So, with all due respect to her fans, I still have no idea what to make of Sarah Palin. She absolutely fascinates me as a woman, but I'm having a hard time seeing her as anything but a disaster as a candidate. The convention will determine how well she's received by the public at large, but at the moment, it's not looking good: in tracking polls covering the day of Palin's pick until now, Obama's trending upward all around. The Gallup poll has him at his highest numbers ever, and McCain unfavorables have reached their highest point. That campaign is completely in defense mode over all of the bits coming out, and I think that they deserve to be. The New York Times is reporting (from campaign sources) that the McCain team didn't begin vetting her until Thursday, after McCain's favored choices of Lieberman and Tom Ridge developed too much bad buzz over their abortion stances. McCain met her that day, and picked her shortly thereafter. I don't think I'm being overly partisan in saying that that's a shockingly slipshod way to choose a Vice President.
It's also put them way off message, and into some shady territory with regard to the truth. The McCain campaign denies that she was ever part of the Alaska Independence Party, an Alaska secessionist group, despite the group's contention that she was for two years and YouTube video of her address to the group's convention this year (there's debate about whether she was actually a member, but her husband certainly has been). Frankly, if Obama or Joe Biden had been recent supporters of a group seeking to extricate themselves from the United States...well, even this crazy liberal probably wouldn't vote for them. Her credentials as a reformer are also highly questionable: apparently she was for the bridge to nowhere before she was against it when it became unpopular, but the state still took that money, so there's not really any difference from a taxpayer perspective. She also ran up huge debts as the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. Most gallingly, McCain's campaign manager is blaming the criticism on sexism:
"Because of Hillary Clinton's historic run for the presidency and the treatment she received, American women are more highly tuned than ever to recognize and decry sexism in all its forms. They will not tolerate sexist treatment of Gov. Palin."
A Wall Street Journal opinion piece by McCain's spokesman is titled: "Ignore the Chauvinists. Palin Has Real Experience.", without citing any incidents of chauvanism. I have no doubt that there's plenty of that in America in 2008, but crying wolf on the topic as a political move...it bugs me.
I'm not trying to be a dick about Palin, I'm really not, and I understand her appeal...but there are serious, serious questions raised by this person's candidacy. You could say the same about Barack Obama, but America has had plenty of time to decide on him. People have had every opportunity, including voting in massive numbers, to decide if his level of experience and background are appropriate. They've not been given the same opportunity with Sarah Palin, which is why I find the rallying around her a little cynical. I understand wanting to win, but absolutely nothing that I've seen convinces me that Palin is ready to become president, by the exact standards of those who are now supporting her. Here's the other thing: in spite of all of the stuff about her family, I also have no reason to believe that she's not a decent, hardworking, public servant. She's gonna have to do a lot better than that, though, before this is over.
Also: I'm not allowed to have tequila anymore. That's not related in any way, but I'm putting it out there wherever I can.
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