I'll say she is "looking" like a smarter selection!! Beauty, brains and conviction!
I'm not starting to sound like a Mitten am I?
Posted on 08/23/2008 2:53:55 PM PDT by Josh Painter
I've already shown how Sarah Palin would be a smart pick by John McCain to be his running mate. In light of recent events, she's looking like a smarter selection .
The announcement made early this morning by the Obama camp that Delaware Senator Joe Biden is Obama's choice to share the Democrat presidential ticket with him sets the stage for McCain to name his own vice presidential nominee. The conventional wisdom seems to be that it will be former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Although I think Romney would be a strong selection, the Biden pick would make Gov. Palin an even stronger one.
Within three hours of news of the Biden selection being aired, Team McCain produced and released this hard-hitting ad with video clips of Biden dissing Obama's inexperience and praising his old friend and Senate colleague, John McCain:
There's no shortage of similar clips from the GOP primariy season depicting Romney attacking McCain and McCain returning fire. A Romney pick would guarantee that the Democrats would use it and effectively cancel out the impact of the McCain ad. But Palin wasn't involved in that fight, so there's no such ammunition for the Obama campaign to use against her. McCain's ad could run from now through election day, and the Democrats would be denied the opportunity to reply in kind. Instead, Biden would be forced to explain his criticism of his own running mate.
One of Romney's strongest assets is economics. He was very successful in the private sector and has won acclaim for turning the Winter Olympics in his home state of Utah around. But to most Americans today, "economics" is translated as "oil". The price of gasoline at the pump and food at the grocery store is what's on their minds. The financial markets and corporate arenas where Romney earned his creds might as well be on a distant planet. Sarah Palin knows all about oil. She's an avid proponent of drilling in ANWR and makes a strong case for it.
But Palin is no stooge of Big Oil. She stood up to the oil companies in her state and pushed through a modest 2.5% increase on the state taxes they pay for their access to Alaska's bountiful oil deposits. That raised the tax from 22.5% to 25%, an amount the companies can pay and still enjoy considerable profits. The oil companies and some of her fellow Republicans had fought against the bill, arguing that the extra 2.5% would would put a damper on future Alaskan oil exploration. That has not been the case. Conservatives don't like tax-raising, but Palin justified the increase by pointing out that the previous 22.5% tax was passed in 2006 under suspicious circumstances. Several members of the legislature that set the amount of that tax were convicted or indicted on federal bribery charges related to the bill. Palin also explained that the '06 tax did not perform as advertised, and she offered as evidence an $800 million shortfall in expected revenue. Whether you agree or disagree with Palin's actions, you have to admit that the Democrats can't paint her as being in the pocket of Big Oil.
Gov. Sarah has also pushed through her legislature a gas pipeline project which will bring a fresh supply and lower prices to those of us in the lower 48:
The legislature had been trying for 30 years to authorize something like this and, up until now, had blown it. Palin got it through. Getting it off the ground, the state says, will be the biggest construction project in U.S. history.In light of the inablity of the U.S. Congress to do anything about our energy problem, voters will be favorably impressed with this "can-do" governor and her determination to move the ball downfield on energy. While others talk the problem to death, Sarah Palin has been doing plenty about it.Palin considers the $26 billion project her biggest accomplishment as governor. "It was not easy," she told IBD. "Alaska has been hoping and dreaming for a natural gas pipeline for decades. What it took was getting off the dime and creating a competitive market in Alaska."
The 1,715-mile gas line would stretch from Alaska's North Slope to Fairbanks and down to Alberta, Canada. Then it would take existing gas lines to Idaho. In 10 years, Palin says, the lower 48 states would receive 4.5 million cubic feet of natural gas a day. By 2030, according to Energy Department estimates, Alaska's annual natgas production would quintuple to 2 trillion cubic feet.
