I would feel sorry for Palin, but that she accepted the offer from McCain.
On the one hand, the media and the blogosphere are going to tear this woman apart. She’s the punchline to a bad joke. She has no national or foreign policy to run on, and she most certainly cannot begin to compare herself to Hillary Clinton beyond genitals.
Kevin Jones of Mother Jones points out that McCain met Palin exactly 3 times. Politico’s Jonathan Martin confirms the whirl wind vetting this week. It means she’s going to wind up being more thoroughly vetted in public by the media and the American people. It is not an enviable position.
But on the other, she actually agreed to this charade. She didn’t see it for the pandering that the public seems to take it for? She felt she could fill Hillary Clinton’s shoes for the GOP, for sure? She expects to win?
She can’t truly think she’s prepared to step in a run a gov’t that supports more than 300 million people because she’s spent about 2 years running a gov’t that supports less than 750,000 Alaskans, in a state whose largest city is 65th in size in the US. And McCain’s age makes that reality a factor.
What did she get in return for agreeing to be VP? What promises have been made regarding her future in the Republican Party?
I also wonder about the backlash she’s going to take from conservative women. She’s a pro-lifer, who supports teaching creationism in schools. . . I don’t get the impression that segment of society would approve of a woman with 5 children — one that’s still an infant — placing her very public political career ahead of motherhood.
Clearly, having a job is as far as her feminist streak extends, given her stance on family planning and gay marriage, but it seems at odds with her very conservative ideology.
Phyllis Schlafly must be torn this evening.
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Interesting blog (I got here because one of your posts was ‘automatically generated’ as a possibly related post to one of mine). I think Palin was a smart choice by McCain because he needed something game changing to even have a chance. In an election where people want change, Palin is a change — and she energizes the GOP base. I don’t think it’ll be enough; as you note she has too many negatives. But Palin may emerge as the ‘new kind’ of conservative. She may actually gain a lot from this, and move from the Schafly era of conservative woman-hood to a new Palin era that may involve less traditional family roles (I wonder if her husband does a lot with the kids, since she’s got such a demanding career), and more pragmatism. I don’t know…I disagree with her on almost all the issues, but somehow there is something compelling about her story. But she definitely isn’t going to be able to save McCain.
thanks for stopping by. that recommendation list gets me in so much trouble. I can click through for a long time.
she’s a new coat of paint on the Schlafly brand of feminism.
I read somewhere that family and friends have taken on a lot of responsibility for the kids, since the husband wasn’t interest in being mr. mom.
have you seen the lengthy list of vetting problems daily kos bloggers have pulled together. They had hit 50 reasons at last check
It reads like a bad chick flick
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/29/141112/083
Yeah, the more I find out the more I realize McCain was desparate and didn’t do much homework on her. I was hoping maybe her husband at least would be a role model of fathers doing the child rearing when the mother is successful, but alas, that doesn’t seem to be the case either. Also, I guess her 17 year old daughter is pregnant and will marry the father. I hope they aren’t getting married because of the campaign; 17 is very young to make such a commitment. That and Gustav changing the GOP convention…what a bizarre election year!