McCain displays his judgement by selecting..er..um..Sarah..uh..Palin?.
Harry Hope
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!
Introducing...
http://upload.democraticunderground.com/top10/08/350_mccain-palin1.jpg
Yes, John McCain has selected... has selected... hold on a minute...
let me just go through my notes here... let's see... er... aha, Sarah
Palin to be his vice president.
Great choice, Senator!
Just one question.
Who the hell is Sarah Palin?
Before we get an answer to that question, let's backtrack for a moment
and take a look at McCain's previous statements on the all-important
running mate selection process.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200808290006
On April 1 he said, "I think about whether that person who I select
would be most prepared to take my place. And that would be the key
criteria."
On April 6 he said, "The first and really major and overwhelming
priority is a person who shares my principles, my values, my
priorities -- as you know, priorities are very important in presidents
-- and could be -- immediately take my place. That's, I think, the
overriding criteria ... It is who can best take my place and carry on
the agenda and the vision that I have outlined and will continue to
outline during this campaign."
And on July 8 he said his vice president would be, "Someone who shares
my priorities and my principles. And also obviously who is ready to
take my place at a moment's -- you know, immediately."
The message is clear:
McCain's key criteria, his overriding criteria when selecting a
running mate, was to choose someone who can take his place if the
worst should happen - which makes sense, because at 72 years old
McCain is no spring chicken.
In fact, he's the oldest person to ever seek the presidency.
Let's face it, he could snuff it at any moment.
Enter Sarah Palin.
Here's her resume, per Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin
1982: Captain of the Wasilla High School basketball team.
1984: Won the Miss Wasilla beauty pageant; finished second in the Miss
Alaska beauty pageant.
1987: Graduated from the University of Idaho with a Bachelor of
Science degree in communications-journalism.
circa 1987-1992: Sports reporter for local TV news.
1992-1996: Served two terms on the Wasilla city council.
1996-2002: Served as mayor of Wasilla.
2002: Lost Republican primary race for Lieutenant Governor of Alaska.
2003-2004: Served as Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas
Conservation Commission.
2006: Elected governor of Alaska.
So there you have it.
Tested.
Ready.
Sarah Palin.
A woman who is clearly more than able to step into McCain's shoes at a
moment's notice and serve as President of the United States of
America, Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, leader of the free
world.
http://upload.democraticunderground.com/top10/08/350_mccain-palin3.jpg
Sarah Palin
But don't laugh - you see, it turns out that Sarah Palin is actually
the only person on either ticket who has actual executive experience.
Sure, she was inaugurated in December 2006, and McCain announced his
presidential exploratory committee in November 2006, which technically
means that he's been running for president longer than she's been
governor of Alaska - but don't let that put you off.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=6819105
She was, after all, mayor of Wasilla, AK. Population 5,469.
http://wasilla.areaconnect.com/statistics.htm
Don't take my word for it.
Here's Karl Rove explaining why Sarah Palin is qualified to be vice
president:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=6833186
ROVE:
With all due respect, again, to Governor Kaine, he's been a governor
for three years.
He's been able, but undistinguished. I don't think people could really
name a big, important thing that he's done.
He was mayor of the 105th-largest city in America.
And, again, with all due respect to Richmond, Virginia, it's smaller
than Chula Vista, California, Aurora, Colorado, Mesa or Gilbert,
Arizona, North Las Vegas, or Henderson, Nevada.
It's not a big town.
If (Obama) were to pick Governor Kaine, it would be an intensely
political choice, where he's said, "You know what? I'm really not
first and foremost concerned with, is this person capable of being
president of the United States? What I'm concerned about is, can he
bring me the electoral votes of the state of Virginia, the 13
electoral votes in Virginia?"
Ahem.
But Karl is backed up by some of the foremost presidential scholars of
the day.
According to Politico:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/13001.html
So unconventional was McCain's choice that it left students of the
presidency literally "stunned," in the words of Joel Goldstein, a St.
Louis University law professor and scholar of the vice presidency.
"Being governor of a small state for less than two years is not
consistent with the normal criteria for determining who's of
presidential caliber," said Goldstein.
"I think she is the most inexperienced person on a major party ticket
in modern history," said presidential historian Matthew Dallek.
(snip)
"The first thing that hits me," said Stephen Hess of the Brookings
Institution," is that it suggests that John McCain is a gambler. This
is a high roller decision."
"The next thing you have to ask yourself: Is it worrisome to have a
gambler in the Oval Office? That's an important question," he said,
"perhaps more important than anything else today."
Indeed.
So it's a good job McCain isn't addicted to high-stakes gambling.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1819898-2,00.html
But I know what you're thinking:
surely the McCain campaign must have vetted Palin thoroughly before
making this crucial choice, the first big test of his presidential
decision-making skills and judgment?
Er, not quite... http://www.adn.com/news/politics/story/510249.html
Former House Speaker Gail Phillips, a Republican political leader who
has clashed with Palin in the past, was shocked when she heard the
news Friday morning with her husband, Walt.
