Quote:While Trump will never get as far as a real VP nod like Palin - the apparent common thread is that he'll be a distraction to a certain sect of right wing voters from viable Republican candidates.  Then - when he does endorse a candidate after being eliminated from relevancy in the election - he'll only detract from that candidate's viability in the eyes of informed potential voters. 

 

Too many well informed conservative and moderate voters already consider him a joke. Just like many did Palin. 

I don't think that will be the case.  He'll be a sideshow entertainer in the race who can pretty much say or do anything because he doesn't have to rely on donations to make this run.  Nobody is going to take Trump seriously (c'mon, Oprah as his running mate?), but he will have some legitimate issues he can bring up during the course of the primary season that will not only force republicans in the race to address them, but democrats as well. 

 

I consider him a joke, but maybe a necessary one.  If you listened to his speech yesterday, he hit on all the right issues before completely discrediting himself with the Oprah line.  He steered clear of any and all social issues, and focused on the economy, trade, foreign policy, jobs, and business development domestically.  If his entry into the election draws the narrative toward these issues and doesn't allow the mainstream media to use social issues to define the republican field, it's well worth it. 

 

Palin was a terrible choice for McCain in 2004, but then again, he wasn't running to actually win the election.  She wasn't an awful choice because of who she was as much as due to the fact that she simply wasn't ready to take on that role.  McCain was just running to fulfill an obligation the party had to giving him that shot.  He was the next guy up at the time.  The Palin selection came out of left field, and I think it actually did her more harm than good to be attached to that campaign.  She was a rising star in the party who actually isn't nearly the idiot that she was made out to be thanks to Tina Fey's portrayal, and also a few gaffes that were more about her lack of experience on foreign policy than anything else.  Had she not been tapped for that spot by McCain, I would think that she probably would have continued her rise through the ranks.  Being strapped to a terrible nominee, she was forced to conform to what the campaign wanted her to be, and in the end, that pretty much ruined her political career after the media turned their full attention to dragging her down.  I honestly don't think Palin was a distraction in that campaign.  If anything, she probably helped McCain keep it closer than it should have been.  He was an awful candidate who ran a lousy campaign.

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