Poll Shows Palin a Major Drag...on McCain's Campaign

I am shocked, shocked I say, that an ABC News poll confirms my claim that the choice of Sarah Palin is what is killing McCain:

"On the vice presidential candidates, 52 percent of likely voters say McCain's pick of Palin has made them less confident in the kind of decisions he'd make as president; that's up 13 points since just after the selection, as doubts about Palin's qualifications (also voiced by Powell on Sunday) have grown. Just 38 percent say it makes them more confident in McCain's judgment, down 12 points.

Those numbers are more than reversed on Obama's pick of Joe Biden: 56 percent of likely voters say it makes them more confident in Obama's decision-making, 31 percent less so."

So let's say it out loud: Biden was a better pick than Palin. As I keep reminding everyone, the order of events was:

Obama leads
Palin nomination: McCain takes the lead
Palin does Gibson interview: McCain loses lead
Palin does Couric interview: Obama increases lead
Stock market crashes: Obama increases lead

It was when Sarah Palin opened her big mouth and revealed her empty head that the polls reversed their pro-GOP trend and started to lean towards Obama. The more she talked, the bigger Obama's lead got. When the stock market crashed and McCain raced to Washington to support/oppose the bailout measure (I haven't checked today to see where he is on the issue), the Palin effect had already given Obama a solid lead.

Those who insist on blaming McCain's loss on the economic meltdown (which in turn they laughingly blame on Democrats) are just the latest partisans finding another way to deny the reality that the majority of voters just don't like their message. They keep repeating the same Ayers, ACORN, Muslim, Marxist (make up your mind) mantra like a magic spell that will work if they just repeat it enough. I suspect their reaction to defeat will not be a good one.