Sarah ‘Barracuda’ Palin impales Democrats
Sarah Palin
By GERALD CARROLL
geraldcarroll@hotmail.com
So, the out-of-wedlock, underage baby thing with her daughter just went away after only a day. On top of that, the fiancé was flown out from Alaska to be with his pregnant-bride-to-be and everything was again very much under control.
Joe Biden
Wow. Sarah Palin is quite a load, and later this month she will “debate” Joe Biden, the hapless vice-presidential running mate to Barack Obama, and Biden will get chewed up by the piston-pakin’, pit-bull-emulating hockey mom. As one commentator said, the Alaska governor will “wipe the floor” with Biden.
Joh McCain
Hmm. Think about it. How can Biden fight Palin? If he attacks, he will be scorned for attacking a helpless wife with a Down’s Syndrome baby and a pregnant teen daughter. If he lays back, the Barracuda will slice him to ribbons.
Be glad you’re not Joe Biden.
Barack Obama
The only saving grace for the Democrats is that the Republican candidate John McCain will be debating Obama three times, whereas there is only one VP debate. Now, the same fate that awaits Biden could well await McCain, who can barely stand up, much less debate about anything.
The next two months will be fun.
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Though I typically disagree
Though I typically disagree with you on politics (from what I've read), you've got a few points in here that I have a hard time arguing against. I'll just leave my thoughts in the order you addressed them.
Palin- I haven't seen any sign of the underage out-of-wedlock pregnant daughter thing going away. Instead, Palin is doing a good job of reigniting the mommy wars, and in a really big way. And a sidenote- I thought it was bizarre to have the teenage boyfriend on the stage, as if he's already part of the family. Everyone else had a reason to be there, but he seemed very out of place.
Biden- initially, when I was reading what you wrote above, I was wondering how the hell she was going to "wipe the floor" with Joe Biden. Biden has a way about him that makes him a very comfortable speaker, and he can be very good at putting people at ease. But that doesn't change the fact that while he's speaking, he's slowly eviscerating his opponent. But you're right in a sense. If Biden goes after her personally, it will be a bad move. But fortunately for the Democrats, I think Biden is completely aware of this, and if it gets into a policy debate, he's going to embarrass her without doing it on a personal level.
The biggest problem with Palin is exactly what you wrote, and what everyone is talking about. No, men would not have their families subject to this kind of scrutiny. They also wouldn't breastfeed them in meetings. They wouldn't bring up their family and make "hockey dad" the biggest part of their personal narrative, and then declare his kids off-limits. The problem with Palin is that she's trying to play it both ways. She can certainly be a hockey mom from a small town and be VP, but if you start off the introduction with "Hi, I'm a hockey mom who ran the PTA" then you have asked people to think of you as a mother, not a VP candidate. So it's not quite on the up-and-up to decide that we suddenly can't talk about the pregnant daughter, especially when it does cross over into policy decisions. If Biden is going to take crap for tearing into a "a helpless wife with a Down’s Syndrome baby and a pregnant teen daughter" then she has her own answering to do for why she chose to bring that pregnant daughter into the national spotlight without even telling her first (her kids thought they were going to Dayton to celebrate their parents anniversary).
Finally, and this is something I've read in more than one place, McCain did himself a very big disservice by picking her. When the spotlight has been on a candidate, that candidate's poll numbers have dropped. With the nation talking about Sarah Palin, he is bringing a lot of scrutiny to his ticket, and it may cost him points he doesn't have to spare.
Your points ...
... are excellent and well-taken. Keep in mind this blog often contains spontaneous and unfiltered opinions, and for varuious reasons, I choose to keep all posts up even if they later turn out to be completely wrong.
The selection of Palin, I am now led to believe, was a twisted way to stab at the Hillary Clinton crowd and insulate the Republicans against the incessant attacks from radical feminism, easily the most destructive political ideology that exists today.
And, after listening to McCain tonight, it's clear that Palin will not be enough. Obama has a healthy lead in most of the polls. The election is essentially over.
Rad's J-pop blog
Initially, I thought it was
Initially, I thought it was to go after Clinton's crowd. And maybe it was. But now I feel like it was more of a way to bring the base together. While Obama's numbers had been slipping the last few days prior to the convention, it's because he was losing the DEMOCRATS. Not the independents or any crossover voters. After his speech, he reignited them. I think that Palin was meant to do something similar, though in a bigger way. Besides, McCain has been clamoring for news attention the entire campaign, and now he's finally got it. But it's not working in his favor.
Don't rush on the polls. McCain could still get a small bounce. You have to remember that most of the polls you're currently seeing were finished before Palin's speech. I will say this- if there isn't at least a small convention bounce, it's completely over.
I personally think like you IG...
I too think McCain did himself a big disservice by picking her.
Also, as far as Bidden attacking her...he wont do it on a disrespectful level, I dont think he will need to. I think he will do very well in his debate. Besides, in a sense, right or wrong, she is open game to what ever comes her way as far as the debate goes.
She has accepted the VP nomination...she knows what she is going to get thrown at her. Wether or not she is female, mom, whatever, it shouldn't make a bit of difference.
