McCain was tanking in 2008 and desperately needed a shot in the arm. Hence Palin. Their vetting process obviously left something to be desired, but I'm sure that she must have appeared attractive on paper at a glance: a woman with executive government experience -- just the thing! We all no how that turned out.
And that's the thing with the GOP. They can nominate a relatively sane candidate (I think it's debatable whether McCain was one but will leave that aside), but they still have to figure out how to motivate the base of pissed off blue collar people they've courted for so long. There just aren't enough college-educated, relatively affluent, moderate Republicans out there for them to win at the national level anymore. That's how we get a Palin. That's how we end up with a Trump.
They need to figure out how to re-brand themselves to appeal to more women, Hispanic voters, black voters, the LGBT community, and (*gasp*) secular people who are uncomfortable with their years of pandering to the Christian right without alienating the white, working class people they worked so hard to cull from the Democrats. They've got more mileage out of reactively bashing the Democrats, come what may, than I had thought possible. But there must come a point when they can do better than simply be a party of "No" while regurgitating Reagan's talking points from 40 years ago.
And that's the thing with the GOP. They can nominate a relatively sane candidate (I think it's debatable whether McCain was one but will leave that aside), but they still have to figure out how to motivate the base of pissed off blue collar people they've courted for so long. There just aren't enough college-educated, relatively affluent, moderate Republicans out there for them to win at the national level anymore. That's how we get a Palin. That's how we end up with a Trump.
They need to figure out how to re-brand themselves to appeal to more women, Hispanic voters, black voters, the LGBT community, and (*gasp*) secular people who are uncomfortable with their years of pandering to the Christian right without alienating the white, working class people they worked so hard to cull from the Democrats. They've got more mileage out of reactively bashing the Democrats, come what may, than I had thought possible. But there must come a point when they can do better than simply be a party of "No" while regurgitating Reagan's talking points from 40 years ago.
