An Objective Review of Sarah Palin's Bid for the Vice Presidency of the United States of America

If there's anything this country is truly more overdue for than an African-American President, it's one that's a woman. That fact that this country hasn't been able to clear this hurdle is nothing short of embarrassing.
That being said, this ain't the one.
It's funny to me, because as much as she's all over the news you'd sort of get the impression that she was running for the front office, instead of being the second-in-line like she actually is. But then again McCain is an old hand at letting the other side dig themselves in a hole bickering at each other while he quietly sits aside and lets someone else take the arrows (read: the ugliness that almost defined the Hillary/Obama battle).

Like I said last Friday, the timing and execution of the announcement was an absolute coup. Friday was supposed to be the day the dems basked in the glow of the awesomeness that was Obama's acceptance speech, and the old man essentially sniped it all away. It was dirty pool in the most classic sense -- and when you look at all the news sites and see who's still getting the most coverage right now (positive or negative) it's still paying the exact sort of dividends that they intended from it.

But the one thing that worries me (and many other bloggers out there who are much better at talking politics than I'll ever be) is that now that all the breaking stories and attacks or whatever are being hurled at Palin (whether they be personal or political)--
McCain's efforts to defend her have been kinda lacking.
It seems to me like McCain is kinda letting her take these bullets, enough for me to kinda wonder if there's not a strategy in place here. Because with so many people using the Internet to get their information, opinions, and propaganda from -- matched with the fact that the INTERNET IS STILL THE INTERNET, the balance between informed criticisms of this woman's track record (or lack thereof) as a leader and the jabs that are being taken at her looks, her daughter's promiscuity, or whatever is dangerously close to getting seriously off.

In other words, there's a difference between calling this particular female politician underqualified or over-zealous with many of her views that you don't agree with and bashing her for being a bad person because she's a woman.

I think we saw a lot of this when Hillary was running, and it got pretty distasteful at times -- but I also believe that a lot of people (men and women alike) honestly can't stand Hillary Clinton, which made a lot of the jabs taken at her seem more like attacks on her person rather than shots at her gender.

Now we've got this new female face on the ballot -- and she's taking serious flack, some of which I think is deserved (a bunch of her policy ideas seem to contradict McCain's, she's psycho Pro-life, and at the end of the day seems sorta anti-woman despite claims of being a Feminist), but more often than not seems focused on her personal life and the choices she's made regarding her family.
And I gotta tell you, I think there's a real line between pointing things
out that indicate she's unfit to lead at this level and unearthing just how
sexist and nasty the dems can be if you give them a ripe enough target.
McCain let Hillary say all the bad things about Obama's race and religion, and it (along with peoples distaste about her personally) sank her battleship. And now it's gonna be up to Obama and the dems at large to inform us just why this woman is laughable, and I think it's a very dangerous road to travel.

And I'm not talking about those whackball PUMAS. I'm talking there's only so many times you can call a woman a bitch before it starts to make you look like a hateful prick. And that's not even counting the choruses of women who might take their party-driven dislike of her ideas into out-and-out catfight sort of swipes from one side towards the other.

And I hate to pull her back into it, but there's sort of an owness now on Hillary Clinton in her role as high-profile party supporter to call Sarah Palin out at some point in an effort to inform and motivate the base.
You know, the base that collectively sorta said they hate her?
I don't know -- what makes this race interesting is that when it's all said and done the candidate elected (whoever it turns out to be) will be taking action on some pretty big issues that I personally think have been mismanaged or at times flat-out ignored in favor of other things during the past eight years. But there's another part of me that can't help but be fascinated by all of the strategies that taking shape and the way they're being put into place.

In other words, the old man isn't as dumb as he looks. And the people working behind the scenes are really good at this sort of thing. I mean, I know the Giants beat the Patriots in the Superbowl, and it was awesome to finally see an upstart take down a widely-disliked Goliath, but when the Pats came out and scored that touchdown at the opening of the second half wasn't it kind of hard not to think they were gonna kick into the gear that had led them to be 16-0 in the regular season and run away with the thing?

I think we really have a chance to make positive changes with this election. But I don't want to win just for the sake of winning. And I don't want to get by on a technicality or because someone chose Leon Lett as their VP.
Especially when you consider the fact that Leon has 3 Superbowl rings on his hand,
and the teams that he made all those dumb plays against collectively have none.

[Listening to:  Frank Zappa"Outside Now" ]

Comments

Narm said…
The Patsies were 16-0 in the regular season. Yeah - I'm a stat nerd.

But it is shaping up to be interesting. I am concerned that so much is coming to one-upping the other party that some of the issues are being lost. I am not sure if this is accurate - but I heard that McCain only met Palin once before choosing her as his VP candidate. That scares the shit out of me - I don't meet someone at the bar and hand them my keys - and my keys aren't the reigns to the free world.
unMuse said…
I'm about as excited about Palin as I was for the Hill, which is to say nil. I honestly think the McCain camp sat down and said "how can me make John more palatable while sending a total screwball at Dem Camp?" the answer ended up being another crazy woman. The yang of the Hill.