Honestly, I have never even heard of this woman who has only been governer for less than two years. Talk about no experience and then she is involved in some major lawsuit, so I find it weird that McCain even picked her to begin with.
It's also plain to see that the boyfriend was only summoned to go there because of this whole political convention. I would bet he wouldn't even have been at their house for dinner on a typical night if it wasn't for this going on.
LOL! I noticed how the dad
LOL! I noticed how the dad and Levi carefully avoided each other. I know if I was that dad, it would be hard to stand on the same stage as him without tearing his ass apart and handing it back to him.
One of the major talking points going around is really bugging me. Sure, Palin has more EXECUTIVE experience than Obama or Biden. A) That's not the only sort of experience that counts. B) That would kind of mean that she has more executive experience than McCain too, and maybe they should switch places. C) This is not to slight Alaska in the least, because my husband grew up there. But it's a very different sort of state where practically none of the experience will have any sort of bearing on how she would do on a national stage, or even in a different state. D) I've heard it mentioned how as part of that executive experience, she balances the budget, etc. But, ummm, that's a Senate responsibility, not a Presidential one. So it's disingenuous to tout that as experience. E) This post at http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/09/essential-difference.html nailed it. Americans are more willing to accept a President with little experience than a VP with little experience. Though it seems nutty on the surface, they give an excellent explanation of why.
Again ...
... you are very observant. No doubt the whole Palin family gathering was hastily thrown together for media purposes. In the end, where Palin comes from will have little bearing. She will tangle with Obama and Biden and it won't be pretty.
Interesting ...
... that when Palin was picked (and as a native Alaskan I have by and large applauded the choice), it looked super on paper. I still think she will kill Biden in the single VP debate.
But ... McCain will be equally crushed by Obama in the three Presidential debates.
Rad's J-pop blog
I think she was an awful
I think she was an awful choice. Palin is an enormous risk, and while it helps enforce McCain's message that he's a maverick, it does so at the risk of making him look like he doesn't properly think things through, and jumps in without proper consideration. As McCain says, "We need change, but it needs to be the right kind of change."
Palin is enormously risky because very few people know anything about her. You can have your record/resume define you. You can have your length of service define you. You can even define yourself as long as you give people enough time to listen. But if you show up without many people having heard your name before, you'd better be prepared for your opponent to define you. Which means that right now, Sarah Palin is a bad mother, a Uzi-toting Nazi that wants your daughters to raise a baby created by rape, a scandal prone woman that fires anyone in her way, and an incompetent soccer mom that lucked her way into the governor's chair. And who's to say she isn't?? Her? Sorry, but we don't know her yet, so it's hard to take her word for anything. You get what I mean?
I agree on the Obama/McCain matchup, and I suppose we'll see on Biden/Palin. I'll give her this- while I don't personally find her story all that compelling, she's got a way of delivering it... If she can keep it personal, she'll come in somewhere between holding her own and doing great. If it goes more towards policy, Biden's going to own it.
You're right ...
... especially after McCain's speech last night in which he reversed any gains he had made with Palin's speech the night before.
Out of curiosity, what do
Out of curiosity, what do you like about Palin?
Palin is ...
... a valid alternative to Hillary.
Hmm. How so? I think the
Hmm. How so? I think the only thing they have in common is their gender, and I hope to god nobody is voting based on that alone. They seem to be polar opposites to me.
Besides, with Hillary more or less removed from the scene for at least the next 4 years, no alternative to Hillary is really needed this election cycle.
Purely from a political interest standpoint, if he was going to go for a woman, I would have liked to see Condi Rice. You get the people that can be swayed by gender, energize the base, and she's difficult to tackle on experience. The riskiest part about it is that it means McCain has to work harder at drawing a line between himself and Bush, but that's fairly easily solved by saying that he picks the most outstanding person for the job, no matter where they come from, yada, yada...
Condi ...
... certainly has all the qualifications, but has the looks of a tired trout and the personality of a cardboard box.
As for Hillary, so many of her followers are more conservative than you might think. Hillary would be a brutal President vis-a-vis enemies of this country because, like Madeline Albright and Margaret Thatcher before her, she is a hawk and would blow up our enemies overseas faster than Goldwater.
Ha!
*snort* Yeah, I can't argue with you on Condi.
You might be onto something there. That's one of the reasons I couldn't support Clinton in the primaries. But her being hawkish is balanced by being quite liberal in other areas. Which makes me continue to believe that we really do need more than two parties. My own personal politics is so bloody complicated that I'm not sure I'll ever fit perfectly within any party, but it's not even close to the two major ones that currently exist.
Slowly Coming Around
I'm slowing coming around to your way of thinking. Slate had an article about Biden vs. Palin, and they brought up a few good points I hadn't considered. He may have a tougher time in the debate than I initially thought.
I still think Palin is a risky pick. But I'm starting to see some signs that she was also a really good pick for McCain. It really doesn't have anything to do with the polls because what we're seeing now is a convention bump, and those typically don't last. But I was thinking through it last night and came up with a couple of reasons why she's a smarter pick than I initially gave McCain credit for.
What an election year!