This will be my usual inelegant "fast grab, cut & paste"-- I will follow up with two more replies to get the ball rolling.
Palin pick already yielding rhetorical dividends?
See, this is why journos in the bag for Obama should await the royal talking points before opening their dullard yaps. CNN’s John Roberts: Palin Too Young and Inexperienced:
During the 9 a.m. EDT hour of “CNN Newsroom,” “American Morning” co-anchor John Roberts gave an analysis of Governor Sarah Palin during discussion of Senator John McCain’s vice presidential choice. Roberts focused on Palin’s lack of experience, saying that a prerequisite for the vice presidency should be the ability to step right into the office, especially because of McCain’s age. Roberts stated [...] “she’s the youngest governor ever in Alaska’s history, and she’s the first woman. She’s only been in office for a couple of years now, which really raises the experience issue here.”
Leave aside for the moment the dissonance of pretending to worry about Palin’s “inexperience” should she be forced (by the death of a fossilized McCain) into the Presidency when you haven’t offered the same argument for a man with even less executive experience getting the job outright; that probably has to do with her being “the first woman” governor or something equally patriarchal.
But in making this argument — that a 72-year old candidate is almost certain to kick while in office — what you have further done is begun alienating aging boomers who will soon be McCain’s age, questioning their worth and viability, throwing into doubt their general competence.
– Which means Roberts has managed to 1) highlight the inexperience of the Dem candidate for president by going after the inexperience of the Republican candidate for vice president; 2) has managed to make an implied argument that the inexperience of a woman is somehow more dangerous than the inexperience of a man, or a man of (half) color; and 3) has managed to make an ageist argument that could, at some level, get aging Dem Boomers to believe that their party thinks of them as prop voters, necessary for victory, but after that, to be set afloat on an ice chunk and allowed to drift off serenely into the great political beyond.
Add to that the calculus that many Hillary supporters will be thinking, “that should have been Hillary!” and what we have here is a perfect storm of identity politics for the Dems to try to steer their shiny yacht through safely.
Of course, the wildcard here is that female Democrats who detest Obama’s shiny empty banality will be forced to bite the bullet for him just to prevent the GOP from getting elected the first female VP. But I’m not sure that’s enough to counteract moderates who may now swing heavily in favor of McCain.
At any rate, the lines of attack should prove instructive — and, for the Dem’s sake, let’s hope they’re a bit better thought out than those offered by CNN’s John Roberts. Who really should wait for the next “Obama Action Alert” before he decides to speak again publicly.
For the narrative consistency and all.
O!
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update: Wait, why can’t women have both a career and children? What, you want to see them barefoot and in the kitchen?
YES WE CAN!
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update 2: David Harsanyi calls Palin “the libertarian vp candidate.” Which might could just temper McCain’s progressivism — even if she has to bat her pretty li’l eyes to get his macho in check…
The Bright Side
Paul and I have already voiced our concerns about John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin for Vice-President. Now it's time to look at the upside. In fact, there is a lot to like about Palin. To begin with, her nomination provoked a typically mean-spirited reaction from the Obama campaign:
Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency.
Of course, "zero foreign policy experience" describes Obama, too, unless giving ill-informed campaign speeches constitutes "experience." So maybe, in the end, Palin will highlight Obama's lack of qualifications rather than undermining McCain's critique of them. Maybe.
Then, too, Palin's selection was probably the only one that could drive Obama's speech last night off the front pages. Just in time, perhaps, as the Obama bounce is now up to 8 points if you believe Gallup. (That tends to support the conclusion that Obama is an effective demagogue.)
Palin could help McCain with several demographics, like the pageant community. Here she is as Miss Wasilla 1984:
News reports indicate that the crowd in Dayton, Ohio responded enthusiastically to references to Palin as an athlete. She was the point guard on a state champion basketball team:
I think McCain has pretty much got the hunter/fisherman demographic sewn up, but Palin will certainly be a plus there, too:
She is a big supporter of the troops, and her oldest son is headed for Iraq:
I like this one; Palin is the one with the gun. Unlike Michael Dukakis, she actually knows how to fire it:
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I think voters will like the whole Palin family. Her husband Todd is a commercial fisherman and also works in oil production on the North Slope. I think this photo is of Sarah working on the family's fishing boat; I'm told that as Governor, she still does that on weekends:
Todd Palin is a union member and a world-class snowmobile racer; here they are at a race:
A lot of voters are going to find this image appealing. I certainly do. In general, Palin's strengths seem to reinforce McCain's, but she could help a bit with blue-collar voters.
Substantively, Palin is a legitimate reformer. She killed the "bridge to nowhere," which is probably the only pork project most voters have heard of. She is a solid conservative and, perhaps best of all, she is an expert on energy and a staunch advocate of drilling. A large majority of Alaskans want develop ANWR; one hopes that Palin can change McCain's mind on that part of the energy issue.
I, for one, am very tired of hearing Democrats say that we can't drill ourselves out of our energy shortage. We could, actually, but since when is that the standard? Wharton Econometrics Forecasting Associates estimates that developing ANWR petroleum alone could create 736,000 American jobs... Permalink
Read it all at the link, dammit!
