Talk about a gamble! This is the type of pick whose impact will not be measured for a while. This is the type of pick that comes with great potential but is fraught with risk. It could be a game-changer (and it certainly has the potential to work out brilliantly) or it could turn out to be a nightmare. But one thing is certain: If you are of the school of thought (like I am) that John McCain needed to shake things up to have a chance at toppling Barack Obama, he certainly delivered.
Sarah Palin’s name had always been mentioned in the veepstakes, so she is certainly not a complete surprise. Yet, no one seemed to believe McCain would actually go through with it. His campaign seems to have realized that Palin’s downsides might not be as significant when compared to those of the rest of McCain’s short list. Much of the media will discover Sarah Palin at the same time as the average voter, meaning that she will benefit from an upbeat, overwhelmingly positive coverage that will steal Obama’s thunder just hours after the Democratic convention.
And half-a-day after Obama became the first African-American to head a major party ticket, McCain ensured that the Republican ticket also breaks new ground and ensured that, whoever wins in November, the winning ticket will not consist of two white men for the very first time in American history.
Choosing Palin allows McCain to portray himself as a different sort of Republican, one who does not fit the party’s image as old white male patricians. Not just because of her gender, but because of her background - it puts a new face on the GOP and it could be more difficult for Democrats to attack Republicans as out of touch and owning too many houses. Change is Obama’s slogan, but McCain will now be a bit more convincing in his argument that he, too, wants to change Washington; that he, too, realizes that the Bush Administration has corrupted the Republican establishment and that he was willing to quite literally look away - far away - from DC to find a partner to implement reforms.
Palin’s outsider image will be especially strong when contrasted to Joe Biden’s, a Washington insider who has been in the Senate for more than half of his life. Of course, this could backfire for Republicans (more on the downsides below) but at least in the short term it sets up McCain as the unconventional change agent while casting Obama as the more predictable politician.
With Palin, McCain is not only claiming that he is not a Bush Republican, but that he will clean up after Bush Republicans. Expect to her a lot in the coming days about Palin’s campaign against Alaska’s Republican establishment (I wrote about Palin’s take-over of the state party two weeks ago). She defeated an incumbent Governor plagued by scandals in 2006 and endorsed Sean Parnell against another Don Young, another politician hit by corruption scandals. As Governor of Alaska, she passed an ethics reform (which will surely be invoked as one of her main accomplishments, an interesting parallel to Obama). In other words, the McCain campaign will use Palin’s work in Alaska as a - clean up.
The reason Palin’s pick could end up looking brilliant is that she combines this outsider reformist image with very conservative credentials. She allows McCain to look like more of a maverick while moving him to the right. Most of McCain’s other unconventional picks - whether Joe Lieberman, Tom Ridge or even Kay Bailey Hutchinson - would have infuriated the Right. Some might even have triggered a walk-out on the convention floor. But Palin has no such problem. In Alaska, she and Parnell have positioned themselves to the right of Stevens and Young - more fiscally disciplined. She is strongly pro-life. She has a lifetime membership to the NRA. The National Review’s The Corner is celebrating, as are other conservatives.
Palin will also focus the general election on energy issues - something McCain has been hitting on for months and that the GOP has sought to make its defining issues. ANWR is a big issue for Palin (as with any Alaska politician), and while McCain opposes drilling in ANWR he has made drilling in general a major campaign issue. Expect a lot of that now that Palin is the VP pick.
And then there is the key matter of Sarah Palin’s gender. We will now know just how solid Obama’s hold on the female vote is and how convincing the Clintons were in their convention speeches. Sure, women have never automatically voted for a woman - it did not work for Walter Mondale in 1984 - nor have other types of identity politics been effective. But this is not a presidential year like any other. Obama defeated Hillary in the primaries. Some supporters say she was the victim of sexism; some lament that this was their last opportunity to see a female vice-president. Beyond Clinton supporters, undecided female voters - soccer moms, for instance - are always a key swing vote and Palin will help McCain appeal to them. But her opposition to abortion rights might undercut her appeal to suburban women who have been put off by the GOP’s social conservatism.
