Posted on 08/30/2008 6:35:39 PM PDT by ventanax5
True, Palin brings traditional political strengths—such as gun enthusiasm and a pro-life record—to the ticket. Her fight against self-dealing in Alaskan politics counters the inside-the-Beltway corruption that damaged the Republicans in the 2006 elections. And her stance on drilling for Alaskan oil admirably bolsters the Republican Party platform on energy issues. But admit it, fellow conservatives: none of these attributes pushed her over the top. Your enthusiasm for her is driven in large measure by the fact that the McCain camp has beaten the Democrats at their own game, and in so doing, driven Obama’s moment of glory off the wires.
Republican strategists openly hope that Palin will attract disaffected Hillary Clinton voters, who believe that they had a right to a woman in the White House. There are, alas, many women who are pathetic enough to put gender above politics, for whom a candidate’s stand on substantive issues matters less than her reproductive plumbing. But just because such voters are out there doesn’t mean that the GOP can cater to them without permanently compromising its principles.
(Excerpt) Read more at city-journal.org ...
Yeah, I identify with her principles.
Amen!
Same here.
Exactly. I'm happy to have her on the ticket.
If McCain wanted to play identity politics alone, there are many Republican women with more experiences than Palin. Unlike Palin, many of them are not conservative.
Liberals can’t understand why their opponents won’t stand still while they castrate them.
Sour grapes. It’s okay to vote for Obama because he is black, but it’s not okay to vote for Palin because she is a woman?
She honestly was the best possible choice avaiable. Pawlenty is boring as hell and adds nothing. Rmoney was my first choice because I thought he added a lot electorially (MI, CO, NV), economic experience, and experienced debater and good campaigner. That said, he came with some baggage - questionable record in MA, previous liberal views and ‘two rich white guys’ syndrome. Condi, Kay Baily H Lieberman too liberal. Meg Whitman or Carly Fiorino are green to government. This lady is a fiesty campaigner a true conservative a real life reformer, and very likable. The Dems also can’t paint this team as Bush/Cheney II.
Solid conservative.
Strong moral fiber.
Yea, that’s an identity I like.
What a loser this bozo is.
Whole big bucket of stupid just in the excerpt. The fact of the matter is, you would have seen an exodous from the McCain camp had he picked Olympia Snowe. There wouldn’t have been any way I would have held my nose for that ticket.
I Sarah was Steve Palin with the same resume, I'd take him over any Washington insider.
but the point is, why pick a woman at all if what you want is a dynamic conservative.
I=If
[snip]
Ironically, Barack Obama stood up to the diversity imperative in selecting Joe Biden as his running mate.
I wish to respond to this nonsense, but I feel a sudden urge to hurl.....
Heather should stick to what she does best, attacking the illegal immigration invasiton, and stop with the psycho-babble.
Palin is an Alaskan John McCain. She is very much a maverick and a real change agent. If you look across the board at all of the current Republican governors (the only acceptable choices for VP), I can think of only one who can match Palin for the intensity of her reformist agenda: Mark Sanford.
Unfortunately, Sanford can't give a decent speech and, when choosing between Sanford and Palin, sure, go with the woman.
I had that initial reservation also, but I’ve really come to appreciate that Sarah Palin is in touch with the real world and not a lifelong bureaucrat.
The Alaska GOP running Ted Stevens again just about made me through in the towel for good on the GOP. But Palin’s record of holding government accountable gives me a little hope.
Should she have to assume the Presidency, the administration will be in place, the administrations course will have been set.
I think the upside outweighs the downside. I’m actually more worried about McCain and his attitude towards illegal aliens and open borders than I am worried about Palin. She strikes me as someone who gets it.
McCain just dropped a nuke on the dems with this choice.
Of course, she graduated from Yale University, studying literary deconstructionism and worked for Judge Stephen Reinhardt in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circus, which is pretty much a lock on being Democrat to the bone.
Other than Cantor, she was more Conservative than everyone who was on the list as being vetted, but she her executive experience puts her ahead of choosing Cantor.
The only satisfaction I take in her gender at all is that it hoists the libtards on their own petard.
Or... hoists them on their own libtards.
No kidding. Till Palin, I was going to write in Ronald Reagan. I’m tired of approving anybody the Reps. send me just because the other side is so much worse. Every election has its issues. This time, our troops are in Iraq and Afghanistan. Of course that was a concern. But now, I will have NO problem voting McCain.