I really really hate this election year. I can't get behind either candidate.
Hex said…
Narm -- Oh man, good catch. I hate when I screw stuff like that up.

All the weird stories about how this selection came down makes you wonder if she's actually the evil genius or something, to where she put the whammy on him or something when they met and even McCain's thinking, "wait, what just happened?"

Umuse -- One thing I know about my party for sure is that we are experts at beating ourselves. Stuff like this is usually more than enough to get that ball rolling.

I feel pretty secure in my vote, but it's still all about the debates for me. I know they're just as much gamesmanship as everything else, but when you're up there alone and the questions come -- you've still got to answer them.
Anonymous said…
I don't think people from Alaska can be critisized for getting knocked up in high school. What else is there to do in Alaska? Winter up there is like 13 months long. Anything you can do to stay warm is fair game. Teens up there basically have two choices for after-school activities: drink themselves into oblivion or screw.
unMuse said…
hex- i'm too much of a capitalist and an atheist for me to solidly say I like one or the other. I'm going to have to watch the debates, like you, and see what comes flying out of their mouths without all of bs that comes with conventions to figure out who I'm going to vote for. It's still all propaganda but at least then it's more bs on the fly instead of carefully planned bs.
unMuse said…
to add (i know debates are practiced and practiced, but it still much different than having a script in front of you.)
Don said…
Damn Hex...you have a pretty good and well written blog. I wish I'd taken the time to check you out earlier. You pretty much hit the hammer on the nail with this post. I read a post over at Field Negro that was the best Palin breakdown yet, but your post is a close second. I enjoyed the read.

Palin might be a good choice but I think McCain selected her merely as GOP pander. With that said, and as you said, she's not the one. But I agree though - this election is one for the ages, regardless of who wins.
Heff said…
I'm damn tempted to pull a Monty Brewster this go 'round and vote "None of the Above", myself.
The Kaiser said…
Hex: owness=onus. Sorry to be that douchebag, but it's in my blood.

Heff: Please don't do that. I know around a dozen people in Florida who did that in 2000, look where it got us. Sometimes the lesser of two evils is a LOT less evil in the end.

narm: You totally beat me to it. Who wants a guy who, when faced with a difficult and touchy decision says "ah, fuck it, lets roll the dice motherfuckers!" to have his finger on The Button?
Anonymous said…
Geraldine Ferraro as VP might have been an albatross around Mondale's neck or perhaps Mondale was enough to sink his own boat. In any case, this isn't the first lady VP wannabee.

It just occurred to me that as a Geraldine she might have has a first name that her last name couldn't make up for.

We'll see if McCain has Mondale'd himself.
Hex said…
wigsf -- well that's kind of the thing here. Palin's the one criticizing unwed mothers and rallying against sex eduaction and a woman's right to choose.

unmuse -- the thing I'm trying to decide now after having seen a little of that speech last night (which scared the crap out of me, because as dingbatty as she seemed, the crowd ate it all up) -- is that when the VP debates go down, will Biden just make her look silly, or will she sort of snipe at him and Obama in that shrill voice until Biden sorta forgets decorum and go ape on her, the way he sometimes has been known to do on the Senate floor?

Don -- She can't be the one. I know the party seems to be falling for her right now, but at this point if the dems lose to these two -- i think we should just fold up our tents and go home.

Heff -- Brewster's Millions. You sir, rock. (but like Kaiser says -- vote for someone, yo).

Kaiser -- I was unsure about it and went on the web looking for the spelling. Apparently both are in play quite a bit, to the point where some of the dictionary sites have both. Still -- my bad.

Werdna -- Ferraro was a strong figure, but Mondale was his own worst enemy. There was no way he was gonna win crap.

While I'm not his biggest fan, I think if the tides shift a certain way there is a chance that McCain is electable, regardless of VP choice. I hope it doesn't happen, because I don't think he is the best choice, but I think this is a fight that at this point could still go either way.
unMuse said…
@ hex - I didn't watch it but I've seen some youtube vids of her. I'm not really fond of Biden either. Luckily VPs really don't count for much. (look how much we've seen of Cheney or Gore while he was in office, for that matter.)
Frank said…
I always try to keep an open mind about these things. It is a revolutionary thing indeed that for the first time we will have either an African-American or a woman in the oval office, but at the same time I vote for what I believe in and not race or gender. I've generally leaned towards liberal - this election moreso than the last one. I know that the pundits keep saying that Palin has "executive experience" (whatever the hell THAT means), but the more the media turns this thing into a soap opera, the more my opinion of her slowly sours.
Amanda said…
I just hope against hope that Tina Fey will play her on SNL just once. I mean, she's begging for it, right? Either that, or they let Sarah come in and do a special appearance on Weekend Update as Tina Fey. Then I might think about voting for her for a minute.

