Republican presidential candidate John McCain obviously marches to his own beat. His surprising selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has generated a lot of publicity in print, online and across radio and television - unfortunately, for the most part it's not the kind of publicity the McCain camp was looking to create.
Opinions in the blogosphere run from puzzlement to genuine anger. Some conservatives believe he all but conceded the election by overlooking GOP VP candidates with far more experience including former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.
It was risky, but you can see the logic in his thinking. More people (38 million) tuned into watch Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's speech than watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing. Obama is making history as the first black candidate for the White House with an honest chance of winning and his acceptance speech in Denver was one of the most inspiring I've ever heard from a politician - McCain had to do SOMETHING to gain back the momentum.
Many have commented that McCain's selection of Palin nullified his own ability to critique Obama for his lack of foreign policy experience; Palin is essentially the most unexperienced VP candidate in modern US history.
What's interesting to me is how quickly Palin's being a woman has become an issue for the media. As a mother of 5 children, the perky librarian-like Palin comes off as a ripe target in the political sense and some wonder if Joe Biden and Obama will have to temper their attacks leading into the fall. I think it's way too early to make conclusions like that.
Palin is no pastry puff and her selection does tap into the female vote and might even sway some of Hillary's 18 million supporters. But to hear some of the political pundits on CNN and MSNBC, you have to wonder if the media will treat her differently because she's a woman.
Click on the video on the right side of the page and listen for yourself; no asked Obama if HE will be able to take care of his young daughters and still be an effective president.
1 comment:
I don't think that the media has examined the impact of Palin's family life any differently because she is a woman but because her family is f***ed up.
Any candidate who jumped into this insane presidential race with a 4-month old preemie with Downs; an Eldest son heading to Iraq in December;
and a pregnant Teenage daughter
will be questioned about their ability to govern. VPOTUS is more than a full-time job; parenting a Special Needs child is time-consuming; parenting a pregnant teen is time-consuming; parenting the family thru the Eldest's deployment is time-consuming. So she's now going to magically move her family and staff to DC and devote herself to the duties of the VPOTUS. I doubt it.
Her judgment is already suspect. Just let me know of any other 40-something woman with a high risk pregnancy who waits for 13+ hours before getting medical attention for her baby (think fish on drained seabed). What parent prevents their child from receiving critical medical care? Hard to position these judgments as being in the best interest of the child.
By the way she is already under investigation for abusing her powers to fix a family problem.
Ms. Palin is actually a puff pastry--as in a flaky crust expanded by high heat--and with the heat unlikely to drop soon, it looks like this pastry is about to be burnt.
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