The Politico’s Jim Vandehei and John Harris have written something analyzing Sen. McCain’s pick of Gov. Palin. In their article they cite “six things the Palin pick says about McCain.” According to Mssrs. Vandehei and Harris, here’s what the pick tells us about Sen. McCain:

1. He’s desperate. Let’s stop pretending this race is as close as national polling suggests. The truth is McCain is essentially tied or trailing in every swing state that matters, and too close for comfort in several states like Indiana and Montana the GOP usually wins pretty easily in presidential races. On top of that, voters seem very inclined to elect Democrats in general this election, and very sick of the Bush years.

McCain could easily lose in an electoral landslide. That is the private view of Democrats and Republicans alike.

McCain’s pick shows he is not pretending. Politicians, even “mavericks” like McCain, play it safe when they think they are winning, or see an easy path to winning. They roll the dice only when they know that the risks of conventionality are greater than the risks of boldness.

Listen to the BS in that fist sentence. Mssrs. VandeHei and Harris are suggesting that all of the polling is badly wrong. Talk about arrogant. It’s beyond their belief that Sen. McCain could hang with this smooth-talking do-nothing liberal. Perhaps they didn’t notice that Sen. Obama’s fundraising comments about rural voters clinging to their guns and to God alienated voters to the extent that they wouldn’t trust him if their life depended on it.

Perhaps they didn’t notice that Hillary thrashed Sen. Obama amongst blue collar workers in state after state, starting with Ohio, then in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky. I remember Hillary racking up 70% of the vote in one rural Pennsylvania county after another. Mssrs. VandeHei and Harris should’ve picked something up from that data but it obviously hasn’t.

Furthermore, I’d point out that these clowns haven’t paid attention to the House GOP Drilling Rebellion. I agree that this would’ve been a disastrous year had gas prices stayed in the $2.50 a gallon range. When the national average shot up to $4.14 a gallon, the dynamics shifted. Further complicating things for Democrats was Ms. Pelosi going into full dictatorial mode, denying the House GOP from offering amendments for drilling.

That action alone pissed off alot of voters. They want drilling. PERIOD. Every poll I’ve seen shows that 65-75% of voters want drilling on the OCS, with 60-65% of those polled favoring drilling in ANWR.

Do Mssrs. VandeHei and Harris really expect me to believe that Democrats can be on the 30% end of the most important economic issue of this campaign and not be negatively affected? That’s downright insulting. They might get away with peddling that crap with airhead liberals who don’t think things through but it doesn’t work with rational people.

BTW, Sen. McCain’s picking Gov. Palin just heightens the attention that issue gets. Rest assured that she’ll focus on drilling alot in her stump speeches. The best part is that she’ll be able to talk firsthand about ANWR’s Coastal Plain. She’ll tell people in the Heartland that her husband worked for the oil companies on Alaska’s North Slope.

Not only that but she’ll have instant credibility on the issue because she’s dealt with it on a daily basis, which makes Sen. McCain’s choice that much better.

Their statement that “McCain could easily lose in an electoral landslide” isn’t based on anything resembling facts. It’s their right to opinionize about it but it’s my right to point out how stupid their opinions are. In this instance, that’s pretty easy.

Frankly, the quality of VandeHei’s and Harris’s workmanship on this article rates with Keith Olberman’s or Chris Matthews. Saying that this isn’t their best work is understatement.

Technorati Tags: Politico, Jim VandeHei, John Harris, Sarah Palin, John McCain, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

1. VandeHei and Harris haven’t got all their chairs pulled up to the table on this one.

   McCain desparate?? Thats almost funny.

   There’s a saying among Naval aviators; No balls no blue chips.
   McCain flew A-7’s not Cessna’s, you dont do rash implusive or desparate things when your screeming across the beach at 400 knots and 500 feet, you DO have be aggressive, keep you head in the cockpit, your eyes on the target and sort out the important stuff from all the chaff and crap the enemy will try to throw at you to pull you off whre they suspect your going, and sometimes be a little deceptive and cunning.

   Maybe those terms are a bit esoteric for liberals, so they can be forgiven for confusing all that with impulsiveness, or rolling the dice.

   Its quite obvious from the number of comments and opinions from both sides, this was a stunning move. A move that reflects nearly all warrior qualities that are bred into McCain.

   The dismay, derision, flustering, and criticism from the left the last two days says it all. They are clearly worried about what Gov. Palin brings to the campaign, and who she will draw to McCain. So they are trying to dampen the expectation and control the damage.

   That will not bother McCain, thats all the chaff and crap. He intends to win, he knows who he was to win over to do it, and thats why he chose her, and to hell the libs! They arent going to vote for him anyways.

   Comment by T A Gray — August 31, 2008 @ 12:52 am