PrintAugust 29, 2008
The Case for Palin (continuously updated with roundtable comments)
C. Edmund Wright writes:
Is it Sarah Palin for Vice President? It is beginning to look like the Alaskan Governor has re-emerged as a serious candidate to be John McCain's running mate. If this is the case, there are some risks involved of course, but there is a big upside to this pick.
Update: Chicago Tribune says it is Palin, accord to a Republican source.
A: Energy: Sarah Palin is right on the energy issues. When you are the governor of Alaska, that's a big deal. She is way ahead of Obama, Biden and in fact McCain on this issue. She also wants to take McCain to ANWR and show him how ugly the area is that would be set aside for drilling. That's a bold stance.
cartoon by Brett Noel
B: Hillary: At the risk of being condescending to women voters, you have to think that the disaffected Hillary Clinton vote would be very interested in the pick of Palin. At least some of the Hillary vote is the "sisterhood of the travelling pant-suit" mindset, and this is a group that will focus on the gender of the candidate.
C: Can't hit the girl: Joe Biden's debate style could be described as offensive under any circumstances, but he would be thrown off stride by having to go head to head with Palin. Even Hillary Clinton, in no way as "girlish" as Palin is, gained traction on this very issue with her debates in New York while running for Senate.
D: Andrea Mitchell: The prospect of McCain's naming of Palin was extremely upsetting to this worn-out NBC liberal. That's a good thing. When Republicans start to make a smart move, it is always upsetting to folks like Mitchell. Mitchell tried to make the case that naming Palin brings the ethical problems of Alaskan politics into the fray and thus a bad move for McCain. Uh Andrea, Palin was elected precisely because she is not part of that. She is not Ted Stevens or Frank Murkowski. That's the point.
E: Conservative Base: Palin will thrill the base. She is a conservative reformer. She is pro-life and with five kids, has cred on this issue. She is pro energy production. She is not a big government type. She is the one pick who can excite the base with no collateral damage to other potential voters.
F: Central Casting: Quite frankly, Palin is very attractive. A liberal pundit a few weeks ago even referred to her as "naughty school teacher hot." It was meant as a compliment. Few women politicians in the Democrat Party have ever been accused of that by the way. But in addition to that, she is a hunter, likes to fish and has a bit of the tough outdoorsy Alaskan independence to her. For crying out loud, shows about Alaska are all the rage now on cable.
G: Life issue: Palin recently had her fifth child, a Downs Syndrome baby. She chose to have the baby anyway. Here we have a woman with a fantastic career, four healthy children already delivered and every reason in the world to not have this fifth. Unless, that is, you really really believe in life in the womb and are willing to live that way. This makes her maybe the most profoundly capable pro-life advocate in the GOP today. This is in very stark contrast to where Obama and Biden are on this issue and will mutliply the cold calculation of the Obama stance on this issue.
The names are bouncing around like crazy today. They run the spectrum from Lieberman to Palin. And of course, it could be a name not discussed. But if it is Palin, there is a classic risk-reward equation in play. The potential rewards are very interesting.
Updates:
Rich Baehr comments:
If it is Palin, let Obama and his minions say she is not qualified, with no experience. She has run a state and Obama has run nothing ( but he has run very hard for office).
It will be very hard for Biden to come on strong with a woman as his opponent. Remember what happened to Lazio with Hillary Clinton.
Ed Lasky comments:
She ran a business successfully; she has run a state successfully; she can play up the energy issue and become the czar.
She even has a kind of national security credibility, governing next to Russia.
Otis Glazebrook comments:
It looks as though John McCain is going to capitalize on Obama’s colossal mistake of picking Joe Biden over Hillary for his V. P. slot; by picking Sarah Palin the Governor of Alaska.
Speaking as a Conservative who would have favored Mitt Romney for the V.P. slot, I think this is a brilliant game changing (for the better) pick.
