News is breaking that Senator McCain has tapped Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate.
I worry about the Governor’s experience, which is even weaker than Senator Obama’s, but she’s certainly an exciting choice.
Back in June, the Governor did make this statement, which speaks well of her:
{ 30 comments }
Well, Palin has more exective experience then anyone else on either of the two major party tickets.Â
Dave Justus’s last blog post..Sarah Palin McCain’s VP Pick
Can’t argue with that.
Loved the last line of the yahoo news bulletin:
More recently, she has come under the scrutiny of an investigation by the Republican-controlled legislature into the possibility that she ordered the dismissal of Alaska’s public safety commissioner because he would not fire her former brother-in-law as a state trooper.
That ought to play prominently amongst the loons.
What a retarded choice. Is he trying to garner support from the former Hilary supporters with a female choice or something? I won’t even rant I’ll just mention the bridge to nowhere and see if we can recall what state that was in and how deplorable McCain felt that was, being "pork spending" and all. But hey she’s a chick right? Oh and when they decided that the bridge was not to be built Alaska still got all the appropriated funds. Awesome choice! Pork spending state FTW!
At least it wasn’t that plastic homunculus, Romney. God what a disaster he’d have been.
Still, I think in the end this’ll do McCain no good nor any realistic harm. She’s certainly more qualified than Ferraro was. Yes, that’s sorta like damning with faint praise, but what the heck? It’s Friday.
Oh, and jrogge, what state isn’t a pork barrel state? Not defending, just saying.
"What a retarded choice. Is he trying to garner support from the former Hilary supporters with a female choice or something"
Of course. And in that sense, it’s a smart move. Most of those supporters are all worked up about the idea that Hillary lost because of rampant sexism, which in their minds, means daring to criticize their favored candidate. They’ll be hyper-sensitive to any hint or insinuation that’s made about Palin from Democratic critics on that score, which makes the job of pleasing these unpleasables, while at the same time attacking the Rep ticket, all the more difficult.
Of course, it is a bizarre choice in light of the McCain camp’s message to date. I guess not having much experience, and being mostly a pretty, popular celebrity, is no longer such a big deal any more. We now have two VP candidates that don’t merely compliment the weaknesses of the headliners, but in some sense contradict the message of the headliners (in Obama’s case, the message of change not quite making much sense when applied to his pick of Biden).
Bad’s last blog post..McCain Picks Sarah Palin as VP? Analysis
Jrogge: Hmm, I’m not sure you’re being fair on the "bridge to nowhere" thing. Alaska’s senators, especiallyTed Stevens, are the ones to take to task on that. And, she’d only been governor a very short time when that mess went down. Wikipedia says:
Highlights of Governor Palin’s tenure include a successful push for an ethics bill, and also shelving pork-barrel projects supported by fellow Republicans. Palin successfully killed the Bridge to Nowhere project that had become a nationwide symbol of wasteful earmark[10][11] "Alaska needs to be self-sufficient, she says, instead of relying heavily on ‘federal dollars,’ as the state does today."[12]
So let’s give her a passing score on that one.
Style-wise, Palin fits McCain very well. To continue the Wikipedia entry:
She has challenged the state’s Republican leaders, helping to launch a campaign by Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell to unseat U.S. Congressman Don Young[13] and publicly challenging Senator Ted Stevens[10] to come clean about the federal investigation into his financial dealings.
In 2007, Palin had an approval rating often in the 90s.[12] A poll published by Hays Research on July 28, 2008 showed Palin’s approval rating at 80%.[14]
Alaskans tend to be a lot like Southwesterners like McCain, and Palin’s record reflects that. Style-wise, she’s a very good fit for the Senator.
The real question is whether this will all help McCain. She does have weaknesses, but then again so does everybody else running this year. Her main negative is lack of experience; her main strength is that this will probably woo at least some Hillary supporters who are still bitter. Although her pro-life stance will hurt her with some feminist voters, it seems likely to me that those would be voters who’d never vote for McCain anyway.
Interestingly enough, this is the first time in many moons that neither major party candidate has a Southerner on the ticket.
We’re not electing a Chief Speechmaker or a Chief Policy Wonk, we’re electing a Chief Executive. And Palin’s two year as governor is two years more of serious executive experience than ANY of the finalists in this campaign.
