I was familiar with Joe Biden before he was picked as Democrats Veep. I had heard of Palin only through a frequent reader (sup Lewis). I did a bit of googling and digging and read that Palin is under investigation for firing Alaska’s Public Saftey Commissioner because he, in turn, did not fire a state trooper who was getting divorced from Palin’s sister. At the time of my search, it was the number two story connected to her–the first being her rise from dark horse to front runner.
In the spirit of doing more research, I am not going to call out Tokenism just yet–but at first glance, this appears to be a text book case of it.
This is not to say kudos to her accomplishments; however, any use of the word “experience” as an attack on Obama would be far too hypocritical.
Update: I linked the Time article on Palin. It is extremely interesting to read, and it does make the case for her. That being said, I am not convinced that she was as wonderful a pick as many on the Right think she is.
Palin is an interesting choice for VeeP. It remains to be seen how she’ll enhance McCain’s platform, but I cannot say its a bad choice.
She’s a solid conservative woman. And there is not a politician out there that doesn’t have skeletons.
I think she’s got fewer skeletons than most, or so it seems. We’ll have to see how she handles the campaign itself…the VP is usually the designated campaign attack dog, and Biden’s very good at it. McCain’s tried to do the whole positive “above it all” campaign, even cutting a commercial for last night that congratulated Obama on his nomination, while letting subordinates do the dirty work. We’ll see if that holds up; I have my doubts. McCain’s got a legendary temper.
From my side, though, the fact that Democrats like Jim Clyburn, Chucky Shumer, and Rahm Emmanuel are all screaming that it’s a “desperation” “hail Mary” “disaster for the Republicans” pick only means that Johnny Mac put this one right on the target.
Most of the left, not just the congressmen you picked, have called it a hail mary. The liberal blogs are saying the same thing. This does not mean McCain picked the right person.
As for running a clean campaign–on the up and up–McCain has released one commercial (last nights) that has been congratulatory. The other have been negative attack ads run during the convention.
Then there was the celebrity ad.
This is not to say that Obama kept the moral high ground, nor am I saying that McCain threw the first mudball. However, McCain’s camp has been negative–and he has endorsed it.
I think she has fewer skeletons in her closet because… She has no experience. Not at the level of politics the veep is going to have to handle. I understand campaigning about breaking away from “the same ol’ Washington”. But a certain level of experience is needed; would you want someone who repairs lawn mowers or mopeds working on your $50K vehicle? I don’t.
While I applaud the fact the Republicans have finally selected a woman for such a high position, this doesn’t seem like the way to do it.
I actually think she’s a good choice in terms of shoring up McCain’s base. She’s conservative and a reformer, which reinforces his so-called “maverick” credentials and panders to social conservatives. I don’t really see this having an effect on women voters, at least not much. Hordes of former Clinton supporters are unlikely to suddenly switch to supporting McCain just because of his veep pick, especially when she’s Clinton’s diametric opposite in actual political views.
But I do think McCain shot himself in the foot in terms of the narrative he’s been trying to push in his Obama attacks. You can’t simultaneously proclaim someone with less experience to be ready as veep while attacking Obama as unready to lead without looking like a bit of a hypocrite…or senile.
But I wanna see what her debates with Biden will look like. Part of me wonders if perceptions might shift in her favor if Biden is perceived as bullying or dismissive?
I had a problem with the credentials given about her by a Republican comentator after she was announced. They said she’d be okay in a debate against Biden, because she’d be runner-up for Miss Alaska, and had been voted Miss Congeniality… Um, and this makes her a good debater how?
Serena, dead on! My biggest concern is that if John McCain were to step down during the next four years, is this a woman who knows much about important things like economics, foreign policy, military spending and advising, etc.?!
Is that the Seth I met while in Chicago?
It is indeed the same Seth.
Well, hey to Seth! So nice to “see” you online. 🙂