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orichalcum at 11:29am on 02/09/2008
orichalcum at 11:29am on 02/09/2008From my perspective, this whole thing says much more about McCain than about Palin or her daughter. I don't care what Bristol Palin's sex life is like, and I don't much care about the differential between what Palin preaches to others and her own family's behavior.
However, we've now had a very good glimpse into how both McCain and Obama choose important members of their governing team. And frankly, the sudden impulsive decision by McCain to choose a non-vetted, inexperienced, virtually unknown candidate, after giving major allies who had worked long and hard for him every reason to think he was going to choose them*, and only after he had backed down from his first choice (Lieberman) because Karl Rove told him he couldn't pick a pro-choice person...well, it doesn't indicate great managerial or judgment skills. Biden may not be the world's most exciting choice, but no one doubts he could step up to the plate and be President if something happened to Obama. Some Republicans themselves are assuming that if McCain died, Palin would resign after appointing someone more experienced (read, older white male from D.C.).
Though I disagree with her on pretty much everything, I'm not nearly as interested in Palin qua Palin as in what her pick says about McCain as an executive.
Maybe this is all a plot by Lieberman to be the sudden backup candidate.
*Yes, no one gets to feel cheated because they didn't get picked as Vice-President. But Romney and Pawlenty have to be feeling a little bitter that after months of working their @#$ses off on weekly talk shows and fundraising drives promoting their former rival, the prize goes to someone who's never campaigned for him at all.
Furthermore, if I was, say, Jodi Rell of Connecticut, an extremely popular Republican female governor, I'd be a little bit irked that I (and Senator Hutchison, and Senator Snowe, and so forth....) got passed over because of being pro-choice. I don't know if Obama could have picked an anti-abortion V-P, although he notably gave a good convention speaking slot to Senator Casey of PA, who is anti-abortion and whose father was refused a speaking slot on those grounds. And Biden has a 36% voting record according to NARAL, having voted for the "partial-birth" abortion ban and against public funding for abortions, so certainly he's not doctrinaire on this issue.
Perhaps the whole craps/poker analogy thing does reveal something about the candidates' decisionmaking styles...
However, we've now had a very good glimpse into how both McCain and Obama choose important members of their governing team. And frankly, the sudden impulsive decision by McCain to choose a non-vetted, inexperienced, virtually unknown candidate, after giving major allies who had worked long and hard for him every reason to think he was going to choose them*, and only after he had backed down from his first choice (Lieberman) because Karl Rove told him he couldn't pick a pro-choice person...well, it doesn't indicate great managerial or judgment skills. Biden may not be the world's most exciting choice, but no one doubts he could step up to the plate and be President if something happened to Obama. Some Republicans themselves are assuming that if McCain died, Palin would resign after appointing someone more experienced (read, older white male from D.C.).
Though I disagree with her on pretty much everything, I'm not nearly as interested in Palin qua Palin as in what her pick says about McCain as an executive.
*Yes, no one gets to feel cheated because they didn't get picked as Vice-President. But Romney and Pawlenty have to be feeling a little bitter that after months of working their @#$ses off on weekly talk shows and fundraising drives promoting their former rival, the prize goes to someone who's never campaigned for him at all.
Furthermore, if I was, say, Jodi Rell of Connecticut, an extremely popular Republican female governor, I'd be a little bit irked that I (and Senator Hutchison, and Senator Snowe, and so forth....) got passed over because of being pro-choice. I don't know if Obama could have picked an anti-abortion V-P, although he notably gave a good convention speaking slot to Senator Casey of PA, who is anti-abortion and whose father was refused a speaking slot on those grounds. And Biden has a 36% voting record according to NARAL, having voted for the "partial-birth" abortion ban and against public funding for abortions, so certainly he's not doctrinaire on this issue.
Perhaps the whole craps/poker analogy thing does reveal something about the candidates' decisionmaking styles...
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I'm reminded of when, sometime early in college, I came across a sign for CLAY (Choose Life At Yale). It literally took me a few seconds of "Huh? Haven't I already? You mean, as opposed to life at Harvard?" before I managed to figure it out. :)
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So in my view, anti-abortion is the proper phrase for this entry.
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Also, what really REALLY has me scared right now is the not inconsiderable odds that Palin will be President in a few years. She's a charismatic potential demagogue with no experience and very little (if any) record of having good judgment. She is on record several times (ab)using her executive powers at the expense of people she simply didn't like. When I imagine our country hitting rock bottom, it pretty much has someone like Palin at the helm.
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I was heartened to discover that some group is doing MASSIVE registration drives on campus this fall, like nothing I've ever seen before. (And I was here in '04 and '06). Someone has decided that NC is going to be a swing state by hook or by crook, and they are going around explicitly begging kids from non-swing states like CT to register and "have their vote count more." It probably won't work, but I like their moxy.