If the Democratic convention left any opening for the GOP to pick-up Clinton voters, the Palin choice is a good first step towards doing so. If independent women are not as committed to voting Democratic after eight years of Bush as some think they are, they could be drawn towards Palin. If this succeeds, Obama will have difficulty recovering. A Democrat cannot win without a big margin among female voters. Obama cannot win without strong support from Clinton Democrats.
And Palin’s last benefit - a small one, but 3 electoral votes are not negligible - is to close the door for Obama in Alaska. This is one of the 18 states Obama has been investing in, and he was leading in the latest poll. But Palin is very popular in the state (a recent poll had her at 80%) and that should all but ensure that McCain pulls through.
But there is an obvious, glaring, huge problem with Sarah Palin: experience. She has not finished her second term as Governor, and before that she was the Mayor of Wasilla, a small with less than 10,000 inhabitants. She has absolutely no exposure to foreign policy issues, nor any position on them. If voters buy that experience is important, they might be looking with special care towards McCain’s vice-president. That Palin will be a heartbeat away from the presidency will be especially significant given McCain’s age and prior health problems - and that’s exactly what the Obama campaign chose to emphasize in its immediate reaction:
Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency. Governor Palin shares John McCain’s commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of Big Oil and continuing George Bush’s failed economic policies — that’s not the change we need, it’s just more of the same.
This argument will not go very far when the Obama campaign makes it given that his own resume is not very long. But that is what is fascinating about the dynamics of this pick - it is McCain who is running on a platform of experience, and he has complicated his task of making this election about readiness and qualifications. Over the past few hours, Republicans have been daring Obama to attack Palin’s inexperience. But that is missing the point: Obama would be delighted not to attack Palin on that front as long as McCain cannot attack him on it either!
Sure, Palin will be running on the ticket’s second slot while Obama would be the President, but if McCain rips into Obama’s qualifications, how will he justify that Palin is ready to serve? Next Wednesday, Palin will stand at the GOP convention and deliver what VPs are meant to deliver - an attack on Obama. How will she be able to hit him on the main issue the GOP has been using? “Not ready to lead,” proclaim McCain’s ads. If Palin attempts to say anything of the sort, it will sound laughable.
This is surely what the Obama campaign must be smiling about today: By choosing Palin, McCain moved on the Democrat’s terrain, seeking to seize the mantle of change rather than attack Obama on experience. In a sense, Obama did the same thing last week when he beefed up his ticket’s experience, in some way accepting the GOP’s criticism. But in 2008 the burden is on Republicans to make this election about experience and question Obama’s qualification, not on Obama to make this election about change.
Also, Palin faces some ethics issues of her own - and this could come back to disrupt the Republican ticket in the coming weeks. She is currently under investigation for pressuring for pressuring an Alaska commissioner to fire a state trooper who is involved in a divorce with her sister. She has denied any wrongdoing, but the media is sure to focus on that story much than it had up until now, and if there is anything to discover there, it could come back to haunt the GOP. Given that this has long been in the public domain, you have got to think that the McCain campaign’s vetting process looked at this.
All of this is a discussion of how Palin looks on paper. Then, there is the practice. And this is where Republicans have got to be nervous. Palin has not been exposed to the national stage before; she surely has not had to develop extensive talking-points and strong positions on a whole array of issues. In a brutal campaign trail in which every moment will be seen over and over again, in which every gaffe will be magnified and every awkward silence could be devastating, there is simply no way of knowing how Palin will perform. The McCain campaign has observed her enough to have some confidence that she can pull off a rapid and unexpected transition to the national stage, but VP picks have come up as unqualified (Don Quayle) or weak campaigners (Lieberman) before.
All of this will come to a boil in the vice-presidential debate against Joe Biden. Will Palin look qualified enough? If she performs too poorly or Biden wins the night, will there be a backlash among female voters? Will Biden go from knowledgeable to mean? Will Palin exceed expectations, or will she have too many mistakes to pass the test? Will any of this even matter?
There are a lot of question marks surrounding the Palin pick, much more than they were with Joe Biden, much more than they would have been with Romney or Pawlenty. That is a big risk for McCain to take. But this year, with this electoral map and the electorate’s mood, a big risk is what McCain needed.
If McCain was going to pick a woman, I have always believed that Palin would be the best choice. That he actually picked her, and that Palin has accepted is extremly suprising to me.
