McCain cites need for experience, picks first-term governor as veep

[topaz]

Egad!  It's all over my friends page already.  Sarah Palin!  McCain picks Alaska governor to be his running mate!

Opinions are all over the map.  Myself, I think it was a very clever choice from a demographic point of view, and frankly a lot bolder than I would have expected from his campaign.  Apart from the simple fact that she's a woman, she's pro-life and has one child with Down syndrome; she's an evangelical, but not a Southern evangelical; she has Alaska credibility and supports drilling in ANWR.  She's almost tailor-made to draw back the moderate conservatives who have become disillusioned with the Republican Party in the last eight years.  Very shrewd indeed.

But my gut reaction says that it's a fatal mistake for McCain, who has been running almost exclusively on an "experience" platform for the last several months.  Choosing Palin pretty much annihilates that argument.  It seems to say that McCain no longer believes he can win experience, and is looking for a reverse wedge that he thinks will give him an advantage.

If that's the case, I think Obama and Biden have a clear path to victory.  They need to focus diligently but relentlessly on policy issues.  McCain and Palin are going to have an uphill battle persuading the public that they are a team prepared to lead the country, and that Palin will be ready to take over the top job if McCain keels over.  Unless Palin turns out to be a ringer on the debate box, I expect Biden to be able to eat her for dinner.

The game isn't over, not by a long shot --- but the McCain campaign just took a big fumble.

Comments

[isotopeblue.livejournal.com]

Too clever by half, and shows how much McCain is now in thrall to his handlers. It's the sort of choice that seems brilliant to someone who thinks in terms of voting blocks: both fire up the conservative Christian base and lure Hillary voters. But it undermines not only the experience argument against Obama, but also any conception of McCain as someone who thinks only about what's best for the country.

And I don't think it will even succeed at what it tries to do. Will the conservative Christian rank and file really get excited about a female vice president? Will many Hillary voters really be attracted to an anti-abortion candidate?

So, happily, I think this will come to be viewed as a serious misstep, or at least lost opportunity. Plus I'm really looking forward to the VP debate.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Maybe i'm too cynical, but i don't think that there are enough people who a) care about the "undermining experience argument" thing or b) would let this get in the way of thinking that McCain thinks about what's best for the country.

Of course the conservative Christian rank and file will get excited about a female vice president; she fully stands behind her man.