I've been too busy writing that damn summer reading essay. It's done, but still has some issues.
I (along with everyone else in the country) have some thoughts about Sarah Palin.
I don't think she's a horrible choice. I mean, I personally think she would be a horrible vice-president (or president, if McCain...well, you know.), but looking at things from McCain's position, she makes sense. According to CBS, McCain's top three choices prior to the selection were Romney, Pawlenty, and Lieberman. Fox adds Tom Ridge and Kay Bailey Hutchison. I saw Charlie Crist's name somewhere, too.
I hate to say it, but none of them were great picks.
Romney's a Mormon. I along with everyone else thinks that it's sad that this is an issue, but it is. His strengths were his economic knowledge and his potential to turn Colorado into a red state. But with the Dem convention in Colorado, the chances of that weren't that great, and McCain hasn't been challenged very harshly on economics issues.
Pawlenty is fairly unknown, but he does have some issues. According a few articles I've read, he caves to political pressure. A lot. Which is not what the public is looking for right now, and definitely not what will help McCain beat Obama. He did have the whole evangelical thing going for him though, but so does Palin.
Lieberman. I actually think that if McCain wasn't thinking about politics at all (say, in an ideal world where candidates pick VP's that complement them personally and policy-wise), he would have ended up with Lieberman. Seriously. But the guy's an independent who caucuses with the Democrats. 'nuff said.
Tom Ridge, in my opinion, has stellar, stellar, stellar Republican credentials. Check out the Wiki page. The only "issue" is that he's pro-choice, which would have pissed off the Evangelicals. God forbid those guys get offended by people. you know, exercising their rights.
Kay Bailey Hutchison would have actually been a pretty good choice, except for, again, her view of abortion. She supports restrictions but believes that the issue should ultimately be left up to the Supreme Court. On the other hand, she's from Texas, she's a woman, and she's experienced. Unfortunately, she's experienced because she's sixty-five years old and has been involved with politics since 1972.
Charlie Crist was the last one. Policy-wise, he was pretty good. But during his campaign for governor, he got a little too close to some businessmen and lobbyists and was accused of inviting an illegal immigrant to a reception. Plus, he's not a woman.
So, Palin. No, I wouldn't have picked her, in John McCain's shoes. But she made sense, at least superficially. Very conservative, evangelical, young.
She'll bring in some of the evangelical vote, but will push away some of the independents. Basically, that means that she's won't do anything. How exciting.
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2 comments:
I think both campaigns covered their weaknesses in this one. Obama chose the ultimate Wasahington insider to make up for his lack of experience, and McCain chose the young, "hip", [non-old white man] to cover his lack of...excitement.
I don't know why this is getting so much attention, but maybe it's a good thing. McCain's timing with breaking the news was great, though.
I think she's a great person but I also think she was kind of an odd pick. Like you said though, I think she was chosen because she is younger - but also because she is female? I hate to make gender an issue but it seems like a lot of people were voting for Hillary just because she's a woman. I think McCain needed to do something dramatic or different to freshen and liven up his campaign.
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