In a confirmed report from CNN and other news services, 72-year-old Sen. John McCain has picked the scandal-tinged, 44-year-old Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate on the GOP ticket for the White House. McSame has thrown the long ball, hoping for a touchdown by picking a female governor as his running mate.
Dumb.
My reasons:
1. Alaska, long a rock-ribbed Red State, is reeling from longtime Republican Sen. Ted Stevens' alleged criminal misconduct, and is polling more "purple" than red these days. It's also not that big in electoral votes: only three--the same as Joe Biden's Delaware.
2. It's stunt casting. He picked the lightweight gov for the alleged "wow" factor of picking a woman. What does she really bring to the ticket beyond the novelty factor?
3. Maybe they think Joe (who was announced as Obama's pick in a much more clever fashion) will go easy on a female opponent in the debates? Don't count on it. He will be a gentleman, but he will take her and McSame apart, piece by piece with his logic and oratory skills.
4. Perhaps they think Palin will scoop up disaffected PUMA voters from Hillary? Don't count on it. The Cllintons blunted that movement with their dynamic endorsement speeches of Obama/Biden at the convention, I'd say.
5. Choosing Palin totally destroys McCain's "pick me for my experience" strategy. Where he alleges Biden was chosen to shore up Obama's foreign policy and D.C. bona fides, McCain obliterates that argument (said pundit Keith Olbermann: she makes Obama look like John Adams) by choosing for his running mate one of the least experienced politicians in the country he claims to "put first." Worse, he hardly knows this person, he met her once six months ago. Instead of picking a solid partner for governance, he has chosen a trophy veep. McCain must have taken a page from the George H.W. Bush playbook for this one. Gov. Palin, the new Dan Quayle. The stellar, record breaking Democratic National Convention must have scared the crap out of the former maverick, making him into a desperate old man who has just made one terribly dumb decision.
6. If McCain were to, God forbid, succumb to old age or cancer, does anyone really think Palin could be an effective president? Joe Biden could easily take the reins if a tragic or unforeseen development arose that made it a necessity. Palin has admitted she doesn't even know what the "vice president does every day." Imagine her as president. Sadly, Sarah Palin would be a worldwide laughingstock and a disaster for our nation.
Bottom Line: Nice try, Senator. Enjoy your retirement.
