Well, he did it. Today John McCain finally revealed his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, and I'm not quite sure what to make of his choice. Unlike some people, I know who Sarah Palin is, having seen her on The Glenn Beck Show; I'm just not sure she's going to do McCain any good.
Picking Palin as his running mate deprived McCain of his chief weapon against Obama, namely, his inexperience. True, Palin is not running for president like Obama but given McCain's age the possibility of her becoming president is fairly high, making her inexperience a legitimate issue for the Obama campaign and the nation at large. It's rather incomprehensible to me why the McCain camp would give away it's strongest argument against Obama.
On the upside, Palin is a true conservative and a poster child for traditional family values. Her decision to have her youngest child, who was born with Down's Syndrome, reflects her pro-life commitment. Palin is a proud member of the NRA and favors drilling in ANWR. She opposes same sex marriage and has been willing to buck her party's establishment when necessary. All this will almost certainly help McCain with the Republican party's conservative base, which has been wary of the Arizona senator from the beginning of his campaign. Also, Palin's 70% approval rating as governor could bring some much needed shine to the tarnished Republican brand.
The fact that Palin is a woman will probably also help McCain. The Obama camp, and the MSM which supports it, will have to walk a fine line when criticizing Palin so as not to appear sexist. This is important because many of Hilary Clinton's supporters believe she lost to Obama due to sexism, and they're still angry about it. If Obama comes down too hard on Palin it could confirm the Clintonistas' suspicions and push them into McCain's corner, if only out of spite. So if McCain was crazy to pick Sarah Palin for his VP he might have been crazy like a fox. We'll find out November 4.
7 comments:
I think that McCain made a smart choice here....and time will tell. Sarah Palin is a true Conservative, smart, honest, and goes after corruption when she sees it to the jeopardy of her job. Then when she wins, she goes after the status quo and does what she can to stop it. I think that she is an excellent choice.
-Robert-
I poked a few keys about this myself tonight.
McCain did give away the weapon of experience (sought of)....as Democrats assail Palin's lack of experience, they highlight Obama's lack of same!
BUT elections are rarely won on experience alone.
McCain probably DID need to go bold. Romney would've alienated a lot of people ("two rich white guys") and Lieberman would've been an outright disaster.
I know there were some folks pulling for Huckabee, but he would've been a dream candidate for the Dems - he's brash and puts his foot in his mouth a lot and he could be smeared as a "religious zealot."
To me, Palin is a far better choice than any of those guys, if only because her resume, like Obama's is so thin and like him, she's a relatively unknown commodity.
This sure is a boost eh !!!
You expect far to much my friend! We have to limit our choie of Veep to human beings.
It would be great if she had a few more terms under her belt but other than that she's just perfect.
Everyone here is saying the same thing. Thats all they say when people say she is to inexperenced. It's a politically brillent choice.
She is more qualified than Obama. She was a mayor and a Governor of a state for two years.
She took on her own party and won. She shore's up the conservative base, she's pro-life and can shoot.
She got the First Impressions right too. I loved what she said about the 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling.
She came off strong in first impressions. Her decision to have and love her son highlights her good character.
lets hope she does well tonight Seanne!
Hey girl, how you been?
Thanks for the comment you left me, it's nice to know I have some friends here in blogger world :D
Well I'm back, but where are you 8(
Take care
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