The Sarah Palin Show Cancels Its West Coast Tour

Last week, when I noted that the "Palin and McCain" campaign was considering keeping the Palin and her sidekick together on the campaign trail, I noted that they were probably making the choice out of necessity.

Though, really, it’s not so much "chemistry" or "magic." It’s necessity. You can’t promise concert-goers Carrie Underwood and then deliver Lawrence Welk–which is what the McCain campaign will be doing until they get their hot celebrity back on the trail. 

If there was any doubt that Carrie Underwood Palin was the draw on this ticket, the people leaving the rally in OH…

McCain was almost upstaged at the rally here by Palin, who drew rapturous applause from the crowd with her bubbly declaration– twice — that she and McCain were "going to Washington, D.C., to shake things up!”

McCain recited a speech he had given earlier in the day about the need to reform Wall Street. A slow but steady trickle of supporters began to file out after Palin’s speech introducing McCain.

Followed by the people leaving the rally in IA…

"We want Sarah," the crowd began chanting as Palin said, "Thank you,"to begin the rally.

[snip]

McCain starts speaking 18 minutes into the rally.

[snip]

I look up, about five minutes into McCain’s address and see a steady stream of people walking out of the rally. They just came to see Palin apparently.

Ought to disabuse you of any doubts.

So the inevitable has happened–the McPalin campaign appears to have decided to commit to their "one third the campaign rallies" strategy. That’s my best guess, anyway, as to why Palin just canceled next week’s events in California (which wasn’t going to be competitive anyway) and Washington (which, with Palin on the ticket, might be).

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has canceled her planned trip to Seattle.

A spokesman for Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Palin encountered a "scheduling conflict" and would instead be elsewhere, probably in Michigan.

Palin, the Alaska governor picked by McCain as his running mate, had planned to travel to Seattle Sept. 24 for a fundraiser. [my emphasis]

I’d be really happy about this "one third the campaign rallies" thing, if only it didn’t mean that I was going to have to see McCain and Palin traipse through my state every week for the next seven weeks. I hope they’re spending heavily.

Update: Apparently they’ve rescheduled for the first week in October.

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  1. pajarito says:

    Maybe trying to get a grip on the verbal gaffs? That and rest McSame up for a small speech.

    I’ll take European presidents for $100, Alex.

  2. FormerFed says:

    Can’t say that Palin isn’t aggressive and ambitious. Now she is referring to the ‘Palin and McCain administration’. She can’t even wait for the old fart to kick the bucket. What a dangerous fiasco for America.

    • Elliott says:

      Imagine, they are alone in the office,
      McCain clutches his heart,
      he falls to the floor.

      Does Palin call for help, or pause to think consider the alternatives?

      • bmaz says:

        Is that before or after she puts her clothes back on?

        CBL2 @4 – Have seen it; not sure that it is going anywhere, if EFF was going to do this, they should have done it in a more timely fashion so that they had a vested claim before passage of the FAA.

      • dosido says:

        She doesn’t blink!

        Frankly, this white woman with a special needs child can see right through the bull. Heard it too many times. She can take her moose manure back to Alaska.

        • skdadl says:

          That’s the thing. She doesn’t blink. But what is it that she goes on to do straight away without blinking? There’s the question.

          Amazing clip. I know this sounds silly, but she really does sound so much like Tina Fey.

  3. Arbusto says:

    Slight O/T I saw McBush, on the Obermann Ego Hour last night, giving a speech and glad handing at a GM plant, but he sure got drowned out by the Obama stalwart GM fundamentals (employees).

  4. dakine01 says:

    Actually, isn’t it even fewer appearances than 1/3?

    I mean, Barack Obama makes appearances on his own. As does Joe Biden. As does Michelle Obama. As does Jill Biden.

    If Sarah and John have to appear together, and John seems to need Cindy with him at all times; that just leaves Todd Palin to appear by himself. Why do I doubt they want Todd Palin by himself anymore than they want John McCain appearing by himself.

