McCain chooses sacrificial lamb for VP
Well we should be talking about Obama's speech but McCain deployed the GOP weapon of mass distraction and chose an incomprehensible VP.
Sarah Palin looks like a nice woman on the surface. Great populist story. Married 20 years today, five kids, wife of a fisherman who belongs to a union, son in the military. But she looks like a deer caught in the headlights.
This was obviously an 11th hour pander in search of PUMAs which she made very clear at the end of her acceptance speech. A little arrogant though if you ask me, for her to imply that she's going to be a pioneer by crashing through the glass ceiling after Hillary did all the work to crack it to the breaking point.
It would appear the choice was so last minute she wasn't even vetted. Cindy McCain looked surprised to hear it was Palin's anniversary today. And Palin called Cindy Mrs. McCain, another clue they have never even met.
McCain succeeded in his short term objective to steal the news cycle. The media are caught flatfooted, no one had ever heard of her before so they're obsessing about the surprise while the bloggers are already doing the oppo. Palin is anti-choice, supports teaching creationism in the schools instead of science, is involved in some kind of investigation surrounding an attempt by her to get a person fired for personal reasons. If I understand that one correctly, Palin is attempting to squash the investigation. I'm guessing she's cozy with Big Oil. Oh and she's on record as not wanting the VP nomination because she doesn't even know what a VP does.
I feel kind of sorry for her. She seems likeable enough for a quasi-fundie, but the air of sacrificial lamb around her is palpable. Her so called experience amounts to little more than being the mayor of a tiny town of 9000 residents, the president of the PTA and now a short stint as a new governor where she's already embroiled in an impending scandal. She's going to crash and burn when she has to answer any questions of substance.
Basically she's just more of the same old politics but with a prettier and younger face. I'm not sure the McCain camp really thought through the visual on this either. Seeing the two of them together, Palin makes McCain look like her great grandfather and even makes Cindy look older. After the novelty wears off, voters are going to be asking themselves if they want this untested young woman to be one heartbeat away from the presidency.
[cross-posted to The Reaction]
[More posts daily at The Newshoggers and The Detroit News.]
Sarah Palin looks like a nice woman on the surface. Great populist story. Married 20 years today, five kids, wife of a fisherman who belongs to a union, son in the military. But she looks like a deer caught in the headlights.
This was obviously an 11th hour pander in search of PUMAs which she made very clear at the end of her acceptance speech. A little arrogant though if you ask me, for her to imply that she's going to be a pioneer by crashing through the glass ceiling after Hillary did all the work to crack it to the breaking point.
It would appear the choice was so last minute she wasn't even vetted. Cindy McCain looked surprised to hear it was Palin's anniversary today. And Palin called Cindy Mrs. McCain, another clue they have never even met.
McCain succeeded in his short term objective to steal the news cycle. The media are caught flatfooted, no one had ever heard of her before so they're obsessing about the surprise while the bloggers are already doing the oppo. Palin is anti-choice, supports teaching creationism in the schools instead of science, is involved in some kind of investigation surrounding an attempt by her to get a person fired for personal reasons. If I understand that one correctly, Palin is attempting to squash the investigation. I'm guessing she's cozy with Big Oil. Oh and she's on record as not wanting the VP nomination because she doesn't even know what a VP does.
I feel kind of sorry for her. She seems likeable enough for a quasi-fundie, but the air of sacrificial lamb around her is palpable. Her so called experience amounts to little more than being the mayor of a tiny town of 9000 residents, the president of the PTA and now a short stint as a new governor where she's already embroiled in an impending scandal. She's going to crash and burn when she has to answer any questions of substance.
Basically she's just more of the same old politics but with a prettier and younger face. I'm not sure the McCain camp really thought through the visual on this either. Seeing the two of them together, Palin makes McCain look like her great grandfather and even makes Cindy look older. After the novelty wears off, voters are going to be asking themselves if they want this untested young woman to be one heartbeat away from the presidency.
[cross-posted to The Reaction]
[More posts daily at The Newshoggers and The Detroit News.]
Labels: Election 08, McCain
posted by Libby Spencer at 1:14 PM
7 Comments:
I had to hurry over here to get your take as soon as I heard about this and I mostly agree with what you say, but I also think that if she's the real deal and can connect with the media and the public in the 60+ days left she could rain all over Obama's parade.
This is the old maverick McCain at his best and I wonder how this played out in the rooms of power within the republican party.
Libby, I did like Jim. I wanted to see your take, and you nailed it. Bless her little heart. It is the big leagues now. She has no idea what is in store as the weeks go by. You are probably as kind as any of us will be to her.
I think your analysis is spot on although you are much kinder than I am. I wasn't as surprised as I should have been since I have picked up whispers about Palin in the past few weeks on a couple of right wing blogs I check out from time to time. But I am still confused as to GOP reasoning in choosing her. If I was still undecided, the idea of Mccain kicking the bucket and leaving this Smurfette in charge would be sending me over hurdles to get into the Dem camp.
I think the only people she will appeal to is other Republicans -- so, that will be a big boost because ...?
I'm so exhausted from the last four days of staying up late that I feel almost incoherent. I've spent the better part of the day hashing it out in comment sections.
It looks like a hasty pick done purely for political reasons. It will play well with the fundies but if they think it's going to snag any feminists, they better think again. They might get the PUMAs such as they are, but those folks weren't going to vote for Obama if their life depended on it.
I think its a Hail Mary pass from a desperate candidate.
I keep reading from conservatives who claim the left must be spinning from such a brilliant move.
She's no Joe Biden, and certainly no Hillary Clinton. She's not even Dan Quayle. She's Harriet Miers.
What this move did was knock Obama right off of the front page on the day after his big day.
It totally wiped out any bounce he had and energized the right wing base.
It will be hard for the dems to ridicule her and highlight her lack of experience as that is Obama's weakness.
Watch this play out, if she comes across well in interviews and speeches she will be tough to refute where the moderates are concerned. They are looking for any excuse not to vote for Obama.
Kevin, I've seen the Miers analogy a lot and it's apt I think.
Jim, I think the people who are looking for a reason not to vote for him are going to find one no matter what and let's face it, it's really because he's a black man for all the careful parsing about experience. In the long run, I think she's going to hurt him with independents and I won't be surprised if she steps down. A lot of dirt out there on her. She was so not vetted.
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