Posted by Jed Lewison on Mon Dec 22, 2008 at 10:31 AM Pacific

Actually, Picking Palin Was The Mistake

Sarah Palin is busy giving interviews saying that she felt the McCain campaign's biggest mistake was not letting her do more interviews. There was a time that I agreed with her. As I wrote on September 5:

Todd Harris, a GOP strategist who is close to the McCain campaign, says Palin won't be available to the press for about two weeks. His defense? She might make "a mistake."

If she goes out and makes a mistake, that is something that [voters will] care about, and that's something that will haunt [McCain] for awhile, so I think this is a smart move.

This has got to be one of the craziest messaging decisions ever: Harris is conceding that Palin's not even ready to be a vice presidential candidate, let alone be president.

I just don't see how they can sustain two weeks of keeping Palin in hiding. Every day the McCain campaign keeps her away from reporters just highlights the fact that they don't think she's ready.

This strikes me as a pretty impressive strategic blunder.

In retrospect, the strategic blunder wasn't keeping her away from reporters. It was picking her in the first place.

Actually, Picking Palin Was The Mistake

Sarah Palin is busy giving interviews saying that she felt the McCain campaign's biggest mistake was not letting her do more interviews. There was a time that I agreed with her. As I wrote on September 5:

Todd Harris, a GOP strategist who is close to the McCain campaign, says Palin won't be available to the press for about two weeks. His defense? She might make "a mistake."

If she goes out and makes a mistake, that is something that [voters will] care about, and that's something that will haunt [McCain] for awhile, so I think this is a smart move.

This has got to be one of the craziest messaging decisions ever: Harris is conceding that Palin's not even ready to be a vice presidential candidate, let alone be president.

I just don't see how they can sustain two weeks of keeping Palin in hiding. Every day the McCain campaign keeps her away from reporters just highlights the fact that they don't think she's ready.

This strikes me as a pretty impressive strategic blunder.

In retrospect, the strategic blunder wasn't keeping her away from reporters. It was picking her in the first place.

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