Even as I'm still wrapping my head around the momentous, awesome, historic speech and nomination acceptance by Barack Obama last night, news is rapidly leaking that Alaska governor Sarah Palin may end up being McCain's pick for vice presidential running mate. If so, I will have to give the man (or, more likely, his handlers) credit. That's one hell of a clever move, especially considering all of the talk about former Clinton supporters thinking of voting McCain instead of Obama (though I tend to believe these reports are extremely exaggerated).Still, it'll be another couple of hours before we know for sure. And frankly, though I will be proud that a woman is on a national ticket, I don't vote according to gender or race, etc., and I certainly hope that former Clinton supporters don't, either. I vote according to who I believe will be best to lead our country, and my vote is still firmly in the Obama/Biden camp.
10:52AM UPDATED TO ADD: And it's official. Palin's the pick, and kudos to her for getting the nod. From what (admittedly little) I've been reading about her, she at least strikes me as a more moderate Republican, good about actually cutting extravagant and wasteful government spending and doing some needed whistle blowing. Plus, though she's come out against same-sex marriage, she actually vetoed a law that would have barred the state from giving same-sex partners any benefits. So that's something. But as an anonymous commenter noted, this pick may have far more to do with the McCain camp wanting to pander to the "Drill ANWR now!" camp than anything regarding so-called PUMAs and the like. In any case, this certainly does make things a bit more interesting.
11:08AM - I have to say, one of the more interesting things about the Palin pick is the fact that I can't remember a single journalist or publication that was speculating about her being a possibility until that plane from Alaska landed in Ohio this morning. Nobody got this one way ahead of time, and that's kind of fun. Also, you should read good ol' Griper Blade's take on the Palin pick. I wish I could share in his glee, because I think he's right, but it's hard to completely forget the last time Democrats snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. My hope, however, remains.
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9 comments:
The source of Alaksa's state welfare system has a lot more to do with this pick than Palin's chromosomes.
Care to elaborate on that? I'm still woefully ignorant about Alaskan state politics.
Drill, drill, drill!
McCain is going to get more votes by pandering to the simpletons that think selling ANWR and continental shelf crude on the global market means less pain at the pump than he is by snipe-hunting the mythical PUMA population.
The choice of Palin is as much about selling the "Drill Now!" talking point as it is about tokenism.
Ah, I hear you. I'm surprised (and somewhat ashamed) that that hadn't occurred to me before.
From what little I know of Palin, she seems like a more moderate Republican at the very least. I like that she was tough on the pork barrel projects and did some good whistle-blowing. She seems like more of an actual "maverick" than McCain, anyway. But yeah, you're probably right that the choice has a lot more to do with drilling than anything else.
Random aside, Salon readers had her as the 2nd most likely choice (behind Powell) back in May.
John - Remarkably prescient of them (though to be fair, she was tied for second with 3 other candidates).
I'm not sure I'd categorize Palin as a moderate. Pat Buchanan has been gushing about her as one of his "pitchfork brigade" and a choice designed to appeal to the far-right GOP base, for whom McCain is too "liberal." She supports a complete ban on abortion, with no exceptions (not life of mother, not rape, not incest). She did sign off on Alaskan DP benefits, by only by default (unconstitutional wording in a proposed ban), and she supports a referendum to get rid of them.
Overall Palin scores me: despite her friendly demeanor she's an extremist, and too green to step in as Prez in an emergency.
sorry: *scares* me (not "scores" me). That would be a very different kind of election . . .
jen - And for a minute there, I thought it might be a case of opposites attracting. :P But no, I hear you. The more and more I read about her (being that she was a relative unknown), the less I like her as a politician. Generally, I think it's not a wholly stupid move on McCain's part--she has her appeal to certain people--but in the end, I think it's a pretty lousy choice.
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