So, I can't believe how dumbstruck I am by this Sarah Palin VP pick. I have nothing coherent to say or think. Basically, I'm hoping that you can't rise to the top of the sludge-fest known as the Alaska GOP without getting pretty dirty.
That said, this seems like a strategic masterstroke from McCain. Who could be further from DC and the Bush folks than a 44-y-o female governor from freakin' ALASKA?
But let me also add that McCain's history hasn't been good when he's around young, powerful, attractive women. Is that you, Vicki Iseman?
UPDATE: A pretty banal speech to introduce yourself to the American people, in my opinion, but the themes were great. If they can hit the "reform" angle without people laughing in their faces -- as folks should -- then this race will be damn close.
Friday, August 29, 2008
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Obviously I have the benefit of a few days of revelations about Palin, and I still could easily be wrong, but I disagree with your assessment of the Palin pick and felt it was rather bizarre from the beginning. I think it's extremely risky, and the possible benefits are relatively small. To wit:
1) I just don't see former Hillary backers flocking to this ticket. At best it's probably a wash. Some women might move to McCain, but probably just as many - if not more - will find the pick offensive to their intelligence (look! she's a woman!) and end any flirtation they may have had with McCain. The McCain people may have bought too much into the media hype with respect to disgruntled Hillary voters.
2) The pick shores up the conservative base and probably will even excite them, but there were almost certainly other, less risky ways to do that. As her extreme conservative stances become more and more well known, I think her cross-over appeal to moderates will be rather limited.
3) Arguably the single most powerful argument against Obama has been "he's not ready." Supposedly McCain's people were ready to junk that anyway, but fucked if I know why because it sure seemed to be working pretty well lately and back in the primaries. It will be tricky for Obama folks to attack Palin as inexperienced because the GOP can still throw that back in Obama's face, but now McCain has lost a main avenue of attack against Obama by nominating someone far less qualified than he for VP. The fact that Palin is unqualified and completely unknown does not magically transform McCain into the "change" candidate - Obama has owned that mantle for far too long for a VP pick to make a difference.
4) Who in the fuck vetted this? An ethics investigation in the Alaska House and a pregnant 17 year old daughter? Even if those blow over, dicey personal matters combined with less experience than Dan Quayle makes this pick a huge risk - and a significant distraction from the GOP message this week.
Like I said I could be wrong but at this point this seems like a real mistake. If he wanted to make a maverick pick, McCain would have been better off with Lieberman, who he at least met on more than one occasion prior to Friday.
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