Ok John McCain, I know what you’re trying to do. I understand, and possibly should have seen in coming. However, I still won’t agree with you. I know you read it when I said:
“However, the options just aren’t there for McCain. So unless he can reel in someone with huge name recognition and/or is young and/or has wide conservative support and/or a woman, he’s going to have to work very hard to sell his choice to his supporters.” – ‘Who does John McCain pick for VP now?’
So naturally you thought that simply picking a woman would dramatically help your cause. Understand, a woman on your ticket brings many new scenarios into play. 1) You can continue to show that you’re a “Maverick”, always willing to think outside the box. 2) You will draw some second thoughts from the female voting bloc and 3) You will get more CNN air time as a result.
Now, what you failed to also do is bring in someone to have your back. You needed someone who was a lock to be virtually “un-attackable”. Though Palin has some strengths, opens your campaign up to criticisms it could have otherwise avoided. She was accused of abused her power while governor, is on the Alaska Oil and Gas Commission (seemingly counterproductive to the McCain argument that intends to move away from the Oil lobby influences), and is also only in her first term as governor.
That aside, I think the two most overlooked flaws in this pick are that first, she doesn’t really help him pick up any new states or a region. Sure, she’ll probably lock up the Alaska vote but then what? For what that’s worth he could have gone with Gov Crist in Florida; at least he would have gotten more Electoral College votes. Secondly, she’s not that well known. The idea that her simply being the correct gender will make people blindly gravitate toward her is a bit naive. McCain needed a name that the conservative base could quickly rally toward.
So let’s tally this up: 1) Little state experience, no national experience 2) Controversial past actions 3) Might have some conflicts of interests 4) Small help picking up states 5) Not well known 6) Not much conservative base following 7) Speaks okay and is smart Is a woman 9) Isn’t tied to Pres Bush.
6 bad + 3 good = Not a great pick
I believe McCain and the GOP have missed a huge opportunity to change the face of Republican politics in not picking Gov Pawlenty. Sure, Palin will get a good buzz going, but I don’t believe she’s half the speaker that Pawlenty is. If she gets trounced in debates or doesn’t deliver a good speech, that memory lasts.
This pick leaves McCain only slightly better of than he was before. And, in this election, attack ads and ploys to get the disgruntled Hillary ( aka PUMA) voters won’t cut it. For his sake, I hope that she will “WOW” the conservative base during the GOP convention. Anything short of that and this pick will be worthless.
August 29, 2008
Sarah Palin?…I guess I was wrong
Posted by saintchaos under Politics | Tags: 2008 elections, GOP, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, puma, sarah palin, Tim Pawlenty, VP |Leave a Comment
Ok John McCain, I know what you’re trying to do. I understand, and possibly should have seen in coming. However, I still won’t agree with you. I know you read it when I said:
“However, the options just aren’t there for McCain. So unless he can reel in someone with huge name recognition and/or is young and/or has wide conservative support and/or a woman, he’s going to have to work very hard to sell his choice to his supporters.” – ‘Who does John McCain pick for VP now?’
So naturally you thought that simply picking a woman would dramatically help your cause. Understand, a woman on your ticket brings many new scenarios into play. 1) You can continue to show that you’re a “Maverick”, always willing to think outside the box. 2) You will draw some second thoughts from the female voting bloc and 3) You will get more CNN air time as a result.
Now, what you failed to also do is bring in someone to have your back. You needed someone who was a lock to be virtually “un-attackable”. Though Palin has some strengths, opens your campaign up to criticisms it could have otherwise avoided. She was accused of abused her power while governor, is on the Alaska Oil and Gas Commission (seemingly counterproductive to the McCain argument that intends to move away from the Oil lobby influences), and is also only in her first term as governor.
That aside, I think the two most overlooked flaws in this pick are that first, she doesn’t really help him pick up any new states or a region. Sure, she’ll probably lock up the Alaska vote but then what? For what that’s worth he could have gone with Gov Crist in Florida; at least he would have gotten more Electoral College votes. Secondly, she’s not that well known. The idea that her simply being the correct gender will make people blindly gravitate toward her is a bit naive. McCain needed a name that the conservative base could quickly rally toward.
So let’s tally this up: 1) Little state experience, no national experience 2) Controversial past actions 3) Might have some conflicts of interests 4) Small help picking up states 5) Not well known 6) Not much conservative base following 7) Speaks okay and is smart
Is a woman 9) Isn’t tied to Pres Bush.
6 bad + 3 good = Not a great pick
I believe McCain and the GOP have missed a huge opportunity to change the face of Republican politics in not picking Gov Pawlenty. Sure, Palin will get a good buzz going, but I don’t believe she’s half the speaker that Pawlenty is. If she gets trounced in debates or doesn’t deliver a good speech, that memory lasts.
This pick leaves McCain only slightly better of than he was before. And, in this election, attack ads and ploys to get the disgruntled Hillary ( aka PUMA) voters won’t cut it. For his sake, I hope that she will “WOW” the conservative base during the GOP convention. Anything short of that and this pick will be worthless.