Karl Christian Rove is apparently part of the the McCain Presidential Campaign "brain" trust, so you know he had to have had SOME input on choosing Alaska Governor and former mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, Sarah Palin as McCain's running mate. Being that McCain had previously only met Palin once before asking her to be his running mate, good ol' Karl has to have his slimy fingerprints all over this stroke-of-(NOT) genius decision!
Not that consistency in words or actions is Mr. Rove's or his party's forte, but before Barack Obama chose Joe Biden as his running mate, when there was talk of possibly choosing Tim Kaine, the Governor of Virginia, as the Dem's VP nominee, our Mr. Rove had this to say when he was interviewed on Face The Nation (as you read his words, think about McCain's choice of Palin):
Not that consistency in words or actions is Mr. Rove's or his party's forte, but before Barack Obama chose Joe Biden as his running mate, when there was talk of possibly choosing Tim Kaine, the Governor of Virginia, as the Dem's VP nominee, our Mr. Rove had this to say when he was interviewed on Face The Nation (as you read his words, think about McCain's choice of Palin):
With all due respect again to Governor Kaine, he’s been a governor for three years, he’s been able but undistinguished. I don’t think people could really name a big, important thing that he’s done. He was mayor of the 105th largest city in America. And again, with all due respect to Richmond, Virginia, it’s smaller than Chula Vista, California; Aurora, Colorado; Mesa or Gilbert, Arizona; north Las Vegas or Henderson, Nevada. It’s not a big town. So if he were to pick Governor Kaine, it would be an intensely political choice where he said, `You know what? I’m really not, first and foremost, concerned with, is this person capable of being president of the United States?'
(Thanks to Crooks & Liars for this quote.)
I wonder how good ol' Karl justifies McCain's blatantly & "intensely political choice" of Palin? Just wait, he'll whip up some half-baked double-talk to try to convince us that we don't see what we know we see.
According to the 2000 US Census, Wasilla, Alaska had a population of 5,469; Richmond, Virginia had a population of 197,790 (that's 36 times larger than Wasilla). The state of Alaska had 626,932 people in 2000 compared to the state of Virginia's population of 7,078,515 (11 times more people than in Alaska). I wonder if that concerns Karl at all??? Wait--I forgot--we're talking about Karl "I-Have-THE-Math" Rove; of course, he's not concerned.
According to the 2000 US Census, Wasilla, Alaska had a population of 5,469; Richmond, Virginia had a population of 197,790 (that's 36 times larger than Wasilla). The state of Alaska had 626,932 people in 2000 compared to the state of Virginia's population of 7,078,515 (11 times more people than in Alaska). I wonder if that concerns Karl at all??? Wait--I forgot--we're talking about Karl "I-Have-THE-Math" Rove; of course, he's not concerned.
So, according to Karl's "logic," and considering he is so intimately involved in the McCain campaign, you HAVE to assume that John McCain, in picking his running mate, must have been thinking, "You know what? I’m really not, first and foremost, concerned with, is this person capable of being president of the United States."
Bottom line (for me), McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate was more than an "intensely political choice", it was a pure desperation move in an attempt to woo all those former Hillary voters who were disappointed that she didn't win the Democratic nomination & to shore up his support amongst the far right social conservatives. He might be right about making the fundies happy, but McCain must think that the only thing that matters to the Hillary voters is the gender of the candidate & that Palin's stance on the issues is irrelevant, because Sarah Palin & Hillary Clinton disagree on 95% of the time (only an estimate based on what I've seen so far on Palin's political stances thus far).
Being that Palin is a true dyed-in-the-wool Pat Buchanan-loving right-winger, John McCain knows that his choice for VP will give the ultra-conservatives of his party (who aren't necessarily ecstatic about him personally) a convenient case of the warm-and-fuzzies while probably believing he's getting a two-fer in throwing a bone to the Clinton supporters by showing that he's firmly in touch with his post-feminist side.
If there really are any true-blue Clinton supporters who intend to vote for the McCain/Palin ticket on the sole basis that one of the candidates possesses two X chromosomes (especially considering Barack Obama's and Joe Biden's longtime REAL support for women's rights), then they (1) must not care that Palin says she can't stand Hillary Clinton's "whining"; (2) were never really paying attention to and/or don't care about what Hillary stood/stands for; and (3) were never really considering voting for Obama/Biden in the first place.
Oh yeah, and that line that the McCain campaign loves using about being ready to lead on "Day One" as a way to make people believe that Obama somehow ISN'T ready, has REALLY gone out the window with the choice of Palin, as has the last vestige of the illusion that John McCain has the judgment necessary to effectively lead the world's only superpower. On military & foreign policy issues, Sarah Palin makes Barack Obama look like Henry Kissinger!
How hollow now ring the words of another of the McCain campaign's favorite taglines, "Country First"? This desperate move belies the patriotic theme that the Republicans have tried to hone to a fine art & reveals the same old tired, ugly hypocrisy of just another politician whose real objective is the same as it ever was: "Election First". The Rove/Bush political playbook obviously hasn't changed much since the glory days of the 2000 and 2004 elections: fire up the true-believers & the foot soldiers on the fringe right, while playing "Divide & Conquer" in an attempt to pick up a few of what the Republicans see as the sore losers on the other side intent on cutting their noses off to spite their faces. For most of us, of course, this single choice removes all doubt that in 2008, for the Republicans, it is still, still, still, Party Before Country; all the manufactured impassioned insistence to the contrary reminds me of the line by Shakespeare in Macbeth--"a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
In reading one of the online Alaska newspapers, the Anchorage Daily News, I thought it was telling how Alaska's Republican State Senate President, Lyda Green (who is from Wasilla) and presumably knows the state's governor pretty well (almost certainly MUCH better than John McCain knows her), greeted the news of Palin being McCain's Chosen One: "She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president?" Ouch! That's gotta hurt!