Now here are the strengths and weaknesses in my opinion of Palin:
Strengths:
1. As a woman, she helps to reineforce McCain’s theme’s of change. McCain is obviously hoping that having a woman on the ticket will make it even easier for him to attract disgrunted female Clinton supporters who think that the Obama campaign was racist.
2. Alaska is now safe for the GOP. Obama was thinking of making this red state competive. And we know that favorite sons (or daughters) doesn’t mean that you will win the ticket. But Palin is so overwhelmingly popular in her state that her prescence alone will gurantee that McCain wins Alaska easy.
3. She is a reformist. She took on the old boys in the Alaksan GOP, which made her one of the most popular governors in the nation. She helps to reinforce McCain’s claim that he a maverick and a new type of Republican. Not to mention that she is as far from a Washington insider as you can be.
4. She is very conservative, both in social and ecnomic issues. Any lingering doubts among the GOP base about McCain will be allayed by Palin.
Weaknesses:
1. Little foreign policy experience. This perhaps Palins greatest weakness. One of McCain’s main arguments is that Obama is not ready to be commander in chief, and he uses his inexperience as a weakness. However, McCain also said that his running mate should be able to take Commander in Chief at a moment’s notice. Palin however has zip national security experience, and will probably struggle vs Biden in the debates when it turns to foreign policy.
2. Little government experience overall. Like Obama, she is still in her first term of her political office. She hasn’t even ended her first term as Alaskan governor. Before that she has experience on the local county concil and then a mayor. Can McCain stick to the line that Obama has no experience when his own running mate’s experience is almost the same as Obama’s.
3. Social view could put off Clinton woman. While Palin, as a women, could do great things in attracting women to the GOP ticket, especially the white surbuan women, her social views are directly the opposite of the typical Democratic Woman who suppoted Hillary, whom McCain is cleary trying to take for himself. As there is still alot of misinformation among Democratic Women that McCain is pro-choice, once they find out that the GOP ticket is conservative and that their election could lead to the elimiantion of abortion rights, they may change their mind. Hillary will be key for Obama in this aspect.
4. Palin has served on a oil company board. Perfectly fine for Alaska, but probably not for the national scene.
Well, I for one congratulate McCain for this choice! I am not saying I would ever vote McCain because of this. I am solidly for Obama.
However, just nominating a woman, and putting a woman on the ticket, is a giant step forward for the GOP.
Ok, I can’t resist. Sarah Palin is a physically attractive woman that has an incredible smile. She looks good on TV, and that will be a plus for some of the electorate in November.
However, Sarah has some major issues. She is a strong social conservative, and she’s been implicated in dismissing the Commissioner of Public Safety because he didn’t fire an Alaskan State Trooper.
Well, it’s going to be a bit like Quayle in ‘88. Remember the deer caught in the headlights?
I pretty much agree with the general assessment of Palin. I think the social issues though could be less of a problem for other women that you might think.
Palin is pro-life, but she has 5 children and the youngest has Downs. When the left claims that she opposes women’s rights, she will likely respond that she supports the right of her youngest child and those like him to be born (she knew of his condition before the birth). It could be difficult for voters to be unsympathetic to that position after seeing her son, even if they disagree with it. That, along with her propensity to tackle and beat the old-boys-club, may be enough to narrow the gender gap or at least keep it from further widening.
Regardless of whoever wins the election, it’s kind of amazing that the standard number of white men on the party tickets have been cut in half in only one presidential cycle. Actually, if you think about the current and rising stars on both sides, it may be a long while before the see those old 2-on-2 tickets again!
I think this VP choice could be great one or a disaster; we won’t know for a few weeks.
Taniel and JR have covered the conventional pros and cons of this pick but there are a number of questions that I still have.
Her new son is four months old with special needs. How will this impact her ability to fully campaign this fall?
I don’t think her ethical questions will be a problem; they may even be an asset.
How will Joe Biden deal with her? He will have to be very wary of appearing to attack a woman.
Will her youth and vigor be a reminder of how old and frail McCain appears.
She doubles down on McCain’s maverick theme but it also doubles down on the likelyhood there will be a macca moment at some point in the future.
Will undecided female voters vote for ANY women nomatter how opposed they are to her policy positions.