      • JimWhite says:

        Wow, I thought you were doing the math differently. Palin can do more appearances per day, but if they appear together, they have to keep banker’scodger’s hours. When they are together, she does half as many appearances as she would on her own.

        I wonder if they will start bribing fire marshals to allow them to chain the doors until after he finishes talking…

        • rosalind says:

          I wonder if they will start bribing fire marshals to allow them to chain the doors until after he finishes talking…

          wasn’t it darth who recently prevented veterans from leaving the room until he had finished speaking, after having forced them to get there hours early to await his arrival? perhaps his advance team can give McBush some pointers…

        • rosalind says:

          correction: the vets cancelled darth’s talk due to his demands:

          WASHINGTON – Vice President Cheney’s invitation to address wounded combat veterans next month has been yanked because the group felt his security demands were Draconian and unreasonable.

          His staff insisted the sick vets be sequestered for two hours before Cheney’s arrival and couldn’t leave until he’d finished talking, officials confirmed.

  5. Mary says:

    OT – Scott Horton’s 6 questions to Barton Gellman yesterday
    http://harpers.org/archive/2008/09/hbc-90003554
    starts off with some interesting info on how Cheney, when he was running Bush’s VPSweeps originally, basically got all the top GOP guys to bend over backwards handing him all their dirt. Even allowing him access to their FBI files and open book medical records.

    Once equipped with anything that could be a pressure point on them – he slipped himself into the slot. Oh, and the news that

    … Cheney never filled out his own questionnaire; that the heart surgeon who vouched for his health never met him or looked at his records; and that Bush and Cheney never interviewed anyone for the job until Cheney already had it nailed.

    Includes info on a “distorted leak” about a problem for one of the vetted guys for Atty Gen, where the only people who had access to the info were Cheney,

    his daughter Liz, his lawyer David Addington, and his old friend David Gribbin

    Somehow lists without Scooter’s name seem so listless.
    Ashcroft was Cheney’s pick and the guy who was not Cheney’s pick got the leak shaft. Kind of makes you wonder what Cheney had in Ashcrofts file b4 they handed over unchecked domestic surveillance programs to him. No wonder Ashcroft was willing to have DOJ conspire to send stray Canadians to be tortured.

    Non-sequitor OT, apparently Arar was on NPR today, but I missed it.

  6. BoxTurtle says:

    Smartest thing he could do at this point. I expect his next step will be Sarah campaigning on her own while McBush remains in DC to “tend to the critical crisis the country is currently in”.

    Boxturtle (I’m sure they’ll keep her tightly scripted. But where will the Beer Goddess go?)

  7. Mauimom says:

    What scares me about Palin:

    ** the “rapturous” response to her by the knuckle-draggers;

    ** her fund-raising ability for Republicans

    ** the fact that she’ll be around for many more election cycles [assuming she loses this one]

    • freepatriot says:

      that’s what makes me happy about sarah

      ** the “rapturous” response to her by the knuckle-draggers;

      gonna make the fiscal conservatives and the corporate conservatives run for cover

      ** her fund-raising ability for Republicans

      see the part above about the fiscal conservatives and corporate conservative. If they ain’t gonna support it, those two factions ain’t gonna finance it. And the goobers in the evangelical wing can’t fund a national party

      ** the fact that she’ll be around for many more election cycles [assuming she loses this one]

      as long as sarah is around, the fiscal and corporat repuglitards are gonna be chewing off legs to get away from her

      I wish her a long and unsuccessful politcal life …

      princess pandora is the gift that just keeps on giving

  8. der1 says:

    Showing up to see the celebrity Palin and that’s how someone decides? I swear 1/2 the country’s on some monster drug. Isn’t Jill teaching? And Todd on his own? Did you see Greta’s interview with the “first dude”? They spent too much time on trying to figure out what she should call him as she gushed between Todd and Dude, jesus. “I dunno, maybe, uh-huh”. Why isn’t Obama/McCain 60-40? Shoot me.

    • BoxTurtle says:

      Those people who went to that rally had already decided. 80+% of the nation has already decided. The fight is now over the remaining 20%- who either haven’t decided or could change their minds.

