McCain upped the allure of the convention with his choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. It's seen as a bold roll of the dice...MSNBC:
McCain loves to gamble, he's actually someone very fond of dice games, and there's no doubt he's rolling the dice with Palin...Franklin Foer, TNR:
Instead of picking the most qualified running mate he could find, [Mr. McCain] rolled the dice...The Australian:
Senator McCain has staked everything on one more roll of the dice.More...
Houston Chronicle: McCain rolls dice with VP choice
Detroit News: McCain rolls the dice in picking Sarah Palin
Honolulu Star-Bulletin: McCain throws dice in naming Palin as VP
Time Magazine, this March:
Over time he gave up the drinking bouts, but he never quite kicked the periodic yen for dice. In the past decade, he has played on Mississippi riverboats, on Indian land, in Caribbean craps pits and along the length of the Las Vegas Strip. Back in 2005 he joined a group of journalists at a magazine-industry conference in Puerto Rico, offering betting strategy on request. "Enjoying craps opens up a window on a central thread constant in John's life," says John Weaver, McCain's former chief strategist, who followed him to many a casino. "Taking a chance, playing against the odds."....Elect McCain, and double down on crazy.
In the heat of the G.O.P. primary fight last spring, he announced on a visit to the Vegas Strip that he was going to the casino floor. When his aides stopped him, fearing a public relations disaster, McCain suggested that they ask the casino to take a craps table to a private room, a high-roller privilege McCain had indulged in before. His aides, with alarm bells ringing, refused again, according to two accounts of the discussion.
"He clearly knows that this is on the borderline of what is acceptable for him to be doing," says a Republican who has watched McCain play. "And he just sort of revels in it."
(See more commentary by AZBlueMeanie.)
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