The recriminations in the Republican party have well and truly started. The news today being reported in Fox News about the in-fighting between the Palin and McCain camps and the lack of Sarah Palin's knowledge is worrying.
The first thing that has to be said, is thank heavens Obama won the election. The USA needed intelligence and gravitas in the White House, not a joke. For all the talk of a bandwagon developing for a Palin bid for the Presidency in 2012, it needs to be resisted and the Republicans must find serious and heavyweight leadership for the party.
But not only do these stories highlight the concerns many had with the prospect of a Palin Vice-Presidency, they raise serious questions over McCain's judgement and how Palin passed any sort of vetting process to be chosen for the ticket. What is clear now is that the Palin choice was a stunt aimed at boosting McCain in the polls, and not a serious decision on someone who would be a heartbeat away from the Presidency.
What also is interesting, is that even Fox News is starting to debunk the theory that McCain was leading in the polls until the problems with the economy really came to the fore with the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. The idea that McCain would have won the election if it wasn't for the economic crisis is just wrong. Analysis of the polling now shows that the McCain lead started to wane after Palin's now infamously inept interview with Katie Couric on CBS.
The choice of Palin sealed McCain's fate in the election. He gambled by chosing Palin and it failed. It blunted the attack on Obama's inexperience and turned off many independents. To Obama's credit, he never faltered or panicked when the Palin pick was dominating the news and the polls gave a bounce to Palin. He and his team recognised that the election was not decided months before polling date and that Palin would become a liability.
Thankfully, it seems that being able to see Russia from Alaska is not enough these days to win a US election...
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