"I said to Walt, 'This can't be happening, because his advance team
didn't come to Alaska to check her out," Phillips said.
Phillips has been active in the Ted Stevens re-election steering
committee and remains in close touch with Sen. Lisa Murkowski and
other party leaders, and she said nobody had heard anything about
McCain's people doing research on his prospective running mate.
Well... he must have at least had someone check out some old news
stories about her, right?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/31/mccain-camp-didnt-search_n_122823.html
The McCain campaign has gone to great lengths to present the selection
of Sarah Palin as one made after a careful, meticulous vetting
process.
But evidence continues to suggest that the Arizona Republican made his
VP choice with surprising haste.
On Saturday, a Democrat tasked with opposition research contacted the
Huffington Post with this piece of information:
as of this weekend, the McCain campaign had not gone through old
newspaper articles from the Valley Frontiersman, Palin's hometown
newspaper.
How does he know?
The paper's (massive) archives are not online.
And when he went to research past content, he was told he was the
first to inquire.
Okay, well, maybe McCain has a close personal relationship with Palin
and therefore doesn't need to vet her.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/08/sarah-palin-and.html
John McCain and his new running mate, Sarah Palin, are spending some
quality time together today.
After this morning's rally in Dayton, Ohio, they boarded McCain's bus
for the six-hour ride to Pittsburgh.
That's a good thing.
Because McCain and Palin are practically strangers.
At least that's what she told a reporter two weeks ago.
In an interview with the Washington, D.C., newspaper Roll Call, Palin
said she had met McCain only once or twice.
She said she was introduced to McCain at the 2006 Republican Governors
Assn. meeting.
The pair met again this week, according to McCain campaign spokeswoman
Jill Hazelbaker.
But just because they've only met once, it doesn't mean they can't get
along.
In fact, just last week McCain referred to Palin as "a partner and a
soul mate."
http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0808/McCain_Palin_a_soulmate.html
I hope Cindy wasn't listening.
So, given that this is perhaps the most bizarre running mate choice in
U.S. history, what's the upside for McCain?
Well, apparently the fundies are very excited about this pick, thanks
to the fact that Mrs. Palin happens to be a religious extremist (more
on that later).
And he's going to need their support, because things don't look too
rosy on Planet Republican right now.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/08/29/palin_pick_leaves_bruised_feel.html
Though it was high in shock value, the Palin pick left bruised
feelings among the short-list contenders who were not picked -- and
infuriated some Republican officials who privately said McCain had
gone out on a limb, unnecessarily, without laying the groundwork for
such an unknown.
Two senior Republican officials close to Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty
said they had both been rudely strung along and now "feel
manipulated."
"They now know that they were used as decoys, well after McCain had
decided not to pick them," one Republican involved in the process
said.
Ha ha.
But enough about the Republicans and their fractured party.
What do Alaskans think of McCain's pick?
Let's go to the reviews...
http://thepage.time.com/obama-release-%E2%80%9Chow%E2%80%99s-it-playing%E2%80%9D/
"McCain seems to have put his political interests ahead of the
nation's when he created the possibility that she might fill it. It's
clear that McCain picked Palin for reasons of image, not substance."
-- The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
"She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice
president or president?" -- Alaska State Senate President Lyda Green
(R)
"At the national level Palin will have to be much more than a fresh
and pretty face. Even in the next 24 hours she'll need a boatload of
schooling on a shipload of issues, and the savvy to convince others
she really does know what she's talking about. That's a tall order for
a self-described hockey mom, former small-town mayor and first-term
governor who critics claim has minuscule knowledge of national affairs
and even less knowledge of world affairs." -- The Juneau Empire
Hmm, not too good.
How about the established conservative punditocracy?
"To the extent the experience, qualifications, and national-security
arguments are taken off the table, Obama wins. And it's not just
foreign policy. Palin has no experience dealing with national domestic
issues, either." -- Ramesh Ponnuru
"The Palin selection completely undercuts the argument about Obama's
inexperience and readiness to lead.... To gratuitously undercut the
remarkably successful 'Is he ready to lead' line of attack seems near
suicidal." -- Charles Krauthammer
"The longer I think about it, the less well this selection sits with
me. And I increasingly doubt that it will prove good politics. The
Palin choice looks cynical. The wires are showing." -- David Frum
"On the face of it, McCain has failed the ultimate test that any
presidential candidate must face in picking a running mate: selecting
someone who is unambiguously qualified to be president." -- Mark
Halperin
So there you have it.
Meet the new team, McCain/Palin '08.
They're fresh, they're new, they're ready to lead - oh, and by the
way, they most certainly are not celebrities.
http://upload.democraticunderground.com/top10/08/350_mccain-palin4.jpg
What, no Bridget?
By EarlG
Democratic Underground
http://www.democraticunderground.com/
Harry