Sara Palin's selection as John McCain's VP running mate is intended to end badly within the next two to three weeks as part of a devious Republican strategy. The McCain/Republcan strategy never intended for Palin to run the full course of the campaign and most likely not more than two weeks past the end of the Republican National Convention. As a result of attacks on her and the focus on her family, she will resign in shame and disgust, and the McCain campaign then intends to real the rewards of the resulting sympathy.


I have been in contact with a source that has previously provided reliable information on several issues. The strategy is outlined below, which is a combination of informed speculation and quietly-passed information:

(1) The McCain campaign has long ago quietly picked their VP running mate intended to be on the ticket in November.

(2) Palin has been selected as a "trojan horse" target for vocal political firebrands to have a veritable field day.

(3) The strategic response to criticism of Palin is a scripted minimalist retort intended to actually invite more criticism.

(4) Key McCain operatives, posing as intense liberals, will seed blogs and bulletin boards with horrific claims about Palin.

(5) Key McCain operatives, acting as "insider informants", will spill minor tidbits from "inside" the campaign organization to help fuel the negative Palin speculation.

(6) As the criticism reaches its peak, and a "family secret" is exposed by an intensely savage "liberal blogger", Palin will resign.

(7) After an appropriate period of McCain campaign faux indignation and a "second VP search", their original choice will be revealed.


Among those quietly discussing this rumored strategy, one name continues to emerge as the likely architect, Carl Rove. And, as is typical of the strategic maneuverings of Rove during campaigns, the intended outcome is multi-facted:

(1) The McCain campaign organization intends to reap significant reward from voters who are showing both sympathy and ager over what has transpired.

(2) The Republican party insiders expect this issue to become the tipping point that initiates strict media control over political bloggers.

(3) The McCaign campaign expects this issue to remove examination of familial matters from the news, as there are deep issues in Cindy McCain's professional life that could harm them.

(4) The backlash of the perception resulting from attacking a "hockey mom", "nice person", and a pregnant 17-year old daughter will forever damage the Democratic party as it is expected they lack the backbone to do anything but apologize.

This seems 'off' to me, but I'll assume for a moment that you are correct.

If Palin is nothing more than a trojan horse, is she 'in' on the plan? Is she willingly having her family get drug through the dirt?

And if Palin is to bow out, who are you suggesting would she then be replaced by? You claim that her replacement is really McCain's first choice, so who would that be?

I think it's kind of funny how much credit people give Karl Rove.

Jemison

The assumption is that Palin is now "in" on the strategy at some level, but was not when first selected.

The only name that continually surfaces in regard to the possible first choice is Condoleezza Rice.

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Originally posted by Dronetek
So, how is this any different from the "Obama is a undercover Muslim" stuff? You guys seem to want to have it both ways. Where we aren't able to say anything about Obama, but you guys have free reign to just make stuff up.

It is different because this information, which is admittedly partial conjecture based upon multiple sources of quietly passed information, does not attack the credibility of any one person based on flagrant lies. It perhaps exposes a strategy to do just that.


As a disclaimer, I have made the personal choice not to vote for either of these major media candidates and despise what has become of the election process. The information in my opening post is but one effort to expose the farce that is the process, not attack those who do not deserve it.

(duplicate post removed, sorry)

[edit on 2-9-2008 by mister.old.school]

Originally posted by Dronetek


These forums become dumber by the day.

Great observation.


To the OP:

Or, maybe the Dems are so shell-shocked over the fact that Obama got ZERO bounce from his prime time and highly anticipated speech that they have been desperately trying ANYTHING to derail the chain of events set in motion since Friday morning.

McCain stole Obama's spotlight with Palin.
Obama can't get it back.

McCain/Palin = real change you can count on!

Obama/Biden = same old Washington politics.


Yes, America is hungry for change. Ironically, it's McCain and Palin, two leaders who are the first willing to go against their own party, who will give America the change it wants.

There's one thing you're forgetting though: Obama said strictly that family members are OFF-LIMITS. If it turns out that Sarah Palin resigns due to much negative media coverage, the Democrats won't be to blame.

Let us not be so quick to judge.

I think this is an excellent thread and extremely thought provoking.

Time will tell on this one, but in the mean time it is a great source of discussion. I don't really see how this could benefit the Republicans and hurt the Democrats, but crazier things have happened.

Very interesting.

I agree with the OP - it is the only sensible conclusion other than a few weeks into McCain's Presidency, he dies of his melonoma and Palin is now PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. Boy, James Dobson and Karl Rove are salivating at that tought. If McCain dies, SHE will be President. Enough said, this selection makes NO SENSE.

ColoradoJens

[edit on 2-9-2008 by ColoradoJens]

Speaking as an unorthodox feminist...

It does come across, to a non-American, that the US media has a problem with women doing well in society - and some individuals too on ATS.

Oh no, she cannot be Vice President or President because she is a woman?! We are not living in Victorian Britain - we do let them out the house. Suffragette's have stopped protesting and society do trust women with the vote.

Some of us do believe in gender equality.

Misogyny and sexism seems to prevalent these days. It is hilarious to note the irony here, the same members criticising Palin and the same who protested against threads criticising Obama

Now now, do not let hypocrisy get the better of us.

Palin leaving the ticket will be pure destructon for the McCain campaign.

People attacking Palin, especially about the pregnancy part is insulting millions of mothers out there, single or not. Palin is becoming a poster child for the common mom thanks to the attacks on her and her daughter.

If Palin leaves the race, McCain will lose in a landslide.

If the dems keep attacking Palin, they are gonna look like the out of touch elitists that they really are.

How is this going to benefit the Republican party?

McCain by chosing her, has demonstrated an inability to make a correct desision. Instead of chosing someone who is ready to assume the presidency, he chose someone who, if what you say is right, will be leaving because she is not VP material.

That shows that McCain is incapable of making a correct decision for this country.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
Thank you for this highly relevant information. I

Yes, thank you for this highly relevant and "admittedly partial conjecture based upon multiple sources of quietly passed" information.

No bias at all, huh BH?

If Karl Rove or some other Republican strategist really has cooked this up, then it's a dangerous over-intellectualization. It depends on too many anticipated reactions and involves too many steps that could have unintended consequences.

McCain can never come out and say that Palin was a decoy, therefore he must maintain that he chose her, which reflects very poorly on his judgement.

Furthermore, the perception by liberal bloggers that they brought down a potential Republican VP will only encourage them to dig deeper, bring them after Cindy McCain and others.

That same perception will make it very difficult to control the bloggers while Democrats control congress. A success legitimizes them. A failure would make them seem irrelevant, which makes the issue of their 1st ammendement rights primarily academic and makes it easier to silence them without the public taking notice.

In that sense it would actuallly make more sense that Rove or someone else seeded exactly the rumor that you are reporting to encourage continued attacks on trooper gate and the pregnant daughter, both of which are born-to-lose fights for the Democrats that make them look just a bit chauvanistic. That's a much simpler explanation. It involves only one step and it's a classic tactic you can find in any military classic from Sun Tsu's Art of War to General Krulak's Warfighting: Show weakness at your point of strength, let the enemy commit suicide on your walls.