We put a governor and a principled conservative on the ticket - and someone that is a fresh face outside of the entrenched political establishment. That’s adhering to our principles, not compromising them. The fact we found those qualities in woman is just icing on the cake given the Hillary situation, but was not why many of us primarily dreamed she would be added to the ticket.
This writer is way off base.
Good one. I’ll have to remember that..
And who were the dynamic conservatives in the field?
meh....Whatever, Heather.
I did read the whole article and that is not the point of the article. The article glosses over her conservative credentials and implies that this was just an interchangable female/affirmative action pick which it clearly is not. If the only goal here was to placate the hillary/female vote I again submit that Olympia Snowe would have been the better choice as Snowe is also a woman and carries many of the same viewpoints that Hillary does. She also brings a lot more experience and probably more upper east coast votes and money.
As to your question; Why not? A female/ minority President/ VP are inevitable, so why not now.
If McCain had picked Mitt, Pawlenty or Lieberman, the MSM would have wondered why he hadn’t picked a true blue conservative as Palin. We just can’t win with the liberal media.
No kidding - we’ve been talking about her successful career here for several years on this forum - since 2002 at least, long before she was governor - and the fact she was a strong leader who had no bones about standing up against the establishment wherever she was serving was the catalyst for the interest in her - not “look - there’s a female!”
What are Palin’s views on reducing the size of govt? What about illegal immigration / amnesty? What about CFR? What about reforming SS - Medicare? Inquiring minds want to know.
< /GROVER >
Pretty certain Kay Baily Hutchinson wouldn’t be getting this response.
Can’t name many women that would. The support goes far beyond her sex.
>Palin is an Alaskan John McCain.<
That is an insult to her. I can’t find a trace of socialism in her character.
Is that supposed to make sense? A woman can't be a dynamic conservative?
The contention that Governor Palin is unqualified is rot. She does have reasonable executive experience in the political arena --- certainly far more than the non-existent political executive record of Senator Obama.
Also, the author fails to see that certain positions can indeed be categorical for some voters: Governor Palin's unequivocal support for the Second Amendment is critical to voters such as myself. Senator Dole, certainly a seasoned politician, fell in many people's eyes because of his betrayal of the Second Amendment community in 1996.
Palin's veto ax lops $268 million from budget [May 24th, 2008]
Second year in row that she cut the budget till the Alaskan legislators bled from their eyes.
Maybe she would move to our state and become governor...
Hmm...encouraging read. However it would be more encouraging if mention were made of her reducing govt spending PERIOD rather than arbitrary earmarks. This better not be another case of a GOP member that’s simply “slowing the growth of govt more so than that of a Rat.”
Nice theory, but what more qualified male candidate did McCain pass over? Mitt is the only one I can even see an argument for and Mitt opens the window for commercials featuring his comment about McCain during the primary season. The rest, Joe, no thanks I guess I should have said what qualified Republican. Huck, that might have caused me to stay home. Ridge, let’s be serious here part of the qualifications is to be able to give a stump speech. Fred, as strange as it seemed for an actor, see Ridge. Pawlenty, another not very exciting speaker who would be taking the same criticism today as Governor Palin. I could go on and mention laughable candidates like Paul by why waste the key strokes.
McCain need a VP:
1. who was a state wide office holder, people who have not won statewide office are not qualified,
2. who would energize the base,
3. who might attract some independents or deliver a state,
4. who came from outside of the Beltway
5. and who would be an effective campaigner.
Usually particularly with criteria 2 and 3 you must sacrifice one for the other. But Governor Palin meets all of the criteria. Then as Kirsten Powers points out:
this inexperience issue is a trap for the Obama campaign. As documented in the Redstate “Tale of the Tape:
http://www.redstate.com/diaries/redstate/2008/aug/30/tale-of-the-tape-sarah-palin-vs-barack-obam/
When Obama was first elected to the Illinois state Senate in 1997, Governor Palin had already been running a town for a year and had held elective office for 5 years. And every time the Dims compain about Governor Palin’s experience, they will be reminding the voters of the inexperience at the top of their ticket.
“What happened was McCain betrayed his moderate principles and brought in a Conservative on the ticket. A Conservative, by the way, with more executive experience than McCain, Biden, and Obama combined. A Conservative with more executive experience than Margaret Thatcher when she became PM of the UK.”
You got it exactly right. Will Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman ever forgive John for picking a real genuine conservative? Can the Republican Party be rescued from the RINOs? The soap opera continues.
Thanks President McCain!
Love it!
Now, now. Heather MacDonald is one of the good guys. Let her sound off.
No, the point is if you pick a dynamic conservative why does it matter if they are a woman or a man?
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