Even her earlier experience as mayor of a small town is more executive experience than running a senate office staff.
As I noted in a chat with a coworker- this could also be a little bit of McCain declaring, in his best Texan impersonation- "I ain’t Dead Yit!"
Lots of the speculation regarding the VP pick has been premised on the high probability of McCain not being healthy enough to finish out a single term. This is being pushed hard by the Democratic ad machine and is mostly BS, but he’s old enough that people will worry regardless.
Assume he wins, finishes his term and his presidency is decent, Palin is now well groomed to run in 2012.
Really, just about everyone in this race is an anomaly. McCain and Biden are perennial "also ran’s", Obama and Palin are neophytes.
Should be interesting, in a way.
Hotair has a good summary of her pros and cons…
I think, overall, it’s a good choice.
From the article:
Second, Palin will re-energize the base. She’s not just a pro-life advocate, she’s lived the issue herself. That will attract the elements of the GOP that had held McCain at a distance since the primaries and provide positive motivation for Republicans, rather than just rely on anti-Democrat sentiment to get them to the polls.
She has a 4 month old with Downs; she was faced with a choice…
Finally, based on all of the above, McCain can remind voters who has the real record of reform. Obama talks a lot about it but has no actual record of reform, and for a running mate, he chose a 35-year Washington insider with all sorts of connections to lobbyists and pork. McCain has fought pork, taken real political risks to fight undue influence of lobbyists, and he picked an outsider who took on her own party — and won.
Dean you left out one thing. THEY STILL GOT THE MONEY. So yes she successfully killed the Bridge to Nowhere so the millions appropriated could be spent elsewhere… in Alaska.
Yeah every state’s a Pork Spending state but why go for one that has had a controversy so recently?
IMO this is reactionary, I missed the part where she gives the appropriated money back to the federal bank, I guess.
At any rate I disagree that it will help him get any female voters at all, except of course old white females. Then again, he already had that generation’s vote anyhow. I don’t think Hilary supporters will simply vote for whoever has a female candidate. Most of them are Democrats and when push comes to shove they will probably trust Obama to deal with their issues before McCain. I think any votes he is going to get are going to be people who designated themselves to voting for him beforehand. She is for the most part a Republicany-Republican and feminists won’t like her stances on issues.
Also, in my own experiences talking to people it seems that the women I talked to liked Obama better and the blacks I talked to supported Hilary. Nationwide the numbers may have been different but it seemed to me that where I am at, Obama was the one with female support, not Hilary. So I am not sure this would have helped him at all.
Even though Romney is a Homunculus, again only by experience here, the Old people, many of the church people, and a lot of McCain’s base liked Romney a lot. IMO, McCain’s only hope was to strengthen his base and use persuasive speech in the debates as opposed to pissing off his base and trying to grab votes he likely won’t get.
The feminists are in a snit about Sarah, so as far as I’m concerned I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt ;>)
" Bill Kristol was claiming McCain would pick Palin — and that would prove that Republicans are "much more open to strong women." Frankly, that’s bullshit. Republicans are more open to a certain type of woman — one who is strongly against things like equal pay, universal health care, and reproductive freedom. In other words, the party is pro-woman-candidates, as long as they enact anti-woman policies."
So Palin’s first speech can contain the line that "NOW has revoked my femininity". That would be worth the whole thing right there.
She’s also very green for a Republican, an avid outdoors-person, and a lifetime NRA member.  Â
And those very traits just sealed the deal for three of my co-workers today. All three are Bush hating, semi-conservative, gun toting Democrats, who voted for Kerry and Gore.  But all three claim they’ll vote for McCain now. And I believe them.Â
That’s a small sample of course, but they are typical of a lot of middle of the road voters here in PA, and elsewhere, I expect.   Â
Things just got a whole lot more interestinger….
Absolutely inspired choice. I think it will win him the election.
And you know what? I’m pretty happy with the thought that Palin might have to step in as President. I’d certainly rather see her behind the wheel than Biden.
Biden? I’d rather see him under the wheels.
John_B’s last blog post..Review of Arabian Knight
"I don’t think Hilary supporters will simply vote for whoever has a female candidate."