I tell you what scared me is the Gov. of Hawaii (she kept saying Ha vi ee) who tried to make the point that Gov. or mayor of any state or city is executive experience. And then there was the "bridge to nowhere" example she used to show how she stood up to Congress, when in reality, she canceled the bridge but kept the millions earmarked for it in Alaska.
tara said…
sheesh, you know it infuriates me. there is as much coverage of this in england as though they were running for office here. but that's not what makes me sad... after going into the palin slapping that is fuelling the british media thirst for sensationalism, the 'journalists' then (rightly) ask the question, "but just what are the policies driving the dems and the reps, less we get lost in the personal lives of their representatives?" Fair enough to bring that moot point up right? Except in answer to that question no issues are espoused at all, except testimonials from either side as to why the other side is incompetent to lead the nation. mud-slinging. boring! that's why i'm fed up with the mechanisms of politics, so predictable, lacking in depth, understanding and cooperation in an arena where exactly those qualities are essential. actually scratch that - there is a lot of depth and understanding but all geared towards self-serving objectives and designed to distract the voting public with reality tv propoganda (incidentally did you know in uk there is actual talk of intoducing text voting for elections here?!?!).

mccain chose palin for one reason, to steal some of the 'ground-breaker' limelight away from obama. It's the XX factor innit! if people are crying out for change (which popular opinion indicates) and your policies don't offer it, then throw in a woman ... no matter if he has seldom met her or not. she has breasts, and that my friends in the realm of america's power ladder makes history (moobs, where relevant, are not. relevant. has there ever been an american president with moobs? maybe but i bet they never lactated.) history is the name of this game this time round. either way, it gets made... scenario one you get a black president for the democrats, scenario 2 (now that hilary is out of the running on the democrat side) you can still have a woman on the republican side, vice president ok, but who knows what might happen with oven chip dude, he's getting on a bit, and vp or not, she'll still get a nice room in the white house. and of course all publicity is good publicity, not least cos it can take the heat off the more questionable policies maccain himself may or may not have (does he have any? does obama? again i reiterate, with all the pregnant, gun-toting bush-bound - not talking george - bruhaha on the one hand and colour-induced hysteria on the other, the next president of the usa could be planning to transform the 'united' nation into a giant marshmallow for all i know. They should just play tic tac toe and have done with it.

ok. maybe not. but...


still, i would LOVE to know what these guys want to do when/if they get into office. can anyone bullet-point their policies clearly and concisely?

good luck america :) i just hope that when all this is done and dusted, you end up with someone who is fair, wise, cares about people's health, education and human rights, and with a bit of luck and foresight cares about the planet too. now that would really make world history right now!!

anyhoo. long time dan, hope you're good! clearly loads to read up on :)
Hex said…
Unmuse -- Biden makes me laugh, because he get's "old man" mad sometimes in congress. If he was in parliment, he'd be the one throwing punches.

The real difference (that many people have pointed out) is that if Obama's elected, Biden will be the vice president, and only do VP things. But if McCain's elected -- the over/under on him surviving the term is questionable, meanign that she would be IN, and I'm not down with that at all.

Frank -- Hell, my boss has executive experience. That doesn't make him qualified. If she's got real qualifications, let's hear them. Otherwise, quit making stuff up.

Amanda -- I don't think the Tina Fey thing was an accident at all, which is all the more reason to think this is a strategic move more than a political one.

Tara -- hey stranger, where the heck have you been? Hope all is well.

I think Taft might have been working some moobs. I'm not willing to google it, but I think it's a pretty safe bet.
tara said…
o dear, i did google it, (so much time to waste, venturing where angels fear to tread!) Taft does appear to meet all the criteria, though it is nowhere explicitly stated. what i did find however was this very enlightening definition, which came up upon typing "taft moobs" in the search engine:

"MOOBS -

Moobs (short for Man-Boobs) are the soft, bouncy, enigmatic sacks that adorn all overweight human males. They usually develop in the middle-aged but have been known to be found on younger fatty-bum-bums.

Moobs also represent a converging of the sexes, as predicted by Sigmund Freud, along with the meriod, mangina and mlitoris."

So, according to the latter part of this definition and the predictive wisdom of sigmund freud, could we be moving through a Moob era in the world of social/sexual politics? Just how far have the sexes converged in the presidential race? Hail the moob meriod, the modern allegory of political equality and the blurring of the XX/XY divide.

hell, forget moot points, the moob points appear to be much more ... interesting... o, just looked up moot. seems they could be pretty much the same thing. i was thinking of moot as the crux, but it is actually the fluff. great word though, eh? moot... moot.. moot... sorry. too much coffee. i'm a little bit percolated.

i'm good thanks dan, will write up my escapades, one way or another...