Way back, when McCain picked Palin, I conjectured that she had been "bought" by the campaign. I was thinking that McVain figured he was gonna lose and he "hired" her ( bought her) to stimulate the base and lure in the disgruntled Hillary voters. Ever since then, I've been saying she was his Political Viagra. LOL!Anyway, I have always thought that she was told that being McCain's running mate would guarantee her political future, and she could have a lot of things in the way of perks, in exchange for firing up the base. McVain figured that if he lost, no biggie, she'd be gone. And if he won, he figured that he'd be able to wing it with her, and hand her off to his staff, while he engaged Lieberman as surrogate VP.There's no question she initially fired up the base. She definitely didn't seem to get many of the Hillary voters, however.I think she was also told that she'd have a lot more influence as VP, if she did her best to perform as required, and McVain somehow managed to get elected. That would account for her thinking that there were many more responsibilities involved with being VP, than there actually are. Far be it from her to think of looking in the Constitution, where the relatively few duties and privileges of VP are all laid out in plain language.As the negatives against Palin continue to grow exponentially, and McVain's prospects of winning shrink daily, Palin is realizing that her political future is seriously at risk. She's now fighting for her own survival, while at the same time, continuing to nurture her vain illusions of ascending to the Vice Presidency, and beyond. She honestly believes she's qualified to hold the highest office in the land, even as she politically bungee jumps closer and closer to the ground.
She is now a liability and an huge embarrassment to the campaign, and to McVain in particular. He can't wait to get this over with. He cares very much what people think of him. It is excruciating for him to have his reputation, honor, and integrity, such as it was, rapidly disintegrate into a steaming pile of dung. He absolutely hates being the butt of jokes, no matter how well he seems to take it.So, this news of Palin's $150K wardrobe and all the other perks she's getting, fits in pretty well with the picture of her being used, bribed, and basically poised for dumping at McVain's earliest convenience. It doesn't matter any more whether people or the press are good to her - McVain has realized that he's going down in flames. But he wants to make sure it looks like Palin is the reason for his failures, so he doesn't care if any of the negative stuff about her continues to sink his ship. The press is backing up this image; calling Palin "the biggest drag on the campaign" and blaming her for the continued downward slide of McCain's poll numbers.It wouldn't surprise me if he actually had known that there were a lot of skeletons in her closet when he picked her. At the point he picked her, his ratings were taking a nosedive. He was not on good terms with his staff or the Republican Party, apparently due to their denial of Lieberman as his first pick for VP. He clearly lashed out at everyone, including his supporters and donors, by picking Palin in an openly impulsive act of defiance. McVain calculated that, if he wasn't able to resurrect or maintain his campaign with doses of Palin Viagra, he could bring the skeletons out to effectively put his campaign out of its misery. Now that he can't ignore the train wreck that his campaign has become, the skeletons come marching out, one by one. "It's all Palin's fault" he can say. He certainly never did - and doesn't now - give a damn about her political future.
Today, Chuck Todd (CNN) was talking about how he observed no apparent chemistry between Palin and McVain. He was talking about how mystified he was by this. [These guys need to learn to ask the women what's going on, when a woman's actions are mysterious.]
Here's my take on it...From the beginning, McVain was drooling over Palin. In the film footage of the rallies, you can see him hanging on her every word, but trying not to appear so obviously infatuated with her. You can see him following her around, conscious of his proximity to her at every moment, anxious when she strayed out on her own, and eager to hug her and kiss her at every opportunity.
This type of touchy-feely behavior no doubt surprised Palin initially, and she rolled with it to be a good sport. But ultimately, all the drooling made Palin (and the First Dude) quite uncomfortable. Not only is it unprofessional, but McVain wanted to be too close in the hugs, and too affectionate in the kisses. You can see all this in the news footage. Palin has been able to choreograph more physical distance between her and McVain. The hugs are shorter and there is a definite projection by Palin of some boundaries - she is keeping him at bay because she does not want to have this old fart lusting after her! I mean, a woman can only take so much of this crap! And she certainly doesn't want to give him any encouragement. McVain probably thought he could basically have his way with her because he's (or his campaign or the RNC) is footing the huge bill for her presence and contribution to the campaign. He thought he could do with her what he does with all women - treat them like they are there for his pleasure, to do what he needs them to do, to serve him and to serve his agenda.When she started making a fool of herself in interviews, McVain soon insisted on accompanying her, chaperoning her, to act as a control, fill in the gaps when she obviously was clueless, and to prevent her embarrassing gaffes. At this point in time, his campaign was starting to spiral out of his control. It's totally gone now. No one can even successfully do damage control anymore.Tomorrow, Palin and her husband, Todd, are scheduled to give depositions in TrooperGate. The expectation is that there will be some negative repercussions on Palin's official position as Governor of Alaska. This, combined with the rest of the verdicts against Palin, will afford the McVain campaign an ideal opportunity to unload her - because unloading her is the only thing that might make a difference in the projected outcome of this election.
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