Defending Against the First Attacks on Sarah Palin ( -more-
Madam Vice President
Palin? Perfect
http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/
BILL STUNTZ on Palin, Obama, and the experience issue. "Perhaps the jobs she has held are too small to count in a national presidential campaign. But that isn't obvious, not yet anyway. What matters more, to me and I bet to more than a few others, is what she's done in those jobs. The fact that her approval rating among Alaskans is in Mark Warner territory suggests that she might be the kind of governor Warner was in Virginia. If so, that should count for a lot--even if she hasn't had much time in office. Because time-serving won't count for much in the offices these four candidates are seeking."
Plus, fellow lawprof Ann Bartow on sexism: "The Supposedly Liberal Doods threw the most disgusting sexism at Hillary Clinton and her supporters during the Democratic primary. Then Obama picks Joe 'no friend of women' Biden as his running mate, rather than choosing somebody who would help build party unity. Now the Supposedly Liberal Doods are back in gear, throwing disgusting sexism at Palin. Why does it have to be like this? Hey Supposedly Liberal Doods, if you want Obama elected, stop burning bridges with women voters and start building some." Good advice. But is Biden really "no friend of women?"
More on experience, from Ross Douthat ("Yes, Joe Biden has more experience than Sarah Palin. But there's a not-implausible case to be made that Sarah Palin has more experience than ... Barack Obama!"), Jonathan Adler ("Sure, Sarah Palin was a 'hockey mom' before her entry into politics, but Barack Obama has never held a single full-time job for more than three years.") and Tyler Cowen ("Around the blogosphere you will see many left-wing writers criticizing Palin for lack of experience. Maybe this criticism is correct, but these commentators are falling into The Trap.")
But from Ramesh Ponnuru, cold water. Eric Scheie, meanwhile, comments: "I wonder whether a media analysis would reveal whether 'inexperienced' Republicans draw more media criticism than 'inexperienced' Democrats." Yes, as noted at TalkLeft, the Tim Kaine double-standard appears. Though that's more a case, perhaps, of a gender double-standard.
UPDATE: Via Ann Bartow, this post on the Palin pick: "It will complete the alienation of the rest of the Hillary supporters from the Obama camp. How? That’s easy — the Obamabots will do it themselves. Go read the Washington Post blog or anywhere online where the Palin pick is being discussed, and you’ll see the trademark Obama misogyny already out in full force. She’s been on the ticket for two seconds and already the Obamabots are saying she 'looks like a porn star,' they’re making rude remarks about her childbearing, they’re ridiculing her intelligence."
Yeah, Obama's supporters are his biggest weak point. Including the ones in the media.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Ann Althouse and Rachel Sklar on the Palin pick.
YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Swimsuit competition? Yeah, that's a killer issue. "The Obamabots really aren't going to try to reverse that reputation for misogyny any time soon."
Right after watching the CGI re-enactment of Richard Candelaria’s 1945 dogfight in a P-51 Mustang with 2 ME-262s and 15 ME-109s, I read Roger Simon’s observation that McCain was apparently demonstrating a willingness to take more political risks, by choosing Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for his running mate, than the One. “John McCain has once again shown he is willing to, in fact eager to, move in a positive and (relatively) unexpected direction. He is his own man. Obama - the agent of change - picked the most conventional of the conventional.” I think that’s only half true: McCain will take risks, but only after figuring the odds. Those who watch the video will notice that Richard Candelaria took two huge risks in his epic dogfight, once against the ME-262 and another against an ME-109 flown by a better pilot than he was. They were calculated risks; but once taken were pursued without hesitation or reservation.
The parallels between any pilot and McCain are going to be obvious. He has the ability to wait patiently until his opponent commits himself to a move then ruthlessly strikes to exploit it. He gives nothing away to clue his opponent on which way he is going to turn. Then suddenly he snaps the stick. A collection of links by Glenn Reynolds reveals a sudden appreciation by McCain’s opponents of his unpredictability. Some are hesitating to criticize Palin’s relative youth and inexperience, lest they fall into the Trap. What trap? A classic AP head says it all: Analysis: Palin’s age, inexperience rival Obama’s.
But the other piece of combat experience McCain endured, separate from his pilot training, one which every jailbird will appreciate, was his experience as a POW. Resistance in prison is one of the hardest forms of combat there is. As a prisoner you are always in the slower plane; the guard is always, by definition in the ME-262. A prisoner has only two friends: his mind and his nerve. McCain survived years of this and some of the skills he learned may have been on display just now. A number of political commentators thought John McCain would be easy meat for BHO. Maybe. Maybe not. Candelaria got the ME-262.
(more…)
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| (37) Comments "McCain suddenly persuades the dispirited and the cynical that he has something good to say and do. I’m in. Sarah Palin is an inspired pick, both because of what it says about McCain’s gutsiness and his strategic willingness to take the angle shot, but also because of what it says about the Republican next gen. She’s got game, and Johnny Mac is willing to let her use her game. Notice how different that is, where Obama Know-nothing is looking to Joe Do-Nothing (for 30 years) as his “successor.” The dynamics of this race just reversed, big time."
FWIW: VoteMatchQuiz, Palin is a Moderate Populist Conservative.
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