How Palin Could Help

realclearpolitics.com ^ | September 01, 2008 | David Broder

[neverdem]

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- This one was really different.

John McCain has flummoxed the leaders of his Republican Party and most of the media by picking Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. It's a choice no other candidate conceivably could have made -- a typical McCain gamble, unpredictable in its consequences.

The least plausible part of the McCain camp's scenario for Palin is the hope that she will help capture dissident Hillary Clinton voters. If my reporting in New Hampshire and Colorado is right, there were fewer of those voters -- even before the Democratic convention...

--snip--

The two-step reaction is best capsulized in the comments of a very smart veteran campaign operative, a New Hampshire delegate and early Mitt Romney supporter, who told me: "When I first heard, I was appalled. I thought we had forfeited the election. But then I got a call from my 22-year-old daughter. She's a pro-choice voter, just like I am. But she was very excited and enthused by this choice. She is captivated by Palin's life story, the way she has taken on the odds. She may be more acute than I am."

That's the reaction McCain is counting on, not just among Republicans but, importantly, among independents and women, where most of the undecided votes are. And without realizing it, Obama may have boosted the odds on this gamble paying off.

Obama began his campaign for the nomination as the outsider candidate, promising fundamental change in Washington and offering a post-partisan approach to politics. With time, he has come to be seen as a much more conventional Democrat, now half of a ticket based in Congress, the least admired institution in a widely scorned capital. Millions who saw his acceptance speech heard a standard recital of liberal Democratic programs...

[FlingWingFlyer]

Hence, the panic in Camp Obama. Soros wants a return on his investment and it just got a lot harder for Obama to deliver.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Interesting about the pro-choice voter and her pro-choice daughter being excited about Palin.

I think that the liberals pander to voters in some ways. For example, it’s an insulting simplistic pander to assume that women voters are concerned mainly or only with abortion rights. It’s a simplistic pander to assume that black voters are only concerned with race or affirmative action type programs.

So these women, who don’t agree with Sarah on the abortion question, will give her due consideration.

John Kerry said that women voters won’t be seduced by Sarah Palin on the Republican ticket. He’s right that LIBERAL DEMOCRAT women won’t vote for McCain/Palin in big numbers. But most women aren’t the rigid liberal / radical type.

And to think that Democratic operatives such as Mark Penn from Hillary’s campaign expected to get lots of support from Republican women if Hillary was the Democrat nominee. They would have expected Republican women to cross over and support the sisterhood of the traveling pantsuit in the person of Hillary, yet deny that anything of the sort could happen with Democrat women crossing over to vote McCain/Palin.

Will be intersting to see where this all goes.

[sourcery]

We may well have a sequel of the 2000 election: Soros/LoserDem II.

[Question Liberal Authority]

John McCain has flummoxed the leaders of his Republican Party

The Republican Party has leaders? Well, they were certainly doing a bang-up job before the Palin pick.

[John Valentine]

The Democrats' great advantage is that they are not responsible for the pain and frustration that many voters have suffered in the Bush years.

Not responsible? Not responsible?

Run that by me again. Democrats are not responsible?

I suppose that's true in the sense that the Democrats are irresponsible. But in the sense that Broder unquestionably meant the remark, it is complete nonsense.

Democrats and their wrong-headed social engineering are almost solely responsible for virtually all the ills that beset us as a nation.

[FlingWingFlyer]

You’ve got that right. It’s time for Boy Soros to “MoveOn” to some other country. He’s not getting this one. It’s ours.

[Nick Danger]

How else Palin Could Help

I am stunned by the way that Governor Palin has sucked the oxygen out of the Obama campaign. Since Friday it's been all-Palin, all the time. Now comes Hurricane Gustav... but that's just one more thing that's blowing the O-man off the stage.

I'm sure that Obama and Whatsisname were out campaigning somewhere today; has anyone heard a word about it? Between the hurricane, the RNC, and noise about Palin, Obama can't get a word in edgewise.

[Question Liberal Authority]

John Kerry said that women voters won’t be seduced by Sarah Palin on the Republican ticket.

