Congratulations. And welcome to the political campaigning snake pit!
McCain picks Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as his VP! This choice does everything that Obama's pick of boring Biden did NOT. It shakes up the entire election, energizes the atmosphere, and brings something fresh and different. McCain-Palin is now the GOP ticket.
I already knew who Sarah Palin is, so I'm excited. So are a few others like the Draft Palin blog and other Palin supporters. Here's a hint of why I like her and her views on energy. Also, NPR calls her a "maverick" too.
The first reaction from my cabal of fellow gender-traitors and capitalist oppressors Alessandra and Thalia can be summed up in Alessandra's words: "That's (expletive) GENIUS." (Me: "Dude, that's awesomely awesome.") All of us: We didn't really like McCain much, but on this VP pick, we're impressed. All of us wicked ladies have been texting and calling each other! And we're in 3 different states!
LADIES' UPDATE 1: the delightful Dr. Helen, aka the Insta-Wife, is ecstatic too. Perhaps this bodes well for McCain winning the crucial "sassy, smart, self-reliant independent/libertarian/conservative women" demographic...We do exist, and I'm delighted that we finally have some acknowledgment and a FACE too now in Sarah Palin.
LADIES' UPDATE 2: Law prof/blogress Ann Althouse is blogging like mad. Keep scrolling! Her live-blog part 1 and live-blog part 2 of the announcement are good, too. Althouse approves! As does the other sassy conservative female Asian-American blogging MM, Michelle Malkin. Jennifer Rubin joins in.
LADIES' UPDATE 3: So does the great and powerful Rachel Lucas: "I'm simply delirious about Palin." Ditto Meryl Yourish: "Awesome" even if Palin's more conservative than Meryl would like. More here: actual enthuasiasm for McCain!
Also, the Obama campaign's first response was to criticize Palin's small-town origins. The press release called her the former mayor of a town of 9000 who had no foreign policy experience. This, to me, highlighted the very worse tendencies of the Dem campaign: it simultaneously was dishonest (it doesn't criticize her as GOVERNOR) and condescending (it sneers at her rural origins...a move that dripped with urban elitist snobbery and forgets that Middle America is full of suburbs and small towns). Plus, blanket accusations of inexperience can only rebound onto Obamessiah himself. Anyway, what a total lack of class. Camp Obama's spokemen can't even say something like "congratulations" first -- something McCain himself said to Obama on being nomination. Obamessiah himself has to do some damage control by now issuing a nice statement of welcome to Governor Palin. Nice save -- not really.
Oh, boy. I can predict the Total Reductionist Campaign right now (as reported by MSNBC):
- Obama camp: If you don't vote for us, you're racist!
- McCain camp: If you don't vote for us, you're sexist!
POPCORN TIME!
But, seriously now, the choice of Palin is certainly a bold, surprising one that breaks with the predictable Washington "Same Old Thing." It's the most maverick thing McCain's done in a really long time. I confess, I'm excited. WAY more excited than if he had picked Romney or Pawlenty or any of those guys. Nobody expected this -- least of all, the Dems, who are now scrambling to assemble their attack.
Plus, I wonder what some disaffected Hillaristas are going to do now! See what Geraldine Ferraro has to say. It's a total estrogen bomb! I'm gleefully looking at Obamessiah being dogged until November with the ghost of Hillary's furious feminist phalanxes. Well, Dems: live by identity politics, die by identity politics.
And so it's on to November, with both major parties running now bona fide historic campaigns. This is going to be worth watching. (UPDATE: Will Camp Obama now be walking on eggshells? Tee-hee!)
PS: I have to hand it to Camp McCain. Those folks made the VP announcement in a splendid fashion. It does stand in stark contrast to the muddled, messy Obama text message in the middle of the night! And it played the MSM and the news cycle just SO. Everybody's going nuts! Heck, even your jaded, tired, cynical old blog hostess, watching the announcement at lunctime, is all enthused. And I'm never enthused about politics. I'm almost giddy. Who knew it was possible? Well done, Maverick. Plus, the announcement has made everybody forget about the Invesco Field apotheosis and made a huge splash. The news media is going to obsess about Palin ALL DAY LONG. I think I'd grossly underestimated the McCain campaign.
That does it. I shall now tag the Palin pick with "Awesomeness." I could be wrong. In November, I might look back and wonder what I was thinking. But as for right now, the masterful way in which Camp McCain outflanked Obamessiah -- and on the very heels of his deification -- qualifies as awesome to behold. Plus the fabulous thought that this election cycle, people might actually watch the vice-presidential debates! Icing on the cake: Palin's savvy shout-out to Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton. Classy and smart.
6 comments:
I'm pretty stoked about it. Not only a cool choice, but excellent timing. Right at the finale of the DNC, the Republicans steal the show. Brilliant.
More accurately the McCain camp might say, "If you don't vote for us, then you're BLIND."
Of course within 15 minutes of the announcement someone over at Daily Kos referred to Gov. Palin as an "...ugly dyke." Classy!
Pat -- Expect the wingnuts and media clowns to fall over each other in making tasteless utterances. Already at CNN (Complete Numbskulls Network) one reporters speculated on the air that Palin has no business running for office because she should be home taking care of her Down's syndrome baby. Classy!
And Lumpen -- not only does this deflate the DNC, but it's a great lead-up to the RNC! I've never been excited about these conventions whether Dem or GOP, but I'm (gasp) now actually excited about this one!
MM, indeed. Also, all the racist attacks Condi Rice has suffered were a very good indicator of what Palin is in for. Those people are hopeless bigots.
Definitely a good point about Condi. And Colin Powell too.
For some reason the DNC this year seemed to be populated by more dowdy women of a certain age than ever before. But the effect seemed less the footsoldiers of Obama but the scavengers who come out of the shadows after great battles to strip the bodies of the dead and not so dead of their valuables and dignity. I'd mention the men but they seem to lack the necessary fierceness to dig the gold teeth out of corpses.
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