We Make History Either Way
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Mr. McCain chose Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, as his VP today. In doing so, he decided to not only go outside the beltway but to go outside the traditional pool of white men. So either way, history will be made–we’ll either have the first African American president, or we’ll have the first female vice president.
Depending on your outlook, this move was either bold or crazy:
In a surprise move, Senator John McCain chose Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate on Friday, shaking up the political world at a time when his campaign has been trying to attract women, especially disaffected supporters of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, McCain officials confirmed.
I doubt many Hillary supporters will jump over to the other side since Palin and Hillary are on opposite sides of the political spectrum, but McCain’s choice will shake things up in the party which some describe as a party for old white men. He’s definitely on the political war path. Either that, or he’s desperately seeking some edge against the rising tide of Obama.
By the way, make no mistake about what Palin stands for:
She opposes abortion rights, which could help pacify social conservatives in a party whose members were wary as rumors swirled that Mr. McCain might pick a running mate who supports those rights. But she differs with Mr. McCain on a controversial environmental issue that centers on her home state: she supports drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve. Mr. McCain’s opposition to drilling — even after he changed positions and began advocating for off-shore oil drilling — has upset many Republicans.
She’s against a woman’s right to choose, and she’s not exactly in line with the rest of the country when it comes to solving our environmental crisis. She’s also also a lifelong member of the NRA, and from what I’ve read so far, she’s a conservative fundamentalist Christian. I’m curious as to how the pundits and public will react to McCain’s choice. As I said above, it’s either bold or crazy. We live in interesting times.
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Dialectic
2:03 pm | Aug 29, 2008I think this is a fantastic choice. It’s what I would’ve done if I were him. The Democrats are going to have to fight really, really hard.
THX1138
2:22 pm | Aug 29, 2008In other great news, Daddy Yankee endorses John McCain!
http://www.racialicious.com/2008/08/28/los-republicanos-daddy-yankee-and-john-mccain/
awong
3:30 pm | Aug 29, 2008i thought daddy yankee was considered gringoton
kwak76
4:08 pm | Aug 29, 2008From what I hear she is very conservative.
nightshade
4:43 pm | Aug 29, 2008Apparently, she’s under an ethics investigation. The Democrats better get their knives out on that.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/29/palin-ethics-investigation/
Lordonlow
5:35 pm | Aug 29, 2008This reminds me of what goes on with government RFPs. (Request for Proposals)
One of the results of civil pressure upon society at large and government in particular, was that (city, state and fed) governing bodies apportioned a certain percentage of work that was meted out to the public sector specifically for MWOB. (Minority & Women Owned Businesses)
These contracts can be very lucrative; they are virtual lock deals in terms of payment, whereas making deals in the private sector is sometimes a crapshoot. For instance, a deal for net 30 (payment within a month) is not uncommonly paid net 60, 90 or… take it from there. That’s why AR departments are so valuable. Cash flow is everything to a business, particularly to an entrepreneur.
So what did white, (presumably) straight male business owners do? They had their white, (presumably) straight wives, girlfriends, relatives, friends… submit the RFPs. If they weren’t partners, they made them.
johnny mac and his peeps have pulled this principle out of their playbook, and it’s very calculated, cunning and clearly strategic. If you had to bet, would you think that, in his heart of hearts, johnny mac honestly believes Palin’s the best candidate?
Please. He looked like he wanted to throw up while she was speaking her “soccer mom-ese.” I could see the thought bubble over his bald dome; “GAWD. FOUR YEARS of listening to this wheedly bitch?”
nskripchun
9:48 pm | Aug 29, 2008More reactions here:
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/election08/#96936
Quote:
Jill C, always Brilliant at Breakfast, is agnostic on the question, wondering “just how important it is to the Hillarions to have a Vagina-American on a presidential ticket.”
Vagina-American? Ouch.
minorTruths
10:20 pm | Aug 30, 2008I wouldn’t have been surprised if Bobby “I was never a Hindu; I’m just a 100% good, old American through and through” Jindal had been selected as McCain’s running mate. So I wasn’t surprise when Palin was the actual choice. Tactically speaking, the choice is very political and diabolically clever on many levels. However, I think the choice hints a little bit of desperation for the Republicans. But then again I don’t think the core Republican base, most so called independents, and even some liberals will ‘notice’ that at all.
As for Palin herself, she has very little political experience on the national and international level. She has only had just a little over a year of experience as governor of Alaska, a state that doesn’t share many of the same social, economic, and budgetary issues that the rest of the country does. Before that, she was the mayor of a very small town in Alaska. Given this, I am not sure how well she’ll do on national and international issues.
That’s why I think this is unquestionably a political move to try to win the election. It’s the best choice for McCain and not for the country. Obama seems to much LESS affected by political considerations in his choice of Biden. I think Obama’s major concern was to choose someone who would be able to lead and govern the country effectively.
