John McCain's Judgment: Maverick….or Erratic….? (Palin to Present and Beyond)

• John McCain wants to claim the change/reform platform, but has 7 of Wall Streets biggest lobbyists on his campaign staff.
• On September 15, 2008, the Monday following the beginning of our present financial crisis, John McCain (perhaps channeling Herbert Hoover) believed the “fundamentals of the economy are strong.”





• Later in the day, he attempted to spin that gaffe. He said that he meant that the American people and our ingenuity were the fundamentals he was talking about when he saind the fundamentals of the economy are strong.
  
  
  
  I don’t know about you, but I feel like he was underestimating my intelligence.
• Tuesday September 16, 2008, he was against the AIG / Wallstreet bailout.





• Wednesday September 17, 2008, he was for the AIG / Wall Street bailout.





• Wednesday September 17, 2008, he said Obama was too inexperienced to solve these problems, then almost in the same breathe he blames all the problems on Obama as if he had been in Congress for decades.
• Wednesday September 17, 2008, John McCain said that he would fire the SEC Chairman if he were President.





• Later on Wednesday September 17, 2008, John McCain learned that as President, you cannot fire the SEC Chairman.
• John McCain threatened that he would not attend the 1st Presidential Debate if a Wall Street Rescue Plan had not been agreed to. John McCain had not made a vote in the Senate since April 2008. (Opinion: Here it seemed like he was grand-standing in order to claim credit for managing the economic crisis, and perhaps gain polling points in economic matters with the voting public, where he has fallen short of Obama.)
• Craps: There was NO Deal in Congress on the Financial Crisis and John McCain still showed up for the debate, defying his own proclamation that he would not be at the debate if no deal was made. (Opinion: He lost his nerve, because the gamble was not based on principle, but political trickery.)
• Thursday September 18, 2008, John McCain suspends his Presidential Campaign to go to Washington and deal with the financial crises. Nobody mentioned this to the McCain Campaign offices around the US cause they were still running ad, surrogates were still doing interview, and campaign business continued. (Opinion: This seemed to me, like a classic case of smoke and mirrors.)
• Selection of Palin was all politics and no principle. Even Karl Rove, the conservative maestro of the Bush Administration said on Bill O’Reilly that the pick of Palin was political.
  Palin was John McCain’s first Executive Decision. (Opinion: In my view, he failed. Before the announcement of his running-mate, Sarah Palin, every publication and every McCain surrogate made it very clear that McCain wanted Joseph Liebermann or Tom Ridge. If he can’t stand-up to the Wall Street lobbyists in his campaign, how can he run this country?)
• Palin not well vetted as a Vice-Presidential nominee.
  
  
  
  John McCain took a gamble with the future of this country on a potential Vice-Presidential that he barely knew. McCain did not make his decision based on whom he thoughtfully felt could help him lead the country.
• Opinion: Given the current Financial Crisis, I can imagine that, in retrospect, he wishes he had picked Mitt Romney.
• Before Palin, McCain was running on the experience platform. Only since the pick of Palin on August 29, 2008, has the McCain Campaign pushed the Change/Reform platform. (Opinion: Political pandering in my view. The political wind was not blowing in John McCain’s favor so the campaign changed course, while the Obama Campaign has been consistent with its message of Change/Reform.)
• Chuck Hagel, a Republican Senator and long time friend of John McCain, said Palin has no Foreign Affairs experience and should just be honest about the fact.
• John McCain said that the 2 qualifications for a Vice-President are 1) to preside over Congress and 2) to be able to take over role of President should the elected President be incapable. (Opinion: Believing that Palin could run the Country at this point in her political career, is and enormous stretch.)