Sarah Palin
| Fri Aug. 29, 2008 8:02 AM PDT
SARAH PALIN....The New York Times is reporting that John McCain has chosen Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. That's a pretty pathetic attempt to look "bold," isn't it? I wonder how his campaign gurus are going to continue peddling the experience line after making this move?
But hey, she's pro-life and conservative evangelicals like her. And she's not Mitt Romney. I guess that must have been pretty much the entire checklist.
ADDED BONUS: Isn't Alaska a central front in the new Cold War? That's foreign policy experience right there!
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Sterling judgment and fantastic timing Senator McCAin:
Lawmakers will hire someone within a week to investigate whether Governor Sarah Palin abused her power in firing Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. The legislative council approved 100,000 dollars for the investigation that will find out whether Palin was angry at Monegan for not firing an Alaska State Trooper who went through a messy divorce with Palin's sister.
On Monday afternoon, the Joint Legislative Council, filled with Republicans and Democrats, voted 12 to 0 to formally call for an investigation against Governor Palin in a manner?that they are stressing?will be unbiased and done in a timely fashion. ...
Sterling judgment and fantastic timing Senator McCAin:
Lawmakers will hire someone within a week to investigate whether Governor Sarah Palin abused her power in firing Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. The legislative council approved 100,000 dollars for the investigation that will find out whether Palin was angry at Monegan for not firing an Alaska State Trooper who went through a messy divorce with Palin's sister.
On Monday afternoon, the Joint Legislative Council, filled with Republicans and Democrats, voted 12 to 0 to formally call for an investigation against Governor Palin in a manner?that they are stressing?will be unbiased and done in a timely fashion. ...
This looks like a very impulsive pick. If McCain was telling the truth (in yesterday's interview), he made this selection in the last day, almost like he was responding to how well the Democratic convention was suddenly going. With strong support from Clinton, the line of attack saying that Obama was "unready" was looking pretty weak, so maybe McCain decided to double down on Maverick instead.
This looks like a panicky move -- Obama has change down, so McCain's best choice was to stay the course of his campaign and stick to attacks based on inexperience.
Hello Dan Quayle #2. This is just unbelievable--well, yes, it is believable because I bet after McCain and his gang watched Obama's speech last night, they pulled out their VP lists again, threw up their hands (and their dinner) and said WTF. Sweet Jesus I can hardly wait for the debates!!!!
Sterling judgment and fantastic timing Senator McCAin:
Lawmakers will hire someone within a week to investigate whether Governor Sarah Palin abused her power in firing Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. The legislative council approved 100,000 dollars for the investigation that will find out whether Palin was angry at Monegan for not firing an Alaska State Trooper who went through a messy divorce with Palin's sister.
On Monday afternoon, the Joint Legislative Council, filled with Republicans and Democrats, voted 12 to 0 to formally call for an investigation against Governor Palin in a mannerthat they are stressingwill be unbiased and done in a timely fashion. ...
Hil-ar-i-ous! Supporters of Barrack "Jay Gadsby" Obama whining about a candidate with all image and little experience? The only thing the Democratic nominee has ever run is his mouth. (And for the next office, of course.) Even his strongest supporters can't come up with a single substantive accomplishment for their guy. You are the ones who made having a pretty face and a compelling personal story enough to move into the White House. Live with it.
Being a cute sportscaster beauty queen is all the experience you need to stand up to Iran! Iran is nothing compared to the Alaska Republican Party and state trooper brother-in-laws.
Only black men need experience to escape the arrogance and uppity tag. A cute white women with a college degree in TV journalism with less than two years experience running a small state thinks she's qualified to be President of the United States? An inspiring tale.
I don't think this is the end of the line for the experience argument. The new McCain line might be something like:
Experience + Change, we put the experience at the top of the ticket.
Then they will argue Palin will have time to grow into the job while Obama has to lead from day 1.
also
How will this fit with the Obama=Future, McCain=Past?
This move seems like a signal that this line of attack is being effecting; will the selection of a young (very, very, very, conservative) female candidate look refreshing or cynical?
I think we can envision a long series of "Drill, Drill, Drill" attacks with Palin as the 'oil expert' for the campaign.
It is a surprise pick so it may take a long time for the conventional wisdom to congeal on this one....
So he's hoping to pick up all the voters who would never vote for a black man by running with a woman. I'm sure they'll have no problem with being progressive enough to vote to put a woman in office. IF she can pull off appearing just like Margaret Thatcher. But surely someone will say "I knew Margaret Thatcher, and YOU'RE no Margaret Thatcher."
Look McCain read the tea leaves and knew he was going to lose in November. So he threw a "Hail Mary" pass. It could work--get a lot of press attention, peel of some PUMAs, swing a few women, and who knows, she may out debate Biden feeling she has nothing to lose. OR, this whole thing could crash and burn. Isn't she mixed up in some corruption investigation in Alaska? Whatever, but everything I read suggests she should not be underestimated.
Check out the right wing message boards and you will see that they are full of happy people saying 'now we've got a chance again'.
They call her Sarah 'barracuda' Palin.
It sure seems to energize their base.
That might not be enough to ensure a victory for McCain, but it should make us take his pick very seriously.
She is actually pretty hot.
She comes credentialed in those areas, at least: http://pimpmypressrelease.wonkette.com/politics/sarah-palin/gilf-update-...
Will this fly with the women-of-a-certain-age who were pining for Hillary? SOmething tells me that when they look at Palin, they won't see themselves, they'll see the girl their husbands hooked up with during that out-of-town sales meeting. If they think it "hurts to be passed over for the younger black male" won't it really, really stink to be passed over for this younger, very inexperienced woman?
