Friday, August 29, 2008

Well, he's still got racism

All along, with Americans sick of George W. Bush and sick of Republican rule in general, there have always only been two ways McCain could beat Obama in November: (1) Obama's inexperience in government, particularly with regard to national security, and (2) persistent racism that would cause working class voters in swing states like Ohio to vote against Obama.  

Now with McCain's shocking choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin,  the inexperience argument is gone.  Palin has been governor of Alaska for less than two years.  Before that she was a city councilmember and mayor in Wasilla, Alaska, population 5400.  I think she was also an Alaska Oil and Gas Commissioner.  

Remember, John McCain turns 72 today.  The would be oldest person ever elected to a first term as a president has now said that someone with only two years experience as governor of one of the smallest states in terms of population and no national political experience is ready to lead on day one.  Surely, McCain cannot with a straight face say Obama is no longer ready to lead.

But, there's still the racism.  

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

McCain clearly is trying to attract (pander to?) the disaffected Hillary voters with his VP choice. A very smart but obvious move.

Bill LaBorde said...

Yeah, but the polling shows there aren't really that many of those disaffected Hillary voters. Probably fewer after the last few days. And, even if there were that many, it wont' work with a virulently "pro-life" woman candidate. Although the baby with Downs does make it harder for the Democrats to attack her on the reproductive rights issue.

Anonymous said...

Of course, McC has shot himself in the foot re his claims about Obama's lack of experience. I don't see how he can say it is a bad idea to have a president without a lot of experience but OK to have a VP with even less, especially when that inexperienced VP would be the one for a president who may be too old to live or serve effectively through two full terms.

There are some Hillary supporters unfortunately who are so desperate to have a woman in the highest office that they would accept any woman. These are the ones Palin may attract. There could be enough to be disruptive.

She also does some other things for McCain like prove once again what a maverick he is, solidifies him with the Christian right (who early reports say is going ga-ga over her), prove that he isn't anti-women and provides an easy way to distance himself from the Republican skullduggery in Alaska and elsewhere because Palin is the one who helped bring the corrupt GOPers down. I think she will backfire when her political inexperience is manifested. The VP candidates' debate (assuming there will be one) will be a slaughter. Biden's staff is probably salivating.

The smartest thing the Dems could do is sic Hillary on Palin. They won't be able to claim it's men bullying a woman if Hillary plays the "attack dog" role. She might do it because I think Palin is everything in a woman Hillary would never want to be.

Bill LaBorde said...

I don't think there are many Hillary voters who will vote for a pro-life anti-birth control woman. Maybe a few of the remaining PUMAs but, at this point, they can probably be counted in the hundreds.

That said, Hillary is the perfect messenger to say that McCain has been reckless in choosing someone with so little experience to be a heartbeat away from the president. She's also the right person to carry the message that McCain has been insulting to women by assuming that just by appointing a woman to his ticket that her supporters will jump to his ticket.

The Rove people backing McCain certainly saw Palin's ability to rally the base a key benefit of choosing her. But, that base is smaller now than it was in 2004. And McCain would have been much better served by choosing someone with a lot of experience who could also rally the base.