In short she’s a very young John McCain in a skirt.
“Her new son is four months old with special needs. How will this impact her ability to fully campaign this fall?”
- If she were a man, this wouldn’t even be asked. There may be no better way to attrack Hillary voters to Palin than to ask her the “woman” questions that men don’t have to answer.
‘There may be no better way to attrack Hillary voters to Palin than to ask her the “woman” questions that men don’t have to answer.’
Do you mean a hybrid of “attack” and “attract”?
The VP debate between Biden and Palin will be interesting in the fact that it will be a contrast to the Obama vs. McCain debates. I believe Joe Biden will have the upper hand in the debate, but Sarah is still an unknown quantity to a large majority of the electorate outside of Alaska.
Yeah, a typo. But I only posted it once! :)
That Biden would get backlash if he wins the VP debate against Palin to me seems unthinkable and makes no sense.
But you are all right.. Palin is a excellent pick for McCain but the fact that she has no real previous national exposure at has got to be troubling. On paper yes, Palin is good and I now anticpate that the GOP ticket will get a good bump in the polls after Convention. However, in practice, it is much more muddled. Also, do any of you agree with my assessments of Palin’s strengths and weaknesses?
To me it smells of concern if not desperation and a recognition that McCain would be in a bad place with a traditionalo make establishment type. I have no idea what her political skills are - I do agree that Biden will have to be extraordinarily careful in debating her, not to appear condescending, paternalistic or patronizing (probably pretty much the same).
You let the average voter draw her/his own conclusions about the inadequacy of the candidate, its far more powerful.
Teezy: Your absolutely correct if she were a man this question would not be asked. I didn’t mean it has a “women” question but rather a question of the amount of time she will be able to devote to the campaign.
Infant care is traditionaly the role of the mother so I was interested in how her campaign would deal with a newborn who needs feeding every few hours and is in the middle of the chaos and travel schedule of a VP campaign.
As well, I can’t imagine; dispite what the campaign says; that someone so unknown has been fully vetted yet. It will be interesting to see what skeletons are in her closet.
To me her speech was serviveable but uninspiring and I did find her voice slightly grating (sorry Teezy).
fritz,
Hillary had the same criticisms over her voice. I heard from Andrew Sullivan that Margaret Thatcher solved that problem by intentionally lowering her voice when speaking in public, and especially in front of Parliament. It’s fixable.
Well this was a desparate move on McCains part. It confirms that his campaign knows Obama got a good bump from the convention and he is the probale winner in November so something needed to be done.
Also this move is defensive - to fire up the base. The enthusiasm gap was so large that it worried the McCain campaign (turnout etc). I am not sure how a self described very conservative woman will attract many ex-Clinton voters.
I think the Dem convention brought unity so Palin will have little effect.
The McCain campaign has a history of doing smart inside beltway stuff like the celeb ads etc that do not really working in practice. This decision will probably go that way.
This woman has 18 months experience and some of that she was on maternity leave so she is so inexperienced. She is only a heartbeat away (much more important when you have a 72 year old cancer victim running as President). So desperate.
Yet that 18 months as a GOVERNOR is 100% more executive experience than Obama, and she’s not even running for President! Like the Obama supporters have repeated over and over: Lincoln was only a one term house member before being elected to the White House.
You need a better argument. “So desperate” ain’t gonna cut it.
The question is, how smart is she? Experience is one thing, smarts is another. If she’s a bimbo like Bush and Quayle, then heaven help us. Experience can be gained, smarts are what you are born with.
Conservative, “family values” voters, especially middle aged and older women, will be turned off by Palin’s decision to devote all her energy to a vice presidential campaign and a high pressure job requiring travel instead of her children. Most dissatisfied Clinton voters will be turned off by her anti-abortion stance. it is a breathtakingly dramatic choice by McCain, but she is going to lose him votes.
In the little we know of her she certainly comes across as smart and even somewhat politically savvy; she won the VP race afterall.
But these are the big leagues. Can she, and her family, handle the national media scrutiny. I wonder if she will enter the media bubble like McCain and only be available to local media and Fox News. There will be a huge push to interview her in the next few days and the McCain campaign will have to expose her at some point.
