Sept. 3, 2008
"It's over...The most qualified? No. I think they went for this — excuse me — political bullsh*t about narratives. Every time the Republicans do that, because that's not where they live and it's not what they're good at, they blow it."
—Peggy Noonan, a conservative columnist for the Wall Street Journal, caught on a live MSNBC mic trashing McCain's Veep pick Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. GOP consultant (and TIME contributor) Mike Murphy was also heard calling the selection "cynical."
The comments were particularly stinging because they were made on GOP turf — at the Republican Convention in St. Paul just hours before Palin delivered her (ultimately acclaimed) primetime speech. They also came after Noonan wrote in her column that morning that Palin "could become a transformative political presence." She later tried to clarify, saying she was referring to the Republican Party of the past, not the GOP campaign, when she said, "It's over."