Both presidential candidates have their weaknesses and strengths which I won’t get into here. But as a combo, I believe an Obama/Biden ticket should win over a McCain/Palin ticket. They should win in an ideal America, but it certainly doesn’t mean they will win. It will be quite interesting to see whether America will vote in their first woman vice president or their first black president.
jaehwan
11:43 pm | Aug 30, 2008minorTruths:
Something scary just occurred to me. It’s gonna be hella hard for Biden to win a debate against Palin because she’s just too inexperienced. Biden knows so much more than her in just about all aspects of national and international issues. It’s going to be so easy for the Repubs to pull the “look what a bully he is” thing that they pulled on Gore, and it’s going to be exacerbated by the fact that Obama beat Hillary. Even Hillary will have trouble turning this around. I still get nightmares when I think about how Bush beat around the…well…bush…by repeating his “fuzzy math” rope a dope on Gore.
The Dems are going to have to work hard on winning this one.
minorTruths
10:05 am | Aug 31, 2008jaehwan, the Repubs have already have done what you are fearing even before any real face off or debate has taken place. Just watch the Fox News Channel for 5 minutes if you can bear doing so for that long and you will see this. The spin machine has already started.
Biden may spotlight Palin’s lack of experience but the spin machine are already saying “Palin comes from a small town and represents the heart of America…so why is Biden who is running with a “celebrity” attacking America and its values and belittling someone just because they come from a small town…yadi yada yada”
It’s interesting how Obama has been criticized for his lack of experience and now Palin seems to be the epitome of lack of experience. I wonder how both sides will work with that. The Democrats are limited in what they can do in throwing back the inexperience thing at the opposition since Obama had been criticized severely for that by McCain and company and even by Biden in the primaries.
Ah man, it is gonna be so tricky now! Like I said, ideally…Obama and Biden should win, but McCain plays his gender, conservative, bully-ee cards…and now its even more of a crapshoot than ever before for the Dems. McCain sucks big time.
jaehwan
5:37 pm | Aug 31, 2008That’s scary. Good thing I don’t have the Fox channel.
The thing about the McCain campaign is that they’re being totally open about his designs and targets. Check out the NY Times today:
Notice how one thing seems to be conspicuously absent–he’s not pushing Palin’s qualifications. It’s all affinity–women and conservative fundies.
This is going to be a hard fight.
nskripchun
12:13 pm | Sep 01, 2008On a light-hearted note… here’s DisgrAsian’s take on Palin and the RNC:
“I can’t believe how much there is to do here! I’ve been, uh, pumping gas and cheering on the war and spitting on immigrants and fighting gay marriage and reading my Bible and counting my money all day… not to mention spending lots of time thinking about how badly I totally want to vote for Sarah Palin (don’t worry if you don’t know who she is) now, cuz she’s a woman, and shit, I’ll vote for anybody as long as they have a functioning vagina (assuming Sarah has four–or, er, five children–her love purse must be top notch)!”
http://disgrasian.blogspot.com/2008/09/liveblogging-from-republican-nasianal.html
Too funny.
jaehwan
6:30 pm | Sep 01, 2008Haha. I’d find it funnier if I could imagine a two year governor of a state with a population less than half the size of Portland taking on Putin or trying to negotiate peace in the Middle East.
Even though I dread those debates, part of me can’t wait to see them take place. It’ll definitely raise the bar in terms of debating skills and media fighting. We’re going to see some skills like never before…
Apollyon
1:07 pm | Sep 15, 2008That could be part of the problem. I think that there really are quite a number of people who aren’t voting for candidates based on competence, intelligence, morals, nor experience, but rather are interested more in their entertainment value. They think of the Oval Office as some kind of reality show where they can tune in and be amused and entertained. Mainstream mass media has turned politics, war, natural disasters, etc. into a 3 ring circus designed to amuse, horrify, titillate, and ultimately entertain generations of uneducated ignorant couch potatoes.
jaehwan
1:49 pm | Sep 17, 2008What I’m hoping is that Biden OR Obama can somehow turn it around to get rid of the hockey mom/every day person appeal. Obama and Biden are clearly the smarter choice–I’m now convinced that McCain and his attitude towards deregulation are going to bankrupt this country–but the trick will be to somehow convince the country that brains and smarts make good leaders. It’s not easy in the television age.
Personally, I think it can be done. If Biden says something like, “Look, we appreciate that you’re a hockey mom. We appreciate that you appeal to people. But what we need is experience. We need people who are familiar with the issues.” It may come across as condescending, but it’s a propos to the situation because she clearly doesn’t have the experience. If we have enough pundits like Goldie Taylor (as posted by Ninajoy) saying the same thing, it just might work.