A McCain-Palin ticket would offer hope to Americans angry over our energy dependence on foreign - and often hostile - sources. It would stand in stark contrast to Obama and Biden, both of whom opposed increased domestic drilling. McCain is for drilling offshore, but has yet to be convinced to embrace drilling in ANWR. Sarah Palin is perhaps the only person who could convince him. McCain-Palin could even adopt the theme used by Sarah in her contest for Alaska's governorship - "Energy for America." It's a good one, and it should resonate with American voters who have been strapped for cash by high pump prices, as well as those concerned about America's energy security. Romney, as good as he is on economic matters, just can't relate to American voters on energy issues the way Palin can.
Biden is going to be Obama's attack dog, a role vice presidential picks are usually given so that the presidential candidate's hands don't have to be washed. Can Sarah Palin stand up to the crusty old Senator in a fight? It would be a mistake to write her off. Alaska is a tough place, and it demands much of those who choose to live there. Palin has taken on her own party by fighting corruption and using the line item veto to cut the budget, angering Democrats and entrenched Republicans alike. In a piece for the Weekly Standard last year, Fred Barnes wrote:
In the roughly three years since she quit as the state's chief regulator of the oil industry, Palin has crushed the Republican hierarchy (virtually all male) and nearly every other foe or critic. Political analysts in Alaska refer to the "body count" of Palin's rivals. "The landscape is littered with the bodies of those who crossed Sarah," says pollster Dave Dittman, who worked for her gubernatorial campaign.Don't let that pretty face fool you. She's tough. I'll wager that because she was tough enough to take on Alaska's corrupt pols, she should have no problem with Biden in the VP debate or with bringing the elite Obama down a peg or two.-snip-
Gov. Palin grew up in Wasilla, where as star of her high school basketball team she got the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" for her fierce competitiveness. She led her underdog team to the state basketball championship. Palin also won the Miss Wasilla beauty contest, in which she was named Miss Congeniality, and went on to compete in the Miss Alaska pageant.
Palin has another appeal that Mitt Romney just can't match, and it's through no fault of his. It's a matter of gender. Recent polling shows a problem for Obama:
Perhaps the biggest factor keeping the presidential race close has been Obama’s inability to close the deal with some of Hillary Clinton’s supporters. According to the poll, 52 percent of them say they will vote for Obama, but 21 percent are backing McCain, with an additional 27 percent who are undecided or want to vote for someone else.Obama's decision to choose Biden and stiff Hillary has her supporters even angrier right now. By selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate, McCain would show them that he, unlike Obama, doesn't take women's votes for granted.What’s more, those who backed Clinton in the primaries — but aren’t supporting Obama right now — tend to view McCain in a better light than Obama and have more confidence in McCain’s ability to be commander-in-chief.
The Democrats are touting Joe Biden's blue collar roots, which they will exploit to try to continue to define McCain as so out of touch with the average American that "he doesn't even know how many houses he owns" - nevermind that all members of the Senate are rich, and Biden's compound is not your average American crib. They will tell us how he had to take second and third mortgages on his house to send his kids to college, and they will have many more stories of Biden as the average Joe.
If McCain chooses him, Romney will be portrayed by the Dems, rightly or wrongly, as a zillionaire who's out of touch with average Americans. They can't define Palin that way. Her parents were school teachers. Her husband Todd actually worked for a living in a blue-collar production job for BP on the North Slope for 20 years. And he's a commercial fisherman in the summer. Todd is also something of an Alaska sports legend, having won the gruelling 2,000-mile Iron Dog snowmobile race four times. Oh, and he raises the kids while mom is working as Alaska's CEO. The couple's youngest child has Down's Syndrome, a condition the doctors made them aware of before its birth. Yet they never even considered abortion, and they say the baby is "a blessing." The story marks a stunning contrast to the pro-abortion positions of Obama and Biden. Palin is also a lifetime member of the NRA, an organization which has given Biden an F-rating. He even boasted that he wrote the language contained in the assault weapons bill. Romney's record on gun control is shaky, while Palin's is rock solid. America'a 80 million gun owners will love her.
