McCain’s paladin: Palin (updated again)
Alaska governor Sarah Palin will be the first female GOP VP nominee, 24 years after the Dems picked Geraldine Ferraro. Her profile has huge overlap with Bobby Jindal’s, and she has arguably less government experience.
Palin’s the polar opposite of Dick Cheney. Like Jindal, she ran on a clean government agenda. Like Jindal, she’s young, just 44. She’s far less cosy with oil companies than her predecessor. Though she’s backed by religious wingnuts, she vetoed a bill that would have banned benefits for gay state employees’ partners.
She’s got even less experience than Jindal, having been mayor a town of just 8,000 and then governor for 18 months. Like Saudis, Alaskans get checks from oil and pipeline leases:
Starting in 1982, dividends from the fund’s annual growth have been paid out each year to eligible Alaskans… $1963.86 in 2000… one must have lived in the state for a minimum of 11 months and maintain[ed] constant residency. [Link]
Alaskans tend to be constitutionally self-reliant just for physical survival, so the state is not only not a top tier state by political power and population, it’s atypical for any state.
At first blush, this looks like a smart pick. In a change election, picking a fresh face is virtually mandatory. With a top of ticket as old as McCain, picking a younger VP balances the ticket. In a year when many HRC voters aren’t moving to Obama, picking a woman could peel away those voters. This will be a very interesting election.
But now that we know McCain made an out-of-the-box pick, Jindal missed a huge opportunity. McCain was willing to go north. He was willing to go femme. He wasn’t willing to go brown. But picking Jindal could have been even smarter for the McCain campaign. Jindal has fancier degrees than Palin; he’s a better speaker and more disciplined attack dog.
On the other hand, Obama’s ceiling-shattering nomination as an ethnic minority opens future doors for Jindal. Staying off a losing ticket in a change election keeps his options open. And being bypassed lets Jindal gets the seasoning he needs to run for the top slot rather than the spittoon position.
Just how many doors has Dubya’s incompetence opened for minorities and ex-mavericks now? Three-fourths of the major party tickets now assembled are atypical for their party and for any American presidential election: a multiracial nominee from Hawaii, a former Republican gadfly, and an Alaskan woman who’s anti-pork in a state which swims in it. This year, the old, white, male party stalwart is the odd man out. And then there’s Jindal’s Katrina-fueled governorship to begin with. Dubya has, in his own inimitable way, become a godsend for minority candidates.
Update: In her speech, Palin just explicitly appealed to Hillary Clinton’s 18 million primary voters. ‘The women of America aren’t done yet!’ McCain is making just the kind of tribal appeal that Republicans claim to disdain.
His pick is the devout leader of a socialist petrodollar state, the kind of political unit he says is a threat to American security.
Finally, nominees from Hawaii and Alaska, the two continentally discontiguous states and the last two to join the union.
Choosing Palin sets up an interesting parallel with the Dem ticket. Both have one change agent and one establishment figure (McCain has reversed most of his maverick stances). But with the Dems, the change agent is not only at the top of the ticket, he’s far more impressive than Palin.
Biden will school Palin on foreign policy in the VP debate, but he’ll have to do so respectfully to avoid a backlash.
If McCain were to win, and if he were to pass away prematurely while in office, a very inexperienced hand would be running American foreign policy.
Update 2: Palin apparently named her sons Trig and Track after her favorite high school classes (can’t wait to meet Sex Ed), and daughters Piper and Willow after witches on Buffy and Charmed. Remember that Bobby Jindal named his son Slade, because Bo and Cooter were already in use. Palin makes Jindal’s æsthetic sense look tame 
Willow is a town in Alaska and Piper is for an aircraft. Bristol is also for a place in Alaska and Trig is for a family member. Track is named for where he was conceived. This is the story that has been running around AK for ages. [ Link]
Update 3: Check out the very similar parody image Gawker just ran.
Previously: Masters of disaster, Jindal on my mind
on Friday, August 29th, 2008, 11:24 am in Barack Obama, Bobby Jindal, John McCain, Politics, Sarah Palin › 
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“In a year where HRC voters aren’t moving to Obama, picking a woman could peel away those voters. This will be a very interesting election.”
My thoughts exactly.. Smart choice.. I must say..
I don’t think Jindal was disappointed. He’s carefully addressing any deficiencies that might hamper his own presidential campaign ( even assuming a Dem victory in November I think we are talking about 8 yrs from now). I don’t like Jindal at all, but I think he will do a good job in addressing Louisiana’s concerns and when your state is the bottom of all indices anything you do that isn’t incompetent or corrupt makes you look golden.
