I’m sorry, but where exactly does one begin? It has been less than 24 hours since John Sidney, in what can only be described as an Alzheimer’s moment, selected Sarah Palin as his running mate. Already the comics are having a field day, and indeed so are most of the mainstream media. This is just awful and proof once more that John McSame is utterly out of touch with not only America but with reality. Is this one big cosmic joke played on the elderly man by his caretakers?
The Daily Show skewered her last night. Samantha Bee did a rock-solid display of how Palin is her girl, because vaginas stick together doncha know. Opening remarks by Jake Tapper this morning referred to the duo as looking like “father and daughter” to the uninitiated. The jokes just keep coming, with Palin asking “I’m waiting for someone to tell me what a VEEP does all day.” Some are now referring to her as “Quayle with a ponytail.” Others laughingly suggest that it looks more like McCain is back to chasing “skirts” again.
Bill Weir from GMA was relentless in his sarcasm. “How much time has Senator McCain spent with Gov. Palin?” No answer. “Why would Clinton backers want to vote for a woman who is against women’s right to choose, favors guns, believes that evolution is wrong?” Errr, Uhhh, well. Cuz they have vaginas too?
Here’s a rundown of what I have found so far:
- She’s been the Governor of a state with less than 1 million people for about 20 months.
- Before that she was the mayor of a city of less than 9,000
- Contrary to portrayal, she is in bed with big oil.
- She is for drilling in Anwar.
- She was against listing the polar bear on the endangered species list and is not considered a friend by environmentalists.
- She is against any abortion even for rape and incest, making an exception “for the life of a mother,” whatever that might mean.
- She is a happy member of the NRA and is opposed to gun legislation.
- She believes in creationism and wants it taught in schools.
- She is presently under investigation for misusing her powers and ordering others to do so as well in pursuit of having her ex-brother-in-law fired. This may be much bigger than many think.
- She has no Washington experience, and no foreign policy experience.
- She has precious few views on most anything
- She doesn’t believe in global warming (not convinced yet!).
- She secured her first passport in 2007 to visit Alaskan troops in Kuwait.
- Opposes gay rights.
- Supported Pat Buchanan in 2000.
- Refused to support John McCain as short a time ago as 7 months ago because of his refusal to push for Anwar drilling.
Of course, the issue of “experience” is now a dead letter for the Republicans. And they are going to face enormous criticism about this choice. As recently as August 10th, Karl Rove, unofficial but acknowledged advisor to McCain, had this to say about the possibilities of a Tim Kaine choice by Obama:
“‘With all due respect again to Governor Kaine, he’s been a governor for three years, he’s been able but undistinguished. I don’t think people could really name a big, important thing that he’s done. He was mayor of the 105thlargest city in America. And again, with all due respect to Richmond, Virginia, it’s smaller than Chula Vista, California; Aurora, Colorado; Mesa or Gilbert, Arizona; north Las Vegas or Henderson, Nevada. It’s not a big town.’
–Karl Rove, August 10, ‘Face the Nation’
Working around the conservative world, I found these remarks:
“They now know that they were used as decoys, well after McCain had decided not to pick them,” one Republican involved in the process said.
Time Magazine‘s Mark Halperin, said this:
On the face of it, McCain has failed the ultimate test that any presidential candidate must face in picking a running mate: selecting someone who is unambiguously qualified to be president.”
Even the National Review‘s most rabid neo-con, Kathyrn Jean Lopez groused in anger:
As much as I loathe Obama-Biden, I can’t in good conscience vote for a McCain-Palin ticket. Palin has absolutely no experience in foreign affairs. Considering both McCain’s advanced age and the state of the world today, it is essential that the veep be exceedingly qualified to assume the office of president. I simply don’t have any confidence in Palin’s ability to deal effectively with Iran, Russia, China, etc. I certainly will not cast a vote for Obama-Biden, but nor will I vote for McCain-Palin. Looks like I’ll either sit this one out or vote for Bob Barr. Why, o, why, didn’t McCain listen to Rove and just pick Romney?
Also at the National Review, Ramesh Ponnura, said this:
Inexperience. Palin has been governor for about two minutes. Thanks to McCain’s decision, Palin could be commander-in-chief next year. That may strike people as a reckless choice; it strikes me that way. And McCain’s age raised the stakes on this issue.
Tokenism. Can anyone say with a straight face that Palin would have gotten picked if she were a man?
This remark by Noah Millman is so absurd it begs the question: why did he pick her then?
