Okay, this is becoming old news, but I wanted to write on it as my first "real" post since it was such a surprise (for me at least). If you're wanting the Republican ticket to win in November, was Palin really the best choice?
(A couple of quick disclaimers: I have not seen Palin's speech in the Republican National Convention, which admittedly makes me less informed than I probably should be. Secondly, to be completely honest, I don't plan on voting for the Republican ticket in November; however, I am trying to write this without any political bias and wanted to give full disclosure).
My immediate reaction upon finding out was an immediate "No", and I haven't seen much to sway me otherwise. The main reason for my response is merely an issue of experience: McCain's best attack against Obama was that he wasn't experienced enough to be President; yet, by choosing Palin as his running mate he can no longer take that position.
Secondly, Alaska doesn't have a whole lot of electoral votes, nor is it a hotly contested state. Obviously that same point can be made about Obama picking Biden - but by also picking a candidate from a smaller state McCain lost the opportunity to gain an electoral advantage.
Obviously Palin's gender makes the ticket (and the election itself) more interesting, but I don't think many Hillary supporters will vote for this ticket, as some have suggested, simply because Palin is a woman.
Palin does have political beliefs that align very well with Conservatives, which should help appease those who weren't comfortable with some of McCain's views; however, I believe this could have also been accomplished by choosing someone with more experience, and thereby giving a double advantage to the McCain campaign.
So am I right on this? Is Palin a bad choice for the McCain campaign or was it a stroke of genius? I suppose only time will tell, but I'd love to hear what you think on it now....
PS - feel free to post thoughts on Palin's speech. I've seen parts of it now as I was typing, but I did not see the beginning.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I Think David Jaffe (Creator of the God of War series of Games) summed it up best on his Video Blog(ignoring the MILF comments...):
" The VP pick... When I found out about McCain's VP pick, I was like, "Okay, look, there's no way the Republicans are happy about this at all." And there you go, they're raving like this is some great choice. So if anyone who's watching this is a Republican, please comment and explain to me... You know, it doesn't seem like the Hillary thing is gonna work for most women. I can't imagine most women, or voters in general, although certainly women in this case, are going to say, "We didn't get Hillary, we'll vote for this lady.
I think she's, you know, kind of cute. She's the perfect definition of a MILF. Not to, you know, disparage her or anything. I'm not trying to sort of make it about that, but it's like that's what I see when I look at her. I didn't love Hillary but I looked at her and I saw experience and intelligence... you look at this woman and you see a MILF. That's what you see.
Her experience doesn't really seem to indicate that she would be all that great as a vice-president and certainly not a president. What are they thinking? The more important question is why am I seeing so many Republicans saying this is great?"
(link: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2008/09/03/god-war-designer-david-jaffe-reduces-sarah-palin-candidacy-lowest-common-denominator)
There are a lot of people (many of them Hilary supporters, but not Republican), who think it is a smart move on McCain's part.
Personally, I think it is suicide to his campaign, I think it MIGHT sway some undecided votes for those who want to see a woman in a place of importance like this, however... I think it will sway more of those fence straddlers, who were never gung-ho about the McCain choice to begin with, AWAY from McCain's campaign. Especially considering all the controversial topics that already are surrounding Palin.
Compared to McCain and Palin, Obama has very view controversies, and took a safe (and maybe boring) bet with Biden.
Obviously this is just my opinion, and I wholeheartedly believe that you all are entitled to your (wrong) opinions. ;)
I don't really dislike her, but during the speech, I couldn't help but think... man, she seems like kind of a bitch.
An even better representation of what Palin has to offer was displayed in this "discussion" between CNN's Campbell Brown and Tucker Bounds (McCain Campaign Spokesperson):
http://rangelife.typepad.com/rangelife/2008/09/and-on-the-eighth-day-god-created-sarah-palin.html
Video is at the Bottom.
in terms of undecided women voting for her just because she is a woman, i agree, i don't think that's likely to happen. i think the liberal vote is going to win on that every time, with or without a woman in power. Frankly I think a lot will show come debate times. I feel that all i've heard are slams against the obama campaign from the republicans, and i hope that they can actually stop talking about what's bad about him for long enough to tell us what's good about them when they have to actually debate the real issues.
Post a Comment