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September 3, 2008

The Left pushing story that Palin may be replaced

Rick Moran
It used to be that a good stock jobber could churn up enough activity on a stock that would make it appear to an investor  who didn't know any better that the activity meant the security was on its way up.

When enough suckers had bought into his plan, the jobber (and his friends) would sell their stake and watch  the price drop back to near nothing thus flim flamming the unfortunate investors who were taken in by the ruse.

We have something similar happening with the wishful thinking on the part of some lefty commentators that eventually, Palin will be so damaged that she will have to be dropped from the ticket or the pressure will become so intense she will drop out of her own accord: 

Like the crooked stock jobber, these commentators have no inside dope that McCain is thinking of dumping Palin nor have they come up with anything remotely damaging enough that would make that scenario anything more than a Democratic wet dream. But the meme is being pushed nonetheless: 


With reporters and opposition researchers crawling through Alaska, and with the McCain campaign having dispatched its own team of lawyers to re-vet Palin, Republicans are wondering what shoe might drop next. If further revelations prove damaging enough, McCain could decide to replace Palin or she could choose to withdraw. While such an event seems unlikely given her popularity in some quarters of the party-Jacob Heilbrunn has suggested that social conservatives would view her ouster as "political infidelity"-her rocky reception makes the "Eagleton scenario," and how it might unfold, a subject of more than academic interest.

Interviews with Republicans and legal experts today shed light on how the process could play out. At any point before tomorrow night, McCain could simply replace Palin. But once she formally accepts her nomination, he'll no longer have the power to do so unilaterally. According to Ben Ginsberg, the former general council at the Republican National Committee, Republican rules stipulate that the 168 members of the national committee would need to ratify any replacement to make it official. The process falls under Republican Rule Number 9(a): "The Republican National Committee is hereby authorized and empowered to fill any and all vacancies which may occur by reason of death, declination, or otherwise of the Republican candidate for President of the United States or the Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States, as nominated by the national convention, or the Republican National Committee may reconvene the national convention for the purpose of filling any such vacancies."

This is nuts. Please note that there is not a hint from the McCain camp that Palin will be replaced and yet Joshua Green goes ahead and posits the notion anyway.

And he's not the only one:

Just got off the flight to St. Paul to find, in my inbox: A second source confirming her past membership in a secession-minded fringe group, her lawyering up in an inquiry the AP slugged "Troopergate," and - insult to injury - another woman claiming she was actually Miss Congeniality in the Miss Wasilla '84 contest. [UPDATE: She was Miss Congeniality in the state competition, not the local one, so she's in the clear there.]

The name on the tongues of gleeful Dems, meanwhile: Eagleton.

These guys are dreaming. Dumping Palin would be exactly the same as McCain conceding the race to Obama. Unless something comes out that she shot a hunter instead of a moose, Sarah Palin will be the nominee now. She will be the nominee tomorrow. And she will be the nominee on election day.

The left should go back to fantasizing about something that might have a chance of coming true - like Obama doing anything worthwhile as president.

Posted at 12:38 PM | Email | | | Share Share
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