I realize, of course, that she’s totally unqualified to be President at this point in time. If McCain were to die in February 2009, I hope Palin would have the good sense to appoint someone who is more ready to be President to be her Vice President, on the understanding that she would then resign and be appointed Vice President by her successor. (Lest anyone say that this is an absurd, unconstitutional or undemocratic scenario, recognize that this is pretty much what would happen in a Parliamentary system where, if the head of government dies, a successor is chosen by the party.) Palin is absolutely not ready to be President now, but that is a problem that is very easily dealt with if she is and the governing party want to do so.
As Ezra Klein points out, this suggests she was brought on as an intern for on the job training? What does this say about McCain’s judgment and his claim that he would seek the “most qualified” person to be president?
Gail Collins writing for the NYTimes had this to say tongue in cheek of course:
McCain does not believe in pandering to identity politics. He was looking for someone who was well prepared to fight against international Islamic extremism, the transcendent issue of our time. And in the end he decided that in good conscience, he was not going to settle for anyone who had not been commander of a state national guard for at least a year and a half. He put down his foot!
John Cole at Balloon-Juice put it this way:
It seems so transparently cynical, so deeply poll-driven and focus-grouped, and so manifestly just a bone to the wingnut pro-life base and the 8 PUMA holdouts, that I really can’t treat this pick seriously.
Even Alaska weighed in in the negative:
State Senate President Lyda Green, a Republican from Palin’s hometown of Wasilla: “She’s not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president?”
The Daily News-Miner in Fairbanks: ” She has never publicly demonstrated the kind of interest, much less expertise, in federal issues and foreign affairs that should mark a candidate for the second-highest office in the land…. Most people would acknowledge that, regardless of her charm and good intentions, Palin is not ready for the top job. McCain seems to have put his political interests ahead of the nation’s when he created the possibility that she might fill it.”
“. . .[I]n the words of Joel Goldstein, a St. Louis University law professor and scholar of the vice presidency. “Being governor of a small state for less than two years is not consistent with the normal criteria for determining who’s of presidential caliber,” said Goldstein.
“I think she is the most inexperienced person on a major party ticket in modern history,” said presidential historian Matthew Dallek. “The fact that he would have to go to somebody who is clearly unqualified to be president makes Obama look like an elder statesman.”
At the Nation, William Greider pondered this:
The early returns I am hearing from people suggest that McCain’s gambit may prove to be a home run (mixing my sports metaphors) for Obama. One young friend first heard the news from his mother who called to say, okay, she was switching to Obama. For months, she had rooted for Hillary and insisted Obama was too wet behind the ears. “You can stop arguing with your mother,” she said.
The New Republic also decried this arrogant choice:
It may be John McCain’s birthday, but it seems like he’s the one giving out gifts today. The selection of Palin doesn’t simply, as others have pointed out, undermine the notion that Obama is too inexperienced to be president; it gives Obama the chance to actually take the edge on national security while making John McCain’s age a central issue of the campaign.
The Politico has an excellent article on what this choice says about McCain. Go and read it. It’s good and you need to.
Another good article is at Hullabaloowhich documents a good deal of Palin’s positions and looks more deeply into her ethics problems.
Bottom line: I think McCain is a fool. I think he is a misogynistic fool. I think he is a Alzheimer’s plagued, misogynistic fool. I’m insulted beyond belief. does he really think that he can woo me to vote for him because this woman has a vagina? Does he care so little about the dangerous times we live in that he will risk it all to win a campaign? Something he tried to vilify Obama over?
I think this may go down as the most impressive blunder in any campaign in history. And it’s well deserved in my opinion. Boy is this more of the same. Is there seriously something that Republicans keep eating and drinking that makes them stupid? At least one journalist wondered if by November she would even still be on the ticket? One can but wonder at the McCain campaign gone mad. Karl Rove must be packing his suitcase about now and looking for an exit strategy to keep what’s left of his tattered reputation intact.
**Feel free to steal as much as you wish to make the case to friends, family, or blogging readerships. I’d of course be happy for a linky but no matter. This is way to important.
Ruth Hull Chatlien said:
A cheap publicity / electioneering stunt that we an only hope and pray comes back to bite him in his McAss.
QuakerDave said:
A totally cynical move that I fear just might work.
Yeah. Because there are I bet still a lot of disaffected Clinton supporters who will (to be blunt) vote for the candidate with ovaries just because their party didn’t pick “their” woman. This election is going to be CLOSE, I think, and these folks, who will be voting against their own best interests by voting FOR MCCAIN – not for Palin – could sway a close contest.