Does anyone have any idea how this will effect down stream races in Alaska.
T(SL)eezy has a point…Obama has zero experience in executive experience. Then again, NEITHER DOES MCCAIN!
There are about 40 cities in the United States that are more populated than Alaska. Using McCain’s logic, any of the 40 mayors of these cities are qualified to be one heartbeat away.
Just think of the scenario–McCain becomes sick and is no longer capable of being Commander in Chief. Sarah Palin, the former beauty pagent winner, whose major resume items are (1) mayor of a town of less than 10,000 people and (2) Governor of the third least populated state.
Dan Quayle all of a sudden looks much more attractive to me. Why didn’t McCain select ole Danny boy?
I coincide with some of you that this is a desperate move. With this pick, I’d put MN out of reach for McCain, and Michigan tends to go more for Obama. It reinforces Alaska for McCain, and maybe also Montana (she’s from neighbor Idaho), and this is a very Western ticket, so it might solidify somewhat things there (NV, CO?). I think it can help in rural OH, and keeps things neutral in FL. So Taniel, I expect some changes in your electoral rankings (?).
That’s just demographics. I agree with most of you about the experience-character issues that, if Obama surrogates like Sebelius, McCaskill and Clinton point out, might weaken the Republican Ticket. I’d like to see if the Democrats air an ad with all her quotes about ‘not knowing exactly what the VP does”, and constrast the flip-flopping on Hillary. Also the topic of the state investigation looks interesting.
I just don’t know how the Obama campaign is going to attack Palin on the inexperience issue. I not like Obama has any significant foreign experience, come to think about it, he has none. At least Palin has been the chief executive of a small state, although not for a long time. Then again, Barack got to the senate in 2004 and has done nothing but run for president ever since. If I was in the Obama campaign I would treat this lady with kids gloves, not that the sexism and chauvinism charges start floating again. That will not go well with Hillary supporters, already angry at the treatment Hillary got by the party, the press and the Obamanias. Somehow now the selection of Biden seems, well, uninspiring. Prediction: McCain by 10 + 2 by the end of the GOP convention.
drg3750 said:
“The question is, how smart is she? Experience is one thing, smarts is another. If she’s a bimbo..”
Now now drg3750, that is an fallacious argument without any substantiating evidence. She is a very popular governor in Alaska, small state of course, but never the less, she has to run the state bureaucracy. Is coming from a small state a disqualifying to run for president? The woman will have to be judge on her merits and she will have the opportunity to show everybody what she is made of. But just calling her bimbo is the kind of nastiness that will get women in general angry at the Dems. After all we don’t call Obama, the community organizer when Mrs. Palin was a mayor, a male bimbo. Please enlight me, how is Mr. Obama more qualified than Mrs. Palin to be president? See?? And there is the problem that the Dems will have. When you nominate a rank amateur for the highest office, you cannot go around calling the kettle Black!
McCain apologists - Obama has never said she has too little experience. It was McCain who said Obama doesnt have sufficient experience and if he is being consistent (not a GOP trait) then Palin is also lacking in experience.
Palin is a defensive move - solidifies the base and keeps AK and maybe MT as GOP states but since Obama had at least five routes to 270 if he gets the kerry states and IA and NM 1)Ohio, 2) Colorado, 3) Virginia, 4) Florida and 5) Alaska, Montana, Dakotas etc. So he still has four routes available.
Robert_V:
I never said that Palin was a bimbo. I questioned whether she is one. I don’t know the governor. I have been at work all day, and have not seen her speak. I know next to nothing about her. But I DO know about Quayle, and G.W. Bush. They are certifiable bimbos. A bimbo by the way is someone who may have a ton of experience but does not benefit from it. Take Mr. Bush for example. He had marginal experience when he became president. But now after eight years, he has learned little from the considerable experience he has had.
I sincerely hope that Palin does not have the brains of G.W. Bush. If she is truly intelligent, then I will rejoice. We’ll soon find out, because she can’t hide from the spotlight. And when she opens her mouth at the convention next week to give her acceptance speech we shall all know whether there is any gray matter up there in her beautiful head.
I am proud of McCain for making this historic pick, regardless of what the verdict on Palin is. Now we can look forward to either our nation’s first black president or our nation’s first female veep. That thrills me to no end.
