Thanks But No Thanks

Source:  http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/2008/09/24/is-mccain-s-treatment-of-palin-sexist.aspx

Posted Wednesday, September 24, 2008 11:04 AM

CNN's Campbell Brown thinks so:

(Hat tip: Jonathan Martin)

This part in particular strikes me as a pretty savvy turning of the tables: "Tonight, I call on the McCain campaign to stop treating Sarah Palin like a delicate flower that will wilt at any moment. This woman is from Alaska, for crying out loud. She is strong. She is tough. She is confident. And you claim that she is ready to be one heartbeat away from the presidency. If that is the case, then end this chauvinistic treatment of her now. Allow her to show her stuff." (BTW: Brown is married to Republican consultant and former Bush deputy press secretary Dan Senor.)

Of course, McCain supporters would say that it's the media's treatment of Palin that's been sexist and that reporters don't "deserve" to talk to her. But from an electoral perspective, McCain supporters don't matter--they're already supporting McCain. The question is whether moderate swing voters will see the campaign's continued sequestering of Palin as the MSM's righteous comeuppance or, like Brown, as a unnecessarily paranoid tactic that's left them unable to evaluate Palin's preparedness--and, if it's the latter, whether those unallayed doubts will ultimately keep them from voting for the Republican ticket. There's no question that McCain is making his base happy by "punishing the press." But might he be alienating undecideds--the folks who sincerely want to see Palin "show her stuff" before Election Day--in the process?

I don't pretend to know the answer. Thoughts? Insights? Ad hominem attacks? The comments are all yours.

(For my take on Palin's "question-free" New York visit, click here.)

UPDATE, 1;47 p.m.: The fun continues! From today's pool report on McCain and Palin's meeting with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvilli:

McCain then looked around the room and gestured as if to welcome questions. The AP reporter shouted a question at Gov. Palin (“Governor, what have you learned from your meetings?”) but McCain aide Brooke Buchanan intervened and shepherded everybody out of the room. Palin looked surprised, leaned over to McCain and asked him a question, to which your pooler thinks he shook his head as if to say “No.”