Everything John Kerry knows about seducing women voters you could put in a thimble, and you'd still have enough room left over for everything that John Kerry knows about selecting an effective running mate.

[Question Liberal Authority]

"But Biden combines his working-class background with decades of experience in being completely wrong about foreign policy "

[healy61]

I can’t believe you called whatsisname, whatsisname. I think he just attained the street name of “the old white wrinkly guy - whatsisname.”

[irishjuggler]

So these women, who don’t agree with Sarah on the abortion question, will give her due consideration. John Kerry said that women voters won’t be seduced by Sarah Palin on the Republican ticket. He’s right that LIBERAL DEMOCRAT women won’t vote for McCain/Palin in big numbers. But most women aren’t the rigid liberal / radical type.

A couple nights ago, a local TV station interviewed a lesbian couple in Oakland, CA, for their reactions to the Palin selection. Both women described themselves as "pro-choice Hillary supporters." Unbelievably (at least to me), both said that they were impressed with Palin and were leaning toward voting for McCain-Palin. Now, perhaps abortion is less of a concern among pro-choice lesbians than pro-choice heterosexual women because lesbians are naturally less likely to have unwanted pregnancies, but it was nonetheless interesting that these ladies were open to the idea of voting for McCain-Palin.

[genghis]

People are badly underestimating this woman.
She has an amazing record of accomplishment, an 80 % approval rating as governor. She beat two incumbent govs with no money and not party backing. She runs on a strictly conservative platform.
She got 73% of the vote in her last election for mayor.
Think about how many tough problems she faced being mayor of a small town for 10 years- she just delivered at the same time obama was listening to wright, meeting with ayers, blowing 100 mill on god knows what. She is going to make the libs pray for reagan and bush.
obama wants to raise taxes and kill babies, sarah wants to raise babies and kill taxes.

[JLS]

So David Broder join the refrain. Altogether now:

Lost in the Beltway again
Yes I’m lost in the Beltway again
I can no longer think
So that just leaves me drink
Oh I’m lost in the Beltway again

Seriously, Governor Palin as McCain’s VEEP pick was discussed almost to ad nauseum on the internet and even on some cable networks.

She was not necessarily the favorite, but her strengths and weaknesses we clearly known. Many recognized she was the best pick for McCain though we worried he would not see it. And I think the results since he picked her bear out that we and he were right.

So what is it about these Beltway pundits including some on the right? Do they not have the internet inside the Beltway? Are DirectTV/Dishnetwork and cable TV not available? Or do they just think they are so smart, they should not check out what the peons are thinking or talking about?

[Question Liberal Authority]

The Democrats' great advantage is that they are not responsible for the pain and frustration that many voters have suffered in the Bush years.

Where does he get this stuff? The problem with the Democrats is that they ARE responsible for the pain and frustration of the Bush years. They're the ones who made gas so expensive by sucking up to the eco-whackos, hoping to blame it on Republicans. They're the ones who turned Iraq into a quagmire, hoping to turn it into Bush's albatross.

Palin can effectively argue those points, and other Republicans might see her example and join the fight. Even Maverick John McCain.

[FlingWingFlyer]

obama wants to raise taxes and kill babies, sarah wants to raise babies and kill taxes.

I hadn't heard it put that way before. :o)

[Question Liberal Authority]

I'm sure that Obama and Whatsisname were out campaigning somewhere today; has anyone heard a word about it?

I did. Obama let Biden do most of the talking. Biden said Sarah Palin was better looking than he is. Some lady from the audience said she thought Biden was hot, and Biden flirted with her awkwardly.

If that's not Change You Can Believe In, I don't know what is.

[Vanders9]

I think Palin is a very clever choice as running mate. McCain really pulled that one out of left field (well, right field actually).

I worry somewhat that she might be too clever a choice, that she is so obviously an attempt to woo women voters; counter Obama’s youth; shore up conservative republican support; and so on, that it might be seen by the electorate as being manipulative.

[neverdem]

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[kingattax]

isn’t it interesting to see how the obwana camp and the libRATS are now focusing all their energy attacking palin and not mccain ? that proves how much sarah has scared the heck out of em.