Most of them built their support on the idea that Hillary was the more experienced candidate, while Obama was the neophyte choice of tokenism. They’re going to be hard pressed to confront the cognitive dissonance of ditching that argument to find much feminist appeal in someone that wouldn’t have stood a chance of being tapped if she were a man with the same resume.
Most of them built their support on the idea that Hillary was the more experienced candidate, while Obama was the neophyte choice of tokenism. They’re going to be hard pressed to confront the cognitive dissonance of ditching that argument to find much feminist appeal in someone that wouldn’t have stood a chance of being tapped if she were a man with the same resume.
Well the radical organizations like NOW already have basically declared Palin a Republican stooge in so many words. Palin isn’t going to get him very many vote he wouldn’t have already gotten in the first place. Jaymaster makes a point of knowing some Bush-hating, semi-conservative, gun toting Democrats that have decided to go with McCain because of his choice to run Palin. Also she opposed the listing of polar bears as a "threatened" species, supports the ariel hunting of wolves, and drilling in Alaska for oil. This is not the classical representation of "Green".
I agree this person, while Governor of Alaska certainly would not have been "Tapped" if she were male. I think the age brackets are a bigger factor here. I am convinced that if the 18-30 age bracket sits on their ass on election day like always then McCain has it. If they actually shake off their hangovers and drag their asses over to the little booth to punch a f^&king card for they guy they want for a change, then Obama probably has it.
In the midst of all this speculation that is going to be the only deciding factor in this election IMO. McCain already has the senior vote, the church vote, and the big business vote, which is a good chunk of your voting populous. He has this unless 18-30 shows up.
TNR call’s "boo" on the "killed the bridge to nowhere" gambit:
http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/08/29/did-palin-really-fight-the-bridge-to-nowhere.aspx
Short take: as a candidate in 2006, she supported building the bridge, and in fact urged it to be built quickly before Republicans lost control of Congress. She only gave up on it after it became clear that the earmark wasn’t coming, and even then she was petulant about it: saying that the national outcry against it was based on faulty portrayals of bridge building.
TNR call’s "boo" on the "killed the bridge to nowhere" gambit:
http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/08/29/did-palin-really-fight-the-bridge-to-nowhere.aspx Short take: as a candidate in 2006, she supported building the bridge, and in fact urged it to be built quickly before Republicans lost control of Congress. She only gave up on it after it became clear that the earmark wasn’t coming, and even then she was petulant about it: saying that the national outcry against it was based on faulty portrayals of bridge building.Dang, I should have googled. Here I was giving Dean the benefit of the doubt. I love the fact that after the bridge was doomed, I believe it was Ted Stevens but I could be wrong, threatened to quit if Alaska did not get the appropriated funds so congress caved and handed Alaska the money. So I wonder what they spent all that money on… I mean, that can buy a lot of aerial wolf hunting trips!
Another bizarre "Obama is totally insane and irresponsible for proposing what my VP pick has actually done" item: Palin supported and implemented a windfall profits tax on oil
It’s amusing just how fast the attack dogs of the left were ready to tear her apart from stem to stern, basically for being a Republican. Not that there’s anything wrong with being critical–this is a massively important position after all–but anybody who still thinks the left, and the Democratic Party in particular, are by nature kind and reasoned and civil and would "never stoop" to this kind of behavior has the proof before them that it’s not so.
Some of the criticism strikes me as valid, some doesn’t. The Nation isn’t a particularly decent publication–it’s a sort of "WorldNet Daily of the Left." TNR is a lot more trustworthy in my estimation, always has been. In either case, it was inevitahle that she’d be criticized by the left immediately, and by feminists in particular.
By the way, any proof of the idea that she’s against equal pay? I mean, really, that’s hard to swallow.
I am not surprised either Dean, she was only picked because she has boobs. My major issue with a pick like this is that one, it is sort of hypocritical, and two she is not the candidate that represents the old McCain that hated pork-spending, had reasonable compromises for abortion, and a pleasently moderate voting record. No this is the new McCain that panders to religious fanatics, attacks opponents for things and then does those things, says he opposes Bush’s tax plan and then says he’ll continue it, and other stuff.
