Three Years Later Leno Challenges McCain for Picking Palin
It's been three and a half years since John McCain asked Sarah Palin to be his running mate in the 2008 presidential campaign, but liberal media members still can't accept it.
On Wednesday's Tonight Show, host Jay Leno - for what must be approaching the millionth time - challenged the Arizona Senator for his decision (video follows with transcript and commentary):
JAY LENO, HOST: Now, this movie "Game Change," it comes on HBO next week.
SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN (R-ARIZONA): I hope it's one of those silent ones.
LENO: No, it's not, it's not silent. But it deals with Sarah Palin and the whole election. Are you going to watch the movie?
MCCAIN: No.
LENO: No? No?
MCCAIN: No. I heard enough about the book that it was taken from…
LENO: Yeah.
MCCAIN: …unattributed quotes, unnamed sources.
LENO: Yeah.
MCCAIN: But it's a free country.
LENO: Yeah, yeah. Well, you come off very good in the movie.
MCCAIN: Is that right?
LENO: Yes, you do. You come off as the gentleman you are. And, and I thought it was quite fair. Yeah, I thought you really came off, because sometimes you think, "Oh, they're going to portray me as." No, I thought it was good, and your reluctance to go after the Reverend Wright, with Obama, and all that, you didn't want to fight a dirty campaign. I thought you came off very good. So, you can make a little bit off of that.
[ Applause ]
What a surprise Leno would be thrilled McCain didn’t go after all the skeletons in Obama’s closet basically handing the election to the junior senator from Illinois. It seems a metaphysical certitude he won’t have any problem with the President mercilessly attacking whoever his opponent is this year.
LENO: I mean, let me ask you about that. I know that you say you still stand by that decision. Would you do the same thing again, picking Sarah Palin?
MCCAIN: Oh, sure. Listen, facts are stubborn things as Ronald Reagan used to say. We were three points down before she spoke at the convention. She beat Joe Biden, the gift that keeps on giving, Joe Biden…
LENO: Right.
[ Light laughter ]
MCCAIN: …in the debate. She energized…
LENO: Did she beat him in the debate, or she didn't? She looked okay in the debate. I don't know if she won the debate.
MCCAIN: Well, you know.
LENO: I think people didn’t expect her to hold her own and she did.
MCCAIN: Here was a young governor, female, against a guy who had been in the Senate for 30 some years. And in my view, that means she won a victory. She energized our base, she's a a good and decent person.
LENO: Oh, I never said she wasn't a decent person.
MCCAIN: Her husband is a fine person.
LENO: Yeah.
MCCAIN: I think she would have made an excellent vice president, and I understand the controversy, but frankly I've not seen as constant and relentless attacks on her as I have observed on anyone. But again, so, it's a free country. I have to…
LENO: But, don't you get back what you give a little bit?
MCCAIN: I have to look back with nothing but pride. And the fact that a guy that stood fifth from the bottom of his class at the Naval Academy would get the nomination from the Republican Party for President of the United States.
"Don't you get back what you give a little bit?"
Exactly what did Palin do prior to being chosen as McCain's running mate that warranted the media attacks she received after that point?
That's a question I wish McCain would have asked his host.
- Noel Sheppard's blog
- Login to post comments
Comments
⇒ Olympia McCain
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 11:42am.
Olympia McCain knows why he lost, and that Sarah Palin's presence was a plus to his otherwise Democrat campaign.
Mavis gives back what Jay gave
Submitted by frank14 on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 4:43pm.
in spades...what a pathetic whipped jerk.
Comedians
Submitted by driguana on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 11:43am.
Comedians are not leaders. It's a sad state of affairs when people watch Leno, Maher and Stewart thinking they are getting a dose of reality. And that comedienne on SNL who achieved her career making non-factual fun of Palin is pretty disgusting. Take these people for what they are worth....a joke.
I've got no problem with Tina Fey's parody of Palin
Submitted by Galvanic on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 5:02pm.
Parody is parody.
What I objected to was the MSM's quoting of Fey's characterization as if it were Palin's quote. I believe there was one point where the network and cable news programs were airing clips of Fey more than clips of Palin, and even the pundits got confused.
One of the most idiotic moments occurred on The McLaughling Group when Lefty Eleanor Clift quoted Palin as having said. "I can see Russia from my house." Buchanan and Druckerman immediately corrected Clift, and she replied with, "Well, that's what she (Palin) meant to say."
It was the unrelenting bombardment of this decent and very successful woman that created the media image of Palin.
