Experts Expound

“Sarah Palin — does she help or hurt John McCain’s chances in November? If she hurts him, does she get booted off the ticket?”

We’ll find out over the next two months. She’s one tough lady and my bet is she’ll prove to be a net plus.

She helps by shoring up the right wing base of the party — which means that he won’t lose quite as badly. Assuming McCain loses, but also assuming that Palin does well in the campaign and bears no blame for the loss, just think what a kick a Hillary vs. Sarah campaign would be in ‘12!

She will help him. She has more experience than Obama, she appeals to conservatives and she doesn’t wear pant suits. What’s not to like?

She’s a disaster, on the order of Eagleton/Ferraro/Quayle. It’s what happens when a presidential candidate (who claims he always puts “Country First”) makes a nakedly political decision in haste on a running mate. And it says a lot about McCain’s judgment to be president that he picks someone he’s met exactly twice. It is not at all clear to me that she will survive the fall. I bet there are many more shoes to drop. Either way, she is the beginning of the end of McCain, despite the hosannas from the evangelicals.

She’s a true American story – working mother, executive, reformer – and anyone in politics should be impressed by her accomplishments and confident that McCain chose a great VP.

Sarah Palin, talent wise, would be a slightly below average member of the Assembly (or Senate) Republican Caucus. Do you think any of them  would be an asset to the ticket? McCain makes Bush almost appear thoughtful! …

She won’t be booted off the ticket: that would be the end of McCain. A lot is riding on her speech tonight (Wednesday)…But from what I understand, the most vice presidential candidates only sway voters a very small percentage one way or the other – in other words they are pretty much a non-factor unless something really goes awry.

A root canal would be a welcome diversion for John McCain at this point, given the debate currently raging over his choice for vice president. Never mind Tom Palin’s 22-year-old DUI arrest, or even Bristol Palin’s pregnancy, the real debate concerns Sarah Palin’s judgment. She has made two key decisions that placed her career well ahead of her responsibilities as a parent — returning to work three days after giving birth to a boy with Down’s Syndrome and accepting the veep nomination knowing full well what that might mean to a 17-year-old girl already struggling with the stress of a pregnancy. This debate will linger all the way to November…

She helps with the party base, but it’s still an open question whether she brings Hillary’s working class voters. But she doesn’t get booted, not unless there’s something MUCH worse out there.

She hurts in the short term. Unknown whether she helps or hurts over the long haul. If more controversial stuff comes out that contradicts the campaign’s desire to cast her as a “reformer” (and not just a small town, small state ultra-right wing fringe group hack) then McCain’s in trouble.

Gov. Palin unquestionably helps the ticket. The GOP may have picked a Margaret Thatcher in the making. The Dems know it and will do anything to stop her. What is appalling is the lefties attacks on her, first outright saying she wasn’t the mother of the her child, then insinuating that she was a bad mother because of her daughter’s situation (anyone with teens knows you can’t control them, only love them). …

Net neutral. No chance of getting booted.

The people from whom we sought opinions: Andrew Acosta, A.G. Block, Mark Bogetich, Barry Brokaw, Morgan Crinklaw, J. Dale Debber, Peter DeMarco, Jim Evans, Kathy Fairbanks, Jeff Fuller, Rex Frazier, Ken Gibson, Evan Goldberg, Deborah Gonzalez, Sandy Harrison, Bob Hertzberg, Jason Kinney, Mike Madrid, Nicole Mahrt, Steve Maviglio, Adam Mendelsohn, Barbara O’Connor, Bill Packer, Kassy Perry, Jack Pitney, Adam Probolsky, Tony Quinn, Matt Rexroad, Matt Ross, Roger Salazar, Dan Schnur, Will Shuck, Ralph Simoni, Sam Sorich, Ray Sotero, Gary South, Kevin Spillane, Rich Zeiger.