1) Alaska is feeling very substantial and early effects of global warming, and 2) the Oil & Gas industries are still very important to the Alaska economy (and a former head of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission). Given this, I wonder what Palin's positions are on these issues and how she reconciles their competing demands. Is she the head-in-sand denier type (A: Yes)? A drill-everywhere type (A: Yes)? I sense a huge angle of attack...
Gotta say the optics are kinda icky. The old guy picks a pretty younger woman with very little in the way of credentials. What's the name of Bialystock's secretary in The Producers? The writers for late night shows must be ecstatic. McCain having something of a known history in this particular realm of endeavor. Weird choice.
Wonder if it was the candidate asserting himself against Rove's advice, kinda like that Harriet Myers thing the Chimpster stumbled into. Always dangerous to let these idiots off the leash.
John McCain is an old 72. He is a cancer survivor. His father and grandfather died about the same age. He was enhanced interrogated for 5 1/2 years. There is a really good chance that if McCain wins Gov. Palin could be President before 2012. She might make a wonderful president, but folks, are we ready to take that kind of risk.
Submitted by cleek (not verified) on Fri Aug. 29, 2008 8:36 AM PDT.
hey Pat, which candidate was running on experience? and which party was mocking the other candidate for a relative lack of experience ?
i.o.w: we're laughing at your blatant hypocrisy.
laugh, laugh, laughing! cause it's funny. cause you're a bunch of hypocrites.
Hillary wasn't available? McCain has cinched the Inuit vote!? What are Palin's connections to Sen. Stevens? Since Obama has a lock on Hawaii's vote, McCain has countered with a lock on Alaska - cold storage. (Maybe he can add an igloo to the 7 homes he and/or Cindy own.) Now McCain's problem may be with the other 48 states. Maybe McCain was trying to capture the spirit of Hemingway's "The Old Man and the She." Will Cindy be looking over John's shoulder? McCain is proving that he is not McAble.
This was a better pick than it might first appear. Although McCain gives up the experience argument, he guarantees huge viewership of the RNC. She's hot, and men will want to see her, fantasize about her, etc. If she's self-possessed and articulate, she becomes the female Obama, suggesting that she has the judgment and character to be president, just the like the black guy with little experience. In effect, it's now Obama v. Palin and if she can hold her own in a debate, McCain becomes an afterthought. The real issue is whether folks would rather have an inexperience black man or an inexperienced white evangelical female leading the country. The race is no longer only about Obama's historic run as a black man; it's about Palin's historic run as VP and the real possibility that she could be the first female POTUS. Advantage McCain if she's got the rhetorical chops.
I actually think she has more experience than Obama. And more executive experience than Obama, Biden and McCain COMBINED. Nevertheless, any conversation about experience is a winner for the Republicans I think. At least I think they think that.
But since I'm so clearly wrong, how about hitting a few softballs off me then? Start with the list of accomplishment of your nominee which make him qualified to sit in the big chair. You know, things he's DONE, as opposed to his compelling personal story. Maybe follow with an argument that disproves the charge that Palin has MORE experience than Barry. Having worked for a time in both the Illinois Legislature and the U.S. Congress, I have a pretty good idea of those positions. But I'm certainly willing to be publicly corrected.
If you need me, I'll just be here in the outfield waiting to see the balls flying over my head.
No way "In effect, it's now Obama v. Palin". Maybe that's a theme McCain's people want to push, but it'll never work. Presidential campaigns are about the person running for president. As much as political junkies talk about it, the the VP is an afterthought who matters very little when people decide who they're voting for. Maybe some hard core pro-life, pro-gun republicans will be excited about this but not swing voters. At best its a wash, and more likely i think they'll see her as vastly underqualified and really kinda ridiculous.
Anonymous, you are insane. Palin has been the governor of the 4th smallest state in the union for one year seven months. Before that she was the mayor of a town of 6,700. Before that she was appointed to a board that overseas oil and gas in Alaska. Before that she was a sportscaster. A nice resume, but a resume that doesn't begin to compare with anybody else in the race.
Don't forget one thing, Barack Obama beat the Clintons and took over the Democratic establishment. That is a giant accomplishment. In its own way it is the biggest accomplishment of anybody in this race.
This is a tell - this is a mavericky choice. After 4 days of the Democrats making it unmistakeably clear that they were nailing good soldier McCain to Bush, McCain is going to run as far away - as far away as he can - from this. A clean government Republican? All this talk about upending the convention? Bush / Cheney are going to be trashed and McCain is going to try to reinvent himself in midair.
It's a hell of a gamble.
Setting the race as Obama vs Palin? How does McCain in '08 - Palin in '10 really sound? I don't think that line plays very well.
Will this fly with the women-of-a-certain-age who were pining for Hillary?
Hmmm... pro-life, pro-gun former beauty queen/sportscaster about whom Ralph Reed is "ecstatic." Never mind what Hillary supporters think of this pick -- how does Cindy feel about it???
Um, PanderMe? I think you need a little history lesson. No need to thank me. But here's a tip: exposing yourself as an errant ignoramus on such a factual mistake is never very good for the persuasiveness of the rest of your position.
Marc Ambinder reports McCain's communications chief Maggie Rodriguez as saying this choice was "from McCain's heart."
Uh, yeah, or some other non-brain part of his anatomy. But "heart" is as good a euphemism as any.
I've been saying the late-night jokes would pretty much write themselves but I never thought McCain's own comm director would prove the point for me.
I actually think she has more experience than Obama.
We're sure you do, not-so-anonymous-Pat, but maybe you could humor everyone by, oh, laying out that experience for us. Here -- I'll get you started with the first couple of bullet points:
-- winner, Miss congeniality, 1984;
-- runner-up, Miss Alaska, 1984.
Maybe you can flesh out the details on her years of baton twirling.
