McCain admits regret over Palin Pick????

Heather MC

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Sat Oct-18-08 02:01 PM
Original message

McCain admits regret over Palin Pick????

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http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/20...429/296/634322

Sat Oct 18, 2008 at 05:17:31 AM PDT
Faced with mounds of polling data showing that Sarah Palin has sunk John McCain's presidential campaign, and with a growing number of conservatives throwing Sarah Palin under the bus, I guess it was only a matter of time before McCain threw Palin under the bus himself. In an exclusive interview on Friday with the St. Petersburg Times and Bay News 9 that will air in full on Sunday, McCain acknowledged that he would be better positioned to win Florida if he had picked Gov. Charlie Crist as his running mate. Looks like Johnny regrets that he tossed aside his former BFF Charlie so quickly.

McCain said a number of stunning things in his Florida interview. The most eye-opening of all, of course, was his first public statement to even hint at an acknowledgement that picking Palin as his VP may not have been, um, the smartest move he's made in his career. McCain admitted that he'd be doing much better in must-win Florida with Crist on the ticket.
"Charlie, because he's so popular, he probably would have made a significant difference,"McCain said in an interview with the St. Petersburg Times and Bay News 9.
"I think this would have been a battleground state, except for obviously (with) a popular governor as Charlie Crist is," McCain said.

Along with expressing his regrets over dumping Charlie, McCain also offered his first public statement in which he acknowledged that all is not peaches and cream with Palin.
"Look, this is a tough decision that we made with Sarah Palin."

McCain's comments are real head-scratchers, especially coming as they are at this late stage in the campaign. From a strategic standpoint, the McCain camp surely knew all along that Florida would be a must-win state for McCain, and even I am willing to admit that a Crist pick would have likely sealed the deal for him down here. So what did McCain expect Palin to bring to the ticket that would have been worth more than Florida's 27 electoral votes? I have no idea. And why, oh why, would McCain even admit that he'd be doing better in the election right now if he had picked Crist instead of Palin? I mean, can you imagine Barack Obama going to, say, Ohio and admitting that he'd be doing better in that state if he had chosen Ted Strickland as his VP? Just another sign of the lack of discipline in McCain's campaign, and of McCain's increasingly erratic nature.
McCain's erratic nature was on full display in other parts of the interview too. The St. Pete Times notes that although McCain has been hammering Obama for his paper-thin associations with William Ayers, he refused in the interview to say anything about his own strong, longtime association with one of his major Florida donors and fundraisers (and former Charlie Crist frat brother), Harry Sargeant, who has been accused of war profiteering. He even channeled his own inner Palin:
"I don't know anything about those charges so I can't make a comment on any of that," McCain said of the latest allegations, strongly denied by Sargeant. "I don't know what they're talking about. But I'll get back to you if you like."

Hmmm. That tactic worked so well for Palin in her interview with Katie Couric, I guess McCain decided to use it himself.
McCain also refused to answer questions about whether or not he plans to cut Medicare and Medicaid -- an issue particularly near and dear to Florida's large senior population. Instead, he claimed that Washington was awash in money -- there's plenty to go around!
When pressed in the interview whether his plans for a spending freeze would hurt programs like NASA and Everglades restoration, or mean Medicare and Medicaid recipients would be hit, he insisted vaguely that he would find other areas to cut.
"Anybody that doesn't believe there isn't enough money washing around up there doesn't know Washington," said McCain.

Well Sen. McCain, I guess we can start by getting back that $180 million in excess Iraq war profit from your pal Harry Sargeant.