At First Glance, Palin Is A Smart Choice

I can't say I'm all that surprised by John McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) as his runningmate. At first glance - and this will be negated if bad scandals come out - the choice is a very smart one, so smart, in fact, that, as an Obama supporter, it scares me.

Here's four reasons why this is a pretty smart choice - and for progressives, I think its a good idea that we look at these factors as we head into the final stretch of the campaign:

1. Putting a woman on the ticket is McCain's best hope to peel off some disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters. I'm not saying it's going to work all that well, as I don't think most women simply vote for women, regardless of their positions on issues. But if McCain really does have a chance to win over Clinton supporters, picking Palin is as good a shot as any to try to do that.

2. Palin comes from an energy state, and specifically, an oil and gas state. With Democrats' pathetically (yet predictably) tepid behavior on the drilling issue, the GOP senses an opportunity to exploit it, and you can bet Palin will be making the drilling case, with first-person narratives and anecdotes.

3. It will be difficult - though not impossible - for the Obama campaign to make an experience argument against Palin. Even though Palin is probably the most inexperienced candidate for vice president in contemporary American history, the Republicans have spent months attacking Obama's supposed lack of experience. So when gnats like Rahm Emanuel issue silly, over-the-top press releases about Palin's career, they re-open an experience debate that John McCain probably wants to have with Obama.

4. As the Nation's Chris Hayes reports, Palin is a die-hard right-winger who could help McCain solidify the Republican base.

Again, all of these assets could be negated by things that come out about Palin's career and/or gaffes she makes on the campaign trail. I'm sure hoping that's what happens, and we'll need to really help examine and publicize the most odious parts of her record, as well as make the case that the experience of a 72-year-old candidate's VP choice is especially important. But we underestimate her - and the McCain operation - at our peril.

Finally, let's step back a moment, take off the partisan blinders, and celebrate. Palin's nomination all but guarantees that the United States will either have its first African American president or its first female vice-president. I desperately hope its the former, and not the latter - but the historic nature of either is something to be pretty happy about.

Read more reaction from HuffPost bloggers to John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate

Comments

[riona]

David, you hit the nail right on the head. This is a choice that Obama must, and I'm sure he is, stop and really ponder. This is going to be a scary close election so every vote counts. I offer these additional thoughts.

1. Not all, but many Hillary supporters are seniors, who just want a woman in the White House. They were so mad that Hillary wasn't the nominee, they were planning on voting for McCain anyway. Now that he's chosen a woman, they are likely going to stick with that choice, unless she really blows it on the campaign trail and looks stupid. THESE WOMAN SUPPORTED HILLARY BECAUSE SHE IS A WOMAN-not for the issues. They don't care who breaks the glass ceiling, as long as it's a woman. Anyone who knows anything about the woman's movement, knows that it wasn't only for Democrats.

2. Palin is wildly popular with Independents in Alaska. She even addressed the Independence Party Convention last spring. She will likely be hugely popular with Independents in key Western battleground states as well.

3. Blue collar conservative Democrats who went with Hillary overwhelmingly - will likely warm up to this McCain/Palin ticket.

4. Joe Biden has a reputation for being a bully in Senate hearings and will have to really be careful with Palin in a VP debate. If he appears to come of like a bully, it's over. Remember New Hampshire? Remember the Clinton/Fazio debates in 2000?

[tbone99]

I have to say your point number 1 describes my mom exactly. She's 86 , not really political as far as issues goes , and was very disapointed to not get to vote for see H.C become president.­. After all this time of hearing about Barack on tv she still seems mystified by who the hell he is.( its not a matter of exposure its a matter of FAMILARITY). probabaly quite a few senoirs out there like her.

[certainot]

the talk radio monopoly is critical for keeping the base together and keeping the election close enough to steal

hannity and limbaugh say its a brilliant choice and limbaugh used it and the convention to officially get behind mccain. the talk radio monopoly can sell ANYTHING to the GOP base- it has an immense capacity for hypocrisy with limbaugh leading the way with the excuses and enabling.

palin's qualifications mean nothing to the fundie base if they think she's channeling a god- just like bush.

