McCain's 'Stop Sarah Palin' strategy working like a charm, polls show

Fresh evidence tonight that the brilliant McCain campaign strategy to lock away the political effervescence of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to stoke overconfidence among the nation's Democrats and set the stage for yet another improbable Arizona comeback is working exactly as planned.

For more than 10 days now the 44-year-old mother of five, who upset the ancient Republican establishment in Alaska two years ago by driving herself to campaign events and talking to pretty much any group that would have her, has been cut off from normal Americans who watched her by the many millions give a spunky speech at the Republican National Convention and then overnight turned her name into seven of the top 10 search terms on Google.

But John McCain's strategists had a better idea than letting Palin be Palin. They set her up with TV reporters born to ask questions until they found some she couldn't answer.

No doubt the campaign's idea was to show the hockey mom was pretty much like any other American who couldn't recall Marbury vs. Madison if their cellphone depended on it.

Wait, come to think of it, the other vice presidential candidate didn't cite a famous Supreme Court case by name either. But never mind. We don't want to confuse the conventional Palin storyline.

So the pressure is even greater for Thursday night's sole vice presidential debate between Palin and Democrat Joe Biden, the senator from somewhere who wears his hair down pretty much all the time.

The Washington Post published a new poll this morning showing that six out of 10 Americans now see Palin's two years as governor of the largest state as insufficient experience to become president.

Almost half the voters polled expressed discomfort with McCain's age and, of those, 85% found Palin too inexperienced to take over. A third of those polled now say they're less likely to vote for McCain because of Palin. It's almost like a dream, it's working so well. A previous Times poll showed little Palin effect on female voters.

Our colleague Mark Silva over at the Swamp reports on a separate Pew Research Center poll that also shows this Hanoi strategy unfolding perfectly. Confidence in Palin's ability to lead has plummeted from 52% in early September before the imprisonment of Palin to 37% now.

It's not all good news though. The Pew poll finds 70% view Palin as down-to-earth, vs. only 55% for the gaffey guy who's been a yabbering senator with congressional perqs since Palin was eight years old.

Also discouraging for the McCain camp must be the finding of a new Marist Poll, described by the Swamp's same Silva. It reveals that while a plurality (45%) expect Biden to perform better in the debate and a majority (61%) expect him to show a greater understanding of issues, compared to Palin's 36% and 28%, nearly two out of three expect Palin to come across as more likeable, compared to Biden's measly 23% anticipated likeability.

To facilitate the latest McCain plunge into oblivion by Nov. 4, the hockey mom is clearly going to have to do something outrageous during the debate to drive down her likeability. Maybe talk innocently about hairplugs. Or let slip something about her home state being 279 times larger than, say, Delaware. 

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo credit: Office of the Alaska Governor

Comments

[:HAn.]

You're giving the McCain camp WAY too much credit. Do you honestly think they have a strategy of having her look like a fool in public so she comes out relatively shining during debates? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of.

It's easy to take any question during a debate and fine-tune your answer to an already established "core issue" response. It will be a lot easier than when Palin has to come up with unexpected questions on the fly. This is the reason why she will most likely not disappoint during the debate tonight.

[Jerry McGee]

Think of this when voting for a ticket containing an inexperienced hockey mom who will be just a fraction of a heartbeat of being the leader of the free world.....even the search committee of a small college uses better judgement and a more stringent vetting of experience and intellectual prowess in selecting candidates for their presidency. Wake up America! This is a joke......and many of you are being the jokees! The world is watching.

[Caroline]

Alaska may be 279 times larger than Delaware, but Delaware has a larger population...........

[Will]

Just to be clear, the McCain campaign is saying that some very important things to look for in a VP are youth, likeability, and being governor of as large a state as possible? Gee, that makes it easy! I don't have to worry about educating myself on the candidates' platforms at all now! Booo aspiring minorities! Yaaay rich white people!

[Joseph Mansigian]

Really snarky style to this article.

[Jose]

A V.P. candidate so cluless she isn't allowed to talk to the media and has to be accompanied by her clueless daddy everywhere she goes. Sounds like a great one to take over the country should that need ever arise.

[Obama08PLEASE]

Tonite is going to be a joke....for Palin. Biden is such a professional, good man all around,and Palin is so green (not in the environmental sense!). Palin will lose this debate for sure. As a woman, I am ashamed of her really, she puts her carreer WAY before her own family who obviously need her.

[Tom H]

I understand that Republicans are obligated to speak the party line that Sarah Palin is fully qualified, but if you REALLY believe that, I seriously doubt both your commitment to good government for this country and your sanity.

[grant]

Not a one-sided article at all, is it? Sounds like Andrew is a hater of sorts. Many think it, but I will say it- Obama will get it because he is -----.

