Sarah Palin - Watch Out
I've been inundated today with emails and commentary about Sarah Palin, McCain's pick to be his running mate. I did not know of her before today, so please stick with me while I wade through it all.
Palin scares me. She's a woman, she's pro-life, she's a self described feminist, she's gone from Mayor of a tiny town to Governor of Alaska. She is a lifelong member of NRA and a avid hunter. She's taken on big oil.
I wouldn't be so comfortable chuckling in our seats, saying, oh, she's just a former beauty queen. No more weight that Dan Quayle.
Dan Quayle won the election. And he was a fruitcake.
Is it an insulting attempt to get women's votes? No. If anyone thinks this is going for the dissatisfied Clinton supporters, they are missing the bigger picture. Sure, she's a political unknown and has no experience. She is also a new face, a woman, a mom, and passionate about her causes.
No one can look at her son and say, well, he should have been an abortion. Having gone through the similar test when pregnant- all pregnant women are given the test- I'm not sure I can answer what I would have done.
It doesn't make me pro-life. But it makes a strong pro-life argument that is about being a parent, not a zealot.
She knows hard work- she was a television sportscaster and worked at the same time as a commercial fisherwoman. (I have to say in Maine? No woman would want to be called a fisherwoman. They all just fish. Or lobster.) She married her high school sweetheart.
Her oldest son is serving in Iraq.
This is a very savvy pick. I don't see Dan Quayle. I see thousands of middle American women, who work outside the home, who have kids, who are going to feel pretty good now about choosing John McCain.
I think we all need to be very very careful about how we evaluate this pick.
Palin scares me. She's a woman, she's pro-life, she's a self described feminist, she's gone from Mayor of a tiny town to Governor of Alaska. She is a lifelong member of NRA and a avid hunter. She's taken on big oil.
I wouldn't be so comfortable chuckling in our seats, saying, oh, she's just a former beauty queen. No more weight that Dan Quayle.
Dan Quayle won the election. And he was a fruitcake.
Is it an insulting attempt to get women's votes? No. If anyone thinks this is going for the dissatisfied Clinton supporters, they are missing the bigger picture. Sure, she's a political unknown and has no experience. She is also a new face, a woman, a mom, and passionate about her causes.
No one can look at her son and say, well, he should have been an abortion. Having gone through the similar test when pregnant- all pregnant women are given the test- I'm not sure I can answer what I would have done.
It doesn't make me pro-life. But it makes a strong pro-life argument that is about being a parent, not a zealot.
She knows hard work- she was a television sportscaster and worked at the same time as a commercial fisherwoman. (I have to say in Maine? No woman would want to be called a fisherwoman. They all just fish. Or lobster.) She married her high school sweetheart.
Her oldest son is serving in Iraq.
This is a very savvy pick. I don't see Dan Quayle. I see thousands of middle American women, who work outside the home, who have kids, who are going to feel pretty good now about choosing John McCain.
I think we all need to be very very careful about how we evaluate this pick.
Labels: 2008 Presidential campaign, Alaska governor, McCain, Sarah Palin, vice president
posted by Sara at 4:58 PM
8 Comments:
Well I am a middle aged working mother and my first response to his choice was he has hung himself.
Time will tell. I think america is more ready for a black male president then a female vice president but thats just my opinion.
ttfn
she has absolutly no foreign policy experience and mccain is 72 and has had two bouts with cancer.
she is not for a woman's right to choose, she is pro gun, and has been a governer for only 20 months. A governer of a low population state so rich that residents not only pay no state income tax, but get individual yearly checks from the oil wealth.
Could she really make change in a high population poor state?
i think it was a good AND bad choice for mccain, good because of exactly what you said, women, especially the ones you described, are going to feel better about voting for him. but bad because she is so unknown, and SO perfect (female, very conservative, NRA, etc) that it is OBVIOUS that he picked her for the female vote, specifically for those democrats that are for hilary but nor obama. mccain definitely pulled a fast one and has altered the race a bit. can't wait to hear what you think/find about her
I'm with you, Sara. I think the people who are gleefully saying that McCain is toast now, are not seeing the bigger picture. I think the McCain folks figure they have the Dems in a corner with this one -- and in a way, they do. We've got to be very careful in how we criticize her qualifications or else we come off as completely hypocritical and mean-spirited.
But from what I have seen, I feel confident (er, mostly) that her lack of qualifications for this job will come out on their own. But yeah, it's not going to be quite the cakewalk some expect. She does talk the talk for certain circles.
thought you might find this interesting http://www.slate.com/id/2198949/?y=1
yeah, I don't think a college sophmore got Palin the slot.
but it does speak to the kind of grassroots feeling she inspires.
In many ways, a good pick (for McCain), it sounds like. But, talk about someone not quite ready to lead...
However, Sue is so very right. We can't talk about that much, since Obama doesn't have that much more experience.
Still, I think it's ours to lose.
Scary thought, given the last two elections...
Hey, if any of you savvy folks would like to visit my blog and join the conversation I'm having with conservative Christians about 'gay marriage,' I think that would be cool. I'm pretty badly outnumbered, so far, but I think we're making progress.
Post a Comment
<< Home