Democratic Party strategist, Paul Begala, was spot-on when he wrote for CNN:
Sept. 1, 2008 P.S. John Kerry says McCain's choice of Palin shows that McCain is a "prisoner of the Right Wing" of his party.
Being that Palin is a true dyed-in-the-wool Pat Buchanan-loving right-winger, John McCain knows that his choice for VP will give the ultra-conservatives of his party (who aren't necessarily ecstatic about him personally) a convenient case of the warm-and-fuzzies while probably believing he's getting a two-fer in throwing a bone to the Clinton supporters by showing that he's firmly in touch with his post-feminist side.
If there really are any true-blue Clinton supporters who intend to vote for the McCain/Palin ticket on the sole basis that one of the candidates possesses two X chromosomes (especially considering Barack Obama's and Joe Biden's longtime REAL support for women's rights), then they (1) must not care that Palin says she can't stand Hillary Clinton's "whining"; (2) were never really paying attention to and/or don't care about what Hillary stood/stands for; and (3) were never really considering voting for Obama/Biden in the first place.
Oh yeah, and that line that the McCain campaign loves using about being ready to lead on "Day One" as a way to make people believe that Obama somehow ISN'T ready, has REALLY gone out the window with the choice of Palin, as has the last vestige of the illusion that John McCain has the judgment necessary to effectively lead the world's only superpower. On military & foreign policy issues, Sarah Palin makes Barack Obama look like Henry Kissinger!
How hollow now ring the words of another of the McCain campaign's favorite taglines, "Country First"? This desperate move belies the patriotic theme that the Republicans have tried to hone to a fine art & reveals the same old tired, ugly hypocrisy of just another politician whose real objective is the same as it ever was: "Election First". The Rove/Bush political playbook obviously hasn't changed much since the glory days of the 2000 and 2004 elections: fire up the true-believers & the foot soldiers on the fringe right, while playing "Divide & Conquer" in an attempt to pick up a few of what the Republicans see as the sore losers on the other side intent on cutting their noses off to spite their faces. For most of us, of course, this single choice removes all doubt that in 2008, for the Republicans, it is still, still, still, Party Before Country; all the manufactured impassioned insistence to the contrary reminds me of the line by Shakespeare in Macbeth--"a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
In reading one of the online Alaska newspapers, the Anchorage Daily News, I thought it was telling how Alaska's Republican State Senate President, Lyda Green (who is from Wasilla) and presumably knows the state's governor pretty well (almost certainly MUCH better than John McCain knows her), greeted the news of Palin being McCain's Chosen One: "She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president?" Ouch! That's gotta hurt!
Democratic Party strategist, Paul Begala, was spot-on when he wrote for CNN:
For months, the McCainiacs have said they will run on his judgment and experience. In his first presidential decision, John McCain has shown that he is willing to endanger his country, potentially leaving it in the hands of someone who simply has no business being a heartbeat away from the most powerful, complicated, difficult job in human history.As for the VP debate that is scheduled to take place on October 2 at Washington University in St. Louis, it should be interesting to see Joe Biden & Sarah Palin on stage together discussing the important issues of the day, and explaining why they each feel qualified to be, as Paul put it, "a heartbeat from" the ultimate job promotion.
Sept. 1, 2008 P.S. John Kerry says McCain's choice of Palin shows that McCain is a "prisoner of the Right Wing" of his party.
3 comments:
Am in total agreement, Mister C!
I was talking with a some friends about this, and we al knew the Republicans had to dig deep and do what they could to grab some of the Clinton votes.
And choosing a woman is one way to do it, but I dont think it is going to work
The problem is Palin, doesn't have the look that Clinton had. Hillary has this look about her, that is all I can describe it as, and Palin just doesnt have it.
Hillary had appeal (well to some she did).
Palin looks like she is that evil HoA bitch that is constantly reporting you for the grass being too long.
With each step the McCain campaign makes to try and win my vote, it seems that they actually sway me closer to Obama. ( I am still undecided as I want Mufasa to be President ).
Great Write-up Mr. C!
McCain's choice for VP is an insult to women and to the American people. Does he think we are that uneducated and ignorant? No matter what Palin has done or said, or is going to do... would have McCain have "picked" Palin if Obama HAD chose Clinton? Or, if the acceptance of Sen. Obama's nomination for president was not so powerful? I mean, good gracious, McCain had to pull something out of his hat after that history making, tear flowing night. Who cares who sang there or who made the stage? It was not those things that made the history or made people cry at the very hope that the shackles of the last 8 years (longer for some) would slide off… that created the strength of the night. It was the words, actions and gut feeling that Obama is NOT full of shit and means every word that he speaks AND will make good on all that he is able to, that made that night. In any case, the choice was not for the good of the people or because she was the best candidate for his VP slot, it was solely to try and obtain the women/Clinton vote. I believe however, this will backfire on senior, oh I mean, sen. McCain. Come on M, give us gal's and American people some credit for breathing. Jesus..
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