The VP Choice that Lost the Presidency for McCain

I think we will look back at today as the day when the Republicans most certainly lost the Presidency. In choosing Sarah Palin of Alaska for Vice President, the Republicans have made a cynical but clever choice. At least they think it is clever. She is a woman, young (44 years old), a Governor (only two years), a mother (five children), pro-life, and pro-gun. But what is she not? She is NOT pro-choice. She has NO national experience. She has never been under the intense scrutiny of a national campaign. She is under investigation for some incident in Alaska that is messy and personal. She has no international experience. Her experience governing is in a very small state, famous for its "Bridge to Nowhere" kind of political graft. Her Republican colleague in that state, Senator Ted Stevens has been indicted for corruption.

When Republicans and independents go into the voting booth, will they have the confidence to vote for a McCain-Palin ticket, knowing that John McCain has had several recurrences of his skin cancer, and will be the oldest President ever? Can they imagine Sarah Palin stepping into the Oval Office and dealing with all the problems we face right now? The Russians and the terrorists must be quaking in their boots.

It's a slap in the face of other Republican women like Kay Bailey Hutchison, bless her heart, who was forced to stumble through an interview on TV trying to make the case for Palin whom she has never met. There are certainly women in the Republican party who were "in line" for this before Palin. Did the Rovian type advisors to McCain just cynically think that throwing a young attractive inexperienced woman into the mix would satisfy women who long to see a woman president? Women, and Republican women, are not so stupid as to fall for that! It is reminiscent of the Republicans putting up Alan Keyes to run against Barack Obama for the Illinois Senate just because he was black. Voters saw through that pretty quickly.

It's also a slap in the face of Democratic women voters. They don't get Hillary but they get Sarah as the first potential woman President? In fact, I can just hear Biden saying, "Sarah Palin, you are NO Hillary Clinton!" I would imagine that the few remaining Clinton supporters who are wondering if they should support John McCain are even more leery now. There is absolutely no overlap between the positions Hillary Clinton has fought her entire life for and Sarah Palin. The two women are not remotely substitutable. They are as different as they can be.

How will this cynicism play with American voters? It is insulting to women to suggest that just "any" woman will do!

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

Comments

[zeus13]

I am so sick of hearing about what hypocrites women are for supporting Palin "because she's a woman". I don't recall hearing any outrage about the 93% of blacks who support Obama because he's black. 93%!!! Everyone ignores it.

I don't like any of the candidates so I'm not pushing one over the other but I have witnessed such hypocrisy from the right and the left. The double standard is shocking. This country is doomed. We have created an election based on the most hollow of issues. Politics is now intellectually equal to American Idol. We have turned the meaningful into superficial spectacle. It will only get worse.

[jaynevada]

This article is hilarious.

Time reveals all truths, and time is revealing this article to be a lie as McCain takes the lead following Palin's choice and the RNC.

[TariTam]

McCain and the GOP took the experience issue off the table when they handpicked Sarah Palin to be McCain's Veep. If the American electorate cared about the GOP version of "executive experience" as the ultimate threshold test , none of the 4 would have made the cut.

As for Governor Palin's track record she is certainly a "mover and shaker." But her time in Alaska has been plagued by immaturity, impetuousness and recurring acts of recklessness - I think putting a town of 5500 people with $0 debt and leaving it with millions of dollars in debt a few years later is not very comforting when the US is dealing with trillions of dollars in deficit. What's with trying to fire the town librarian because she wouldn't agree to banishing the books Governor Palin wanted to censor?

Obama's best chance used to be his intelligence, likability and personality. Now that Governor Palin seems to be stealing his personality thunder, he must focus on the issues. But he needs to tread carefully here. The electorate doesn't seem interested in his intellect anymore. A successful politician captures the soul and mind of the people. Somehow he needs to keep his charisma fresh.

Governor Palin is not going to cost McCain the presidency. McCain will do that all by himself with an assist from the American electorate finally waking up from their anti-intellectual stupor and voting in their self interest and not their bitterness.

[FirstShirt]

"In fact, I can just hear Biden saying, "Sarah Palin, you are NO Hillary Clinton!" "

That would be funny. Hillary is what she is today. But when she was elected to the Senate the only credentials she had was First Lady and having Bill Clinton as her husband.

Palin didn't get her job through her husband and she earned every stripe she has. Hillary did not.

[bearman357]

the only reason Hillary is ANYBODY is cause she was the first lady for 8 L O N G Y E A R S. Does any sane body think she wouldve got anywhere if it were not for her being known as the wife of a president ??. Who wouldve even heard of her and what did she do to get elected to the senate, besides, of course be the wife of a president?. Does it mean automatically that you learn to be a senator by being married to the pres.? huh? huh?/ HUH???.. the fact that she stayed with Bill for one minute after he got caught having sex in the OVAL OFFICE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD,shows how smart she is. DUH. forgive and forget,, NEVER. He was under SOOOOO MUCH PRESSURE BEING THE PRESIDENT!!!. i guess hem deserves to get some head. what d'ya think.?????? there wasnt even a war going on. They both ought a go home and grow some more peanuts..