Robert_V, I think you shouldn’t attack frontally Palin’s inexperience, but you can raise some questions about whether you are comfortable with her taking office, with only 2 years as governor in a small state, and mayor of a very small city. And although Obama is no Biden or Kerry, he has been part of the Senate and been part of foreign affairs committee, so there is an edge. But more of attacking her inexperience, the Dems should attack her character and positions, ’she’s no Hillary’
While not saying this choice smacks of desperation, picking a pretty woman who has little experience suggests that the McCain camp knew it had to do something out of the ordinary with the VP slot. I mean, look at the alternatives, the most bandied about being Mitt Romney and Joe Lieberman. Romney is the exemplar of the empty suit, while Lieberman couldn’t sell ice water in Hell. Bland and blander.
That said, while Palin brings a certain freshness to the McCain campaign it will be hard to see how she will be a plus as the weeks wear on. She simply does not have the experience to weather the storms of national political exposure. I would also say that sitting on the board of an oil company and the Alaska State Trooper business, whatever degree of stain that might entail, can only be minuses for McCain.
By the way, I am an independent (no party affiliation) so I have no ax to grind one way or the other.
An interesting choice and also a defensive one. Not that being defensive will not work - solidifying the conservative base and ensuring Alaska and some other western states stay GOp are worthwhile strategic goals. The question is if her negatives play out. It isn`t really inexperience as a matter of “newness”. It has taken Obama months, if not years for people to be comfortable with him (49% in the current Gallup poll) whereas Palin is an unknown except to political junkies. Dan Quayle was known since had had held elected office for 15 or so years. If the Dems can raise sufficient doubt about her then it will hurt McCain a little and not change the dynamics of the race.
It is interesting that McCain has broken the CW on several issues - negative ads during the olympics and rolling out an unknow in 3 days (CW said Obama couldn`t go with Selibuis or Schwitzer with only 2 days to go) - will be interesting to see if it works.
Bottom line the average American (not us on here who are junkies) will hear only a few things about her and they will probably be - young, female, 2 years (that is being kind) as Governor of a small state. Not sure if that is positive.
Three other observations :
1. It now allows Obama’s campaign to raise age in a more direct manner using terms like heartbeat away etc
2. The pick may work for the first week because of novelty and the GOP convention but things can get old quick. Biden was chosen 6 days ago and yet it already seems old news.
3. I forgot that she was a beauty queen. No problem with that but if that is one of the few things average people remember (i mentioned this in my last comment) then that will not be positive for Mccain.
Found this on electoral vote.com
However, the conventional wisdom dismissed her for a variety of reasons that are still true. First, some reporter is going to ask him: “Of the hundreds of governors, senators, congressmen, and business leaders available to you, do you really think that a 44-year old person who has two years’ experience as governor of a thinly populated state is the best person in the country to be President of the United States after yourself?” After all, she knows nothing of foreign policy and not even that much about domestic policy except that drilling for oil is a good thing.
Not sure it is such a good pick!
Wow this is the most comments I ever seen for a post on this sight.
I definitly agree that Palin is a risky pick, but its obvious that McCain sees a game changer. I do agree that Minnesota is now out of reach for McCain but I’m not sure that this pick means he has weakened in Michigan. In the long term, Palins biggest contribution to McCain would be to fire the base to the point that they aren’t just willing to vote for the GOP ticket but actually go out and volunteer for the McCain campaingn… esentially close or narrow the enthusaism gap between the Democrats and the Conventions. After the GOP convention, we will see what happens next, and Palin will truly be tested on how she does on the national stage. She may be extremely popular in her home state, but the 48 contiguous states are alot different from Alaska.
The Republican base is composed of conservatives so starchy that any positive that accrues to McCain by naming a strongly pro-choice VP is outweighed by the fact that she is a woman. The same people who go apoplectic over microscopic differences in interpretation of Bible passages aren’t going to cozy up to the idea of a woman president.
Count on the Obama campaign to hammer away at the “heartbeat away” trope.
This is a novelty pick meant to grab Clinton voters. It will not work.