      These rallys are for the community organizers *snark* who do the vital work at the local level. Keep ‘em energized and working, while generating photos and sound bites for the national efforts.

      Boxturtle (Obama does the same, but for much larger crowds)

  9. chrisc says:

    The McCain camp must be completely delusional.
    Did they imagine California was in play?.
    I’m in SoCa and there have been ads for McCain running during the nightly news all week.

    There is also an anti- gay measure on the ballot- prop 8.
    Between that and Palin’s initial lustre, maybe they thought they had a chance.

  10. Teddy Partridge says:

    The Palin trips to California were fundraisers — sold-out fundraisers at $1,000 a person that they had to move from some richistan’s house to a convention center. Won’t those GOPs want their money back? Pissed-off donors is a great way to motivate The Base.

    Probably she would have had a rally too, and I’m happy she’s staying away. We don’t want the fundies riled up to vote this fall in California, because we know they’ll vote for Eight/Hate.

    • cinnamonape says:

      There are a lot of wealthy and fanatical religious right wingers who still hadn’t contributed to the McCain-Palin campaign RNC…because they felt that McCain wasn’t one of “them”. And the crowds are the acolytes of the same crowd, for the most part. What makes a difference is the enthusiasm level…if they come out in November. Obama has to match that in new registrations and people whose lives have been impacted by the last eight years of incompetence.

      http://health.yahoo.com/news/h…..fetan.html

  11. EdwardTeller says:

    Palin, who drew rapturous applause from the crowd

    The way her positives are plunging, her negatives acending, they’d better hope for some righteous rapture real soon.

  12. rkilowatt says:

    appropos integrity: The Meaning of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers

    …At the moment, the Reagan administration has been caught red-handed in an obvious act of piracy. This is so patently clear that even an ultrarightist like Senator Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.) had to disassociate himself from the administration, while his not much milder counterpart on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Daniel Moynihan (D-N.Y.), felt obliged to resign his post on the committee in order to absolve himself of the guilt of mining Nicaraguan harbors.
    [by SamMarcy in 1984] http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/

  13. AlbertFall says:

    Is Palin about to announce she needs to spend more time with her family?

    I wonder if the dirt in Alaska is too deep and McSame has figured it out while they were trying to obstruct justice…..

    • Rayne says:

      Nah, no such luck.

      Yet.

      They know they’ve lost CA, so they are changing the approach to the state. They’re going to milk Palin’s popularity with the monied base and use her as chum at big ticket fundraising dinners in that state instead.

    • BoxTurtle says:

      Palin is doing EXACTLY what she was supposed to: Energize the base and get McBush’s senior moments off TV. The Spanish kerfluffle is the first one that really got coverage in a long time.

      They may eventually throw her under the bus, but they’re not done using her yet. Besides, who would they replace her with? It’s not McBush’s decision, so Holy Joe is out.

      Boxturtle (Betting on a confidential out-of-court settlement in troopergate)

  14. Redshift says:

    A spokesman for Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Palin encountered a “scheduling conflict” and would instead be elsewhere, probably in Michigan.

    I know you were most concerned with the announcement that they’d be inflicting themselves on Michigan, EW, but unless I’m mistaken, you missed the unintentional hilarity of this statement. The spokesman appears to be saying with a straight face, “Palin has a scheduling conflict with some other event, we’re just not sure what it is yet.”

  15. GeorgeSimian says:

    I think McCain’s “people” are wondering how Palin fell off the headlines as fast as she got there. Republicans love that Palin pisses off Democrats, but after this week on the stock exchange, it will be pretty hard for them to get her momentum back up. And she’s just scandal after scandal…

    o/t but did anyone see that Froomkin in the Post today? Bush hasn’t answered a question since Aug. 6th! WTF?

  16. masaccio says:

    Palin is a slow learner. Here is a quote:

    “Disappointed that taxpayers are called upon to bailout another one. Certainly AIG though with the construction bonds that they’re holding and with the insurance that they are holding very, very impactful to Americans so you know the shot that has been called by the Feds it’s understandable but very, very disappointing that taxpayers are called upon for another one.”