[dawlishgal]

How very "Republican" to consider one female candidate as totally fungible with another one based on gender alone. I sincerely hope that the recalcitrant Hillary supporters can get over their fantasies of revenge on Obama for simply choosing to run against their candidate, and take a good hard look at this woman's credentials and her experience.

[Mabila]

We are now going to hear the McCain's SURGE on Sarah Palin's nomination after the initial strategic dismal failure!

[FirstShirt]

Hypocrisy:

1. Woman selected to run for the highest and acknowledged that, in part, it is because she is a woman and that it is a good thing.

2. Woman selected to run for the 2nd spot and acknowldedged that, in part, it is because she is a woman and that is a bad thing.

Women are the biggest hypocrites in this dialogue.

[ninetwelve]

Bias:

1. Contrasting two completely different things by only pointing out one minimal similarity and then determining that they are the same.

You are biased in your dialogue.

[FirstShirt]

Palin has the same experience that Bill Clinton had when he took office.

She has more experience at executive level governing than Obama...even with less than 2 years. Kind of scary.

She is the inexperienced #2. Obama is the inexperienced #1. Which is the biggest risk?

[Bowiemom]

Bill Clinton was a two-term governor, not a 20 month governor!!!

[larryo]

"If it's so obvious that this choice is a loser, why has there been such an hysterical campaign to discredit her?

There is no hysterical campaign to discredit her; there is a hysterical campaign to get and disseminate facts about her - after all, this real old guy who wants to be elected the most powerful man on the planet (make no mistake about it - look at the havoc George Bush has wreaked) seeks to make her next in line of succession.

No one outside Alaska knows anything about her, so naturally there is a great deal of curiosity which the mainstream media is anxious to satisfy, thereby avoiding the nasty possibility of actually having to report on facts salient to the election.

It's a win-win situation, if you look at it in a certain way.

[blossom826]

It saddens me to see McCain bow to the pressure of Bush crony Karl Rove and select the lovely, unqualified Miss America runner-up. McCain was this close to getting my vote but has sabotaged that with his poor selection for Vice-President. Her unwed daughter is the least of her problems. Lack of experience and a sticky personal issue involving the firing of the Public Safety Commissioner are the tip of the iceberg for this soon to be "former" vice-presidential nominee. Come on John......is this the best you could do?

[Linda Bergthold - Huffpost Blogger]

UPDATE: When I wrote this blog early Saturday, we didn't know very much about Sarah Palin. After 2 intense days, we know a lot more, and the results are very mixed. There has been some vetting that McCain apparently did not do, and some crazy accusations that turned out not to be at all true. But the issues that remain to be discussed are the judgment -- of McCain, who spent very little time with her before he made the most important decision of this campaign -- and Palin herself, whose record in Alaska is not as flawless as the Republicans would like us to believe.

If you want to argue that Palin has the right experience to be VP and possibly President of the United States, you are all going to have to come up with better arguments than you have put forward. Saying she has more experience than Obama is ridiculous; saying that she has foreign policy experience because Alaska is next to Russia (!) is laughable. Probably the most interesting discussion that is not being held is what experience is really necessary for a President. Some of our greatest Presidents had no so-called "executive" experience. What does it really mean to be an executive? Is being President like running a business? Governing a small state? Or is it more like being a "leader" and being able to inspire and empower your constituents? Being President is about having the judgment to set the right strategy .

[Ulysse]

I'm with you on this. In my job with computers, there are programmers, analysts and project managers. There is a big difference between programmers and the 2 other functions : A programmer do not have to think much, he just has to do what he is told to do because the thinking part comes from the analyst and the project management (costs, delays) are the project manager to take care. A project can only work when the analyst is the center of thinking. When people occupying other functions try to think at their places, the costs and the delays of the projects explodes until the project is canned and people are massively laid off. The president in my view as to be more like a thinker who can help a little with project management but it is not his job to deliver the mail, or do the comptability. Therefore, executive experience is irrelevant in those elections, the GOP just want people to think it is like they always do.

[hagbardceline]

Hoo boy, is this a bad analogy. I don't think I've ever seen such an outrageous claim about my field. There are lots of misperceptions about development, but this one (I think) takes the cake, and I've been around the block, you might say.

Er, I've been developing for almost two decades, and as a "programmer", I have to think a lot. And I've been places where those functions are typically combined into one person: me. Most *every* programmer I've ever known also does the function of analyst. Those that can't or won't do such functions, or who are not able to at least get into the mindset of project management, as well, don't last long in this field.