Ed Lasky notes: Her husband is an Inuit. Diversity cred
Rich Baehr responds: Ed - he is a First American. Need to get with the program.
Kyle-Anne Shiver writes: Okay, every feminist bone in my body is vibrating at this moment. I'm loath to admit it, but this is very exciting. Very exciting.
Rich Baehr writes:
Think of this:
McCain picks a woman, and Obama passed on Hillary. Biden is an old man -- boring safe pick to bolster a guy with no foreign policy background. Palin is change -- new, the frontier, knows energy, pro- life by example. Obama people must be dying -- this should suck the energy out. So will Time and Newsweek have McCain Palin on cover, or Obama at Invesco?
Watch for new focus on Gustav. The media will go into overdrive to find stuff wrong with Palin, and divert attention.
McCain people handled this brilliantly. Everybody thought Romney or Pawlenty. It had better be true!
Here's what I wrote on July 10:
So who would help the ticket most as a VP selection? One interesting choice would be Alaska's very popular Governor, Sarah Palin. She would be an immediate media sensation and rob the Obama campaign of its monopoly of saturation media infatuation. Given the way the media was perceived to have ganged up on Hillary Clinton, there might be much greater care about avoiding doing it again with Palin. Of course Palin would be challenged for her youth and inexperience in foreign policy matters. But the reality is that Palin, unlike almost all US Senators (including Barack Obama), has actually run something, and with 84% approval for her job as Governor, seems to be running it well. Jimmy Carter, Michael Dukakis and Bill Clinton all ran for President directly from service as Governor. Raising the experience issue with Palin would be a risky strategy for the Obama campaign. After all, Palin would only be running for the #2 spot, and Obama, with arguably less of a track record, is running for the top spot. Palin would also be very effective in helping focus the energy issue, and the need to explore and drill for what we have in this country. She could take McCain to ANWR and give him reason to shift on that issue.
Randall Hoven adds:
CNBC is saying McCain’s VP pick is Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska . Does John McCain read the American Thinker?
Bookworm writes:
What's funny is that the AP article to which Drudge links expresses surprises that McCain would pick a neophyte for a VP when he's been attacking Obama for being a neophyte. Apparently the AP reporter is confused about the difference between being a VP (a good place for on-the-job training) and being President (a bad place for that same training).
Geoffrey P. Hunt writes:
If Joe Biden is the Chevy Impala for the Democrats, Sarah Palin is the Ford AC Cobra 427. Stunning, high torque, lane changing, awesome. Smart, quick, fearless.
The McCain campaign has just seized this campaign by the throat. "Barack who?" may be a cliché but this McCain move, like a chemical getter in a vacuum sealed cathode ray tube that cleans out any stray O2, just sucked the oxygen out of the Obama glitter from last night.
Palin brings significant while youthful executive experience at both local and regional levels , at the moment an extremely popular governor.. Pro-life, anti-corruption political reformer, economic development driver, energy advocate with strong environmental protection creds and limited government fiscal tightwad.
And what a life story. As Karl Rove says, a "hockey playing, gun and fishing rod toting, mom".
Athletic, brainy, articulate, just awesome. Sarah Palin is McCain's message to the field that there will be no yellow flags in this race. The pedal is to the metal.
Rocco DiPippo writes:
Updates:
Rich Baehr comments:
If it is Palin, let Obama and his minions say she is not qualified, with no experience. She has run a state and Obama has run nothing ( but he has run very hard for office).
It will be very hard for Biden to come on strong with a woman as his opponent. Remember what happened to Lazio with Hillary Clinton.
Ed Lasky comments:
She ran a business successfully; she has run a state successfully; she can play up the energy issue and become the czar.
She even has a kind of national security credibility, governing next to Russia.
Otis Glazebrook comments:
It looks as though John McCain is going to capitalize on Obama’s colossal mistake of picking Joe Biden over Hillary for his V. P. slot; by picking Sarah Palin the Governor of Alaska.
