John McCain chooses Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his VP running mate, announces it, and the Obama campaign issues a statement that Obama refers to as a "hair trigger" reaction, right before he backs away from that initial reaction.
Beautiful optics.
Many said when they first saw Bill Burton's quick response from the Barack Obama's campaign which questioned Sarah Palin's experience credentials, that they should be very careful about "going there", and it seems that Obama himself is backing slowing away from the cookie jar.
The campaign's initial response:
John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency. Governor Palin shares John McCain's commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of Big Oil and continuing George Bush's failed economic policies -- that's not the change we need, it's just more of the same.
Right there they managed to insult small towns again, remember the "bitter" middle Americans that "cling to their guns and religion" remarks that Obama once made.
Also, Palin has been a mayor and was elected as a Governor, both of which are executive electoral positions, to which Senators are not.
For the record for those that do not understand the difference:
A governor is a person elected by the people of a state to be the top leader in that state. They have many of the same powers that a president have, but only on a state level. They can pardon criminals prosecuted by the state, they can sign and veto bills passed by the congress of the state. They can appoint people to certain positions, and they speak for the state on matters regarding the state.
A Senator, is one of two elected by every state. A Senator represents their states constituency by making and voting on laws that are created by congress. Some Senators also serve on various committees.
So, looks like Palin, who is on the number two position of the Republican ticket has more executive experience than Obama does on the number one spot of the Democratic ticket.
Hence the idiocy of the Obama campaign's original response.
Which brings us to see Bill Burton tossed right under the bus for his "hair trigger" response issued by the Obama campaign.
Once Obama realized exactly how that would be used against him, he backed away very very carefully.
At a stop in Monaca, Pa., Barack Obama seemed to distance himself from his campaign's first, harshly critical response to the Palin pick.
"I think that, uh, you know, campaigns start getting these, uh, hair triggers and, uh, the statement that Joe and I put out reflects our sentiments," he said, according to the pool report, apparently criticizing his staff for going overboard, as he did occasionally in the primary.
HEH
Here is the "official" statement that reflects their real feelings, which aren't the feelings expressed in the first statement shown above, according to Obama:
We send our congratulations to Governor Sarah Palin and her family on her designation as the republican nominee for Vice President. It is yet another encouraging sign that old barriers are falling in our politics. While we obviously have differences over how best to lead this country forward Governor Palin is an admirable person and will add a compelling new voice to this campaign,” said Senator Barack Obama and Senator Joe Biden.
Hoisted by your own petard!
Talk Left encourages the Obama campaign to tread carefully regarding Palin....too late, that original statement is out there and is not going away.
No Quarters speaks about "Barack’s Chutzpah Moment".. amusing.
I never realized how shrewd and smart John McCain could be. (Check Memeorandum.com to see all the stories that now dominate the news coverage.) In selecting Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, as his running mate he dared the Democrats to make the case, as they have, that she’s not qualified because she “lacks foreign policy experience.” He understands that when the media decides to investigate Governor Palin they will be forced to conclude that she actually has more foreign policy experience than Obama. As Susan pointed out below, she was in Germany visiting wounded troops long before Barack sought to speak at the Brandenburg Gate. She is a Commander-in-Chief of the Alaska National Guard and those troops have been in combat.
So, if you are running Barack’s campaign, you don’t want to renew the focus on your own candidate’s zero experience as an elected executive do you? Oh hell yes. Clueless to the concept of irony the Barack team is trying to attack Palin’s “paltry” experience. They did this with a straight face. Did anyone think to check Barack Obama’s resume?
Read the rest...
Since McCain's VP announcement we also see that Dr. James Dobson,head of Focus On The Family, an influential Colorado-based ministry, who once declared he would never vote for John McCain has just announced he is voting for Mccain/Palin in 2008.
Lets see, what else are we seeing by way of reactions......well, the Volokh Conspiracy brings news of some wonderful reactions over at a Clinton forum.....they are loving Palin as McCain's choice.
Evidently the Obama campaign was completely unprepared for Mccain's choice as shown by a dispatch over at The Caucus.
11:40 a.m. | Obama Reaction: The Times’s Jeff Zeleny has the following dispatch:
The Obama campaign had no immediate response to reports that Senator John McCain has selected the little-known Alaska governor, Sarah Palin, as his running-mate. Neither Mr. Obama nor Mr. Biden talked to reporters, but Mr. Biden could be seen wearing a wide smile in the front cabin of the plane.
Ms. Palin came as a surprise not only to many Republicans and journalists, but also to the Obama team. The campaign has been busily preparing TV commercials to run against Mitt Romney — with aides gleefully watching hours of footage of Romney-McCain exchanges from the primary — but far little opposition research had been prepared about the Alaska governor. And aides said no commercials were ready to be immediately released, which the McCain campaign did when Mr. Biden was chosen.
The takeoff of the Democratic campaign plane was delayed for about 30 minutes, so aides were busily trying to learn all they could about the Palin pick.
With the Democratic ticket in the air for the next four hours, the new Republican team will own the television coverage for nearly half the day.
Should Democrats have anticipated this and left Denver sooner, so the Obama-Biden duo could be seen campaigning on a split TV screen with the McCain-Palin pair? Or was it wise to simply let Republicans spend the day airing out their views of this very unexpected choice?
Ouch!
Here is another little tidbit from LA Times Top of the Ticket:
At organizational convention meetings in St. Paul this afternoon word was passed that some $2 million in new donations had poured into the campaign and Republican National Committee within three hours of Palin's announcement.
Reactions have been coming out all day, I went over a few earlier and you can see all the buzz over at memeorandum.
If I see any more must read reactions, I will update.
Previously:
VIDEO of McCain-Palin Rally in Dayton, Ohio
Video Clip of Portion of Palin's Speech
It Is Official, Sarah Palin Is John McCain's Vice Presidential Running Mate
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