Sarah Palin the Scapegoat

John McCain’s campaign staff needs to stop using Sarah Palin as a scapegoat for the Republican ticket’s loss. Anything that happened behind the scenes…if indeed anything did happen…did not come across at the rallies or in her interviews. Sure, her interview with Katie Couric was a disaster, but she came out and said she regretted her behavior. You also have to take into account that the interview was edited to make her look worse than she probably was. I believe Sarah Palin came out and fought 100% for a John McCain victory.

The McCain campaign staff also needs to remember that, as my mother used to say, “When you’re pointing a finger at someone else, there are always three fingers pointing back at you.”

The McCain campaign was probably one of the worst run campaigns I have ever seen from the Republican Party. I kept wondering who the heck was running the show. It certainly wasn’t Carl “the Architect” Rove…that was obvious.

They kept Sarah Palin cloistered away from the media…even the friendly media…for too long after the Republican convention. She should have been doing interviews with the conservative friendly media first and then the liberal media, not vice versa. Then, when she was giving speeches at her first dozen or so rallies, she looked uncomfortable. They had her trying to be a John McCain “Mini Me” instead of Sarah Palin. It wasn’t until several people, including myself, from the conservative community website Red States.com wrote e-mails to the McCain campaign demanding that they let Sarah be Sarah that she started looking like she was on fire. That was when she looked the most comfortable and alive. That’s when she started looking like the conservative she is and that’s when she started attacking the Obama campaign for its inconsistencies, lies and missteps.

Then there’s poor John. He made such a moving speech at the Republican convention, and then he just sort of fizzled. He looked so lifeless and lost for many of the rallies. He was trying so hard to be a conservative to appeal to the conservative base, while also trying to be a moderate to appeal to the Republican moderates, Independents and Hillary Democrats. It was almost neurotic in a way. There were so many changes in direction it made my head spin. John McCain came off looking weak and unsure of his positions. He didn’t start looking alive until the last two or three weeks of the campaign. I kept saying, “Where has this John McCain…the John McCain from the convention…been all this time?” By the time he woke up it was too late.

The McCain campaign, like many in the Republican leadership, looked like it was continually trying to find an identity. John McCain is not a conservative…he is a moderate; while Sarah Palin is not a moderate…she’s a conservative. It’s obvious that when you try to be something you’re not, and you don’t have experience at deception, you struggle.

If the Republican Party does not return to its conservative identity, ideology and base; it is destined to loose even more power and be out of power for a long time. They need to quit listening to the pundits who say Republicans need to be more moderate. They have been doing that ever since they regained control of Congress in 1994 and look at where they are now…out of power after only twelve years and floundering.

I truly believe that this country is hungry for conservative leadership; but in its absence, they are willing to turn to people who pretend to have conservative values…even when their record shows the exact opposite. Just look at this last election…need I say more?