Palin is married to a 1/4 escimo Indian for whatever that is worth. Baby steps !!!
I agree, that this is going to be a VERY interesting and close election and I have my popcorns ready :-)
I was 90% sure he was going to pick a woman, didn’t know it would be Palin though
On a side note, this is another instance of McCain “going after” a hot woman :-) (As compared to the other potential female pick in Meg Whitman)
“Biden will school Palin on foreign policy in the VP debate, but he’ll have to do so respectfully to avoid a backlash.”
Vice Presidential debates don’t matter.
Dukakis’s Vice pick, Loyd Bentsen embarrassed Dan [Potatoe] Quayle in the 1988 V.P debates, and still lost the election.
Palin is anti-abortion, so it’s debatable how many Hillary supporters she’ll get. And even though she is pro-”gay rights”, she will have to follow the party line that is vehemently anti-gay.
Some people are already comparing her to Dan Quayle, so only time will tell I guess…
Brilliant choice politically. Apocalyptically bad choice if, God forbid, she gets elected and McCain dies in office.
Tokenism.
“His pick is the devout leader of a socialist petrodollar state”
Are you saying that sharing oil profits with the state’s citizenry is socialism?
I think its a nice try by McCain to score women votes. But, I think American women are much more intelligent that.
Hopefully, he wont call his VP pick a cunt/bitch
two points. ‘eskimo’ is considered offensive by many native americans/canadians. messing up the spelling the way you did, well… the offhanded placement contrasts poorly with the point you are trying to make and weakens your argument imho.
Just saw your update. The vid for the ‘18 million cracks’ comment is here [via AP]. They seem to be making a play for the disenfranchised woman voter. it’s an odd card to play.
the pundits can argue this till they’re purple in the face but the only question that matters is - “will Palin’s selection influence your vote come november?”.
P.S. I take back my pro-”gay rights” comment after reading an update on Joe.My.God. that states that she has actively been trying to take away gay people’s rights in her home state!
Ack…
The play for female votes is unlikely to bear fruit. As it is, single women vote Democratic, while married women generally vote Republican. Palin can only attract a substantial number of single women if they look past her pro-life stance.
Second, I would argue this is less a play for women than it is for the men they are married to. Palin is a very photogenic women with limited experience - the kind of woman that working women in their 50’s and 60’s hate. OTOH - there are probably many men who are married to women kwho inda wish their own wives can look as good at their age. Just as an old man in a sports car seems more appealing than an old man in a minivan, so does John McCain look better with a former beauty queen on one side and a former cheerleader on the other.
Tiger Yogiji,
Not according to the Washington Post - “However, Palin has shown receptivity to gay and lesbian concerns about discrimination, and as governor she vetoed legislation that would have barred Alaska from granting state benefits to same-sex couples.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/29/AR2008082901112_2.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2008082901128&s_pos=
I thought it was reasonably clear that Bobby Jindal turned McCain down a few weeks ago, not the other way round.
I would have too, the reasons being: 1) McCain and Jindal are rather different personality types (Jindal == hyper-disciplined vs. McCain == seat of pants/cowboy), 2) McCain might not have seemed like a winning ticket to Jindal, and he’s waiting for the next cycle (when he himself will also have more years under his belt).
Ծ_Ծ
Back home we call this vote-bank politics.
This is an absolute move of desperation. She is in no way qualified to be president and that is of utmost importance due to Mccains age and health history. There are numerous other women in the republican party that are far more qualified for VP than she is. This selection is a joke and an insult to our intelligence. I am astounded.
Perhaps she’s the only republican left in the country who could be vetted and even then she is involved in her own ‘troopergate’ scandal. Disgraceful.
Kautilya
When I saw your comment I thought that I had misread what was written about her gay rights record, but check this out,. It’s a “snip” from the Joe.My.God. website:
“The Human Rights Campaign hates her. HRC head Joe Solmonese: “America may not know much about Sarah Palin, but based on what our community has seen of her, we know enough. Sarah Palin not only supported the 1998 Alaska constitutional amendment banning marriage equality but, in her less than two years as Governor, even expressed the extreme position of supporting stripping away domestic partner benefits for state workers. When you can’t even support giving our community the rights to health insurance and pension benefits, it’s a frightening window into where she stands on equality.”"
You can link to the site here: http://www.joemygod.blogspot.com/
“Palin the Paladin”
Defender of Freedom!
Yeah, I’d prefer if she had more experience. Ditto for Obama.
