Will Palin Pull A Nixon?
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As Sarah Palin's VP candidacy seems to be imploding around her, it seems quite possible that she might become a serious drag on the McCain ticket (if she isn't already.) However, this sets her up quite nicely for a Nixon-style "Checkers" speech.
It's not far from the realm of possibilty, as McCain and isalready setting her up:
...so are traditional Republican surrogates:
Bad media! It's the classic Republican playbook of blaming supposed "liberal media elites" for their faults and playing the besieged victim. It's worked many times before, most notably with Richard Nixon's famous "Checkers" speech.
Nixon was about to be thrown off the ticket with Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 after it was revealed he had a slush fund. Everyone counted Nixon out (including Ike) and it looked like Nixon was about to be bumped off the ticket. Nixon went on national TV (a relatively new medium at the time) and explained himself to the American public by portraying himself as the victim of a vicious media smear. It worked quite well as Nixon remained on the highly successful Eisenhower ticket.
Can Palin do the same? She does have a good speaking-style, and she comes across as young and energetic. However, Palin isn't accused of just one scandal like Nixon, she's faced with an onslaught of scandals on multiple levels. Also, I'm not sure the old playing the victim thing will work anymore in this kind of political context. We'll see tonight.
It's not far from the realm of possibilty, as McCain and isalready setting her up:
John McCain's campaign on Wednesday angrily called for an end to questions about its review of Sarah Palin's background, deriding a "faux media scandal designed to destroy the first female Republican nominee" for vice president.
...so are traditional Republican surrogates:
Mrs. Schlafly then introduced a "surprise" guest, Laura Ingraham, the conservative radio talk-show host, who launched a blistering attack against the "elite" media and others who, she said, were unfairly attacking Ms. Palin.
Ms. Ingraham gave a spirited defense of Ms. Palin and delivered the red meat that the audience of roughly 250 or 300 people here in a hotel ballroom seemed to crave. She said that the "entrenched elite" -- and here she pointed to The New York Times and what she said was three stories (there was two) on today's front page about Ms. Palin -- opposed the governor "because of one issue -- life." There was big applause here.
"And the thing about this is that Sarah Palin isn't someone who just talks about life and defending life," Ms. Ingraham said. "This is a woman who lives that belief and that principle. She has demonstrated her commitment to the most defenseless among us, both politically and personally. And there's no bigger threat to this country than a woman who is strong and knows her convictions."
Bad media! It's the classic Republican playbook of blaming supposed "liberal media elites" for their faults and playing the besieged victim. It's worked many times before, most notably with Richard Nixon's famous "Checkers" speech.
Nixon was about to be thrown off the ticket with Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 after it was revealed he had a slush fund. Everyone counted Nixon out (including Ike) and it looked like Nixon was about to be bumped off the ticket. Nixon went on national TV (a relatively new medium at the time) and explained himself to the American public by portraying himself as the victim of a vicious media smear. It worked quite well as Nixon remained on the highly successful Eisenhower ticket.
Can Palin do the same? She does have a good speaking-style, and she comes across as young and energetic. However, Palin isn't accused of just one scandal like Nixon, she's faced with an onslaught of scandals on multiple levels. Also, I'm not sure the old playing the victim thing will work anymore in this kind of political context. We'll see tonight.
She's become worse since her dog died.