Month: August 2008

Think about what the Palin pick really says about how McCain views this campaign and how he views his potential responsibilities in national security.

Think about what it says about the sincerity of McCain’s own central criticism of Obama these past two months in foreign affairs.

Think about how he picked a woman to be a heartbeat away from a war presidency who hadn’t even thought much, by her own admission, about the Iraq war as late as 2007.

Think about how he made this decision barely knowing the woman.

Think about the fact that the most McCain could say about his potential war-time vice-president in foreign affairs and national security when selecting her is that she commanded Alaska’s National Guard as governor and has a son in the military.

Think about the men and women serving this country who have every right to trust that their potential commander-in-chief, whatever their party, would have some record of even interest in foreign policy before assuming office.

Think about how the key factor in this decision was not who could defend this country were something dreadful happen to McCain in office but how to tread as much on Obama’s convention bounce and use women’s equality as a wedge issue among Democrats because it might secure a few points here or there. Oh, and everyone would be surprised. And even Rove would be annoyed.

This is his sense of honor and judgment. This is his sense of responsibility and service.

Here’s the real slogan the McCain campaign should now adopt:

Putting. Country. Last.

Josh Marshall has details here. I didn’t realize that she later admitted she had heard of the sexual harrassment charges against her appointee (who lasted two weeks in office) before she appointed him.

Joey Wolfe and his father Scott Wolfe fill and load sandbags for their home that is in the path of Tropical Storm Gustav August, 29, 2008 in Luling, Louisiana. The New Orleans area is bracing for a storm that forecasters are saying will make landfall west of New Orleans. By Stephen Morton/Getty Images.

A reader writes:

It is SO over for McCain.

He just jumped the shark so badly I’m surprised he didn’t choose Tom Cruise instead.

Once the Republican talk-radio/chattering classes are finished acting happy, reality will sink in.

The Republicans that will be happy about this are the ones that have now become as disconnected from the average America as the Elite East Coast Democrats they despise (Hewitt, Limbaugh, Dobson, Hannity). They are reading America wrong and McCain is following them into the abyss.

The average Hillary voter would never support a woman like Palin. They are anathema to each other. And the average middle-class Mom is going to say, "What’s a woman with children that young (and one with Down-syndrome) doing thinking that she can leave them everyday to be a Vice-President or possibly President?" Yes, she’s a governor of sparsely populated Alaska now, but to be the 2nd most important person in the United States in our post-911 world is not the place for a very nice, young mother.

McCain was suffering an enthusiasm deficit before, and once the initial hype passes, the silence will be deafening. I predict a blow-out now. Gravitas was McCain’s strongest asset and by choosing Harriet Myers Jr., he took the Rovian gambit too far. This will only mobilize and excite conservatives who already loathed Obama from the beginning. And even then, they will just be hiding their disappointment.

Who knows? History is rarely this smooth.

(Photo: Max Whittaker/Getty.)

More detail that takes the shine off her apparent embrace of gay friends:

Some press reports following the McCain campaign announcement have repeated that right-wing rhetorical flourish that has Palin declaring that she has gay friends. That softer image is not what some Alaskans saw.

"That’s just completely wrong," said Allison E. Mendel, the attorney who brought the 1999 case. "She spoke on radio programs all throughout the campaign saying, ‘I want a constitutional amendment, I think these things are only for a man and a woman.’ … I don’t think she’s ever said a friendly word about gay people, that they ought to have health benefits like other people do or anything along those lines."

Could the McCain camp provide some of her gay friends for the record?

Ben Smith considers the impact, if any.

"I think this is the biggest political gamble, just about, in all of American history," – Pat Buchanan.

I’ve had a few emails on these lines today:

No sooner did my best friend hear about the Sarah Palin pick than I received an e-mail from her. It said simply: "Sarah Palin is a Bad Mother!"

I was at work but could not resist giving her a call to follow up.  She told me that she was watching CNN and heard that Ms. Palin had 5 children and that one was only 4 months old and born with Down Syndrome.  "How in the name of GOD, can she even think about leaving her child or taking her child on the campaign trail for 70 days?"  She was indignant.

Let me tell you why My best friend Liz matters.  She is 37 years old and Catholic.

She has three children under the age of 9 years old. She lives in Reston, VA (the suburbs of D.C.).  She is a registered Independent and has voted both Democratic and Republican.  She is a stay at home mother and was a RABID Hillary Clinton supporter.  She was considering staying home instead of voting this November.  I had been trying to convince her of the FOLLY of this stance.  Anyway…

I guess that McCain feels that Liz is just the demographic that he could poach with the selection of Palin.  Instead, Liz tells me that there is "no way that those two people (McCain/Palin) should be in charge of her kids’ future."  Today she decided to vote for Barack.

A reader has found some evidence that she has thought about foreign policy at some point in her 44 years. Drum roll, please:

Alaska Business Monthly: We’ve lost a lot of Alaska’s military members to the war in Iraq. How do you feel about sending more troops into battle, as President Bush is suggesting?

Palin: I’ve been so focused on state government, I haven’t really focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place; I want assurances that we are doing all we can to keep our troops safe. Every life lost is such a tragedy. I am very, very proud of the troops we have in Alaska, those fighting overseas for our freedoms, and the families here who are making so many sacrifices.

She heard about the surge, McCain’s campaign centerpiece, on the news. Does she still favor an exit plan?

"In picking an unknown, untested, half-a-term woman governor from Alaska to be his running mate, John McCain is following in a long line of reckless men who have rolled the dice for a beauty queen. Except in this case, McCain is taking one of the biggest, boldest gambles in modern American political history," – Dan Gerstein, a former adviser to Sen. Joe Lieberman.