Wasn’t Virginia governor Kaine vetted by the Obama team for VP and weren’t the same people dissing Palin talking up Kaine? What does he have as governor, 2 years?
How did we get into this mess? Three senators, two of whom have been in Washington forever, one only four years in, I think (2004?), and a governor only two years in. Least experienced? She’s the only one with any executive, as opposed to legislative, experience! Anyway, the average person will be thinking, ‘what’s the difference between four years in the Senate and two years as Governor?’ They both scare me a little bit in their level of experience, to be honest
Who wants to bet that if McCain should win, Alaskan oil reserves are going to get tapped and opened for the rich oil companies to exploit, along with offshore drilling that McCain is so pumped about.
This greed fest makes me wanna puke.
MD -
“Yeah, I’d prefer if she had more experience. Ditto for Obama.”
I am thinking the same thing. How can the Democrats criticize her lack of experience with a straight face, and the same goes for the Republicans henceforth.
On the other hand, isn’t it interesting that, the candidate who claims to be for change picked the ultimate establishment insider for his V.P, while the establishment candidate chose a real deal change candidate, who actually has challenged her own party on ethics.
She’s had 18 months of gov’t experience beyond mayor, and in a very atypical state with a tiny population, Obama’s had ~9 years at the state and federal level. You’re seriously equating these?
I would’ve preferred a pick which reinforced the change branding, rather than Biden. But it’s not unusual at all — it’s called balancing the ticket.
Obama was not picked - he was the winner of a long, competitive process. Voters had the chance to see him perform under pressure. And he beat the only Democratic family to win back-to-back elections since FDR.
I would much, much, much, much, much, MUCH rather have Obama at the wheel with Biden close at hand, than see Sarah Palin forced to wing it if McCain kicks off. There’s no contest.
Palin = Gilani?
What a selfish ego-driven pick from McCain. Purely a politically calculated pick designed to win the election over the best interests of America. This from a man whose slogan is “Country before self.” She’ll be the weakest VP in history… another Dan Quayle at best.
Obama’s ego-driven pick probably cost him votes but certainly didn’t weaken America. McCain is a loose cannon in the worst sense.
It’s worth noting 3/4 of the ticket counting both parties will have skin in the Iraq game (kids deployed). The one who doesn’t is the strongest advocate of bringing them home immediately.
Perfect point, Suede.
THis is a ’smart’ move in terms of bolstering the GOP, which is what they need regarding lukewarm evangelicals- a (cutsey-perky) married, working mother of 5 is a conservative wet dream. That she’s relatively unknown (therefore, minimally smearable) is a big bonus, again for the GOP. This also will/has already kicked their PR machine into high gear, while the Democrats’ has plateaued.
Dems can’t do much to undermine her, I think. They need to rely on boosting their own cause and addressing the oil/economy problem in coherent detail and deftly point out that little more than a Dan Quayle Jr. will be running the country if McCain keels (as is likely given his age).
As for Clinton supporters, I don’t see many of them going for her, except for the twisted feminists who simply want a uterus in office (nevermind the details). Most democrat women aren’t easily hoodwinked.
I know you guys are pro democrat, but give McCain a break. Obama is a very typical politician, not change agent as he projects himself to be. He is using all the dirty tricks of politician to become president at any cost. He changes is stands as many times as he wants to appeal to different demographic group. Pathetic to see that he is projected as saviour of change and so many fools believe that. So sad! He doesn’t haven’t anything substanial achievent to show other than getting all preferential treatments because of his race whereever he wants. I dunno how far he can go if he was a white with same credentials.
Obama’s intellect is far superior to that of Bush Jr who got into Yale & Harvard based on his birth rather than accomplishments. Sounds like affirmative action for rich people to me.
Check out the very similar parody image Gawker just posted.
If the Conservative base does not rise up against Sarah Palin, they have lost their morals and intellectual integrity.
One of the shining moments of conservatism was the collective rejection of Harriet Miers. As George Will noted: If you polled a hundred leading Conservative jurists to name their top 10 choices for the Supreme Court not a single one would have name Harriet Miers. The Democrats, cowards they are, never reject a candidate based on their intellectual abilities (just their views or voting block).
Can a similar question be asked of Palin? She’s a step above trailer-park-trash.
Are you kidding me? Harriet Miers’ lack of qualifications was an excuse to get her out. The real reason was that she lacked the reliable conservative bonafides that would ensure that she would vote against gay marriage, for abortion bans, and against affirmative action in any and all circumstances.
