Senator John McCain appeared as a guest on last Sunday’s episode of Meet the Press. Among host David Gregory’s interview questions were those regarding the future of the Republican Party. Specifically, the Arizona Senator was asked who he saw as the next leader of the GOP.
Although McCain named a few governors whom he’d like to see compete for a spot at the head of the GOP, he declined to identify a clear frontrunner. When asked if he would support ex-running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, should she decide to run for president in 2012, McCain settled on a hesitant “I’d have to see”.
A few short months ago, Senator McCain was campaigning to give Mrs. Palin the second highest post in the land, complete with the possibility to move up to first. His support of Sarah Palin as a presidential candidate would have been assumed prior to this interview. Why the change of heart? There are several possible reasons for McCain’s wavering support.
In August of 2008, Sarah Palin was announced as John McCain’s pick for vice president, causing a media feeding frenzy. Immediately igniting speculation that selecting a woman after Hilary Clinton had exited the race was a public relations tactic intended to grab up loose votes of those who had supported Clinton and wanted to see a female on a major party ticket.
As the campaign continued, the press’s framing of Palin became harsh. She was portrayed as an unprepared, religious fanatic, of sub-par intellect. Whether or not the depiction was fair, the media’s framing of Sarah Palin left a lasting impression in the public mind.
Was the selection of Sarah Palin as the GOP Vice Presidential nominee a campaign strategy? If McCain’s selection of Palin was merely a public relations scheme, she may have never held the Senator’s political confidence to begin with. Perhaps now that the campaign has failed, McCain is free to abandon marketing initiatives and voice substantive political opinions.
Although, there remains the possibility that McCain did once believe in Sarah Palin’s political capabilities and was dissuaded by her failure to perform or media depicted inadequacies. The media framed inadequacies clearly initiated with Palin. The extent to which media focus on such missteps dissuaded McCain’s confidence in Palin is unknown, but public support for the McCain/Palin campaign rapidly declined. It is likely that the Senator’s support experienced a similar effect, resulting in his uncertain stance toward the Alaska Governor.
A strong media frame may impact not only the intended politician but associated politicians, as in the case of McCain/Palin. The media’s portrayal of Sarah Palin continues to impact John McCain and his political career. It is possible that McCain recognizes the burden of negative media reception, a burden, which his campaign was unable to overcome. McCain may not believe it to be possible for Palin to shake her current image amongst the press in order to win the 2012 presidential election. In which case, public support of Palin as the GOP leader would be wasted political currency. And although it is unlikely that the Senator would attempt a presidential bid in 2012 at the age of 76, he continues to serve as a United States Senator, a role not without independent requirements of political support.
However, McCain no longer vies for the support of the entire Republican Party and is therefore less inclined to pander to conservative voters at Palin’s base. McCain now has the freedom to be true to his personal beliefs. Prior to last year’s elections John McCain was viewed as a centrist who had a strong following among moderate republicans. After poor campaign administration, especially in handling the media, McCain may be more careful with his statements to the viewing public. Less willing to jeopardize the support of middle-of-the-road republicans, McCain may have chosen to disassociate himself from Palin to the extent possible.
Is it that McCain – who is generally a poor media manager – now realizes how one person’s negative frame can affect another? Did he genuinely believe in Palin as a politician, but realizes the political impact of such support and attempts to separate himself from the Governor for purely public relations reasons despite “respect, admiration and love for Sarah [Palin] and her family”? Each consideration plausible motivation for restrained support of Sarah Palin. The extent to which McCain’s gained media understanding has influenced his public separation from Palin is speculative. From a strategic standpoint, there is little to gained in continued support of the Alaska Governor.
Bottom line, Palin is way more Christian-right than Goldwater-center and the McCain/ Palin campaign managers of 2008 could not find a way to believably and cohesively mix these two distinct republican archetypes. The contrasting media frames in combination with Governor Palin’s aggressive behavior towards mainstream media, created a black cloud around both candidates in the public perception, an association from which John McCain is best served through personal and political distance.
Although McCain named a few governors whom he’d like to see compete for a spot at the head of the GOP, he declined to identify a clear frontrunner. When asked if he would support ex-running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, should she decide to run for president in 2012, McCain settled on a hesitant “I’d have to see”.
A few short months ago, Senator McCain was campaigning to give Mrs. Palin the second highest post in the land, complete with the possibility to move up to first. His support of Sarah Palin as a presidential candidate would have been assumed prior to this interview. Why the change of heart? There are several possible reasons for McCain’s wavering support.
In August of 2008, Sarah Palin was announced as John McCain’s pick for vice president, causing a media feeding frenzy. Immediately igniting speculation that selecting a woman after Hilary Clinton had exited the race was a public relations tactic intended to grab up loose votes of those who had supported Clinton and wanted to see a female on a major party ticket.
As the campaign continued, the press’s framing of Palin became harsh. She was portrayed as an unprepared, religious fanatic, of sub-par intellect. Whether or not the depiction was fair, the media’s framing of Sarah Palin left a lasting impression in the public mind.
Was the selection of Sarah Palin as the GOP Vice Presidential nominee a campaign strategy? If McCain’s selection of Palin was merely a public relations scheme, she may have never held the Senator’s political confidence to begin with. Perhaps now that the campaign has failed, McCain is free to abandon marketing initiatives and voice substantive political opinions.