The Palin family is a great story waiting to be told to the lower 48 if McCain is wise enough to pick Sarah. Even the drive-by media will be fascinated by it and eager to tell it. As good as Mitt Romney is as a vice-presidential choice, Palin is even better.
-JP
prisoner6
B.S. Find an American Margaret Thatcher or a Jeane Kirkpatrick and you'd have a winner.
Don’t fool yourself, she is a much better speaker and more sure of herself than McCain.
All you have to do is hear her speak.
“America is not ready for a woman to lead this country! Sorry but her gender disqualifies her.”
That’s bullClinton.
We would be ready for the right woman. It’s the Dems who like to divide people by their race and gender. Conservatives judge people on their merits.
I'll say she is "looking" like a smarter selection!! Beauty, brains and conviction!
I'm not starting to sound like a Mitten am I?
You make a very good point about the democrats using Romney’s own words to attack McCain.
However, I think Romney’s likely performance between now and the election is the most most important factor to consider. The VP candidate must:
1) Have a very good grasp of the issues so that he/she can respond instantly and credibly to democratic attacks and hostile questions from the media. It doens’t matter as much to me that Romney has changed positions. I think it is more important that the VP candidate he be able to put the democrats and the media in their place quickly and decisively when necessary.
2) Must be able to win the debate. I think undecideds will watch the debate. Most undecideds in my view are heavily influenced by the debate performance and less so by past positions. Since they are less engaged, they tend to believe what the candidates are saying today, if it is said well and convincingly.
I readily admit that Romney is not ideal. The bottom line for me is that I think Romney will kick ass between now and the election and I am not sure about Palin. I am more concerned about what the VP nominee is able to actually do between now and November and less about ideal suitability. The reason I think that way is that I think performance between now and November is more important if we want to win. And the ultimate goal is to stop Obama.
How come all you there newbies are not liking Palin?
I find that rather odd.
By the way, your comment is offensive.
Agree with you on every point except this one. How about, "..the drive-by media will be frustrated by it and reluctant to tell it. There... now your whole article is spot on.
You might also mention that Biden is the very definition of the expression "pompous ass". I'm certain that in a debate with Palin, his condescension would be evident in full force and would turn off the female vote en masse. A 40 state landslide would not be out of the question.
“She’s pregnant but I don’t know when she’s due”
She gave birth about 2 months ago.
I totally agree with your post!
Sorry about that. I see others have informed you of her baby’s birth.
Makes me wonder if he’s from one of the DU & Kos sleeper cells that have been activated here recently.
He looked good too. Young and conservative, with lots of experience. I think folks in their thirties and forties just aren't seasoned enough to be President or VP.
I believe the last thing those DU-KOS type folks would like is to have McCain pick a smart, lovely lady with principles, on McCain’s ticket.
They want him to pick another old guy to make the GOP ticket look all OLD and out of touch!
You’re right. I think Precisionshooter was looking for 50 posts agreeing with him so the lefties could call FReepers “woman-haters.”
You could be right, but Quayle’s problem was articulation not experience. If he was not a bumbling fool when it came to speaking he would have made a pretty good president.
Experience in a VP is not as important for McCain. He certainly is not lacking in gravitas. What he is lacking in is youthful vigor. Palin looks vigorous....yup she does.
LOL
Conviction indeed
She is under investigation right now for abuse of power and some other issues dealing with State law.
If you want - go ahead - take her...
A lot of folks would be glad to see her go.
Just make sure you take hubby as well.
And she will debate well. All she needs to know is where McCain stands and how wrong Obama's view is - and have a sense of humor. Huckabee won a lot of people over with his humor. Sometimes we lose perspective and don't realize there are no rules here. Reagan won with humor as well :-)
Just a hunch..I could be wrong...Romney supporter? They always seem to have the dirt on every possible conservative alternative.
Sorta like Clintonistas...eliminate the threat.
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