McCain Picks Sarah Palin-Are You Kidding Me?
Alaska’s govenor Sarah Palin is now the presumptive Republican nominee for vice president.
When I read the news the first thing that came to mind was Admiral James Stockdale. Remember him. That was Ross Perot’s running mate in his ill-fated independent bid for the presidency. In his first major public appearance, a vice presidential debate, Stockdale’s first statement was, “Many of you are probably asking, who am I? Why am I here?”
I had the same initial response to Palin. Who is that? I have to admit, I’ve never even heard of her until this morning. Now that she is on the verge of becoming the Republican nominee for vice president, I guess it’s time we asked those same questions. Who is she?…and more importantly, Why is she here?
Palin’s govenor’s web site, McCain’s web site and a hot, fresh entry at Wikipedia reveal a young, fresh faced Alaskan govenor who came from humble beginnings and apparently has a strong moral compass. She served two terms on the Wasilla Alaska city council, got elected as the towns mayor and won the office of govenor by beating a Republican incumbent and a former Democratic govenor in the process.
It’s a pretty thin record for a Vice President, but technically, she has more executive experience than any of the candidates, including McCain. Still I was blown away by the pick until I started looking at the second question…Why is she here?
First of all, the obvious. She is a woman. McCain needs to woo the conservatives who were supporting Hillary because of her gender and Palin may help do that. Secondly she is a staunch pro-life advocate, and a woman, which will please the pro-life evangelicals. She is young, which helps negate McCain’s age issue and I think she also changes the dynamic of the “experience” debate. McCain has tried, unsuccesfully, to use Obama’s lack of experience. How can Palin’s lack of experience be called into question? She has a track record of controlling spending and making tough budget choices.
Most importantly though, Palin is a maverick. Just like McCain. She has bucked her own party on more than one occasion. She has brought corruption and ethics charges against fellow Republicans who deserved it. She has also taken the oil industry to task in Alaska. A tough thing to do.
Palin’s pick sends a signal from McCain. Not just to Obama, but to the Republican establishment in Washington. If McCain wins, you can bet he’ll turn Palin loose on the DC-GOP club to clean up any lingering questions about ethics and pork-barrell spending. Unlike a lot of Washington insiders, like Biden, Obama and even McCain, Palin is not beholden to special interests, fellow party members or other inside the beltway loansharks. One gets the impression from reading her bio that if she loses the election, she’d be just fine heading back to Alaska for some hunting and fishing.
Look out Washington. You’ve just met probably the most dangerous political animal ever. A conservative woman candidate for VP with absolutely nothing to lose.
Oh yeah, she’s a hottie too!
dooz Says: August 29th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
“Most importantly though, Palin is a maverick.”
Stop there; that’s enough to get my vote. If the choices are 1. Daley machine hack, 2. Years in the senate but never has done anything gaffe machine, 3. “Loyal opposition” veteran senator, 4. Up from the grassroots “maverick”, I choose “Door number 4″.
P.S. While I’d rather look at someone or something pleasant than someone or something unpleasant, “hottie” is not an apt descriptor for a national candidate. (In fact, I, even as a guy, consider it a demeaning term.) (Even so, she threw former “Pretty” champ Obama out of the ring.)
The Other Side Says: August 29th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
she’s going to get owned by biden in the debate. and more importantly, the only attack the republicans had, inexperience, is completely gone. she said two months ago that she doesn’t even know what the vice president does. this was a desperation choice by mccain.
Wes Says: August 30th, 2008 at 3:08 am
Dude!
Gov Palin is no Admiral Stockdale, may the Good Lord bless and keep him. And the Gov. too
W
The Other Side Says: August 30th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
this pick is purely political. all mccain wants to do is win this election and he thinks palin can help him. she is more conservative than mccain so she may help sure up the base. but weren’t they going to vote for mccain anyway? also, the idea that she will help bring in clinton supporters is insulting. does the mccain campaign think that women will ignore palin’s anti-choice stance and conservative ileology and vote for mccain because she’s a women? i hope not.
what can palin bring to a mccain administration? nothing. at least obama has been tested by months of grueling primaries and has proven to be at least compitent for the presidency. republicans are good at winning elections but terrible at governing. this pick by mccain further proves that message and shows that the current republican party isn’t going to benefit the country. after eight years of incompitence, why should america reward republicans with another term?
Tyra Says: August 30th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
I think it’s a HUGE and VERY strategic move on McCain’s part. The more information I get on Palin, the more I’m impressed. McCain needed to throw a curve ball, and he did it! Great choice! I’m so proud we finally have a strong, intelligent woman to whom I can unashamedly support. I think Obama/Biden are starting to look more and more like the fools they are.
Kiwi Says: September 7th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
“Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents.
During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator.
She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.
During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002).
She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.
As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he “intimidated” her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska’s top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it’s pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn’t fire her sister’s ex-husband, a State Trooper.
Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support.”
Want to know more? Search Anne Kilkenny on Sarah Palin.
Zack Says: September 10th, 2008 at 2:58 am
….and she’s the hottest VP candidate we’ve ever had.