Although, there remains the possibility that McCain did once believe in Sarah Palin’s political capabilities and was dissuaded by her failure to perform or media depicted inadequacies. The media framed inadequacies clearly initiated with Palin. The extent to which media focus on such missteps dissuaded McCain’s confidence in Palin is unknown, but public support for the McCain/Palin campaign rapidly declined. It is likely that the Senator’s support experienced a similar effect, resulting in his uncertain stance toward the Alaska Governor.
A strong media frame may impact not only the intended politician but associated politicians, as in the case of McCain/Palin. The media’s portrayal of Sarah Palin continues to impact John McCain and his political career. It is possible that McCain recognizes the burden of negative media reception, a burden, which his campaign was unable to overcome. McCain may not believe it to be possible for Palin to shake her current image amongst the press in order to win the 2012 presidential election. In which case, public support of Palin as the GOP leader would be wasted political currency. And although it is unlikely that the Senator would attempt a presidential bid in 2012 at the age of 76, he continues to serve as a United States Senator, a role not without independent requirements of political support.
However, McCain no longer vies for the support of the entire Republican Party and is therefore less inclined to pander to conservative voters at Palin’s base. McCain now has the freedom to be true to his personal beliefs. Prior to last year’s elections John McCain was viewed as a centrist who had a strong following among moderate republicans. After poor campaign administration, especially in handling the media, McCain may be more careful with his statements to the viewing public. Less willing to jeopardize the support of middle-of-the-road republicans, McCain may have chosen to disassociate himself from Palin to the extent possible.
Is it that McCain – who is generally a poor media manager – now realizes how one person’s negative frame can affect another? Did he genuinely believe in Palin as a politician, but realizes the political impact of such support and attempts to separate himself from the Governor for purely public relations reasons despite “respect, admiration and love for Sarah [Palin] and her family”? Each consideration plausible motivation for restrained support of Sarah Palin. The extent to which McCain’s gained media understanding has influenced his public separation from Palin is speculative. From a strategic standpoint, there is little to gained in continued support of the Alaska Governor.
Bottom line, Palin is way more Christian-right than Goldwater-center and the McCain/ Palin campaign managers of 2008 could not find a way to believably and cohesively mix these two distinct republican archetypes. The contrasting media frames in combination with Governor Palin’s aggressive behavior towards mainstream media, created a black cloud around both candidates in the public perception, an association from which John McCain is best served through personal and political distance.
8 comments:
While McCain's stance on Sarah Palin is pretty telling, it is important to note that not all media coverage of Palin has been negative. Greta Van Susteren, for example, has not tried to hide her glowing admiration for the VP candidate. Fox News is a major player among the networks, and not acknowledging their coverage of Palin is leaving out a big part of the framing story. However, I think the blog did a good job of showing McCain's uneasiness with Palin, which probably is due to their political incompatibility more than anything else.
interesting post! I've read a bit about this elsewhere.
I not only agree that Senator McCain has been distancing himself from Palin, I heartily applaud it. Their relationship has not been smooth—if y'all recall, Palin reportedly wanted to speak after McCain's (great) concession speech, but was denied. And rightfully so, a VP Candidate has no precedent nor place in that situation.
McCain has handled himself well, producing his own budget plan for consideration etc., his great concession speech, he has been making great strides in gaining back much of the respect I lost for him in a poorly run and overwhelmingly negative campaign.
This is a good post because it considers a current event both within the context of its history and looks to the future. I think you bring up a lot of interesting posts about relationship between McCain, Palin and the media.
I would have liked to see you make a clearer argument for why you though McCain was distancing himself from Palin. He either didn't agree with her from the beginning or media framing caused him move away from her. If it is the negative coverage that caused him to distance himself from her then you need to argue why McCain (at this age and point in his career) would care what the media says. I don't see him hanging around much longer, do you?
Ina you make a good point. But I just don't feel comfortable making judgments on what McCain is thinking. I don't think McCain knows what he's thinking most of the time. I prefer to just report on it.
This post very clearly engages our media and politics subject matter, and is very reader-friendly. You really need links now, which would allow you to point to some evidence of what you are talking about, like Palin's negative coverage. One of the things you might want to keep on mind here though is that at times the argument could be a bit clearer - for instance, it is not entirely clear why you argue Palin got such negative media coverage. Toward the end, you seems to be alluding to the idea that she was too conservative, but I'm not sure this was the source of a lot of her bad press. Also, you might want to note the ways that the media might continually tie McCain to Palin by continually asking him about her and her future prospects, so that although he clearly has his own political identity it is a link the press will keep on bringing up.
I enjoyed reading your post. I just can't help but be creeped out by McCain at this point. His demeanor and public image remind me of the last days of Strom Thurmond. I don't really think it matters whether he distances himself from Palin or not because he is in the twilight of his career in my opinion and I doubt hers is going much further than it already has. Interesting post, well written, good job.
Blogger won't let me edit this post for some reason but I at least wanted to provide this site which provides a timeline of Palin's press coverage good and bad but mainly bad
http://www.dipity.com/mfeldstein/Sarah_Palin_Press_Coverage
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