Palin Could Hurt McCain With Jewish Community

Posted by Ashish on 08.30.2008

Palin supported Pat Buchanan in 1996...

News is now out about McCain VP Sarah Palin supporting Pat Buchanan for much of the 90s, including his 2000 Presidential run, a time when he was pretty openly anti-Semitic. Buchanan himself has confirmed that she was an engaged supporter of his, even showing up to fundraisers. The Anti-Defamation League has their own page on Pat Buchanan which says Buchanan has "racist, anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and anti-immigrant views." Buchanan is strongly disliked in Jewish communities and news that Palin supported him in a pretty public way could play a big role in states like Florida and Ohio which have very large Jewish populations.

Wasting no time, Democrats are jumping all over this. Here is what Rep. Robert Wexler of Florida said today.

John McCain's decision to select a vice presidential running mate that endorsed Pat Buchanan for President in 2000 is a direct affront to all Jewish Americans. Pat Buchanan is a Nazi sympathizer with a uniquely atrocious record on Israel, even going as far as to denounce bringing former Nazi soldiers to justice and praising Adolf Hilter for his "great courage."

At a time when standing up for Israel's right to self-defense has never been more critical, John McCain has failed his first test of leadership and judgment by selecting a running mate who has aligned herself with a leading anti-Israel voice in American politics. It is frightening that John McCain would select someone one heartbeat away from the presidency who supported a man who embodies vitriolic anti-Israel sentiments.

This, combined with the scandal Palin is caught up in right now in Alaska, really makes you question what kind of vetting process, if any, the McCain camp put Palin through.

But this story, Palin being linked to an extremist like Buchanan, has other links. It further paints a picture of Palin as very much a rightwing extremist. She is against abortion in EVERY scenario including rape and incest, a position over 90% of America disagrees with. She wants to teach creationism in school science classes, which is one of the more extreme religious positions one can take. And she is as pro-big oil as you can get.

The thing that makes Palin tricky is that she (and Republicans) are now going to try and pander to Hillary Clinton supporters and try their best to not say anything about who Palin is or what she supports. Palin was picked, largely, for her gender. I'm not criticizing that, I'm stating the obvious. If there was no Hillary Clinton factor in this election, Palin would never have even been considered for VP by McCain or any other Republican. Nobody can say Sarah Palin is ready to be President. It doesn't matter if you also think Obama isn't ready. You can say both aren't ready, but you can't seriously argue that Palin is ready and Obama isn't. Her convention speech will likely praise Clinton and attempt to make herself seem like a champion for women even though she is vocally against choice which is constantly polled as one of the most important issues to women. This is definitely a gamble pick, a hail mary even. But politically, it's smart. I don't know if it will work, but at this point, McCain had to try something. Picking Romney or Pawlenty wouldn't have changed anything.

The risk with Palin, though (besides making McCain's age and health an even bigger issue), is that once the initial buzz of McCain picking a woman fades, as it will in a week or two, she will then have to go out on the stump and actually talk. She will have to answer media questions. And the chances of her saying or doing something negative are extremely high. Not to mention the risk McCain is taking by taking the experience card off the table. It doesn't matter if Palin is a VP candidate and Obama is a Presidential candidate. What matters is how the media, and by extension the country, views it. And much of the media specifically mentioned today how McCain could no longer use the "Obama is inexperienced" line and expect to get any traction.

We will also now see if the scandal Palin is currently in now begins to get national media coverage. Since it is ongoing, and will have new developments throughout this election, the obvious answer there is yes. Again, the specifics of the case don't matter. It's perception. And the media covering a Palin "scandal" is not something McCain wants.

One positive about the Palin pick that some have missed is what this will do to the enthusiasm for the McCain/Palin ticket. McCain supporters had virtually no enthusiasm, compared to Obama supporters who were mostly very excited about him. That has a HUGE impact on who turns out to vote on election day. Putting Palin on the ticket may excite Republicans, including younger evangelical Christians who did a lot for Bush in 2004. On that front, it's a strong pick because none of the other rumored VP picks would have done a thing to try and close the enthusiasm gap.

Nobody really knows how this will play out now. What we do now, though, is that this is definitely something that got attention and got people talking about John McCain, and in the short run, that's a positive for his campaign. In that way, it's similar to the celebrity ads. In the short run, it got attention and got McCain in the news. But at some point, McCain will have to do more than toss out attention-grabbing gimmicks if he wants to win this race.