Robert A. George on Palin Pile-On

The moderate-conservative Republican blogger opines: "Never thought I would say this, but Sarah Palin has a point. The attacks she's getting from erstwhile members of the McCain campaign are unprofessional -- and the work of 'jerks.' Look, as said early on, I wasn't a fan of this pick: Policywise, I thought she undermined McCain's strongest argument -- experience, particularly in national security. What she brought to the ticket -- executive experience, fluency with energy matters, solid social conservative credentials and, uh, a not-so-hidden 'a-gender' -- didn't offset what was, the thing the average voter thought of when they thought of John McCain. In addition, of course, I thought the baggage she brought along with her with respect to her daughter's pregnancy and the seeming validation of that fact by the Republican Party also undermined a key part of the GOP message. That all said, the after-the-fact piling on and leaking from within the campaign is, in my view, both unprecedented and most unseemly. As I recall, there was a little bit of irritation that leaked out between Kerry and Edwards after '04, and perhaps some between Gore and Lieberman (albeit after a 30-day recount). But what's coming out of the McCain side is going well beyond that."

He adds: "But ultimately, I repeat: Those attacking Sarah Palin anonymously now are part of the group who vetted (or didn't) the candidate. If she is lacking in intelligence or political skills, they they are guilty of major malpractice by dumping a woefully inappropriate candidate on the country. They, in a sense, endangered the country by giving a 72 year-old man a running mate who was (by the standards these people are now citi[ng]) embarrassingly unprepared to become president were something to happen to John McCain. Now, it appears that there was an obvious split within the McCain camp over Palin -- which she may have encouraged. However, that doesn't change the fact that the constant leaking ag[a]inst her is remarkably inappropriate. It's also stupid -- and like[l]y to backfire: We haven't seen the last of Palin. If she is better than she appeared in the last two months, she will have the opportunity to prove it."