Palin-Eagleton news analysis comparison details

In earlier blog posts here and here, I argue that John McCain’s choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential nominee is not just his “Dan Quayle” choice, but that a more apt comparison might be Tom Eagleton.

Who is Tom Eagleton, you might ask?

George McGovern’s original choice as running mate in 1972.

The story of Eagleton’s brief moment in the limelight as vice-presidential candidate is likely not well known to anybody under 45 who’s not a student of American political history, although it’s more than interesting enough in its own right. But, as can be seen even from his Wiki bio page, it’s full of parallels to Sarah Palin’s selection.

(Note: I forgot to qualify myself on my knowledge of this when I first wrote this post. As a 44-year-old former child news junkie, 1972 is the first presidential campaign I remember. That is why the Eagleton parallels came to mind without having to go to Wiki.)

Compared to the 1988 in which Dan Quayle was nominated, 1972 was a far more turbulent year. As this election year is in part about how to deal with the so-called “Global War on Terror” in the future (though how stark of a difference Obama and McCain will present is an open question, given that both want to foolishly put more troops into Afghanistan and both are going Cold Warrior on Georgia), 1972 was a year of referendum about the Vietnam War.

There’s another potential difference.

In 1988, George H.W. Bush surely could have had a more “name” vice president. Many Republicans broached the idea that Bush would choose primary opponent Bob Dole. Certainly, Bush would not have been turned down by an A-list Republican, with the possible exception of a bitter Dole. (For example, if Bush wanted somebody younger, but with star power, Jack Kemp would have easily trumped Quayle.)

That said, McGovern was rejected by a number of top-tier Democrats in 1972. Even Birch Bayh, who in 1972 was still arguably a bit less than USDA Prime, turned him down. And, after Eagleton eventually withdrew himself under pressure, the Kennedy family tried to discourage family in-law Sargent Shriver from accepting McGovern’s nomination.

There, too, we may have a parallel to 2008. No leaks have come out of insider GOP circles, yet. But, I would think that some political analysts are already wondering if McCain got a few “nyets” before tapping Palin. Some may already be trying to get some information on that, such as GOP insider columnist Bob Novak. I’d love to see if he has any scoop on this.

Yet other parallels abound.

Eagleton, like Palin, appears to have been thinly, even very thinly, vetted for the position. (Walt Monegan, the former Alaska public safety commissioner allegedly fired by Palin for personal grudge reasons, says McCain vetters never contacted him.)

The relatively thin vetting of Eagleton failed to reveal his three psychiatric hospitalizations for depression from 1960-1966. It also failed to reveal that he had undergone electroconvulsive therapy, or electroshock as it was commonly known then, twice as part of his treatment. As Ken Kesey’s novel, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” had been out a decade, public attitudes toward depression in general, and ECT in specific, were highly negative.

It remains to be seen how firmly McCain will stand behind Palin. McGovern famously said he was behind Eagleton “1,000 percent” just a few days before his campaign pressured Eagleton to withdraw his name from consideration. That, in turn, depends on how much blowback he gets both from within the GOP and from right-wing bloviators.
Within the halfway more sensical portion of the conservative bloviosphere, Kathryn Jean Lopez has already said she won’t vote for a McCain-Palin ticket. How much that spreads within the Corner at National Review, let alone beyond, remains to be seen.

But with talk of how Palin trumps Obama on “executive experience” (she trumps McCain, too!) already spreading, it appears much of the conservative blovio-sphere is going to drink the Schmuck Talk Express™ Kool-Aid, sign on the dotted line, etc.

Eagleton’s vice-presidential selection had a shelf life of 17 days. Pundits, political analysts and news writers and editors may want to start marking red “Xs” on their calendars.

Perhaps it should better be said that Palin should be McCain’s Eagleton, rather than McCain’s Quayle. Time — 17 days, or less — will tell.