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Daily Politics
August 31, 2008
McCain's Veep choice, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, is a purely political panic-driven ploy to throw confusion into a race he is not sure he can win on "experience" and war heroism alone.
Shown shooting an assault rifle at a local gun range, armed with a beehive harido and quirky smart girl glasses, she is a caricature of the "successful woman."
As a social conservative, Governor Palin is against everything from a woman's right to chose to basic gun control. Last night on CNN, I heard conservative strategist and commentator Amy Holmes say that Palin not only shoots moose, but she "takes it home, skins it and cooks it." And this was meant as a complement... obviously a conservative complement.
Moose aside, it is clear that the Republicans are pandering to the chronically undecided Clinton supporters who remained unmoved by Senator Obama's acceptance speech and massive rally of support this past Thursday. Palin wasted no time driving this point home on Friday, making direct and emphatic reference to Clinton's convention speech about the "18 million cracks in the glass ceiling" made by her supporters. So I ask you, are these Pumas and hardcore Clinton-ites still out there? I think a few are, probably. Maybe quite a few. It is hard to tell at this point since they know they should know better. Many have become sheepish and shy. Less vocal and more covert. They won't be moved.
Specifically, despite releasing her delegates to Senator Obama and delivering her rousing speech last Wednesday, the Republicans remain certain that they can capture some of those perpetually disgruntled women who will never accept that the primary elections were not stolen from Clinton by the Obama camp.
On pure politics alone, Governor Palin is a conservative throwback, a former supporter of Pat Buchanan and a "feminist for Life." (who knew there was such a thing). And where I can imagine Evangelicals and other social conservatives could be attracted to a message crafted by her, given she finds one quickly, there is little real substance to this transparent, purely political selection made by McCain. Why?
Well, because there are fabulously experienced and politically credentialed women out here, from industrialists to grassroots community organizers, who literally blow Sarah Palin away at the very game she is supposed to be at the top of. It is not that a woman needs to be Meg Whitman of Ebay, the late Benazir Bhutto or even Condoleeza Rice to be a valid choice as a VP. It is just that Governor Palin feels like so obvious a lightweight imitation of the multitude of ways women have impacted the political and economic process over the past 20 years, that this choice barely seems plausible. McCain needs to be careful that women don't find this selection an insult.
What do you think? Is she an insult to the myriad of women out here, Republican and Democrat, who have contributed endlessly to shaping America's progress? Is McCain so convinced that women who wanted to vote for Clinton as the first female president of the US, are so hell bent on voting for a woman, that they will cast a blind, gender-driven vote for Palin, regardless of her positions on the issues that affect the lives and hard choices women make everday?
Let's see her debate Joe Biden, then we'll know better.
