Quote Of The Day: The Defense of Sarah Palin

MSNBC’s First Read gives us our political Quote of the Day on a major effort to defend GOP Senator John McCain’s Vice Presidential pick Gov. Sara Palin in the face of unhelpful media coverage by…going on the offensive:

Early this morning, McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds announced that the campaign today “will launch a forward leaning effort to counter the shameless smears that have prevailed during Governor Palin’s introduction to the American voter.” Those activities include: having Rudy Giuliani defend Palin on TODAY and the network morning shows, airing a new TV ad comparing Palin’s executive experience versus Obama’s (by the way, what’s McCain’s executive experience?), holding a press conference by Joe Lieberman and Eric Cantor to denounce an Obama campaign accusation that Palin was a Pat Buchanan supporter, and putting female McCain aides and surrogates out for interviews “to demand better treatment for Gov. Palin’s family.” It’s been five days since McCain picked Palin and the campaign still appears to be playing catch up regarding all things Palin. So in its attempt to deal with all things Palin, the campaign is creating straw men regarding attacks on her. They want all attacks to be seen through the prism of “sexism” (see Laura Bush) or simply as “smears” (see above).

This can be an effective strategy. Arguably, both the Clinton and Obama campaigns, at least via surrogates, would sometimes raise the issue of sexism or racism in order to deflect a specific line of attack. That said, the McCain campaign has to be frustrated that after five days, they are more on the defensive today than they were on Day One. It’s become clearer and clearer that she was vetted at the last minute. Maybe the vet was thorough, but it was still done at the last minute — which meant the campaign had no time to road test her, a la Tim Pawlenty or Mitt Romney, Meg Whitman, or Carly Fiorina.

It’s the old story: the best defense is a good offense. Fasten your safety belts on this one…and it could work. Making someone the perceived victim usually does. All of this assumes that the National Enquirer or mainstream media won’t uncover some new Palin complication or problem — and then this strategy could fizzle as the old and new media pile on begins. But for now (a) she is likely to give an excellent speech since the McCain campaign knows it’s going to have a huge audience (b) the question is how moderate voters will react.

First Read also has this:

And judging by the reception she gets, there could be a very real debate on the following question: Whose Republican Party is this — John McCain’s or Sarah Palin’s? Talk to the GOP delegates here and it’s no contest. This is Palin’s party; McCain’s just the surprisingly cool guy who “got it” more than these folks thought.

That’ll be the key question for Hillary Clinton supporters who might vote for McCain based on Palin’s choice. Are the Clinton-Palin stands on issues the same? Or does that really matter in voting booth this year? Stay tuned..