Speaking as a Conservative who would have favored Mitt Romney for the V.P. slot, I think this is a brilliant game changing (for the better) pick.
Ed Lasky notes: Her husband is an Inuit. Diversity cred
Rich Baehr responds: Ed - he is a First American. Need to get with the program.
Kyle-Anne Shiver writes: Okay, every feminist bone in my body is vibrating at this moment. I'm loath to admit it, but this is very exciting. Very exciting.
Rich Baehr writes:
Think of this:
McCain picks a woman, and Obama passed on Hillary. Biden is an old man -- boring safe pick to bolster a guy with no foreign policy background. Palin is change -- new, the frontier, knows energy, pro- life by example. Obama people must be dying -- this should suck the energy out. So will Time and Newsweek have McCain Palin on cover, or Obama at Invesco?
Watch for new focus on Gustav. The media will go into overdrive to find stuff wrong with Palin, and divert attention.
McCain people handled this brilliantly. Everybody thought Romney or Pawlenty. It had better be true!
Here's what I wrote on July 10:
So who would help the ticket most as a VP selection? One interesting choice would be Alaska's very popular Governor, Sarah Palin. She would be an immediate media sensation and rob the Obama campaign of its monopoly of saturation media infatuation. Given the way the media was perceived to have ganged up on Hillary Clinton, there might be much greater care about avoiding doing it again with Palin. Of course Palin would be challenged for her youth and inexperience in foreign policy matters. But the reality is that Palin, unlike almost all US Senators (including Barack Obama), has actually run something, and with 84% approval for her job as Governor, seems to be running it well. Jimmy Carter, Michael Dukakis and Bill Clinton all ran for President directly from service as Governor. Raising the experience issue with Palin would be a risky strategy for the Obama campaign. After all, Palin would only be running for the #2 spot, and Obama, with arguably less of a track record, is running for the top spot. Palin would also be very effective in helping focus the energy issue, and the need to explore and drill for what we have in this country. She could take McCain to ANWR and give him reason to shift on that issue.
Randall Hoven adds:
CNBC is saying McCain’s VP pick is Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska . Does John McCain read the American Thinker?
Bookworm writes:
What's funny is that the AP article to which Drudge links expresses surprises that McCain would pick a neophyte for a VP when he's been attacking Obama for being a neophyte. Apparently the AP reporter is confused about the difference between being a VP (a good place for on-the-job training) and being President (a bad place for that same training).
Geoffrey P. Hunt writes:
If Joe Biden is the Chevy Impala for the Democrats, Sarah Palin is the Ford AC Cobra 427. Stunning, high torque, lane changing, awesome. Smart, quick, fearless.
The McCain campaign has just seized this campaign by the throat. "Barack who?" may be a cliché but this McCain move, like a chemical getter in a vacuum sealed cathode ray tube that cleans out any stray O2, just sucked the oxygen out of the Obama glitter from last night.
Palin brings significant while youthful executive experience at both local and regional levels , at the moment an extremely popular governor.. Pro-life, anti-corruption political reformer, economic development driver, energy advocate with strong environmental protection creds and limited government fiscal tightwad.
And what a life story. As Karl Rove says, a "hockey playing, gun and fishing rod toting, mom".
Athletic, brainy, articulate, just awesome. Sarah Palin is McCain's message to the field that there will be no yellow flags in this race. The pedal is to the metal.
Rocco DiPippo writes:
The Palin pick is a brilliant move on McCain's part. She's smart, conservative, self-made, attractive and successful as Governor of Alaska. She has both mayoral and gubernatorial experience. Obama has Annenberg and its wasted $100 million and a long list of dangerous and creepy radical-Left associates and mentors - and that's about it. Oh yeah, he can read a teleprompter, though. . .
The Conservative base is now energized to throw its weight behind McCain.
