Oct 28 2008
McCain, Palin Camps: Stop Fighting
It’s bad enough for Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin that Palin’s new wardrobe was the hot topic on cable news all weekend. Now there are reports of infighting between the candidates’ staffs. A national campaign is a stressful endeavor that includes lots of strong-willed partisans. So friction can be expected from time to time.
However, outsiders shouldn’t ever know about it. Failing to keep dirty laundry in-house gives the public a poor impression. Would President McCain’s staff be able to keep from leaking information about Vice President Palin? Some politicians are great at campaigning; others are best at governing. Few are outstanding at both because the two tasks require different skill sets.
For example, consider all the fiery rhetoric you’ve been hearing on the stump. Now imagine those words being uttered at a National Security Council meeting. Sen. Joe Biden has, by most accounts, been a fine senator for 35 years. He’s had to make deals with Republicans and compromise on key issues to get something done. Half a loaf is better than nothing in most cases and most members of Congress realize that. Except just before an election.
The point is that while many of the people working on the McCain-Palin campaign wouldn’t serve in their administration because they’d be working on future campaigns, they were hired by the candidates. McCain and Palin are responsible for the people who work in their name. The backbiting must stop if there is to be any hope of rallying in the last week. There’s more than enough to do already.
It’s completely unprofessional and I think it’s not only disrespectful to each other, but to the voters they want to support them. I wouldn’t support a team that is split down the middle before the season even starts. A team works together to overcome differences and balance their strengths and weaknesses. If this current situation is the shape of things to come under a Republican government, they’re going to be too busy protecting their own backs from each other than actually running the country. Never expected to see this kind of thing in an election - mudsling the opposition if you’ve nothing else to build a voter base on yes, but mudslinging your running mate? Crazy!
This is so true about good governance. If they can’t keep their staff from straying on the Path how on Earth are they going to convince the rest of the Electorate?
It sort of leaked out too that the Democratic party gave Joe Biden an emphatic “No” in 2000, 2004 and even 2008 regarding their desire to have him in the White House. The whole world knows it, so it is a bit disingenuous to be all enthusiastic about him now.