That is a transitional team that was planned for anyway. Full vetting took place, including full digging into the very personal and perhaps more difficult parts of Sarah’s life.

Take a deep breath. All will be alright. This is simply an attempt by the media to throw the only thing they apparently have at Palin. The experience track didn’t take, so all they’re left with smearing her or her family personally.

It feels overwhelming because other than the Hurricane coverage there was nothing else to fill the vacuum left behind.

Normalcy will regain a foothold tomorrow as McCain’s camp regains control of the message and the convention resumes, all culminating in Palin’s speech on Wed. where she will woo the country and dash away the media’s current attempts at character assassination.

This from today’s New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/us/politics/02vetting.html?ref=politics

Disclosures on Palin Raise Questions on Vetting Process

“Aides to Mr. McCain said they had a team on the ground in Alaska now to look more thoroughly into Ms. Palin’s background. A Republican with ties to the campaign said the team assigned to vet Ms. Palin in Alaska had not arrived there until Thursday, a day before Mr. McCain stunned the political world with his vice-presidential choice…

At the least, Republicans close to the campaign said it was increasingly apparent that Ms. Palin had been selected as Mr. McCain’s running mate with more haste than McCain advisers initially described…

With time running out — and as Mr. McCain discarded two safer choices, Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, as too predictable — he turned to Ms. Palin. He had his first face-to-face interview with her on Thursday and offered her the job moments later.

“They didn’t seriously consider her until four or five days from the time she was picked, before she was asked, maybe the Thursday or Friday before,” said a Republican close to the campaign. “This was really kind of rushed at the end, because John didn’t get what he wanted. He wanted to do Joe or Ridge…

In Alaska, several state leaders and local officials said they knew of no efforts by the McCain campaign to find out more information about Ms. Palin before the announcement of her selection, Although campaigns are typically discreet when they make inquiries into potential running mates, officials in Alaska said Monday they thought it was peculiar that no one in the state had the slightest hint that Ms. Palin might be under consideration.”

I initially thought Palin was a great choice. But are we certain the McCain camp thoroughly vetted her? Are there some surprises that might come up? I hope not but this New York Times report has some high ranking Republicans worried. I’m a bit nervous now. Should we be concerned?

I am very nervous now myself

They are gunning for this woman so every record in Alaska and paper from her college days will be looked to smear her.

I am very nervous now myself

They are gunning for this woman so every record in Alaska and paper from her college days will be looked to smear her.

I am very nervous now myself

They are gunning for this woman so every record in Alaska and paper from her college days will be looked to smear her.

I don’t know the timing of that article from the NYT… but here’s the very latest from the WaPo (dated Sept. 2):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/01/AR2008090100710.html?nav=rss_nation

Again, everyone calm down… don’t fall into the media’s trap. They can’t win by attacking her experience, so they’re trying to dispirit us. Breath. Go to bed. It will be better tomorrow.

God forbid and God help America if something bad comes up about Palin. If it does McCain’s campaign is toast and Obama Hussein will be President.

I think McCain jumped the gun here. I thought Kay Bailey Hutchinson would have been much better. She’s an expert on national security — the issue most important to me — has been thoroughly vetted, and who still has conservative credentials. Why did McCain pick Palin over Hutchinson?

dozens of lawyers to Alaska. OK, you didn’t think the NY Times story was credible. So here is AP:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ikFkim0OhsFnxtqQ8p4I0kcyFYqgD92U8OIG1

“In the days since, Republicans and Democrats have privately questioned whether the Arizona senator chose the first-term governor without fully looking into her background. McCain’s campaign has vehemently defended the review.”

McCain’s campaign has dispatched a team of a dozen communications operatives and lawyers to Alaska.”

reporting that Palin was the subject of a FBI background check and a review of her finachial and other personal documents. The Drive-bys want people to think that McCain’s campaign was incompentant in their job in vetting her, because they were incompentant in their job in reporting who is under consideration and that she is nothing more than an AA pick. Remember the day Biden was annouced, it came out Chet Edwards was vetted and under any serious consideration to be Obama’s veep without anyone knowing about it for a month. Just because a name isnt one being rumored does not mean that they arent being talked about by the campaign.

It should be noted that in 1994, when Palin is alleged to have been a member of the Alaska Independence Party, the governor was also a member of the AIP, and that he was a non-secessionist and a former and future Republican (and in his second stint as governor). It clearly wasn’t a fringe party at that time, but rather the temporary political home of a lot of Republicans disaffected with the state GOP establishment. And it’s not exactly news that Palin fits this description.

was a flag of convenience that Governor Walter Hickel used in 1990. Those were the open primary days and essentially the Ds elected a D to be the R nominee, a woman named Arliss Sturgelewski. Hickel, a rock-solid R, got the AIPs to make him their nominee in the General and went on to become Governor. Lots, maybe most, Rs went with him to the AIP.

If anyone doubts Governor Hickel, he built a good bit of Anchorage, was Alaska’s first Republican Governor, was Nixon’s Secretary of the Interior – till Nixon fired him, one of Hickel’s greatest achievements. Hickel was very instrumental in Palin’s run for Governor.

Absent Hickel’s ’90 run, the AIP is pretty out there, but sometime secession does seem an attractive idea.

because I wanted to answer your question as if you just asked me.

The Democrats had smear plans/op research for ANY veep that McCain picked. Sure, they have some of us feeling buyers remorse, but that was going to happen no matter who was chosen.

The left wants you to feel worried, they want you to have doubts. That was the plan for Romney, Lieberman, Jindal, Hutchinson, Pawlenty, and the rest.

At this point if we waver one bit, we will have been worked like the guy who tries to please everyone, including his enemies. What we should be doing is attacking the left for these insane smears.

Let me be clear I still firmly support Palin but as political science person I am worried how all these revelations can be seen as positive.

I think its sad to say but many woman are damned if they do and damned if they don’t and even worse it seems woman tend to be harshest critics of other woman and I get feeling Palin is getting that right now.