Bush has made executive appointment after executive appointment of massively incompetent cronies (Donald Rumsfeld is a prime example, Michael Brown is another, Goodling, Gonzalez, the list goes on) with nary a peep from the conservatives with supposed integrity, but they suddenly discovered their voice when it came to Miers?
Why do you think conservatives like Palin? It’s clearly not because she is a shoo-in for the list of top 10 veep choices. It is because she is rah-rah far right wing on everything. And they even love her more for her oh-so-moral pro-life teenage daughter.
Huge blinders this takes, coming on the heels of 8 years of a Bush administration.
George Will and Bill Kristol were among those objecting to Miers’ lack of intellectual power for the Supreme bench. Democrats would have never ever done that. Her stealth “liberal” tendencies were used only to buttress the arguments against her.
The war was an all around fiasco and pinning it solely on Rumsfeld is ridiculous… Rumsfeld was consistent with the conservative philosophy of trying to reduce the Army footprint and increase flexibility with a smaller force. It happened to fail miserably in Iraq. All the soothsayers who claim they knew torturous path the Iraq conflict would take are great lottery players… after the drawing is done.
Any conservative who believes she’s the best choice for VP apart from having a uterus and being pro life/guns is delusional.
That’s pretty much most of the base.
Bill Kristol is a complete lackey, using his bully pulpit to constantly peddle garbage. Examples abound, I will give just one here.
George Will hardly represents the solid mainstream of the conservative movement anymore. He is the kind of conservative (primarily fiscal, small government) I mostly respect, because he seems intellectually honest, even though I disagree with him on many issues.
I am certainly not pinning it solely on Rumsfeld, there is enough blame to go around. But to claim Rumsfeld’s decision making process was even remotely in the ballpark of reasonable - when he was repeatedly being advised otherwise by folks - is ridiculous. And to claim that torture in Abu Ghraib was done by some lowly private without higher-ups knowing a thing insults basic common sense.
Mccain made a clever but not a wise choice.. what happens if Mccain gets elected and falls sick half way through…can palin lead america?
If american women are smart they would see the difference between her and Hillary and will not vote for her just because she is a woman.. looks like Mccain selected palin to tap hillarys vote mostly..and may be bec. of her pro life, pro gun, pro catholic label too..
Now it is becoming a very close interesting race..
obama picked Biden to compensate for his lack of long senate experience/younger age, lack of foreign policy experience, to get blue collar votes.
Mccain picked palin to compensate for his old age/old school politics, to get women votes.
Both candidates made interesting choices..
And this gem from conservative columnist Richard Cohen on Newt Gingrich’s support of Palin:
It’s a pity Gingrich was not around when the Roman Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, better known by his nickname Caligula, reputedly named Incitatus as a consul and a priest. Incitatus was his horse.
Kristol is a lost cause… he’s supporting “traditional” Palin with a full court press. What can you expect of a former chief of staff of Dan Quayle. He’s already sold his soul to the devil.
That’s not fair. Kriston doesn’t have a soul to sell.
Richard Cohen is a conservative columnist? News to conservatives everywhere.
*I feel the wheels are coming off the Palin bus; it’s either that or the media has lost it’s mind in it’s rush to vet, vet, vet. Oh, McCain, you are either brilliant or the complete opposite of brilliant!
**Sigh, She is gonna prove to be all hype, isn’t she, and even if she’s not, the panicked media is gonna make it seem like she is all hype. Where are the small government, anti-corruption crusaders? I want all governors to sell stupid Governor’s planes on e-bay and give the money back to the taxpayers! We’ve got Obama, a former community organizer who thinks money grows on government trees, libertarians for Obama!, and big gov conservatives like Frum, Gerson et al. Heart ache - who should I write in as Pres candidate this time?
Actually his econ advisers are market-friendly, of the Chicago school.
Spare me manish. Nothing I heard in the debates with Hillary et. al. showed me that this man can articulate, with real feeling, a sense of our vibrant market economy. He’s not a free marketer, he just has some Clinton people on board. Big freakin’ deal.
Does his poetry matter or his actual policies? ‘Cause the latter are market-friendly for the most part, save for the pandering on trade barriers.
The young U Chicago folks were not Clintonites AFAIK. Goolsbee is much loved by libertarians.
Here an interesting analogy I heard.
When you have bypass surgery - who do you want? The most competent cardio-thoracic surgeon.
When you build a house - who do you want? The most competent carpenter.
In everyday life, we seek excellence to fulfill our needs. Why is politics so different? Why do
Americans have an unhealthy obsession in having a “commoner” in the most powerful positions?
It’s not enough for this person to articulate the pains, but the person is expected to have lived the
common life for credibility.