[FatherKindly]

The fundie base is all revved up now. What I am afraid of is that nothing is going to stimulate an appropriate opposition.

[brooklyncitizen]

Even the Hillary supporters cannot be so single minded to think this woman is a good substitute for Hillary Clinton. What personally turned me off about Hillary were her shrill tactics and underhanded campaigning. All this I thought was beneath her.

She is however more qualified than McCain to be POTUS, not to mention this Palin-Elaine Benyce lookalike.

[Utopia]

I must say there are two other perspectives you have failed to consider, neither of them good with one being disasterous.

http://www.idealthoughts.com/2008/08/is-this-death-of-party-or-death-of.html

[rose london]

thanks utopia. very well said. Mcsame lacks judGEMENT.

[clevelandchick]

Yeah, sorry David. I'm with the other women on this board. I found his picking Palin extremely condescending and insulting. A gimmick. She is vocally anti-choice, anti-science and anti-environment. The polar opposite of what most women, Independents and moderate Republicans believe. Sure, she solidifies the GOP base for McCain who has having trouble doing so, but then again Obama and Biden solidify the Dem base. I see that as a draw.

Obama chose a VP that has experience. John McCain is 72 and not the healthiest guy in the world. If something happens to Obama, Biden could handle the presidency. If something happens to McCain, Palin could not. Biden will fill a role as experienced advisor to Obama, Palin has no experience in national government at all let alone foreign policy, so what role does she fill besides cheerleading more drilling and the extinction of polar bears?

The YouTube video of her saying "I don't know what the Vice President does" is reaching millions as we speak. If the Dems don't use that in an ad, then I'll be worried.

[Doofus]

It's said that the Palin choice pleases evangelical Repos a lot,
so this may help McCain with that very influential Repo faction,
which up to now hasn't held him in such high regard. How
important is it to please a group that makes up half of your
base of 25% of the electorate? Well, better to have them
pissing out of the 'big tent' than pissing in, as LBJ once said.

[Liberal2]

Elections in America have descended into pure emotional response (or maybe we've always been so). Palin and her anti-American principles are a perfect fit with the American psyche. Wave a copy of the Bill of Rights in front of the average American, without the words "Bill of Rights" on it, and he/she will condemn it as a commie plot.

[CitizenE]

There was a whole segment of the electorate, the one we have been told that got George Bush reelected despite the war having gone to hell, and the worst employment record since the Great Depression, that had opted out of this election. The nomination of Sarah Palin was a very shrewd bait and switch designed to get the left stuck in some rhetorical briar patch about experience and yammering about what women want, and setting the left up for underestimating the attraction of such a candidate, just as they underestimated not only Ronald Reagan, but George W. Bush on two occassions, all the while getting a grass roots voting organization up and running in important electoral states.
Powerful, incisive, visionary posters should be hammering away at the clear and present danger of a Vice President Palin. She is hard working, charismatic, attractive, seductive and very dangerous.
Not one of our many allies in Europe, nor our powerful up and coming rivals in Russia or China would consider having their second in command as an advocate for teaching superstition as science in their children's classrooms. In the 21st century, 18th century thinking about science is a recipe for failure. This is the kind of thinking that is part and parcel of constitutionally Fundamentalist states. Despite the recent finding by a conservative judge concerning the Dover PA school board that such mixing of church and state is unconstitutional, Sarah Palin would, like George Bush before her, advocate such progams in our classrooms.

[OtayPanky]

I love this pick of McCain's, for several reasons.

REASON #1: McCain had one single solitary COGENT argument for choosing him over Barack - the experience argument. By choosing Sarah Palin, he loses entirely his legitimacy if he makes that argument again. He also has ripped that argument away from the RNC and various swiftboater types.

REASON #2: It pulls back the covers on the McCain campaign and shows just how desperate they are. If they had ANY confidence at all, they would never have thrown a Hail Mary pass like this one.

REASON #3: It calls McCain's judgment into question once again. You'll never hear Barack or Biden criticize McCain's judgment for this choice - they'll limit their criticism of his judgment to other issues. But choosing a VP is the single most important decision a presidential candidate makes - and lots of Joe and Mary lunchbuckets are looking at each other today and saying WTF, just like they would if the boss chose someone totally unquaified to be his #2.

