed with Arianna Huffington throughout the primary season, we certainly agree about the issue of John McCain's #2 pick:
Forget worrying about the economy or health care or the housing crisis -- think about how many people live in Wasilla, whether Bristol and Levi will live happily ever after, and if Sarah and her "First Dude" really want Alaska to secede from the union.
This is why the McCain campaign wants Palin front and center -- did you notice how much time McCain spent during the speech praising Palin and how quickly the celebratory post-speech music shifted from "Raisin' McCain" to "Barracuda"?
And it's why Democrats need to ignore Palin, and keep the focus on reminding voters about the stark contrast between an Obama and a McCain administration. It's tempting to prime the Palin attack pump. But Obama and the Democrats do so at their own peril.
Furthermore, as I have said before, any debate about the lack of experience of McCain's #2 pick will inevitably bring the focus to the lack of experience of our #1 pick. As unprecedented as the inexperience of McCain's #2 pick is, that is not what we need to drill.
Instead, Drill here and drill now: We are running against John McCain, not McCain's #2 pick.
This is our election to lose...and our choice to run against McCain's #2 pick is one way to do it.