But where’s Sarah?

by lestro

Following Friday night’s debate, NBC welcomed via satellite Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate Joe Biden, to do a little post-debate spinning.

Following his segment, Anchor Brian Williams reported that NBC offered a similar spot to Sarah Palin, but the McCain campaign declined, offering Rudy Giuliani instead.  A similar thing happened on CNN, and all of the major networks, except for ABC, which would not interview Biden because Palin was ‘not available.’

Maybe that’s because in the debate, McCain returned to the experience theme and figures American voters aren’t stupid enough to buy that again when reminded of the selection of Palin as his running mate.

But no matter. So where was Sarah Palin while the focus of the political world was on Ole Miss?

Well, she started the night at a private pre-debate party at an Irish bar in Center City Philadelphia. (The party, by the way, closed the bar to customers on a night when the Philadelphia Phillies were battling for a playoff spot, beating the Washington Nationals 8-4 and lowering their magic number to 1 following a Mets loss to Florida.)

No word where she was for the actual debate, probably getting tutored by her Bush Administration teachers…

But what does that say?

Dave Letterman touched on this after McCain lied to him about having to go back to Washington to fix the economy, an issue he has admitted not knowing anything about (when McCain didn’t leave until the next day and did an interview with Katie Couric AT THE SAME TIME he was scheduled for Letterman). Letterman wondered where McCain’s “second string quarterback” was, pointing out that if your choice for second can’t step in when you have to run off, what good are they?

It once again raises the question about the selection of Sarah Palin, and whether she is the Gateway Meme that will bring down his campaign.

Palin’s flagging poll numbers suggest that she is the string, once pulled, that unravels the entire McCain candidacy. In the past two weeks, Palin’s favorable rating is down six points (still a pretty high 52), and her unfavorable rating is up 10 points in the same time period.

As does her flagging support among conservatives, who are less and less enthralled as the bloom begins to come off the Sarah Palin onion. The more they try to peel away, the more it stinks and the more you want to cry.

The fact that they won’t even let her spin for McCain after the debate suggests the McCain campaign is aware of just how obvious her incompetence is: