Op-Ed: Is Sarah Palin the new Tom Eagleton?

John McCain’s choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential nominee has already been drawing comments from liberal opinionators and bloggers, as well as some mainstream media outlets, not for its creativity, but for what might be called its “what” factor. In short, many journalists, both news writers and op-ed people, are referring to it as McCain’s “Dan Quayle” choice. However, in the historical annals of vice-presidential picks, 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 unknown to anybody under 45 who’s not a student of American political history, and is interesting enough in its own right. But, it’s full of parallels to Sarah Palin’s selection. Given that Eagleton was — briefly — the 1972 vice-presidential pick of Democratic presidential nominee McGovern, this is probably a comparison that 2008 Democratic nominee Barack Obama, Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean, and other top Democrats won’t be making. But, it sounds apt. 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), 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. That said, McGovern was rejected by a number of top-tier Democrats in 1972. 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. Yet other parallels abound. Eagleton, like Palin, appears to have been thinly, even very thinly, vetted for the position. 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. 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. Is this a valid comparison, and a newsworthy one? As the idea has already started to gain traction on blogs and blog-news hybrids, the answer seems to be “Yes.”