McCain is slowly starting to prove that he’s just another politician with no spine and no conviction. He has gone back on everything he used to stand for. I used to really, really like the guy.
Wow, here comes the sexism already…
It’s not sexist, it the truth. He’s trying to pander to female voters. However with that kind of creativity (accusing people of sexism for telling the truth is asinine) it’s no wonder you want more of the same.
 So she has no accomplishments of value besides growing boobs? Â
And also, I guess I could argue then that the only reason Obama picked Biden is because Biden is white. Obama’s just trying to pander to white voters.
My opinion of Governor Sarah Palin as vice president is as positive as the opinion written here by John Burgess.
In other words, she not only suits me fine, but I took an instant liking to her when I viewed the onscreen video of McCain introducing her in Dayton, Ohio today. Do I think she will help McCain win the election? You bet I do.
Do I agree with her opinions about abortion? Not hardly, because I’m pro-abortion. And note that I didn’t say pro-choice.
But I think the total package of Governor Sarah Palin is something that Americans will line up behind. Sort of like a young american Margaret Thatcher. I see spunk, determination, incorruptability, vision. Plus two years experience as chief executive officer of one of the United States. Which is something none of the other three candidates has any experience doing at all.
I also liked the bit about being a hockey mom. I can’t suppose they play too much soccer in Alaska.
McCain is full of surprises of which I fully approve. I thought I was the only remaining maverick in the USA. And I was surely wrong.
Well done.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WIÂ
Gosh, I am coming in late and early the next morning! I am so very excited about McCain’s choice!
Just watch her over the coming weeks and you will see the lady knock down some of the comments here. She is a wife and mother of five. Alaska likes her very much and that is a very good thing. The lady had a heart wrenching decision to make when she found out about her son in her womb and chose life. When the little fella arrived she said he was perfect. I was raped and got pregnant and I too chose life. I was just fourteen when it happened and just barely fifteen when my son was born. My family and I chose adoption.
I loved it when the news showed her with the rifles! Also ask about her security since she has been in office as a Govenor. Now of course she will have secret service.
Give it time but just watch how many naysayers both men and women come out slinging sick insults.
Go Sarah, Go!!!
"Some of the criticism strikes me as valid, some doesn’t"
So, which does, which doesn’t?
Just to add to the theme of how bizarre a pick she in light of McCain’s message until now: it’s just recently come out that Palin hired a Washington lobbyist for her town of 7,000 (almost unheard of for a town that size), and obtained nearly 27 million in pork for her citizens. That’s pretty startling, and at the very least is pretty much everything that McCain has claimed himself to be uniquely against in politics.
Republicans on the media, meanwhile, are busy talking about how Palin has such a great record on fighting pork, including continued grossly false representations of her role in the Bridge to Nowhere and connections to Ted Stevens. You think they’re being sincere when they claim that she’s an anti-pork warrior? Â
As I see it, there are a ton of very substantive messaging problems that the McCain has stepped in, not all of which they can simply continue to spin their way out of forever. These include:
Palin supported the "tax oil companies" approach that Republicans have been calling irresponsible
She’s alleged to have abused her power (much like the partisan firing scandal at the Bush admin), lied about it, and has now lawyered up. Will be defending herself legally on this matter during the campaign.Â
Was, until recently, part of a party seeking to remove Alaska from the US and abolish property taxes
Has 0 experience with international issues, which some here seem to say doesn’t matter, but most Republicans seem to agree does, which is why they’re making such utterly absurd defenses of her supposed CiC role of the Alaskan national guard (nope: it’s a federalized and the Gov isn’t even regularly consulted), or Alaska’s mere proximity to Russia (despite her never having any substantive relations with Russia during her term). At the very least, McCain and his surrogates had previously stated in no uncertain terms that not only should Obama’s lack of foreign policy experience put him out of the running, but even prospective Dem VP picks like Tim Kaine didn’t have enough (and Kaine has a much longer resume than Palin).
And now its coming out that McCain’s campaign didn’t really vet Palin at all, scrambling to her at the last minute when his other choices basically got the big shoot-down from party muckety-mucks. Which makes his campaign look sloppy.
Comments on this entry are closed.