Plouffe: Obama Should Thank McCain for Choosing Palin

Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:06 pm

2008 Obama presidential campaign manager David Plouffe was on Meet The Press today, and he provided some insight into the campaign’s reaction to the selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate. He said, “Well, I think we should thank John McCain for picking her, in terms of how it helped us win in 2008…”

Here is the video:

Plouffe was asked by moderator David Gregory if Palin will be a force in 2012. He answered, “Well, I think we should thank John McCain for picking her, in terms of how it helped us win in 2008, but I think we should doubly thank him now. What’s going on in the special election in New York 23 I think is a remarkable phenomenon and could affect our politics for years to come.”

He spoke about how extremists like Palin are forcing moderates out of the GOP, “So a centrist Republican has been ridden out of that race. And I think what you’re going to see in the coming months, if not years, is Sarah Palin–you know, by the way, she kind of playing the role as pied piper in the Republican Party, which is something I’m quite comfortable with. So Sarah Palin, the other Republican candidates who are likely to run, the Limbaughs and Becks of the world are basically hanging a “moderates need not apply” sign outside the Republican National Committee headquarters. And for a party that has historic lows right now, because centrists and moderates are leaving them in droves, they have catastrophic problems with younger voters, Hispanic voters and African-Americans, it’s a various curious strategy to kind of repair this damage. So I think they’re becoming more a very motivated corps, but a small corps of about 23 percent of the country.”

Plouffe said what Democrats already know. They don’t fear Sarah Palin. In fact, they are secretly rooting for her to become the leader of the GOP, because her style of politics and lack of popularity will wreck what remains of the Republican Party. I agree that the path the Republicans has embarked on appeals to about a quarter of voters. The GOP needs to double that level of support in order to have a chance in national elections.

This whole idea being spread around by Palin supporters that the left is “afraid” of Palin is a joke. Sarah Palin, and her 27% approval rating, pose no threat to either Barack Obama or the Democratic Party. Palin is a dream come true for Democrats. She is unqualified, ill informed, and plays to the lowest common denominator. The McCain campaign did Obama a huge favor when they panicked and chose Sarah Palin.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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