Saturday, August 30, 2008

Frail Flower

I’ll give John McCain’s media staff credit on one thing: they don’t let the grass grow under their feet, especially when responding to criticisms of Sarah Palin being (according to presidential historian Matthew Dallek) the “most inexperienced person on a major party ticket in modern history” in a Politico article where other scholars (Joel Goldstein, Doris Kearns Goodwin, David Kennedy) echo similar concerns over Palin’s thin resume.

In response, McCain’s people fired off the following to Politico:

"The authors [of the Politico piece] quote four scholars attacking Gov. Palin's fitness for the office of Vice President. Among them, David Kennedy is a maxed out Obama donor, Joel Goldstein is also an Obama donor, and Doris Kearns Goodwin has donated exclusively to Democrats this cycle. Finally, Matthew Dallek is a former speech writer for Dick Gephardt. This is not a story about scholars questioning Governor Palin's credentials so much as partisan Democrats who would find a reason to disqualify or discount any nominee put forward by Senator McCain."

A tad hypersensitive, aren’t we?

If McCain’s staff thinks this level of scrutiny over Palin is bad—and it’s truly mild—they had better toughen up quick, because after the pixiedust following her debut has settled, she will have to explain to voters in concrete terms why she’s qualified to be POTUS should her boss expire.

And somehow, I suspect Palin's ability to grill mooseburgers just won't cut it.

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