I'm not going to lie, most of what I know about Sarah Palin, I've learned from reading one of my favorite political blogs, Wonkette, where for quite some time they've alternated between calling her the hottest governor ever and a GILF (now changed to VPILF). One of my favorite all time posts they tossed up was about Palin being the hottest Lego governor, but today they posted a collection of past posts, and I also enjoyed one about her being a snow dwarf, and one they created based on a picture of Palin giddily revealing the state quarter of Alaska (the title? "Hot Bear on GILF action!").
That all said, I would echo the strengths and weaknesses I've seen most places related to this whole thing. On one hand, it truly is remarkable to think that in four months we'll either have a woman swearing in as Vice President or a black man swearing in as President. It's also just remarkable to think that in four months we'll be past the Bush Cheney nightmare. That's beside the point, though.
Ok... back to Palin. I think the notion that she'll somehow be the magic bullet on recruiting Hillary voters who are disgruntled is completely bogus. It might help some tiny bit with that particular constituency, but I'll be honest, I think the media is over-blowing the size and importance of that faction. Simply put, I think most Hillary supporters are Democrats with a capital "D" who are likely pretty jazzed up about the strong ticket their party has put together, even if they might think very rightly that their woman would have headed a strong ticket herself (and they're right). While I think this notion of aiming Palin at the PUMA camp and somehow wooing them all is bogus, I do agree with Matt and many others who say Palin will help with all the uber social conservatives who think McCain isn't sufficiently crazed over abortion, appalled at gayness or ready to open oil rigs in every national park. I think Romney, Lieberman, and Ridge would all have caused big challenges with this crowd, and having been teased with those possibilities for weeks I imagine they're pretty giddy.
Meanwhile, back over in the world of how this all will unfold, I just can't imagine a debate between Palin and Joe Biden being anything but lopsided, but then again I thought Biden was pretty stellar in the early Democratic Primary debates and it clearly didn't keep him in the running for that job. I guess we have an interesting fall to look forward to.
6 comments:
it just strikes me as a political stunt and not a rational choice... but i also know nothing about her. except that her nickname is GILF. hilarious.
To quote the wise Venice, "One of the reasons that I liked Biden is that he was chosen not for any specific demographic group but because he is so well-suited to the job... McCain's choosing Palin... is obviously an attempt to woo disgruntled HRC voters."
There is certainly a contrast to be drawn between the qualities of the VP candidates around the question, "what if something happens to the president"? With that frame in mind, I can't imagine tons of people who would rationally evaluate Palin and Biden and come out favoring her. She seems like an interesting character in some ways, and I'm sure we'll learn more about her soon.
Still, there is an almost absurdity to all of this where it appears almost like McCain has drafted a high school baseball player to join the roster of a Major League team. Perhaps my metaphor is overblown, but... still, it is kinda... strange.
I think your methaphor is pretty apt. I really want to like Palin. I give McCain credit for choosing a woman who has done some pretty interesting things in her short career. I also like the fact that Palin seems to be a real "grass-roots" kind of candidate. she's not the scion of a political family. She doesn't have an Ivy Leauge degree or spend her time at Beltway wine bars. Best of all, she's not even a lawyer!
So there are good things about her. But watching her speech I couldn't shake the feeling that she is just not ready for prime-time. She didn't seem like someone who is ready to undertake such an important job, either in terms of campaigning or actually being a VP.
I guess her appeal is that she seems like an ordinary person and her problem is also that she seems like an ordinary person. On the bright side, this does keep things interesting.
I totally agree that this really really keeps things interesting. Does anyone feel like this reminds them of a few summers ago when Bush put up Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court?
I hate making the comparison because frankly I would read it and think it was kinda sexist, but I really mean it in terms of both people seeming like reasonably nice folks... just not necessarily people with the resume of say a Supreme Court justice, Vice President, etc.
Now I think the comparison falls down in that Palin is likely a better pick for VP than Meyers was for the court... but that said, honestly I couldn't get this thought out of my head, so I figured I'd throw it out there.
... Oh, and Miers was a Bush crony where as Palin doesn't seem like cronyism is really a problem or concern. As Matt points out, she's not really part of any machine, except maybe the Wasilla Alaska ice sculpting political machine!
You know what? In all honesty, I thought of Miers too and for the same reason. It's not because they're both women. This just seems like a pick that isn't going to happen: an effort to choose someone for an important position who is nice and inoffensive to any one constituency but who just doesn't seem to make sense for the job. Like Corinne said, this feels like more of a political stunt than anything else.
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