In the initial post you claim that Palin has not completed her second term as governor. Just wanted to point out that she is not even halfway through her first term as governor and has been on maternity leave for a few months during that time. I’m sure this lady is a great mother, but she is in no way qualified to be President at this time in her life. I and my family are life long Republicans who will be voting Obama/Biden in this election.
It is very doubtful that an anti-abortion, very conservative vice presidential candidate will be effectively in peeling away liberal-minded Hillary Democrats. And Palin’s ethics problem will remind voters of the long list of Republican scandals during Bush’s presidency.
Brilliant Anonymous, brilliant. You will not vote for McCain, because the VP candidate is the a 44 years old first term governor of a small state with no foreign experience, but you will vote for a 47 years old first term senator, that has spent all his time in the senate running for another office, and alas, has no foreign experience! How do you reconcile that convoluted reasoning? Senator McCain selected governor Palin to do exactly what she has done. Put Obama where he belongs, in the spot. You folks do see it, but I think I think it will be evident soon, that the McCain camp will turn this election into a referendum on Barack Obama, and his fitness for the presidency. If the election is a referendum on GOP rule he Democrats win. If it comes to a choice between McCain and Obama, well the story is different. By selecting Palin and goading the Dems to visit her qualifications, McCain force the great unwashed to look at the qualifications of Obama too. It is becoming evident that the Democratic electorate choose poorly and is time to pay the piper! By the end of the GOP convention McCain by 10. Take it to the bank. It is just like us Democrats to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory!
Uhmmm Minnesota is out of reach for McCain now? Based on …..what? Minnesota has been tightly contested both on 2000 and 2004. The more this election parallels the 00 and 04 elections, the more MN will drift into a tight and contested status. The polling data is meaningless now, but the historical trends are not. As Virginia has become more democratic, MN has become more conservative. McCain is not looking for a traditional VP to secure a state for him. He was looking to make a statement, and to fire s shot across Obama’s bow! Folks politics is a blood sport, as we are sure to witness next week and the GOP unroll their vaunted “slime machine”.
Palin and Obama doesn’t even compare. Not only has Obama studied international relations and political science at on of the greatest schools this country has to offer (Columbia), he serves on our countries Foriegn Relations Committee (Where McCain gets his “exsperience”). He also has a J.D. (Doctorate in Law) from Harvard University that specializes in Constitutional and International Law. He has led an incredibible campaign that has more people than the state of Alaska and a higher budget. He has done that for about as long as Palin has been Governor. He has accomplished WAY more than Palin and has a a much tougher and battle tested exsperience doing it. How does a PTA mom with who barely gat a degree in Journalism from the University of Idaho compare to this incredible American? Not only is this an insult to women, but an insult to anyone who has a better education. Country Club Politics- It’s not about what you can do nor how qualified, it’s about who you know. This type of clanism is the change America needs.
Will Mcsame refer to Palin as a C–T like he does his wife?
Bravo Quentin, so Obama went to the right schools and made the right connections. Served in a committee for three plus years, which by the way he spent campaigning, and the subcommittee he chairs failed to meet not even once! Then he takes that wonderful education and…becomes a community organizer, whatever that means! By the way he was a community organizer when Sarah Palin was a mayor, of a small town of course. And we all know how the well educated left feels about small towns folks, don’t we? But I digress. Oh and he had a part time job teaching law at Chicago University, by itself a an abnormality, since he spent almost 12 years teaching there without attaining tenure. You are absolutely right, Mr. Obama, has more experience that Mrs. Palin, by the thickness of a hair perhaps. And this great American is qualified to be president? Please.
More qualified than the beauty queen journalist that has already lied to our nation about having a 5th child (it’s actually her teenage daughters). She can’t even run a family!
LOL Quentin that is a terrible thing to say. When we run out of rational arguments then we have to get personal. Go on. But don’t forget, 55 to 57% of the voters in this coming election will be women. And these women are not all the Amazon type pro-abortion warriors that inhabit the far left. Some of these women are indeed pro choice, but with limits, not necessary anti 2nd amendment, with husbands and children that look, well, just like Sarah Palin. And I am not saying for a minute that Sarah Palin is pro choice. Derogatory personal attach against Palin is just exactly what the GOP needs. And all McCain needs is a small dent into Obama’s advantage among women. I think the great American should have picked Hillary for VP after all!!!