    The problem of AIG is not its insurance companies, the ones that issue insurance policies and construction bonds. The problem is its exposure to credit swaps, essentially guarantees for losses when securities go into default. There will be no losses in insurance or construction bonds. She apparently doesn’t know that, even though she has no doubt been briefed by people who do know.

    Learning this stuff requires a base of knowledge. She lacks it. Some of us don’t. Can you imagine EW saying something this stupid, or spouting a sentence this ill-formed?

    • Dismayed says:

      Indeed. They simply can’t pump enough information into her in a few weeks to make up for years of not being interested in anything other than Alaskan High School rivalries. The woman is quite simply, simple.

      Her lack of intellectual curiousity and world view exceeds that of even George Bush and that’s really saying something.

      She’s going to get her ass handed to her in the debates. And I am going to get sick on popcorn.

  17. FrankProbst says:

    Hmmm. I can’t see John McCain winning Michigan. Romney stomped his ass in the primary there, and I don’t think the “Romney name” was the reason. I think it had more to do with the fact that McCain pretty much told the autoworkers to suck it up and find new jobs. That doesn’t win you many friends in Flint.

  18. FrankProbst says:

    California’s a bit tricky for the Republicans. The anti-gay-marriage groups are pissed that they aren’t getting support from the national ticket. There’s no way that McCain/Palin can campaign in California without taking a firm stand on this. In the past, that would be no big deal. And even now, if we were talking about a state like Massachusetts, I think they could still pull it off. But we’re talking about California, which just legalized same-sex marriage with a ruling from a Ronald Reagan-appointed judge, and which has seen several high-profile celebrity same-sex weddings over the past few months. Someone’s inevitably going to ask them, “What would you do about Ellen and Portia’s marriage?” And they’re not going to have a good answer. It’s one thing to tell two people they can’t get married. It’s quite another to “unmarry” them. And while Ellen isn’t quite in the don’t-fuck-with-Oprah category, she’s still a VERY sympathetic public face to have to deal with.

  19. Boston1775 says:

    Perhaps it’s because I work with middle school kids, boys mostly, who are said to have special needs, but I picked up on Sarah’s difficulty with language immediately. Sometimes she lacks a subject, sometimes there’s no verb, just a string of phrases.

    She’s energized by the teleprompter because it does all the silly work of putting full thoughts together. It even gives her the correct moment to pause, and that takes the edge off of wondering if she’s done yet. It’s fabulous and addicting. Then, once she has it memorized – thanks, but not thanks – it’s a winner. Ever heard a kid tell the same joke over and over trying to recreate the moment adults first found it funny?

  20. plunger says:

    OT but so very important re the economic system and our Democracy:

    If you want to get specific, and put a name on it, the name is COMMUNISM. We’ve gone right past Socialism, and even Fascism. How, prey tell, are the actions of the Plunge Protection Team, FED, Treasury Secretary, SEC Chairman and the banksters who effectively own Congress any different than these actions by Communist China?

    China to purchase stocks, ‘backstop’ market

    Hint: They are no different at all.

    Don’t forget to send David Rockefeller a thank you card for delivering his favored system of government, Communism, to our shores, in his lifetime, He’s been working full time to destroy our entire system, and he’s done it.

    “Whatever the price of the Chinese Revolution, it has obviously succeeded not only in producing more efficient and dedicated administration, but also in fostering high morale and community of purpose. The social experiment in China under Chairman Mao’s leadership is one of the most important and successful in human history.”

    David Rockefeller (about Mao Zedong in the New York Times, August 10, 1973)

    Here is the direct quote from his book pg. 405

    For more than a century, ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as “internationalists” and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure – one world, if you will. If that’s the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.

    -David Rockefeller

    Investigate the destruction of America by David Rockefeller – the self-admitted master of the universe. He controls virtually everything, so now you know who to blame for everything.