* Update: Just listened to Sarah Palin's speech. Very impressive!It is being reported that John McCain has made a surprising choice in his search for a running mate. While names like Mitt Romney & Joe Lieberman were being thrown around, I had guessed that McCain would pick a woman. But I had never heard of the woman he seems to have selected: Sarah Palin. And so I read all about her just now on Wikipedia. I'd have to say I am very impressed by her and McCain's wisdom in picking her. She sounds really cool. She was a high school basketball star. She finished 2nd in a 'Miss Alaska' competition. She eloped with a native eskimo and the couple used old-age home residents as their witnesses. She's got a very clean political record and has called out her own party on numerous occassions. Very impressive wikipedia article. So it's pretty obvious why I consider this choice wise, but here are the top 3 reasons.
Her Youth
One of McCain's major problems is his age. He was the oldest major candidate throughout this process. Sarah Palin is a couple years younger than Obama. She looks fresh and active. While the democrats will probably attempt to point out her inexperience, they won't have much to stand on since she's been Governor of Alaska which is on par with being a Senator from Illinois. Both have short experiences in perspectives.
Her Gender
The reason I predicted McCain would pick a woman is b/c I think he truly believes he can get a good portion of the 'Hillary' crowd. I don't know if that's true, but I do think this selection will appeal, very much, to soccer mom's around the country. Palin has 5 kids. I think this pick gets McCain a lot of votes.
Her Record
Palin has just the kind of record people want these days. Not only is she void of scandel, but she's actually the kind of politician that uncovers scandel (even when it's happening in her own party). She has a very high approval rating. She's visibly against wasteful spending (McCain probably got to know her b/c of the 'bridge to nowhere' project).
Ways it could hurt McCain...
1) If America views her as TOO young
2) If Hillary voters are more liberal than guessed
3) She doesn't carry any name recognition
3 comments:
I agree it was a smart choice. Thanks for the nice summary.
So, I clicked on the link on your site, and it took me to an article about her husband. ;) I'm impressed. I think this will go a long ways in upping the Republican view after the Bush administration. I'm excited to see what the future holds for this race. I enter it with mixed feelings, for I've always held the position that the Presidency is not the place for a woman, and if anything were to happen to McCain, she would be the President. I may either have to revisit that theory (although I don't quite see me changing my mind on it) and/or just accept the possibility and go with whatever. We'll see, I guess. All in all, interesting, shocking, and potentially awesome move. He's either a genius or stark raving mad...
thanks for letting me know the link was wrong. I was clicking around so fast i forgot to link to the right page :)
We'll know November 5th whether he made a good choice, most likely :)
Post a Comment