Democrat National Convention

[dubman]

oh dear me.
and i thought hillary was transparently cynical

pick a running mate that somehow adds a modicum of dudely fantasies to ol' fudders' ticket (look! look! a woman who pro guns and drillings and life and she's a woman that you can look at waowowowoww) and suddenly john mccains prospects have got legs. as cured aptly demonstrated, there are some who'll vote them in just because she's a woman, making it the most dangerously gimmicky gab at hillary supporters yet.

two things democrats have to attack on off the bat:

mccain can now shut up about obama lacking experience, he's just picked a running mate who's a newly minted governor as second in command of the entire country.

just because she's a woman doesnt mean she's a hillary. strikes one, two, and three: she feels good for republicans, those in the "good ol' boys" club that she's quick to deride, by being the same old vanilla conservative stand-by in all but gender. it's a gimmick and it shouldnt work but it will if they dont pounce on her for practically hemorraging the party line, especially when it comes to talking about natural resources, being an avid supporter of solution-for-the-now drilling.

what would be awesome:
if hillary dissuaded the impulse vote by ripping apart not only this gimmicky, insulting ploy, but also this person to shreds on the sideline. she's not hillary, and she's not on ball with mccains relative moderation. shes what republicans are actually relieved about. she thinks she's going to set mccain right and in party lines on some issues. this needs to be highlighted: MCCAIN HAS SWERVED THIS TICKET AWAY FROM INDEPENDENTS AND INTO SOLID-RIGHT-WING TERRITORY

what to look out for:
mccains found his answer against biden by replicating his own situation against obama: the televised contrast of someone really old against some who looks fresh, young, and signifies a kind of shift (regardless of substance). biden will school her left and sideways in debates, but if she stays on ball well enough it's biden that can look like the flustered oldsie she "held her own against"

politically its a smart move, but has lots of cracks to expose. idealogically this is just contemptible all around

actually the more i think about it the more i think this move is made for a practical purpose with a very obvious bonus.
he's trying to rope in hillary supporters and evangelicals in one, and all hillary has to do is trounce that crap for the insulting bullshit it is, but he's still bringing around the bible belt to make it more republican. so while it's only got a sorta-shot against hillary-supporters apparently blinded by bitterness, voters might be dumb enough (and when are they not, amirite) to make that angle work as well, thereby getting the hillary bonus along with the primary goal of getting the hardline conservatives in.

[cacophony]

Originally Posted by dubman

mccain can now shut up about obama lacking experience, he's just picked a running mate who's a newly minted governor as second in command of the entire country.

and obama can now shut up about mccain having a long term of service mired in the continuing problems of washington, he's just picked a running mate who has served even longer.

it's very odd the way they each picked a running mate that makes it impossible for them to use their first line of attack without pointing out their running mates' weaknesses.

[mmm skyscraper]

Originally Posted by cacophony

it's very odd the way they each picked a running mate that makes it impossible for them to use their first line of attack without pointing out their running mates' weaknesses.

balance has been returned to the force

[gambit]

I honestly can't wait to see the VP debate. Since Palin is so new to the national scene, she's going to be on the defensive, and it'll be interesting to see how she handles it.

And I'm getting something of a Harriet Miers vibe from her for some reason, but that may be just me.

[Troy McClure]

Originally Posted by gambit

And I'm getting something of a Harriet Miers vibe from her for some reason, but that may be just me.

good call.

Okay, I just watched the msnbc.com video feed. Things I noticed were McCain had to look at his note cards when saying who he had picked as a running mate. He did not shake her hand when Gov. Palin came onstage. They immediately hugged. Shouldn't they have shook hands first? Shouldn't women see that as just a little bit insulting to their intelligence or power? They even hug again after she says what an honor it is to run with him. She couldn't correctly pronounce nuclear. Palin obviously had no issue with bringing up that one of her kids is in active duty. At the end McCain finally, albeit weakly, shakes her hand. McCain consistently was eyeballing and looking over her during her speech. That was creepy.

I'm trying to figure how to say this without being an ass and demeaning Palin or women in general, but appearance wise, when you look at them together, it looks like Senator McCain is the CEO of a company who just asked his assistant to join the board of directors.

-Jason

[cured]

Originally Posted by Troy McClure

I'm trying to figure how to say this without being an ass and demeaning Palin or women in general, but appearance wise, when you look at them together, it looks like Senator McCain is the CEO of a company who just asked his assistant to join the board of directors.

Good call.

One interesting point I read was that this woman has a 4 month-old son with Down Syndrome that is likely to be neglected because his mom is going to have to do a LOT of campaigning and a LOT of studying up on domestic and foreign issues. It seems like an interesting choice to basically take a leave of absence from your son so you can play politics.

[Deckard]

Troy, you need to submit your question to him for one of the debates (in the style of )...

"So Mr McCain, tell me, why did you opt for attractive former beauty queen Sarah Palin as running mate?"

If he wanted a woman, why not one of the other more experienced female candidates like Hutchison or Snowe? Prior to this announcement, both of those were discussed in the media here as very able women candidates.

I hear the arguments about choosing a Governor rather than another Senator, and about choosing someone more youthful. But still, undermining one of the central pillars of your campaign's attack against Obama - that's very brave. As is choosing someone for VP who.....

John McCain first met Sarah Palin only six months ago and had just one conversation with the Alaska governor before offering her the vice presidential slot on the Republican ticket, the Arizona senator's campaign said Friday.

For someone so relatively unknown, then based on this information, she must have made quite an impression on him.

And he says he chose her because she's "someone with strong principles, a fighting spirit and deep compassion, she's got the grit, the integrity and commitment to the common good which are exactly what we need in Washington today". That's fair enough, although I'd say those are all qualities that would have been used to describe any other VP choice, male or female, and I'm still left wondering, why risk your own platform of attack by choosing someone so unknown? Is this REALLY just the Clinton factor?

McCain himself didn't speak with the Alaska governor until last Sunday — one day after Barack Obama named Joe Biden to his ticket.

Holding off on this decision until one day after Obama played his hand. It's possible it still might have been her of course....

I should add, these things aren't remotely, in themselves, criticisms of her as a candidate - hopefully that's obvious (though I think there's a fair bit to challenge, not least her views on homosexuality and atheism), but rather a wincing at the way these decisions are made. I'm at least heartened to read that she's a prominent member of Feminists for Life, so presumably she can't be all that bad.... can she?

To expand on what Cacophony has already said, it's also interesting how both presidential candidates are completely silent on what they themselves lacked, and sought to gain in their choice of running mate. Instead we get these nebulous endorsements, but it's never straight-up admitted. It's quite funny.

[cacophony]

Originally Posted by cured

One interesting point I read was that this woman has a 4 month-old son with Down Syndrome that is likely to be neglected because his mom is going to have to do a LOT of campaigning and a LOT of studying up on domestic and foreign issues. It seems like an interesting choice to basically take a leave of absence from your son so you can play politics.

i would be very careful with statements like that.