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Well, according to Max Blumenthal, it may have been the Council for National Policy:
Secretive Right-Wing Group Vetted Palin
Last week, while the media focused almost obsessively on the DNC’s spectacle in Denver, the country’s most influential conservatives met quietly at a hotel in downtown Minneapolis to get to know Sarah Palin. The assembled were members of the Council for National Policy, an ultra-secretive cabal that networks wealthy right-wing donors together with top conservative operatives to plan long-term movement strategy.
CNP members have included Tony Perkins, James Dobson, Grover Norquist, Tim LaHaye and Paul Weyrich. At a secret 2000 meeting of the CNP, George W. Bush promised to nominate only pro-life judges; in 2004, then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist told the group, “The destiny of the nation is on the shoulders of the conservative movement.” This year, thanks to Sarah Palin’s selection, the movement may have finally aligned itself behind the campaign of John McCain.
The Council for National Policy was co-founded by Tim LaHaye (of the “Left Behind” series). Apparently, in this election, he and his group weren’t going to be ‘left behind’… (At a secret 2000 meeting of the CNP, George W. Bush promised to nominate only pro-life judges..)
From Wikipedia:
The Center for Religion, Ethics and Social Policy at Cornell University considers the Council for National Policy a leading force in the Dominionist movement. TheocracyWatch, a CRESP project, describes it as “an umbrella organization of right-wing leaders who gather regularly to plot strategy, share ideas and fund causes and candidates to advance the theocratic agenda.”
About that vetting..
According to the Washington Post, Sarah Palin wasn’t vetted until the day before her name was announced. This from Crooks & Liars:
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was not subjected to a lengthy in-person background interview with the head of Sen. John McCain’s vice presidential vetting team until last Wednesday in Arizona, the day before McCain asked her to be his running mate, and she did not disclose the fact that her 17-year-old daughter was pregnant until that meeting, two knowledgeable McCain officials acknowledged Tuesday.
In the first and most telling executive decision of his potential presidency, John McCain makes a rash, reckless decision that, God forbid he falls ill while in office, will be disastrous for this country. Is that the kind of judgment we need in the White House for another four years?
The selection of Sarah Palin certainly doesn’t seem to have been a well thought out decision..
I have to wonder if this was a panic decision by the GOP (and the radical religious right) following the speeches by the amazing speeches of Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton, and the exceptional acceptance speech by Barack Obama the last night of the DNC before 84,000 people, that was watched by 38,000,000 viewers. It sure seemed that John McCain had been leaning towards his good friend Joe Lieberman up until that point. Did they approach McCain and strongly suggest that if he didn’t select Sarah Palin (who is hard core Pro-Life, anti-abortion), they would consider running a third-party candidate, in which case, he would lose?
Also from Wikipedia:
Leading members of the CNP voted in a meeting at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City, on September 29, 2007, to consider launching a third party candidate if the 2008 Republican nominee is a pro-choice candidate. (This was an implicit reference to Rudy Giuliani, whose liberal opinions on several social issues, such as abortion, gay rights and gun ownership have disturbed the Christian right.) The CNP’s statement read, “If the Republican Party nominates a pro-abortion candidate, we will consider running a third-party candidate.” Attending the meeting were notable social conservatives, including James Dobson, Richard Viguerie, Tony Perkins and Morton Blackwell.
The Council for National Policy scheduled a conference in late October 2007. Most Republican presidential candidates pledged to appear, with the exception of Giuliani.
So, again I ask, who really picked Sarah Palin?
6 Comments
September 3, 2008 at 11:21 am
If McCain is taking advice from LaHaye and Dobson and all those folks, then he is a very scary candidate. Before he was a little nutty, but at least independent. If he’s a little nutty and in thrall to the religious right, that is bad bad BAD.
September 3, 2008 at 11:47 am
I just found this on GW’s meeting with the CNP before the 2000 election:
In 1999, President George W. Bush appeared before the CNP and assured them of his conservative credentials. Although the session was taped, no information about the event was ever made public. Since then, claims have surfaced that at the meeting, Bush promised the CNP broad compliance with the Religious Right agenda, including the appointment of only anti-abortion judges to the federal courts.
Founded in 1981, the CNP has included some of the nation’s most influential far-right activists, including TV preacher Pat Robertson, Phyllis Schlafly, religious broadcaster James Dobson, GOP strategist Grover Norquist, the Rev. Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association and many other Religious Right leaders. The organization’s executive director is former California state Rep. Steve Baldwin, an official best known for his use of “stealth” campaigns to elect far-right candidates.
One of the CNP’s cofounders, the Rev. Tim LaHaye, is a longtime Religious Right crusader and author of the best-selling “Left Behind” series.
September 3, 2008 at 12:11 pm
And I found this on the secretive CNP. This article from ABC News gives the background and funding of this group.
Inside the Council for National Policy
September 3, 2008 at 12:13 pm
I don’t think McCain is in thrall to the religious right, I just think he’s not too bright. He thinks he’s playing them like a fiddle – give them what they want in return for their votes, but then toss them aside like a used hooker after the election. That’s the Rovian strategy from the past.
What he seems to have missed in his calculation is that buying a fringe voting block (even a big one) is going to cost him big overall.
I hope the above story is true: that the CNP handpicked Palin and pressured McCain to select her. If, as expected, McCain gets his ass kicked in the election, that will be a major blow to the political influence of the CNP. In that sense, this is whole debacle will be a great thing for America and the world.
September 3, 2008 at 1:23 pm
The religious right is going to keep pushing their agenda and controlling the politicians and eventually we’re going to end up in a civil war that will destroy the power of this country.
September 3, 2008 at 1:43 pm
McCain really screwed the pooch on this one.
Good on ya, mate!