I still can't get over them playing "Power to the People"
Just tell 'wingers that Sarah Palin is an Affirmative Action hire.
That's deeply unfair to Affirmative Action and the people it has helped get a foot in the door, but it should cause 'winger heads to explode.
Palin was clearly chosen by McCain to be his running-mate not in spite because of her sex, but because of it. I'm not sure what McCain's pollsters are smoking, but I'm all for them toking away because this is a really stupid pick for him to make. Other than the surprise factor, there's nothing to recommend it and it undercuts the attack on Obama's experience, the foreign policy emphasis of McCain's campaign, and it's not going to play with with the more Neanderthal members of the GOP's base. Palin's strong anti-abortion stand won't encourage women to vote for her either. This is a desperation move on McCain's part but maybe he thinks this Hail Mary of a pick is what he has to do.
David, Richard Viguerie was ecstatic over it on AAR. So, count on this to solidify the base. Paleocons may wince, but they have long practice in making sacrifices for party unity.
Whether Palin can fool low information voters is the question. As of July, her approval ratings in AK were 80%. So, don't write her off too quickly.
Palin was a smart pick because:
1. she is a she (and a not unattractive she, at that)
2. she gives some reason for the xinists to gotv
3. she comes from Alaska, a pristine place, far, far from dirty ol' Washington. Of course, she'll have some 'splainin' to do about her big oil connections and the melting polar ice.
My hope is that her vp selection will focus some attention on both the corruption of the Alaska gop and the native Alaskans who are fighting to get back some of what their 'leaders' sold out in the sixties.
David W.,
I'm always interested in the way you think. Who would you say would have been a smarter pick for Sen. McCain?
As to the Palin investigation into whether she might have abused her power in the matter of her brother-in-law State Trooper Mike Wooten, I think this is a scandal with a twist.
[Commissioner of Public Safety] Monegan alleged shortly after his dismissal that it may have been partly due to his reluctance to fire an Alaska State Trooper, Mike Wooten, who had been involved in a divorce and child custody battle with Palin's sister, Molly McCann. In 2006, before Palin was governor, Wooten was briefly suspended for ten days for threatening to kill McCann's (and Palin's) father, tasering his 11-year-old stepson (at the stepson's request), and violating game laws. After a union protest, the suspension was reduced to five days. ...
There may be some "how dare she-s" tossed around publicly ... but come on, Wooten is a State Trooper?
Oh, this is a good one I missed: Palin, McCain told the crowd, "was a union member and is married to a union member and understands the problems, the hopes, the values of working people."
Now, if only she had been a Black trial lawyer, too.
CMike, I'm not sure who would have been a smarter pick, but a safer one would have been Gov. Pawlenty of Minnesota, who is on his second term in office and was re-elected in 2006 despite the fact that the Minnesota legislature elections went hugely in favor of the Democrats. So Pawlenty knows how to operate politically under tough conditions, something Palin has never had to face in Alaska as a Republican. While I'm sure Palin is more capable than Dan Quayle was in 1988 (who wouldn't be), she's still totally untested by adversity.
I'm reminded of Mondale's pick of Ferraro in 1984, which was an intentional appeal for women's votes. It didn't do him much good and I don't think doing the same is going to help McCain now either. That said, I'm glad that the Republicans have at least finally broken a little ground for women in their own party, since there are some moderate Republican women currently in office who could have more influence down the road. Hopefully.
David W.,
If you're "not sure who would have been a smarter pick" than Palin why did you say that McCain's pollsters must have been "toking away" because this was "a really stupid pick for [McCain] to make?" Please answer. Like I said, I'm always interested in the way you think. For ardent supporters of our Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama you typify the thoughtful, high information, post-racial voter.
Whatever, CMike. I think McCain's overt appeal to women falls flat given what the Republicans stand for and have done in the past. If the GOP wants to try it though, more power to them.
Pawlenty = Bridge falling down.
Palin supported the bridge to nowhere, which you'd expect - but that doesn't square with the anti-earmarking fervor the GOP has bleated on and on and on about since they lost power in 2006 in Congress.
And my God, what about her period? Can America really afford to have a woman on the rag with access to launch codes? I certainly hope Roberts can get her to testify (HAR!) that she's gone through The Change.
not to defend Palin about whom I know next to nothing, but in the interests of accuracy, I'm reading she opposed the Bridge to Nowhere, not supported it. Where are you seeing the opposite?
sTiVo, it was from Steve Benen earlier today:
The McCain campaign has been flagging this pretty aggressively this afternoon. It's a shame, then, that Palin wasn't exactly telling the truth. As TNR's Brad Plumer explained, Palin actually supported the funding for the much-derided bridge project.
I think where Palin will help McCain with women is to give GOP women a reason to vote for the ticket (women generally have been unhappier with Bush than men). But more than that it gives the Dems one more chance to show off that sexist strain of fauxgressivism that we all enjoyed so much during the primary. All ready there are sexist comments being made left and right by Democratic operatives, bloggers and commenters. I don't think it will drive Democratic women to vote for McCain, but it could make it harder to vote for Obama. Not that I'm not going to love watching comments at Kos that say things like Palin's nomination shows that McCain wants to screw our "cuntry" (which at one point had 80+ positive ratings so it's not some lone troll) or all the jokes on the word "mate" or having Palin, who has every bit as impressive a life story as Obama even if she is wrong on everything, reduced to being a beauty queen.
A brilliant pick not because she's going to win over all those Hillary voters but because she gives the Dems an opportunity to remind women that not everyone who hates us has a (R) after their name.
This is going to be so much fun - racism from the right, sexism from the left. America rocks!
First insightful commentary on the pick over here. Great question - why not any of them? I hope someone asks him.
I will add,
Just heard some excerpts from Palin’s little speech where she describes herself as a hockey mom, gives a précis her political history and introduces her family, all in about sixty seconds. She has a kind of self deprecating charm as well as self surety that make a very likable person but it struck me that her major strength is her fulfillment of the repubs presidential model that was so successfully embodied by Ronnie Raygun. That is you-don’t-need-to-know-nothing’ to be preznit. You just have to good repubs values and a strong enough character not to be bamboozled by the insiders. Those that follow this line are all quite sure that they could do a darn good job themselves if only they had the opportunity. It will be interesting to watch her debate Biden. I hope he has the good sense to not patronize her and I hope (with even less confidence) that the questions will go to real policy issues. Overall, I think this was both McCain’s smartest and most desperate choice. I don’t think it will save McCain but it will put Palin on the political map and she is the kind of personality they are going to need after November’s
thanks, David, I found this out after I posted as well. Happy to stand corrected.
The I-35 bridge is expected to be completed well before the December 24th, 2008 deadline in the contract. Pawlenty may have let a bridge collapse, but he's also getting a bridge built quickly. The original estimates were five years to rebuild.
No estimate came in at five years of the four presented during the bidding process to rebuild the 35W bridge. Honest. More like 16-20 months, IIRC. But Flatiron (the winning bidder) has done an amazing job of building the bridge faster than anyone thought it could be. I'll be happy when it's done so I can drive over it again!
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