{"id":1118,"date":"2008-12-16T11:14:26","date_gmt":"2008-12-16T16:14:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/?p=1118"},"modified":"2008-12-16T11:14:26","modified_gmt":"2008-12-16T16:14:26","slug":"mccain-dodges-the-palin-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/12\/16\/mccain-dodges-the-palin-question\/","title":{"rendered":"McCain Dodges the Palin Question"},"content":{"rendered":"

Josh Painter over at RedState<\/a> points out this exchange between George Stephanopoulos and Sen. John McCain on last Sunday’s This Week<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Today on ABC\u2019s This Week, when asked by host George Stephanopoulos whether he would support Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin if she runs for president, Sen. John McCain punted:<\/p>\n

\u201cOh no. Listen I have the greatest appreciation for Gov. Palin and her family and it was a great joy to know them,\u201d McCain said. \u201cShe invigorated our campaign and she was just down in Georgia and she invigorated their campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I can\u2019t say something like that,\u201d McCain said, \u201cWe\u2019ve got some great other young governors\u2026 Pawlenty, Huntsman.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pressed by Stephanopoulos that McCain had considered Palin to be the best person to succeed him if he had been elected and something had happened to him, the former Republican presidential candidate replied:<\/p>\n

\u201cWell sure, but now we\u2019re in a whole election cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

My first reaction on seeing this was ho-hum… I thought it was kind of a non-story. I never expected Sen. McCain to endorse Sarah Palin, or anyone else for that matter, this soon after the election.<\/p>\n

After reading some of the comments posted on George Stephanopoulos’\u00a0 blog and elsewhere I decided to throw my two cents in though.<\/p>\n

Republicans didn’t lose this election because of Sarah Palin or John McCain. They fighting an uphill battle against their own record over last eight years.<\/p>\n

They lost this election because they abandoned traditional conservative principles in favor of some sort of squishy, centrist\/populist republicanism that lead to out of controlled spending bad policy ideas like campaign finance reform, no child left behind, and amnesty for illegal aliens.<\/p>\n

Sen. McCain’s choice of Gov. Palin as a running mate may not have helped him with independent voters but there’s no doubt she energized grass roots conservatives and helped get them to the polls on election day… Without her I can’t help but think that a lot of conservatives would have stayed home on election day.<\/p>\n

I’m not sure how or when the Republican party lost its way, but It’s obvious that that there’s a civil war of sorts going on in the republican party… Grass conservatives who want the party to return to traditional conservatives principles are battling inside the beltway cocktail party republicans who think the party should move further towards the populist “center”.<\/p>\n

Defining traditional conservative principles isn’t a simple task but in short they start with a fundamental unwavering belief that, in the words of the Declaration of Independence, “… all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”<\/p>\n

If Republicans are going to have any chance in 2012, or in the 2010 midterms, they need to put principles before policy and start educating voters about the principles of fiscal responsibility, limited government, private property rights, and a strong national defense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Josh Painter over at RedState points out this exchange between George Stephanopoulos and Sen. John McCain on last Sunday’s This Week: Today on ABC\u2019s This Week, when asked by host George Stephanopoulos whether he would support Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin if she runs for president, Sen. John McCain punted: \u201cOh no. Listen I have the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[40,44,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-1118","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-politics","7":"tag-john-mccain","8":"tag-republicans","9":"tag-sarah-palin","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfpI7-i2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":353,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/09\/13\/gibson-versus-palin-round-two\/","url_meta":{"origin":1118,"position":0},"title":"Gibson versus Palin – Round Two","author":"Jeff","date":"September 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Scroll for Updates Over all Governor Palin did quite well last night, she was relaxed, confident and showed tremendous grace under pressure. I was disappointed in her answers on the economy though. Frankly I think she blew it. She didn't do anything to differentiate the McCain campaign from Bush administration.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Media"","block_context":{"text":"Media","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/media\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":658,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/06\/sarah-palin-barack-obama-tops-in-spam\/","url_meta":{"origin":1118,"position":1},"title":"Sarah Palin & Barack Obama: Tops In Spam","author":"Jeff","date":"October 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Secure Computing released a new report on spam trends Friday, among the reports findings, spam citing Gov. Sarah Palin topped her opponent, Sen. Joe Biden, by a ratio of 5 to 4 during the month of September. In a top-of-the-ticket comparison, spam using the name of Sen. Barack Obama easily\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Internet"","block_context":{"text":"Internet","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/internet\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":265,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/09\/02\/was-she-or-wasnt-she\/","url_meta":{"origin":1118,"position":2},"title":"Was She or Wasn’t She???","author":"Jeff","date":"September 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"All morning long I've been hearing and reading media reports quoting an \"unnamed republican source\" as saying that \"the team assigned to vet ... [Sarah] Palin in Alaska\" didn't get there until the day before John McCain \"stunned the political world with his vice-presidential choice.\" I'd like to know exactly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":234,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/08\/29\/its-palin-hot-damn\/","url_meta":{"origin":1118,"position":3},"title":"It\u2019s Palin… Hot Damn!","author":"Jeff","date":"August 29, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I've have to admit I'm stoked! Yes I still have reservations about John McCain, I don't like him, I don't trust him but Sarah Palin is the real deal. She's a solid conservative; she's intelligent, articulate and charismatic. She has a proven record as a reformer; she's battled corruption and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":225,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/08\/29\/mccain-vp-watch-whos-it-going-to-be\/","url_meta":{"origin":1118,"position":4},"title":"McCain VP Watch… Who’s It Going To Be?","author":"Jeff","date":"August 29, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"My top picks in no particular order: Fred Thompson Michael Steele Sarah Palin Carly Fiorina Michelle Malkin has more... Update: Foxnews says it's Palin. Whew... I'm not sure what to say. Personally, I would have preferred Michael Steele or Fred Thompson... That said Palin's a great choice, grass roots conservatives\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":598,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/03\/palin-on-michigan-pullout-do-we-have-to\/","url_meta":{"origin":1118,"position":5},"title":"Palin On Michigan Pullout: Do We Have To?","author":"Jeff","date":"October 3, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm not sure sending her Michigan would help at this point, all the polls say it's a lost cause. But what the hell... If Gov. Palin wants engage in a little retail politics and try to start a Palinmania brush fire in Michigan I'm all for it. H\/T: Hot Air.","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1118\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}