The Tanking Continues

One more tidbit from the NY Times/CBS national poll released yesterday, courtesy of the Times:

All told, 59 percent of voters surveyed said Ms. Palin was not prepared for the job, up nine percentage points since the beginning of the month. Nearly a third of voters polled said the vice-presidential selection would be a major factor influencing their vote for president, and those voters broadly favor Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee.

And in a possible indication that the choice of Ms. Palin has hurt Mr. McCain’s image, voters said they had much more confidence in Mr. Obama to pick qualified people for his administration than they did in Mr. McCain.

59 percent. That is not a bare majority of Americans who think Sarah Palin is unqualified. What worsens the matter for Republicans, however, is that approximately one-third of voters say that the two veep choices will impact their vote. As the Times notes, not shockingly, most of those voters look like they are going with Barack Obama.

Sarah Palin has been an utter disaster, the likes of which no one anticipated -- especially me, the idiot who thought she was what John McCain needed earlier this summer. Palin as veep has violated what many believe should be the number tenet in picking a presidential running mate: "Do no harm." The Alaska governor is actively hurting the GOP ticket, while Joe Biden, I think it can fairly said, has done no harm. And yet, this is the woman Rush Limbaugh and Morton Blackwell want to basically lead the Republican Party entering 2009. Brilliant.

Once the election is all over I intend to write a good deal on the why and how Sarah Palin ended up hurting John McCain. It's the least I should do given my dead-wrong political read of Palin in June.