Why Sarah Palin? This question has been asked quite a bit by newscasters, journalists, and just about everyone else who thought that they were paying attention; in the past week it's probably been asked almost as much as 'Who the hell is Sarah Palin?'
Not many people can claim to have a window into the mind of Senator McCain; perhaps his wife knows what he was thinking. I won't pretend to, so instead, let's just analyze this rather ubiquitous character and maybe come up with some reasoning for his decision, at the very least so that I can go to sleep secure in the knowledge that a man who is, effectively, a coin flip away from being the president, isn't just some senile trainwreck of a candidate. One can at least hope.
Wikipedia illuminates Mrs. Palin as a 44-year-old who got pregnant at 24 and ran off with her boyfriend. They have five children, one of whom, Bristol, 17, is pregnant now and has plans to marry her boyfriend and keep the baby. Palin is in complete support of the decision; she's actually a die-hard pro-life candidate, which is a term I will never use again, because it's as slanted as saying she's anti-choice. Obviously Governor Palin supports people being able to choose things as much as Hillary Clinton supports life, at least theoretically. The terms are misleading; Mrs. Palin does not support abortion rights.
Despite her stance on abortion, the Republican Party, or at least John McCain, feel Palin will be a strong female candidate, and help him pick up "Clinton Democrats" who are disenfranchised by Barack Obama's victory over Senator Clinton. These democrats were, of course, only going to vote for Clinton because she was a female, so they won't mind voting for McCain now, since he's found a vice-presidential candidate with breasticles. It's absolutely unfounded that any democrat might be hesitant to vote for a woman who is anti-abortion rights, a gun enthusiast, has about as much foreign policy experience as I picked up on a family vacation to Ottawa one year, somewhat ironic from a campaign that has tried to beat, bash, and bully Senator Obama for his lack of experience in that same area.
If you have any doubts about Mrs. Palin's experience with foreign affairs, Mrs. Cindy McCain said it best:
She comes from a state near Russia. That's like saying the most qualified person to negotiate with Japan is the governor of Hawaii, and that, since I come from New York, and we have lots of African-Americans, I should be sent as an ambassador to Kenya.
I think the choice of Palin illuminates a fundamental problem with John McCain's logic; he's going to slam Obama again and again for being less experienced than he is, but then he chooses an even less experienced candidate for his running mate? I don't wish ill on the man, despite my many disagreements with him, but let's be honest, he's just turned 72 (happy birthday, by the way, Senator McCain), and while he's thankfully in excellent health now, according to his doctors, we don't know if he'll remain that way. He's known for his temper, and in a high stress position, complications could arise. So, God forbid, he's elected and has a heart attack, who's going to be running the country? A woman with no experience past state government, who governs a state with so little in common with the other 49, and with a total state population estimated to be roughly equal to that of Memphis.
The only thing Mrs. Palin has going for her is ovarian fortitude and a charming personality; she has no qualifications for national government, and I think her presence on the ticket makes McCain look like a hypocrite. So I ask again; why Sarah Palin?
Links:
Cindy McCain's Comments: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/08/31/cindy-palin-russia/
John McCain's Health: http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/05/23/mccain.health.records/
Showing posts with label McCain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label McCain. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Finally
What a great way to end my vacation! Obama has his delegates! And Clinton is slowly accepting it!
It was about 5 in the morning when I heard CNN reporting about how Obama had made the numbers; made my time at Detriot Metropolitan a hell of a lot nicer. The last segment of the flight still sucked (thank you so much, Northwest Airlines, for all of the arguably excellent service), but it's good to know that the Democrats can get their act together.
Finally! Finally, the body of Democrats can stop arguing between themselves about which one of them is best fit to fight the Great Conservative Zombie. Finally, McCain has to actually answer all those 'nonissue' questions about how he plans on fixing the economy, and how he's going to revamp health care so that the average working American doesn't have to flip coins to decide whether they should go to the doctor (assuming they haven't spent all their change on gas).
Finally, instead of having a cushy spectator seat on the sidelines, the Straight Talk Express(R) can actually explain what he means when he says the war was a 'good idea.' I'm not the type of person to hold something like the 100 years comment against him, I know what he's talking about. Creating a sustainable task-level presence in Iraq that can oversee certain secondary defense objectives in the nation, as well as serve as a field operations center for any things that might come up in that region, much like our forces in Japan, Korea, and Germany. I think 100 years is a long time to estimate, but it also seems like one of those 'off the top of your head' numbers.
That said, McCain can finally explain how he's going to sell the idea of a 100 year foreign presence to Iraqis; after all, I would like it if French, British, or Russian forces were based in my home, and the effects of even further degrading our relationship with Iraqi civilians might be even more disastrous. If you recall, there was some guy in Saudi Arabia who had a BIG problem with us having even a menial presence in his nation, and, despite our cocky assumptions of our own dominance, that lanky, cathedar-bound ass has turned into quite a thorn in our side... so how does Mr. McCain foresee the Iraqi people not having a problem with our troops essentially squatting in their cities.
While he's at it he can explain how, if we do go to war with Iran, we can avoid a draft, since it seems just a little impossible at this point. He could go into further detail and explain how going to war with ANOTHER member of OPEC is going to reduce our gas prices, and if he says the word ethanol, he can explain exactly how that's going to work. More on ethanol in my next post, but suffice to say it's not exactly the cure-all everyone (including me) would like it to be.
McCain has lots of questions to answer, and maybe now he'll finally have to.
It was about 5 in the morning when I heard CNN reporting about how Obama had made the numbers; made my time at Detriot Metropolitan a hell of a lot nicer. The last segment of the flight still sucked (thank you so much, Northwest Airlines, for all of the arguably excellent service), but it's good to know that the Democrats can get their act together.
Finally! Finally, the body of Democrats can stop arguing between themselves about which one of them is best fit to fight the Great Conservative Zombie. Finally, McCain has to actually answer all those 'nonissue' questions about how he plans on fixing the economy, and how he's going to revamp health care so that the average working American doesn't have to flip coins to decide whether they should go to the doctor (assuming they haven't spent all their change on gas).
Finally, instead of having a cushy spectator seat on the sidelines, the Straight Talk Express(R) can actually explain what he means when he says the war was a 'good idea.' I'm not the type of person to hold something like the 100 years comment against him, I know what he's talking about. Creating a sustainable task-level presence in Iraq that can oversee certain secondary defense objectives in the nation, as well as serve as a field operations center for any things that might come up in that region, much like our forces in Japan, Korea, and Germany. I think 100 years is a long time to estimate, but it also seems like one of those 'off the top of your head' numbers.
That said, McCain can finally explain how he's going to sell the idea of a 100 year foreign presence to Iraqis; after all, I would like it if French, British, or Russian forces were based in my home, and the effects of even further degrading our relationship with Iraqi civilians might be even more disastrous. If you recall, there was some guy in Saudi Arabia who had a BIG problem with us having even a menial presence in his nation, and, despite our cocky assumptions of our own dominance, that lanky, cathedar-bound ass has turned into quite a thorn in our side... so how does Mr. McCain foresee the Iraqi people not having a problem with our troops essentially squatting in their cities.
While he's at it he can explain how, if we do go to war with Iran, we can avoid a draft, since it seems just a little impossible at this point. He could go into further detail and explain how going to war with ANOTHER member of OPEC is going to reduce our gas prices, and if he says the word ethanol, he can explain exactly how that's going to work. More on ethanol in my next post, but suffice to say it's not exactly the cure-all everyone (including me) would like it to be.
McCain has lots of questions to answer, and maybe now he'll finally have to.
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