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With Sarah Palin’s nomination for vice president confirmed, one immediately questions the motives behind Mr. McCain’s historical pick. While she is not the first woman to be chosen as a running mate (Geraldine Ferraro, 1984), she is the first woman to be chosen as a –Republican- running mate. Groundbreaking. That being said, she is barely halfway through her first term as Governor of Alaska and is known for the impressive way she received the same facial expression from every person watching the news at 12 PM. More impressive, was that one magical word that followed: “Who?”
The truth is, Sarah Palin is less experienced in national (and especially international) politics than Barack Obama (you know, that guy who isn’t ready to be president…), is an stranger to a country that she expects to elect her in 67 hours, and has been nominated to a position one heartbeat away from leading the free world. Not to mention that two weeks ago she told reporters that even John McCain and her were “strangers.” Does –anyone- know Sarah Palin? Has one meeting in the two weeks since that statement made the case for her? She is a “no-name” in American politics and is most famous for an ongoing investigation over whether or not she had ‘special’ intentions in firing the state’s public safety commissioner for refusing to have her ex-brother-in-law (a State Trooper) fired. For the McCain campaign, this seems a little bit mysterious. After all, a block away from the Democratic National Convention this last week was an much, much tinier convention with one message it wanted to send to those Hilary Clinton supporters it wanted to recruit: “Obama is not ready.” This message has been the central argument of a McCain campaign that went increasingly negative trying to get across this blatantly moronic point.
Respectfully, it is fair to mention that Palin has held approval ratings among the highest in the country for the time that she was in office, but let’s be real; she holds a position that has been riddled with ethics violations and corruption charges in the past and is surrounded by politicians who are constantly being investigated on charges of bribery. Trying to get a little revenge and having someone fired is small stuff!
She also has a bit of a mean streak. She is infamous in Alaska for using words like “bitch” and the phrase “a cancer” to describe Alaska State Senate President Lyda Green, not to mention the former is a cancer survivor. Palin is unkind to those who disagree with her exceedingly conservative policies and, this example included, is known to bite.
So why Palin?
Its no secret that John McCain wants to capitalize on the disaffected supporters of Hilary Clinton and it has never been a secret that his vetting committee has gone after women to try and capture this voting group. But what about that oft-repeated line when asked of the qualifications his running mate would have? You know, “the person most prepared to take [his] place.” Surely, even the most ignoble motivations for picking an woman would have at least led him to one that is qualified. The Republican Party is full of qualified women who would have been exceptional Vice Presidential picks if this were the approach he wanted to take.
Regardless, this tactic is not going to work so well for McCain. The Clinton camp, he and his running mate will soon find, are a hard group to please. You don’t win them over with a staunch record against abortion, strong support for a federal gay marriage ban, a blank record on achieving pay equity for female workers, a history of anti-environmentalism including pushing for drilling in her state of Alaska, and no support whatsoever for the most important issue to –all- Clinton supporters: universal healthcare.
Sarah Palin is the anti-Clinton. Wake up and smell the coffee, Republican America; Hilary Clinton’s supporters are not looking for a person who is for everything they are not and is against everything they are for. Just because she is an woman, it doesn’t mean that females will vote for her. In a year where there are Supreme Court seats on the line, no self-respecting Clinton supporter is going to jump ship because a –different- woman is on board. To think otherwise should insult these people and inspire them to work hard against a McCain campaign that has assumed them to be a ticket to the White House.
In a campaign whose slogan is “Country First,” its remarkably hypocritical that such a purely political pick would be made. The next four months are more important to John McCain than are the next four months. His election, he has shown in this desperate attempt at filling a perceived gender gap, is more important than his time in office, and if they believe that the Clintonites will support this, they are sorely mistaken.
As Palin joins McCain for the sprint of the next two months, we will see her vetted before our eyes. Hopefully, this country gives her an thorough examination as to who she is and what her plans are for our future. This stranger should have the same task that was pushed to Barack Obama in ‘defining’ himself, and the media will duly scrutinize this pick and every facet of it.
What an irresponsible mistake.
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Source: Sarah Palin; What Hypocrisy
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