Friday, August 29, 2008

McCain's VP Choice: Sarah Palin

Democrats and their media minions are already beginning to attack Sen. John McCain's choice for his running mate, Alaska governor Sarah Palin. Some are questioning her level of experience or comparing her to Dan Quayle. Right, let's just ignore all of Sen. Barack Obama's gaffes that make Quayle's statements look like minor league in comparison.

Good move there - just remind folks that Obama has even less tangible experience than Obama does. Palin isn't at the top of this ticket, McCain is. Obama had no choice but to pick someone who was more experienced than he was in the form of Joe Biden, but even there Biden has tenure, not knowledgeable experience.

Some may want to attack her personally because she gave birth to a baby earlier this year who has Down's Syndrome and she is pro-life. I think that's an argument and debate that Palin would relish. A debate with Biden over abortion rights is one that I can't foresee Biden winning.

Palin is a good pick on many levels. It clearly goes after a demographic that the Democrats have a big problem with. All those women who are disgusted with the way that the Obama campaign decided to throw Hillary to the curb out of spite, anger, or just miscalculation. The best Democratic ticket would have been some combination of Hillary and Obama, and he went with Biden instead. Women aren't going to forget that.


Daily Kos founder Markos claims that McCain had no choice but to choose Palin. Let me get this straight, he thinks that McCain's first choices - Mitt Romney and Joe Lieberman would have caused problems for the McCain team and would have lost him the GOP base.

Markos clearly doesn't want to look at happened with his own party. You do remember Sen. Hillary Clinton, don't you Markos? The same Hillary who got 48% of the pledged delegates (46% factoring the supers) before she threw in the towel, and who won every big state in the country except Obama's homestate of Illinois.

That Hillary.

Obama chose Biden, whose biggest claim to fame is hanging around the Halls of the Senate for 36 years and two failed presidential bids, including this year where he couldn't even get out of Iowa? Badgering Supreme Court nominees and exposing his clear misunderstanding of the law? Or is it his foreign policy statements that would have been a framework to genocide in Iraq?

Obama had no choice but choose Biden because there was no one else who wanted the job or could give Obama the needed experience on the ticket without overshadowing him. Hillary's star power would have clearly overshadowed Obama and made a bad situation intolerable. Yet, that would have still been the best ticket the Democrats could have come up with. That would have been a winning ticket. Howard Wolfson, who worked for Clinton, concurs.

McCain has provided an inspired choice for the GOP, something that not only satisfies the base, but appeals to most Americans. Palin is down to earth and understands issues that affect most Americans. She's got a good grasp of energy policy, given that her home state of Alaska is where American gets a significant portion of its oil supplies.

For those who think that her pro-life stance will be a turnoff, keep in mind that Presidents (or Vice Presidents) cannot outlaw abortion. Even if the Supreme Court somehow overturns Roe v. Wade, it would still be left to the states to decide. As an issue, it's one that provides a visceral reaction, so watch for Democrats to focus on that.

Ed Morrisey speculates on other benefits to the McCain camp from choosing Palin. Don Surber notes that he's been for Palin since last December. Mark Levin is ecstatic, which is sure to bring much consternation among liberals since Levin is staunchly conservative.

Stop the ACLU has more.

UPDATE:
Ace has fun with the pick, and notes that Democrats are questioning whether she care for her family and be VP at the same time. Right, because only Democrats can do that?

UPDATE:
Charles Johnson isn't thrilled because Palin is a creationist. That's an avenue of attack that Democrats will attack, using it to smear Republicans in general over their religious views.

I still think this is a good choice, though like Charles, I'm not a fan of creationists. As long as she's not pushing her view on the rest of the country or demanding that creationism be taught in science classrooms, she can believe what she wants.

UPDATE:
The Democrats have had to play damage control, since they went on the attack about Palin's perceived inexperience without remembering that Palin was a historic pick, being the first woman on the GOP ticket. Palin's quip about being the woman to break the glass ceiling that Hillary first cracked was a good one.

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