REASON #4: It's going to push the great bulk of those fence-sitting Hillary supporters into supporting Barack. Now, more than ever, a vote for McCain is a vote against every goal that the woman's movement holds dear - three supremes, and a potential sixteen years more of anti-choice executive leadership.

Good job, Johnny!

[OleSmartee]

Mr. Sirota,

Congratulations. You've written the first thoughtful, intelligent blog on Ms. Palin on this site. Up to now, the others have lined up to call her names, giggle, act moronic, and make wild claims that -- were the tables turned -- the bloggers would find insulting about their candidates.

Make no mistake: I'm an Obama supporter. But I fear McCain's VP choice may be a homerun, and have posted thus. That's gotten ME name-calling, giggles, and wild claims, too. So don't be surprised if the mass here says the same about YOU.

But, ignoring that, I emphasize your line "take off the partisan blinders". When any rational person does so, they see that your four points about Ms. Palin are correct. But may I add a fifth one? It would be that our side -- in its zeal to discredit her -- is going to paint itself as condescending to women in general, hypocritical about them, and flat out chauvenistic. I say this because everyone is poking fun at the "beauty queen", the "hockey mom" and the age and attractiveness of Ms. Palin. And I'm warning everyone, enough women will be offended at the superficiality of that to put her and McCain over the top. The numbers game will guarantee it. She doesn't have to get all the pro-choice crowd, or all the Hillary supporters. Just a small piece of those, however, and the game shifts.

Our side should simply ignore the choice. Concentrate on McCain. Overplaying our hand

[OleSmartee]

my post should have ended:

Overplaying our hand will be a disaster.

[SpectCon]

No, this is egregious. She is supremely unqualified to be a VP pick.

Even if it does risk being bad politics, we can't sit back and not shout from the roof tops how insane this pick is.

And remember, it's not that Palin is a doofus (she may be though) it's that she has no resume and is even on the record claiming not to know what the VP does.

This is hubris on the part of McCain and stupidly reckless. Although Palin might prove to be sage, there is very little to base that on. She's a beauty pagent loser, sports caster wannabe, Mayor of hamlet who is under qualified to be Gov of Alaska. You don't risk putting the world's sole super power in the hands of someone with so little to go on.

This is like a sub-prime loan given to someone who has virtually no job history, can't make a down payment and can't prove income. The person might be fine, but you just don't know. (And given her batsh#t crazy ideas on abortion..­.that alone should be a red flag...)

[wildflowermaven]

Right on--remember all, some people voted for W simply because they'd rather have a beer with him than Gore. Who's to say those same people won't be charmed by her and as you point out, be angered by those who say she's a mom with little experience. Stick to pointing out all the reasons McCain is wrong for the country.

[jewel4Obama]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKkydrUnBZE

GOP VP pick Sarah Palin laughs at cancer surviving senator being called a "B"

[v6scotter]

McCain is a hypocrite. He keeps talking about experience and he picks a VP candidate who was the mayor of a town with a population less than some high schools. Is the mayor of that town even a full time position?

[brooklyncitizen]

Well she's had enough time to make 5 babies.

[Kassandra]

That's a very misogynist statement

[ProudLiberalDan]

On Washington Week in Review last night one of the journalists said that the McCain camp doesn't care about the hypocrisy of appointing Palin, because they want everyone to be discussing "experience" (which they believe helps McCain), rather than the issues or the economy.

It's an unbelievably craven appointment.

[Passenger57]

I think Team Obama can make a case - not of Palin's inexperience,but of McCain's judgement. Obama can say something to the effect of : "Of course, I have no problem with Palin's record. What America would like to know is this : after the constant drumbeat of Sen. McCain making MY record an issue - what happened?

[JennyJay]

Palen is a Cheney clone. McCain wants to be Bush, so we now have the perfect ticket.
None of us want to leave our comfort zone. Palen will be out there in the fields shooting up
poor wild animals on her days off - just like Cheney.