LENO: But, don't you get back what you give a little bit?
Submitted by almostacowboy on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 11:59am.
Whoa! I never realized that Jay was such a deep thinker. :-\
It is said (not "confirmed") that every 3 seconds someone in the world dies as the result of extreme poverty. PDS (Palin Derangement Syndrome) strikes the the progressive left without interruption.
Leno has become a leftie moron
Submitted by merly1 on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 12:02pm.
I used to be a big fan, now I never watch more than two minutes (my rule is-->at first negative GOP monologue joke I am gone, and he never "disappoints.")
mccain is a wanker who ran a
Submitted by right of way on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 12:04pm.
mccain is a wanker who ran a horrible campaign which gave us odumba. i just don't understand why the networks even invite him on interview shows. i change the channel everytime he's on.
You answered it
Submitted by GreenTea on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 2:20pm.
You answered it in the first part of your comment
Yes he did
Submitted by KornKing on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 6:58pm.
I'm wondering what he has against wankers...
Doubt Leno knows
Submitted by jakesnake on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 12:09pm.
McCain should point out to Leno that in the last year Palin had been the keynote speaker at forums in N.Y., India, and S.Korea.
She received excellent reviews. The media was there, but their attitude was: No gaffes, no errors, no story.
In S.Korea, the other two speakers were former P.M. Gordon Brown, former W.H. economic advisor and President of Harvard, Larry Summers. Pretty lofty shared speakership.
Had she made gaffes, then Leno would know about it, and use it in his monologue.
Leno's a total dope, but
Submitted by killa37 on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 12:15pm.
Leno's a total dope, but actually the McCain Mutiny stayed fairly classy during this ludicrous exchange with ol' Lantern Jaw. McCain MAY know that he did as 'well' as he did BECAUSE of Palin................but the guy still ran a hideous campaign, and he was a lame and uninspired candidate going up against Boy Barry Soetoro Barack Hussein Obama (whom McCain would NOT allow his people to say the full name!!!), who was riding a tidal wave of hope/hype and change/chains...............and, of course, the Mutiny kept thinking that the media was his 'friends'!!!
Why would McCain go on the Leno show?
Submitted by MightyMouth on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 12:16pm.
Unless he is a looooosser, craving attention. Thanks dumbass. Just another reason I didn't vote for you! But wait... I did!... I voted the Republican ticket and you happened to be on it!
Pathetic.
Submitted by motherbelt on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 12:22pm.
They just can't let it go.
Palin
Submitted by mmilesll on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 2:03pm.
The ONLY reason I voted for McCain was Sarah Palin. Leno can try all he likes, but Sarah was a HUGE plus. Palin is now the most powerful woman in politics.
please, let's cut McCain some slack folks
Submitted by lotr on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 2:33pm.
He fielded the question quite admirably, especially considering the audience, even asserting (now) that "she would've made a great vice president."
Not only that, but he's the one who picked her to begin with. Most of us outside of Alaska were unfamiliar with her until he "found" her.
There is no perfect politician. Even now as we speak, there are a great many on the far-left who are dissatisfied with Pres. Obama, and let's just say it's not because they think he's "too liberal." McCain lost because he didn't deliver on the campaign, including at the debates, and he couldn't match the charisma and media favoritism of the senator from Illinois to secure independent voters. Pray that it doesn't happen again in 2012.
I'm impressed that McCain
Submitted by Quasi-socialist on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 3:11pm.
stuck to his guns like that. They can view in retrospect that he was principled and admire it, and not somehow see it as a problem that their side once touted it as "Four more years of Bush(itler)".
Liberalism is not thinking about stuff.
"unattributed quotes, unnamed sources"
Submitted by Conservator on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 3:46pm.
IMO, it's obvious that the unnamed sources were Steve Schmidt and Nicole Wallace. The only reason why conservatives supported John McCain was Sarah Palin. Without her, more conservatives would have stayed home instead of voting for the maverick moderate.
Chipmunk Cheeks Wallace is quite the backstabber
Submitted by frank14 on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 4:47pm.
I never understood why Hannity has her on his show.
McCain and Palin
Submitted by truckinmann on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 8:39pm.
Both my wife and I were going to vote for Bob Barr who was the libertarian candidate in 2008. When McCain picked Sarah Palin and we heard her speak we decided to go ahead and vote for McCain. He made a great choice for VP and looking back he knows he did what he needed to so it wouldn't be another defeat like Walter Mondale against Reagan.