[williamwarren]

you might also want to clarify one other little fact when you state that palin is, "....governor of the largest state...."
square miles:
delaware: 1,953.56
alaska: 571,951.26
wyoming: 97,100.40
hawaii: 6,422.62
fortunately, congressional representation isn't determined by square miles but by population; and even delaware has more people alaska:
Population, 2006 estimate:
delaware: 853,476
alaska: 670,053
wyoming: 515,004
hawaii: 1,285,498
if you're wondering why i've included hawaii, its part of the effort help gov palin excuse for ignorance as a governor whose state is not part of the contiguous United States? next: let's let katie couric interview the governors from the most populated, state with the most square miles and those not part of the contiguous United States. sound like fun? ok, not. but at least sarah will feel better on her flight back to alaska....

[scootmandubious]

The nation is justifiably horrified at the prospect of having this woman being the one with her hand on the button during a crisis.

So why won't John McCain release his complete medical records?

He obviously has something to jide.

For the banned political ad that asked the question about his medical records, and more on the subject:

http://scootmandubious.blogspot.com/2008/10/why-wont-john-mccain-release-his.html

[lal]

I do not agree with this liberal reporter who is an advocate of Obama's candidacy. Period.

[Kay]

Andrew,

Do keep in mind that, while Alaska is a physically large state, Delaware has a larger population (over 200,000 more, in fact).

Kay

[Jim Terr]

Once again, I can't tell if Malcolm is serious, or if this is an attempt at sly satire. We're attributing a lof of very finessed calculation to this bumbling campaign, aren't we?

[Vir]

Irony notwithstanding, Palin is what America needs as the country seeks energy independence. Who among the democrats transacted a billion dollar plus pipeline to make America less dependent on foreign sources?

She is the gold nugget of the Yukon and America will be the richer for it.

[SoHumorless]

I agree with lochmonster. I don't support McCain/Palin at all and think she's a dolt but this piece doesn't work.

[DougH]

It's sort of like the guy being beat about the head and face saying

"I got him just where I want him. I'm waring out his fists with my face to tire him out."

John's strategy:

Once he's behind by 10% in the national polls, he will declare another campaign emergency, get the election postponed, America will see that as an act of leadership and swing immediately to his side and elect him as America's 44th President.

It's all part of his master plan.... You poor dumb people just don't understand.

[joe]

This will be a fun article to paste in Palin's scrapbook that will kept in her Observatory Circle home.

[oto]

McCain, Honor, Honesty, Experience.

A little fib here and there, a l ittle lie here and there, old, cranky, picked the worst VP candidate in history, but who's looking anyway!

[Tim]

I would be willing to bet that perky Katie Couric didn't have an idea what Marbury v. Madison was until a lawyer friend of hers told her about it. Not every candidate has to know everything about everything to be President. Tired of the gotcha game being played against the Republicans and the Dems go scott free on these things.

[Jon Iscream]

I will keep saying it. No one in the traditional media gets it. After the debate tonight they still won't get it; but the rest of America will. Sarah Palin is the end of democrats getting real women's votes. The will still get the 2-3% of ugly women - feminists; but 'typical' women are going to relate to the first woman President of the USA - Sarah Palin!

[Abel Johnson]

Kay wrote, Do keep in mind that, while Alaska is a physically large state, Delaware has a larger population (over 200,000 more, in fact).

Kay, for that matter, Portland, Oregon has a larger population than Alaska. If that is Sarah Palin's experience, our Mayor Tom Potter should have been chosen by McCain. At least Mayor Tom Potter has been to China on a trade meeting. Palin saw China on TV. Potter has run a city twice the size of Alaska.

But really, if Palin just got her passport last year, how is it that she has all this international experience? I don't get it.

Mayor Tom Potter for Vice President!!!

[Lisa Marie]

Saying that Alaska is the largest state is misleading. It may be large geographically, but it has the population of the Pittsburgh area. Delaware is a much more populous state, and therefore "larger" than Alaska. Is being governor of Alaska akin to being mayor of Pittsburgh?

[Johnny Griswold]

Show of hands - how many of you are voting for Obama just because he's different (black)?

[TommyF]

Amazingly, in my lifetime I see the United States fall from sanity and grace.

Do you realize that the media can now get away with saying ANYTHING about anybody, with no respect, and we don't even question WHY? How sleazy and loathsome that we allow ourselves to be minimized as people.

Are we hypocrites, saying we want human rights in China and yet we savagely attack a family from Alaska? "Oh" you say, "only enough to destroy her politically." No, my country, not only that, but also ideologically and personally.

When we promised ourselves not to be as "they" are, but now we are "they." What happened?

Why do we think it's funny that Stephen Colbert sticks it to McCain and Palin but not Obama and Biden? and what about Leno and Letterman? Where are the comics who satirize and humanize, or dehumanize, the Democrats?

I'll tell you where. They have been stifled. We live in perilous times, America.

Do you realize that Al Qaeda's written plans are to destroy America financially and morally before overtaking it by force? Do you realize that the current financial debacle has terrorist ties?

Do you realize that the current media destruction of the Republican party has terrorist ties, and feels terrorist? Do you?

Why is Obama exempt from scrutiny?

Why is Obama exempt from satire?

Why was the New Yorker blasted for their weak attempt at satire?

Why do the liberal bloggers attack like terrorists, not aiming to discuss or convince, but to insult and destroy?

It is all connected.