While we understand that the Palin pick is pretty interesting overall, I'm not going to speculate whether this was the best or worst move right now. That remains to be seen. Gut reaction says it has both positives and negatives. Thinking about it in the deeper context though, there is a lot more to her than "Quayle in a pantsuit."
When she was first floated months ago, there were a bunch of stories about her background as a city councilor, mayor, and now governor. She seems to have short stints of things she has done, and then moved on - or up - to other things. There wasn't much written about her journalism background at the time but now they are talking about that too. There doesn't seem to be a lot of "breaking stories" to her background. She has a journalism degree, she was a sports reporter, etc. But I wonder if her journalism training is where she got her tenacity to fight corruption within her own party.
That fits in with McCain's background of going after - pounding into the ground, if you will - small points within the budget, within his party, etc. That all said, McCain really needed to do something dynamic with his pick. We all kinda realized that. Choosing just another white guy - Romney, Huckabee, Pawlenty, Ridge, etc. - was not going to do it. Choosing this woman, at this time, was a pretty dynamic choice.
While the Democrats and the media are kinda pooh-poohing the gender thing, they need to be careful about this. I’m willing to bet that Palin puts a good chunk of Hillary 18 million voters - especially the middle-aged, white, WalMart women, the backbone of her base - in play. Despite what some may think, these women are not Kool-Aid Democrats or social liberals. They don't support gay marriage and they're iffy on abortion. Many of the women who voted for Hillary in places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, etc., all places McCain needs to be competitive, fit this description. Palin is not going to be able to draw Hillary women who are the latte voters, small S socialists, and education fanatics. They will all swallow the gender issue with the Obama/Biden ticket and hope for the best. But the others? They’re in play.
When she was first floated months ago, there were a bunch of stories about her background as a city councilor, mayor, and now governor. She seems to have short stints of things she has done, and then moved on - or up - to other things. There wasn't much written about her journalism background at the time but now they are talking about that too. There doesn't seem to be a lot of "breaking stories" to her background. She has a journalism degree, she was a sports reporter, etc. But I wonder if her journalism training is where she got her tenacity to fight corruption within her own party.
That fits in with McCain's background of going after - pounding into the ground, if you will - small points within the budget, within his party, etc. That all said, McCain really needed to do something dynamic with his pick. We all kinda realized that. Choosing just another white guy - Romney, Huckabee, Pawlenty, Ridge, etc. - was not going to do it. Choosing this woman, at this time, was a pretty dynamic choice.
While the Democrats and the media are kinda pooh-poohing the gender thing, they need to be careful about this. I’m willing to bet that Palin puts a good chunk of Hillary 18 million voters - especially the middle-aged, white, WalMart women, the backbone of her base - in play. Despite what some may think, these women are not Kool-Aid Democrats or social liberals. They don't support gay marriage and they're iffy on abortion. Many of the women who voted for Hillary in places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, etc., all places McCain needs to be competitive, fit this description. Palin is not going to be able to draw Hillary women who are the latte voters, small S socialists, and education fanatics. They will all swallow the gender issue with the Obama/Biden ticket and hope for the best. But the others? They’re in play.
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