Anyone that hires highly-intelligent, highly-trained people such as programmers tend to be, and is either forcing them not to think much, or else assumes they are not thinking much is not doing something right...and probably setting themselves up for failure.

So, let's not generalize about "programmers not having to think much". Those that are like that usually end up as PM or other management, or QA - those that end up in mgmt are usually failed programmers. :)

[phloxy]

I'm very surprised at the votes that see Sarah Palin as a good choice. I, like you wonder at McCain's judgement in choosing her. Wouldn't Hutchison, or Snowe be a better choice? Both have nationwide popularity and name recognition. If he was just pandering to the base, I thought, why not Huckabee? He's likable and has name recognition, experience, etc. What in the world would Palin have that they don't? Was the choice just an "In your face" reaction pick because he couldn't have Joe? Since he wasn't going to get someone moderate who could actually help him lead this country more common sensical, he was going to give a shout out to the base, but, a "screw you" as well? I just don't get it. And, now that we've found out about Palin's connection with this Alaskan secessionist group in 1994-96, what does this say about the "patriotism argument" ?

[FirstShirt]

"Saying she has more experience than Obama is ridiculous; "

Ok, I'll bite. If Obama was a white freshman senator with no military experience and no experience other than the state legislature in a midwestern state we wouldn't be having this discussion. He is a token. So was Hillary [First Lady was her longest resume entry]. So is Palin. So what?

[Fishfearme]

Sarah Palin is a good Republican soldier, a lieutenant at a far outpost with a record of exposing corrupt officers in her battalion. Republicans are so fearful of their own party that Palin was found by process of elimination. There was no one else who could be perceived as standing up to the establishment. The establishment had to reach find someone who has the perception of bucking, uh well, a truly corrupt member of itself, turning to an unknown woman with the majority of her experience coming as mayor of an Alaskan village. Her claim to fame was her decision to oppose the “road to nowhere.” As if opposing a billion dollar piece of pork was a courageous thing to do. And for that we should trust that she be given the responsibility of leading the free world, should something happen to the 72 year old nominee.

While General McCain decorates Lieutenant Palin to prove he can defend his camp, General Obama is marching with tanks to liberate a country occupied by the Republican establishment for eight long years.

[FirstShirt]

"There was no one else who could be perceived as standing up to the establishment."

True. The democrats didn't even try. They picked two washington insiders.

[patrickgarret]

What about all the earmarks? CAN YOU SAY H Y P O C R I T ?

[Fishfearme]

McCain by most accounts is a war hero. He has felt the pain of being captured and held prisoner; and not just in Vietnam. He ran for president in 2000 as a maverick. But his party was hijacked, he was captured by his enemies and has been held prisoner ever since. Bush swiftboated McCain in South Carolina by accusing him of fathering an illegitimate black child. So "if you can't beat 'em; join 'em" right? For personal ambition, McCain learned not to rock the swiftboat. Instead, McCain showed his weakness by surrender, supporting the his captors. The former crusader against the Republican establishment turned Bush POW becoming a right-wing voice flip-flopping on many positions that set him apart from conventional conservatives. In exchange he would be promoted to general and get the keys to the camp. Just as Rove took strength and turned it to weakness, McCain has taken his weakness (collaboration) and cast it as strength (being a maverick).

[Yuma]

Good Post!

[Fishfearme]

John McCain’s weakness is simple. He collaborated with Bush putting his own ambition ahead of his country. Now he wants to don the maverick mantra of bucking Bush. But having voted with Bush’s policies over 90% of the time, the maverick McCain has been lead by the nose by Bush for the last 8 years. Now McCain is finding it difficult to beat what he's already joined. Palin was the only "outsider" he could find.

[FirstShirt]

Pick your poisoin:

1. Barack with less experience governing than Palin.

2. Biden who has never been successful at the national primary level.

3. McCain who is too old.

4. Palin who has little experience in foreign affairs. But, has the same experience Bill Clinton had when he took the job.

[edwarvir]

FirstShirt I'll take Biden Please. Who will know enoug not to lie
about such important issues such as Troopergate Mayorgate
Bridgegate. and a pregnant daughter. How did she think she could
hide all of these incidents.? Wheres the RED PHONE?

[cowboyguns]

Wait a minute...if I'm not mistaken, Congress writes laws, and the President signs them...not the other way around. When you say that McCain voted with Bush's policies 90% of the time, you are putting the cart before the horse. When President Bush signs legislation, that comes AFTER McCain votes on it. In addition, President Bush has a very storied history of vetoing almost NO legislation, so if you were to look at Roll Call, you would probably find that almost every piece of legislation that ANY member of Congress voted for was also passed by the President.