Rosslyn Smith writes:
The white blue collar Democrat voters that Obama had problems with in the primaries are going to love Sarah Palin and particularly her husband, Todd. He's worked his entire life in his family's salmon fishing business and in the oil fields. Check out the pictures of them linked in this article about him.
Marc Sheppard writes:
Impeccably timed and orchestrated. The moment the news was confirmed, the MSM’s oh-what-a-beautiful-Obama-speech spin-cycle came to a screeching halt. Now the media will be singing the song of Sarah today and throughout this crucial holiday weekend leading to Saint Paul – effectively neutralizing any anticipated Barry convention bump before it ever materializes. And you just can’t overstate the extended outreach to untold numbers of still disgruntled failed glass-ceiling breakers this represents. Brilliant.
C. Edmund Wright writes:
Rosslyn Smith writes:
The white blue collar Democrat voters that Obama had problems with in the primaries are going to love Sarah Palin and particularly her husband, Todd. He's worked his entire life in his family's salmon fishing business and in the oil fields. Check out the pictures of them linked in this article about him.
Marc Sheppard writes:
Impeccably timed and orchestrated. The moment the news was confirmed, the MSM’s oh-what-a-beautiful-Obama-speech spin-cycle came to a screeching halt. Now the media will be singing the song of Sarah today and throughout this crucial holiday weekend leading to Saint Paul – effectively neutralizing any anticipated Barry convention bump before it ever materializes. And you just can’t overstate the extended outreach to untold numbers of still disgruntled failed glass-ceiling breakers this represents. Brilliant.
C. Edmund Wright writes:
The real brilliance may be the trap laid for the Obama campaign on the experience issue...the first time the Dems say "she doesn't have any experience" the McCain campaign can fire back that "she has more than your Presidential nominee....."
It is widely claimed and with good reason that the choice of a vice presidential running mate is the first presidential level decision a presidential candidate makes. Obama, the candidate of "Change" selected a man who has been in the Senate since 1973, when John McCain was still a POW in the Hanoi Hilton. McCain selected someone from outside the beltway with an actual record of reform.
Rick Richman writes:
You know what was even more a game-changer? The speech we just heard. It was more presidential than the one we heard last night.
Randall Hoven writes:
I just sent $100 to the McCain campaign. That's my first support of his campaign. I've been critical of McCain before (here, here, here and here ). I even contemplated that a President Obama might not be that bad .
I now think a President Obama would be bad, and enthusiastically support the McCain/Palin campaign. I plan to vote McCain/Palin this November.
Mac Fuller writes:
Denis Keohane writes:
It is widely claimed and with good reason that the choice of a vice presidential running mate is the first presidential level decision a presidential candidate makes. Obama, the candidate of "Change" selected a man who has been in the Senate since 1973, when John McCain was still a POW in the Hanoi Hilton. McCain selected someone from outside the beltway with an actual record of reform.
Rick Richman writes:
You know what was even more a game-changer? The speech we just heard. It was more presidential than the one we heard last night.
Randall Hoven writes:
In my July 22 article I recommended a cabinet for John McCain, including Sarah Palin for VP. I also said, "That is my contribution to the McCain campaign. Of course, if the campaign would like some real money from me, how about $100 for every personnel selection that matches mine."
I just sent $100 to the McCain campaign. That's my first support of his campaign. I've been critical of McCain before (here, here, here and here ). I even contemplated that a President Obama might not be that bad .
I now think a President Obama would be bad, and enthusiastically support the McCain/Palin campaign. I plan to vote McCain/Palin this November.
Mac Fuller writes:
Can you tell I'm happy?!
[ Joy. NOT for submission to anything. ]
Goodbye, Barack,
Goodbye, Barack,
Good-bye, Goodbye, Goodbye.
Hello Sarah.
Here are the keys to the U.S. Naval Observatory.
Inspired!
McCain was not my choice, but he sure made a marvelous pick.
That should pretty much end the gender issue for the Democrats.
