Bush Strategist: McCain Knows He Put Country At Risk With Palin Pick

Forums: Mccain, U S Politics, U S Elections 2008, Democrat Desperation, Matthew Dowd
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Bush Strategist: McCain Knows He Put Country At Risk With Palin Pick
by Sam Stein stein - Huffington Post
October 14, 2008

Matthew Dowd, a prominent political consultant and chief strategist for George W. Bush's reelection campaign eviscerated John McCain on Tuesday for his choice of Sarah Palin as vice president.

Dowd proclaimed that, in his heart of hearts, McCain knew he put the country at risk with his VP choice and that he would "have to live" with that fact for the rest of his career.

"They didn't let John McCain pick the person he wanted to pick as VP," Dowd declared during the Time Warner Summit panel. "When Sarah Palin got picked instead of Joe Lieberman, which I fundamentally believed would have given John McCain the best opportunity in this race... as soon as he picked Palin, that whole ready versus not ready argument was not credible."

Saying that Palin was a "net negative" on the ticket, he went on: "[McCain] knows, in his gut, that he put somebody unqualified on the ballot. He knows that in his gut, and when this race is over that is something he will have to live with... He put somebody unqualified on that ballot and he put the country at risk, he knows that."

The other panelists were surprised, a bit, by Dowd's bluntness. Not least because McCain's well-known campaign motto is "country first."

"No, I don't agree," said Mark McKinnon, a former McCain aide, after chiding Dowd for claiming particular insight into McCain's soul.

"Well," responded Dowd, "that's even more disturbing than my thought" -- the implication being that it would be truly frightening if McCain didn't know how bad Palin truly was.

Time columnist Joe Klein summed up what seemed to be the panel's Palin consensus.

"It was a gimmick," he said of the pick. "It was one of the most disastrous decisions I have seen in a presidential campaign since I've begun covering them."

Later in the session, Hilary Rosen, the Huffington Post's Washington editor at large, noted that the Palin pick had been successful in energizing the Republican base -- and McCain himself. But Dowd wasn't biting.

"To me it is like Halloween," he said. "You get energized by eating all that candy at night but then you feel sick the next day."

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If they are suggesting that the country would be at risk because Obama will now win, they may have a point.

If McCain wins, what is the risk with Palin as VP? NONE!!!

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@Woiyo9,

Know you nothing about actuarial tables?

Actuarial tables inform us that a man aged 72 (Mccain's age) has about a 15 percent chance of not surviving four years and about a 32 percent chance (about 1 in 3) of not surviving eight years (Social Security Administration 2004 actuarial tables). These statistics do not take into account the fact that John McCain has battled melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer, since 1993, when he had a melanoma removed from his arm. In 2000, two more melanomas were removed plus a lymph node. In 2002, a lesion removed from his nose was identified as a non-malignant form of melanoma.

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@kuvasz,

WASHINGTON (AP) " If John McCain is elected and goes on to win a second term, there's as much as a one-in-four chance America could see its first woman president " Sarah Palin.

It's actuarial math.

The odds highly favor either McCain or Barack Obama completing a first term in good health. After that, McCain's odds are still fairly solid, but his chances of dying or being in poor health go up faster than Obama's, mainly because of his age.

An Atlanta actuarial company specializing in individualized estimates of life and health expectancy has run the numbers for McCain, 72, and Obama, 47. The firm, Bragg Associates, calculated the odds of the candidates dying in office, adjusted for their known health problems.

McCain would be the oldest president to begin a first term in office. By the end of a second term, Jan. 20, 2017, he would have a 24.44 percent chance of dying, compared with 5.76 percent for Obama, the firm estimates.

"Can either candidate expect to serve two terms in a healthy state? The answer is yes," says James C. Brooks, Jr., an actuary with the firm. "They're both in outstanding health for people of their age."

Illness is another issue.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jU2l6KnjaIJYOiZnslIoDwZA5m3QD93H7QOO1

Know anything about facts?

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@Woiyo9,

Quote:

James C. Brooks, Jr., an actuary with the firm. "They're both in outstanding health for people of their age."

You quote an actuary, not a physician? Do you have any evidence whatsoever that Mr. Brooks reviewed a single page of Mccain's 1,173 pages of his medical records?

John McCain's health is an issue of grave concern for all Americans, regardless of political persuasion. Given the fact that he has been treated for an invasive melanoma and other maladies, it is important that he release his full health records.

For a very brief three hours in May, McCain released 1,173 pages of his medical records to a carefully selected group of reporters. They were not allowed to make any copies or phone calls. Why such secrecy?

Secrecy is not of service to our democracy, transparency is.

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Bush Strategist: McCain Knows He Put Country At Risk With Palin Pick

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