Another long excerpt in the Washington Post from Dan Balz and Haynes Johnson's narrative of the 2008 campaign. This one deals with the selection of Sarah Palin as the Republican nominee for Vice President. Here's a brief look at the immediate reaction once the choice was announced.
At McCain headquarters in Virginia, the communications team was caught off guard. No one had given members the advance word that they needed to prepare background material. Inundated by media calls trying to confirm the choice, they were helpless, some of them not sure how to pronounce her name. One staffer was frantically trying to download information about Palin when the overloaded Alaska state government Web site crashed. Unable to get answers to basic questions, the campaign gave out inaccurate information, telling one news organization she had been to Iraq when she had only been near the border on a visit to Kuwait. "It was horrific," one campaign official said. "It was a disaster. It was a huge disaster."Remember, they're just talking about the immediate reaction there. The rest was totally smooth sailing.
I like the fact that the Sarah Palin PAC paid to advertise on this article. Money well spent. We love you Sarah!
Oh, you know I just donated, to support The Awl of course.
Also, this woman has been in the national spotlight less than one year. Seems like five.
In other words, she's a natural born clusterfuck who has never *not* been in middle of a shitstorm of confusion and dismay.
Is this the political equivalent of a crack baby?
I refuse to believe that "Dan Balz" and "Haynes Johnson" aren't made up names.
I am helpless, not sure how to pronounce these names.
There is actually video of this selection
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOajmNKsb5Q
Yup. McCain . . . chose poorly . . .
It's as if there was a chair on the dais with a placecard that read, "Vice Presidential Nominee," and she went and sat in that seat by mistake, but nobody wanted to be rude to the lady.
I will never get tired of rehashes of the '08 campaigns! Serious.
This speaks volumes:
"Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal might have been a finalist had he not taken himself out of contention."
Jindal gets some respeck from me for having the foresight to avoid the McCain clusterfuck.
I dearly love the SarahPAC ads on the side of this post...
"Advisers thought picking Lieberman would alter the race, particularly if coupled with the move McCain was seriously considering: a pledge to serve just one term. Virtually all his top advisers favored the idea."
Look, here's what we do: it appears that nobody wants you to be president, so let's promise them that if you win, they won't have to put up with you for too long.