And so much for Barack's "Change." He picked a liberal sexaganarian with more time in Congress than McCain, passing over plenty of female candidates.
Governor Palin (and McCain speech writers) were absolutely brilliant to mention both Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton.
Goodbye, Barack,
Goodbye, Barack,
Good-bye, Goodbye, Goodbye.
You just lost.
Thomas Lifson writes:
Her hubby a United Steelworkers member and a real man. She wants union jobs for oil development.
Blue collar union voters are going to like her more than credit card Joe.
Rocco DiPippo writes:
Matthew May writes:
Editor's note: Check out Selwyn Duke's post questioning the coice of Palin.
Thomas Lifson writes:
Her hubby a United Steelworkers member and a real man. She wants union jobs for oil development.
Blue collar union voters are going to like her more than credit card Joe.
Rocco DiPippo writes:
Barring some unforeseen disaster, I don't see how McCain can lose now. But let's not discount the massive voter fraud potential of Obama's old outfit, ACORN, and other leftist "community organizing" groups.
This race now has the potential to end in a McCain landslide. Electricity is crackling around McCain's campaign today. A quick look at rightwing internet forums and websites over the last hour suggests that traditional Republicans and Conservatives are ecstatic over McCain's VP choice. A look at corresponding leftwing outlets indicates horror and panic in the ranks of the Left.
Speaking of "electricity," before the Palin pick I never associated the word "electricity" with the name "John McCain," though I did briefly consider electrocuting myself when he came out of nowhere to win the Republican nomination. What a difference a day makes. . .
Matthew May writes:
Palin was a star point guard during her high school basketball career. Obama was a benchwarmer. She has more experience than Obama in just about everything.
Editor's note: Check out Selwyn Duke's post questioning the coice of Palin.
Alan Fraser notices the reaction of the pro-Hillary site Hillary is 44:
Clarice Feldman writes:Quick thoughts in one paragraph:This is a shocking and brilliant choice by McCain. McCain/Palin announce in must-win OHIO. Stomps out the Obama funeral story. If McCain does not run for re-election the 44 year old Palin will be the Republican nominee in 2012. If the Democrats can be bought back to life after they are destroyed in NOvember and in 2010 they will have to nominate a women to run against Palin in 2012. Hillary. Yes, Hillary. Palin will help win women around the country. Palin will help with women in the Philadelphia suburbs. Ohio and Michigan and Pennsylvania will likely go with NRA member and hunter Palin. The Republican Party is now 100% unified and not in a fake way. The Republicans are showing they once again know how to run an election. This is a shocking announcement with not much of a buildup (most thought it would be dull Romney, Pawlenty, or generic white male) which compares brilliantly against the trumpted weeks long hype of the Obama campaign - a big buildup for a dud. Women will savage the Democratic Party and Obama/Dean/Brazile/Pelosi for their sexism and misogyny. Palin, whose political views we do not share, is well-spoken and articulate and tough. Palin is a maverick hated by the Alaska Republican Party because she has challenged them on ethics. Hillary's 18 million voters (many disenfranchised by the Democratic(?) Party) will determine this election and they just have by rejection of Obama/Dean/Brazile/Pelosi. The upcoming hurricane is potentially good news for McCain/Palin and not a problem if they use it to advantage. McCain/Palin can contrast their care by either postponing the Republican convention (which helps with financing a shorter general election season and gaining additional days of Republican control of the news cycles) or they can actually demonstrate they care by going to New Orleans or whereever the hurricane hits. McCain has made a big bold amazing pick which knocks Obama's fake campaign to the dirt - buried.]
There are so many things to like about this pick, and cruising the IT I see fundamentalists, Catholics, women, NRA supporters, white men are very enthusiastic. But what I like most is that she is the antidote to the fake feminists who've been using feminism to promote socialism and every left issue one can think of. She's a pro-life, hunting mom, married to a working class native American with a son about to be deployed overseas. Live with that Eleanor Smeal! |
