McCain Vs. Palin Fight - It's On!

This is a direct quote from a member of the McCain campaign talking about Sarah Palin:

"Her lack of fundamental understanding of some key issues was dramatic." Another McCain aide quoted on CNN: "It was probably harder to get her up to speed than any other candidate in history."

Those are damning words. And, indeed, even in their public appearance together yesterday McCain appeared to acknowledge that there is a tension between himself and Palin:

Appearing to address reports of tension between his and Palin's teams, McCain, standing only a few feet from her, said: "When two mavericks join up we don't agree on everything, but it's a lot of fun."

But Palin has, nevertheless, decided that it is the McCain camp which have been holding her back and that now is the time for her to "go rogue". Talk about failing to see your own shortcomings?

It's not that in the few appearances she has made in front of the press that she showed a staggering ignorance about world affairs, it's McCain's fault for not allowing her even more opportunities to show how woefully out of touch she is with the world she lives in.

Which meant, as one such adviser said to me: "Letting Sarah be Sarah may not be such a good thing." It's a grim binary choice, but apparently it came down to whether to make Palin look like a scripted robot or an unscripted ignoramus.

But what's really extraordinary about all of this is the extent to which Palin is right. There is a section of the Republican party who have decided that the press asked Palin trick questions, that no-one understands the Bush doctrine, that she did not reveal her ignorance but that a vast left wing conspiracy are seeking to make Palin appear stupid in an act of deliberate sexism.

Certainly the crowds who are turning out to see McCain/Palin rallies appear to be there for her and not for him.

In spite of a standing ovation, many in the audience had turned out to see not McCain but Palin, who received the loudest cheers. Some of the audience left after she had spoken and before McCain had a chance to begin.

It's a really extraordinary phenomenon, to watch a campaign split right in front of your eyes, with one candidate fighting the 2008 election whilst the other fixes her eye on the campaign of 2012.

In any sane party Palin's lack of knowledge would instantly exclude her from high office. The people currently attending Republican rallies appear not to care.

Tags: Palin, McCain, US election 2008