The Dimocrats are going to have to hammer this person, not just for her lack of experience, but for her very extreme views. She was picked a bone to throw to the Christian Dominionist types, who are already spreading the love for her.
Sherry said:
Ruth, I certainly hope so. It is so pandering as to be sickening!
Sherry said:
I dunno Dave. The Contrarian has long contended that this race is not really close at all and that everyone knows it, but the media refuses to say so, because they have nothing to talk about. So they continue to foment none issues.
As much was said today by one journalist. He thinks this is a last ditch effort and so do I. If they were seriously in the race I don’t think they would gamble like this.
And plenty plenty of GOP’ers are exceedingly angry and swearing off the team. Time will tell of course, but the press today was relentless as long as you didn’t go to Fox which is working hard to put a bright face on this. But “she has foreign policy experience ‘because Alaska is so close to Russia'” is not gonna cut it I’m afraid.
FranIAm said:
It is stunning – the voices that speak against this choice come from every corner.
WTF was McCain thinking?
That said, I worry that some weird ass thing could make this like the plot of a bad movie and they will win.
So we must work for Obama!
mompriest said:
I just have to chuckle every time someone, anyone suggests that Palin may be able to pull Clinton voters to McCain….
mompriest said:
or, I should say, former Clinton voters…
QuakerDave said:
Whelp, I hope I’m dead wrong. Sincerely. I’m hoping that this cynical ploy was INTENDED to do what I said above, and I’m sure hoping that smart folks are just too smart to go along with it.
Vicki said:
Thanks for this post. I was also wondering, who? what? It is amazing what people will blindly believe, I live in the middle of the bible belt, and it makes my hair stand on end, during a service the pastor tells everyone who to vote for, and they do.
And it is not one church, but many.
Vicki
Sherry said:
Fran, I keep going from elation to depression. I was thoroughly disgusted by the pass it got during Stephanopolous this morning and through the nighly news last night. I fear you might be right. The vast majority of voters are not smart of that we are assured, and this was calculated to take advantage of that fact.
Sherry said:
Mom priest. If they are thinking they cannot possible go for this but alas who says they are thinking. And as some are now pointing out, its as much aimed at the “Reagan democrats” as any. social conservatives they are.
Sherry said:
Dave, I agree, but oh God I’m sure pessimistic about the average voter. So I don’t know. It did succeed in pushing Obama off the front page didn’t it?
Sherry said:
Vicki, that is so illegal! And of course apparently that doesn’t matter to the average right wing evangelical. As long as they are right, it doesn’t matter at all it seems. I’d be turning them in. A nice letter to the Separation of Church and State blog or Talk to Action would do the trick. They file suit against a ton of these churches for doing just that and attack their tax exemption.
distributorcap said:
as we have seen so far – the ultra right wing (the dobson lunatics) are in seventh heaven. he did it for the hillary voters and the dobson crew.
how pathetic is it that both those groups (who really dont like mccain) are willing to vote for him
1. out of spite
2. to have a person as VP that has TWO constitutional duties and she doesnt even know what they are.
we are a pathetically moronic country if we vote in mccain, rather we already are
not only does this make me sad, it makes me angry – it shows we really have no working political system, just a shill for corporations
Radical said:
2012 – Sarah v. Hillary
Maybe that will shut up the jokes about women running for office and not being smart enough to look beyond their reproductive organs when it comes to voting.
As for what does a Veep do, many, many, many Constitutional scholars ask this question every day. The Constitution gives the VP the duty of President of the Senate. Period. Everything and anything else a VP does is at the decision of the president with a nod towards historical precedence. “What does a Veep do” was most likely a joke.
Sherry said:
DC. Indeed I agree. The Republicans know American voters are stupid and they play to it magnificently. Democrates continue in the dillusion that the voter is intelligent and can see through this farce. I am deeply afraid we are in for more of the same. I pray not.
Sherry said:
Perhaps Radical, but I saw it as a utter lack of knowledge on her part. I think most of us know that the VEEP does whatever a President has in mind for him or her. Carry on a serious domestic policy agenda, be a opinion gatherer and focus, work the Senate and House for consensus. But at least we know what the possibilities are. She I don’t think does.
Vicki said:
wow I didn’t know that. I it a widespread and very acceptable practice around here.
Thanks
Vicki
I always come away from your blog learning something.
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