Palin Runs a Rogue Campaign

[Sarah Palin releases her medical records AND Conservatism in Crisis: Michelle Malkin's Pay Per Click Punditry]

Disagreement and dissent are spreading in the McCain camp as Sarah Palin goes solo, making statements that contradict McCain's line on a number of issues. Does she have an eye on 2012 now that defeat is staring her in the face,  or is she a tactical idiot? How much control does McCain have over rogue elephant Palin?

Brash Brit writer Christopher Hitchens pulled out all the stops in his Slate column slamming Sarah Palin as an incurious dimwit. One of his softer punches says Palin's conduct "has been a national disgrace. It turns out that none of her early claims to political courage was founded in fact."

Snakes on a plane: Steve Schmidt, left, is architect of McCain's failing presidential bid. Middle, Mark Salter, speechwriter;  Brooke Buchanan, press secretary

They want to hear liberals being bashed. Obama accused of terrorism, and warnings ringing out about impending socialism (at a time, let it be noted, when George Bush, with McCain's agreement, is busy nationalizing banks). But if the Republicans are to build a winning coalition they need all conservatives on their side, not just the guzzle-beer-and fart-brigade which is Palin's main audience.

Palin isn't even true to her own convictions. When asked simple questions about gay marriage or benefits for same sex couples, she doesn't look the interviewer in the eye and say firmly "I don't agree with gay marriage" or "I don't see why gay couples should have the same benefits as married people", she squirms, looks uncomfortable, and wraps her supposedly rock-sold evangelical convictions in sub-clauses, mangled grammar, caveats, and nonsense. It's fair to ask Palin: "What do you really believe? What are your core values? Is there anything you won't say or do to get elected?"

Her attacks on Obama are scurrilous fear-mongering, all bark and no bite. Everyone knows that if Palin had to debate Obama, he'd run rings around her on every issue. Obama has a much keener intellect than Joe Biden, who didn't have to break a sweat exposing Palin as a nincompoop in the VP debate.

The most recent poll, the Wall Street Journal/NCN poll, not only sees a double digit lead for Obama over McCain but also a failure of Palin's smear tactics. Her popularity has fallen sharply.  Voters are more likely to associate her with neagtive than positive feelings, the Wall Street Journal writes.

Forty-seven percent view Palin negatively, compared with 38 percent who see her in a positive light. Fifty-five percent of voters say Palin is not qualified to be president, up from 50 percent two weeks ago.

[Sarah Palin releases her medical records] AND [Conservatism in Crisis: Michelle Malkin's Pay Per Click Punditry]

Palin on the march to certain defeat. She apologized on CNN for remarks suggesting some parts of America are unpatriotic

David Frum:conservative critic of Sarah Palin

Christopher Hitchens enjoying a fag in the shower: Hitchens endorses Obama

What happens if John McCain dies? The nightmare scenario of Sarah Palin as president.

Lingerie 

Barack Obama is hugged by his maternal grandmother Madelyn Dunham, who passed away on November 3, 2008.

Barack Obama left the campaign trail for two days to be with his seriously ill grandmother, "Toot", Madelyn Dunham, 85, who had broken her hip. Mrs. Dunham died, Nov. 3 in Hawaii.

Karl Rove Proteges Ruin McCain's Campaign

John and Cindy McCain with Steve Schmidt head of the McCain campaign team. Schmidt is a product of the Karl Rove school of political campaigning. The thuggery and negative tactics which defeated John Kerry have not worked on Barack Obama, who has proved to be a far superior candidate to Kerry. Obama's campaign team led by David Axelrod has outsmarted, outmaneuvered, and outspent Team McCain every step of the way.

Dan Gerstein of Forbes writes: "These Karl Rove disciples, led by top strategist Steve Schmidt, were supposed to take out Obama in the same methodical way the Bush team eviscerated McCain in 2000 and John Kerry four years later. But, instead, they ended up swiftly swift-boating their own guy and the peerless reputation he spent a quarter of a century building, decimating in the process the campaign's best asset -- McCain himself. Talk about an honor killing."

Conservative Critics Hammer McCain-Palin

David Frum: "I am not denying that Sarah Palin may have great skills. She may well. I am insisting that neither you, nor I, nor John McCain has any valid reason to believe that she does."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina: "We're asking the American people to pick the next president and vice president, and we do not expect the American people to do so -- 'Trust me' - blindly. She [Sarah Palin] will have to do what's expected of people in this business ... In countries where that does not happen, I do not want to live."

Christopher Buckley: "The thought of Sarah Palin as president gives me acid reflux."

Christopher Hitchens: "The problem with Gov. Palin is not that she lacks experience. It's that she quite plainly lacks intellectual curiosity. It is not snobbish to harbor grave doubts about somebody who seems uninterested in reading for pleasure or recreation and whose only interest in her local public library is sniffing round its shelves for books that ought to be removed for expressing impure ideas."

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