[dec8ur]

you have got this wrong. palin (thin resume, christian conservative) is bush, mccain is cheney. this is either the smartest caimpaign move in history (and our nation is in serious trouble if it is) or the stupidest move since presidental contests started

[fnygy]

Boy, I can't see how the Palin pick is good for the country - unless it helps John McCain lose. I would rejoice if McCain had picked a QUALIFIED woman as his running mate, but to celebrate a woman vice president simply because she's a woman strikes me as being as cynical as his choice.

I think this is a bad choice for McCain for a number of reasons but the biggest is because, once the newness of Palin has worn off, it will put laser focus on Mr. McCain's age - his biggest negative in every opinion poll I've seen.

One aspect of the Palin choice that has gotten very little attention is the fact that Mrs. Palin is still fertile and quite attractive. This is a TOTAL wild card - never seen in national politics. That may sound sexist, but we live in a sexist culture and to pretend it won't matter is absurd.

[vraptor]

I can see it now! With Sarah Palin, we can achieve an immediate environmental, economic and national defense triumph--we just round up all the wolves, polar bears (the few that are left anyway) and other miscellaneous predators and send them off to Iran, Afghanistan and other trouble spots, where they will devour those with whom we disagree. As an added side benefit, there will be lots more moose and other doe-eyed, defenseless prey that we can all kill with our government-issued AK-47s!! What a plan---defend America and feed the needy all in one fell swoop! Give me a break--this should set women back a couple hundred years. If any Hillary supporters actually vote for this ticket, they need to see a doctor about their recto-cranial inversion problem.

[UnMediMike]

I think that Ms. Palin's support among at least some Christian Right leaders is a major reason for her selection. As for her "qualifications," I am reminded of Bush 41, who, when nominating Clarence Thomas to be a Supreme Court Justice, declared that he was the most "qualified" candidate. The real, political reasoning behind that choice is remarkably similar to this one.

[Criticalthinktank07]

I am sorry , I can't put on rose colored glasses and see his chosing of Sarah Palin as historic, although it is. Actually it does nothing in my humble opinion to promote the progress of women's rights or issues. Considering that he has voted against anything that does. The fact that he chose her in what I see as one of the most calculated picks in political history is both frightening and sickening. McCain in the past has had the nerve to say with conviction, that Obama would lose a war to win an election, which was absolutely ludicrous. However, it seems he would put the country at risk to win an election! We are a nation at war, and he is 10 years younger than Methuselah. So Mrs. Palin, a virtual political neophyte(as she has gone from the PTA president to VP pick in 4 years) could one day be the leader of the free world. The thought makes me shudder. He is gambling with the future of this country and there is nothing smart about that! It is wreckless!!!!

[jennbeez]

It's not historic, it's just desperate. (Walter Mondale was the first to choose a woman.)

Basically, McCain is a fraidy cat...hidi­ng behind Miss Sarah's skirts and hoping she will help him snarf up a few of those ballsy Hillary supporters. Bwahahah.

[jade7243]

David, I disagree, and here briefly are the points:

TOKENISM: the McCain mistakenly believes that one woman is interchangeable for another (and I'm not talking about his wives.) Hillary voters were not voting for a "woman" candidate, but for "hillary" and the return the Clinton years. Sarah Palin with her extreme right wing views is not attractive to Hillary's base. The threat to vote McCain remains a "threat" not a promise and those voters will return to the fold.

EXPERIENCE: this remains a bona fide issue. As Republicans tout Palin's "executive" experience, remember that she is "big" fish from a small pond. There are student body presidents who govern more people than Palin has. If you think the energy and environmentalists while not be energized by thism you're kinding yourself. Republicans make the mistake of thinking "occupying" the office is the same as experience. It is not. McCain after screaming Obama has no foreign policy cred, will put someone with no cred a literal heartbeat away. The experience issue is worse now for McCain, and not off the table because he's so damn old.

RIGHT WING: Solidifying that base will turn more moderates and independents back to Obama not to McCain. New voters are registering or switching to the Democratic Party with it out numbering Republicans by 2 or 3 to 1.

The Palin choice is a loser.