The future president?
Or, should we just say "Hail Sarah"?
John McCain just chose the former mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, population 9,000, Sarah Palin, as his running mate. Palin has been governor of Alaska for a couple of years.
Before that. . .well, she held a couple of state offices in Alaska. She is pro-life, pro-death penalty, pro-drilling, and likes hockey. She's an NRA member. She's good looking, too (some have referred to her as a VPILF), and has five kids and a husband who likes to race snow mobiles.
In other words, she's a perfect Vice Presidential choice to go toe-to-toe with Joe Biden in the fall campaign.
Way to go, McCain. I'm sure he's winning over huge blocks of undecided voters with this choice. Probably secured a lock on Alaska's electoral college votes. Probably cemented the NRA vote with this. Likely won over the pro-lifers.
Hmmm. I'd guess most of these people were already figuring on voting for McCain.
I guess the McCain camp gives women so little credit that they'd think the disgruntled PUMA Clinton supporters will flock over to the Republican side just because the veep candidate is a woman. Which is really insulting to women, if you think about it.
By choosing Palin, I'd guess that any talk by the McCain campaign about Obama's inexperience can go by the wayside. Brilliant strategy: take away one of your best arguments against the Democrat.
Palin's experiential predecessor. . .
Some folks are comparing Palin's choice to Bush I choosing Dan Quayle, or Mondale choosing Geraldine Ferraro--a desperate hail-mary choice.
I think of it as more like Ross Perot's choice of James Stockdale, he of the "who am I? what am I doing here?"
This should be interesting. To pull a small-town mayor and short-time governor of one of our most rural, isolated, and least-populated states and offer he as being a heartbeat away from the presidency of what we consider the greatest country on earth either shows incredible naivete, an amazing amount of faith that God won't let McCain die in the next four years, or stupidity.
But, since it's the Republicans making this call, we know which of the three options is in play here.
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Late Night update, No. 1: Did ya catch the clip of that boob Doocy on Fox News saying that Palin has foreign policy experience with Russia because they're next door neighbor? Best blogger responses: "Does that mean if she stand's next to McCain eventually she'll get POW experience as well?" and "So, I live next to Cape Canaveral--does that make me a rocket scientist?"
Late Night update, No. 2: Anchorage readers responding on line to the news via the Anchorage Daily News website are all atwitter at an upcoming photograph of the McCain and Palin families together for People magazine. . . showing an apparently quite-pregnant 16-year-old daugher, Bristol. God, it's sounding like a reality television show together: The Veep. A governor and mother of five deals with her husband's adjustment to big-city life in Washington D.C., raising an infant son with Down's syndrome and a newborn grandaugher, and an ethics investigation back home, while juggling a crash-course in foreign policy and the rough-and-tumble world of national presidential campaigns.
2 comments:
What an awesome post, you really hit the nail on the head. It's like the Mondale "Wally and the Beaver" (for those who don't remember, look here: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Wally%20and%20the%20Beaver " ) All over again. I laughed pretty hard over the "experience osmosis" with the Russian/Alaskan foregin policy thing.
I usually come just for the Model Railroading topics, but this stands out as a great political comment.
Points well made.
Experience? I live in Orange County which has four times the population of the state of Alaska, and in spite of its reputation, the OC is far more diverse. Of course we don't shoot moose from helicopters down here.
And what exactly is a "Hockey Mom?" I know what a Soccer Mom is and I know what a Hockey Dad is…
Soccer Moms drive mini-vans and take their kids to their soccer games. "Hockey Dad" was a term used to describe some out-of-control fathers who assaulted, and in one case killed, the dad of another player.
And then, I question the parenting priorities here. So Sarah Palin has a teenage daughter who is five months pregnant. Could happen to anybody, I understand. So the best thing to do for the kid is throw yourself into the national limelight? I seriously question her judgement in this matter. And I certainly question McCain's.
I wonder if Palin will still be on the ticket come October.
I would have put this on my own blog, but most of my family would stop reading it.
DS
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