Was Palin the Worst VP Pick Ever?

-By Warner Todd Huston

We have gone through the first round of internal recriminations with the recent excoriation of Governor Palin by those “unnamed” McCain staffers. But, as we all know, Gov. Palin was the subject of heated debate even among Republicans long before the election. One common complaint was that she was the “worst” VP candidate pick “ever.” But, was she really?

A look at recent history can only serve to deflate that ridiculous claim. There have been far worse picks than Gov. Palin and only the extremely emotional state of mind that this past election ginned up could obscure the historical record. Two of those picks in particular make Palin’s choice rather inspired by comparison.

In the first case George Wallace’s pick of general Curtis LeMay for his vice presidential pick in 1968 was a disaster and in the second George McGovern’s pick of Thomas Eagleton for his in 1972 was even worse — both were far more disastrous than Palin’s. There was some speculation in the media that Palin would suffer Eagleton’s fate, but the situations of the two just don’t bear any resemblance at all.

In ’68, Curtis LeMay seemed a natural choice to become a politician after he left the Air Force. LeMay had a distinguished WWII war record, had served in many high profile positions during the Cold War and later made news as a dissenter from the policies of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, LeMay advocated for dropping bombs on the Soviet missile sites in Cuba but McNamara and President Kennedy shot down his request. LeMay also thought that, even after the crisis passed, the US should invade and hold Cuba anyway. As the actions in Vietnam grew LeMy advocated immediate carpet-bombing of North Vietnamese positions as well as Chinese and Soviet supply ships and was similarly rebuffed by the Johnson administration with Johnson afraid such bombing might start WWIII. From all these ideas of bombing, LeMay garnered the nickname “bombs away LeMay.”

In 1968, LeMay was chosen for the Wallace ticket of the American Independent Party for his anti-communist stance and his military experience. At first he demurred, but LeMay eventually accepted because he had become afraid that Nixon was ready to back down to the Soviets and give away the strategic edge the US had in air and missile power.

Then came the fatal gaff; LeMay’s “Stone Age” comments. In his autobiography LeMay was quoted as saying that he would have told the North Vietnamese that the USA could “bomb them back into the Stone Age” if they did not do as told. The media, dogging him everywhere he went, seized upon this comment. The comment was used to highlight his extremism making him look like a warmonger.

Ultimately, LeMay’s choice was hardly one that would deflect the perception that the ticket was a team of extremists. LeMay’s “bombs away” reputation coupled with Wallace’s reputation for racism gave the appearance of a reactionary ticket instead of one of statesmanship. As a result, LeMay was never anything more than a drag and distraction on Wallace’s campaign.

McGovern’s mess by picking Thomas Eagleton was even worse because it was so badly handled by McGovern himself. Thomas Eagleton was a Senator from Missouri and the last of half a dozen picks that McGovern made for the second spot on the 1972 Democratic ticket, the others having turned the offer down flat. The McGovern team did an inadequate vetting job on Eagleton and missed the fact that Eagleton had been self-admitted to a psychiatric hospital for treatment. Once that came out, the press had a field day.

It also later came out that Eagleton tried to hide his medical record from McGovern and never told the Democratic candidate that he was on the powerful anti-psychotic drug Thorazine.

At first, McGovern exclaimed that he’d back Eagleton “1000 percent,” but behind the scenes Eagleton was threatening McGoven that if he dropped him from the ticket Eagleton would cause a nasty fight to stay as the VP pick. Eventually, Eagleton left the ticket on his own and McGovern ended up finally settling on Kennedy in-law Sargent Shriver as the Democratic Party vice presidential choice. But the damage to McGovern had been done and his dithering gave the GOP the perfect platform to question McGovern’s judgment.

Now, comparing these disastrous picks with Sarah Palin’s shows that Palin’s pick is in no way as bad.

It is true that the candidacy of Palin highlighted the split in the Republican Party that has been there since Reagan forged a new GOP majority to support his bid for the White House in 1980. Palin does not appeal to what used to be called the country club Republicans but she appeals very much to the family values voters that Reagan brought into the Party. In fact, she doesn’t just appeal to them, she excites them. It is clear that Governor Palin excited many hundreds of thousands of Republicans that initially had little interest in the election.

Unlike Palin, neither LeMay nor Eagleton turned out the hundreds of thousands of voters at rallies sporting signs celebrating their appearances on the campaign trail. Palin has no such problematic mental history as Eagleton and neither did she make the sort of defining verbal gaff that LeMay made with his “Stone Age” comment, despite the media’s attempt to create one.

Palin was a minor star on the campaign trail, as she became a spokesman for many hundreds of thousands of American voters. Also unlike either LeMay or Eagleton, if the party does not take advantage of Palin’s appeal post election it risks losing a large, energetic mass of voters that it will need to rely on in the coming years. Neither LeMay nor Eagleton ever had such a constituency.

In the end, the attacks on Governor Palin are sure to cleave the GOP in half if they continue. Palin should be given a leading role in the GOP in the future so that this large constituency can be served and kept under the GOP wing. If Mark Sanford is smart, he’ll find the best way to push Palin out in front as he gears up to lead the Republican Governor’s association into the Obama era.

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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, Human Events Magazine, townhall.com, New Media Journal, Men’s News Daily and the New Media Alliance among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston

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