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Aug
29
That was the title of the post I did on Joe Biden after Barack Obama chose him to be his running mate for the Democratic President/Vice President ticket. I figured, I might as well have a mini-series or two-parter and use the same title for Arizona Senator and presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain’s VP selection, Alaska Governor and fellow Republican, Sarah Palin.
Let me start with a round-up -because I have been responding to e-mails, tweets, comments and phone calls literally since about 10 am.
Vanity Fair, today, by Dee Dee Myers (this is an excerpt but please read the whole thing, it’s not long):
It’s such a transparently political decision, a double-X Dan Quayle. McCain made the decision to double down on his credentials as a take-no-prisoners reformer. But he did so at the expense of the more important qualifications for a running mate.
It’s not political to say that John McCain turns 72 today. That he’s a cancer survivor. That he spent six years being tortured and abused in a Vietnamese prison camp. Those are the physical realities of his life, and pure and simple, they demanded that he chose a running mate who is ready, really ready. That he put country first. Today, he failed that test.
Worse, when Sarah Palin falls short—and I hope I’m wrong but I think in important ways, such as her debate with Joe Biden, she will—some people will conclude that women can’t cut it. That’s unfair to Sarah Palin—and it’s certainly unfair to the rest of us.
From the Politico, Palin Dissed Job:
Larry Kudlow of CNBC’s “Kudlow & Co.” asked her about the possibility of becoming McCain’s ticket mate.
Palin replied: “As for that VP talk all the time, I’ll tell you, I still can’t answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day? I’m used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration. We want to make sure that that VP slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans and for the things that we’re trying to accomplish up here for the rest of the U.S., before I can even start addressing that question.”
That the VP slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans? Er, um, that’s not country first, Sarah. But you know, she wasn’t the nominee choice then.
Here’s a phenomenal in the moment BlogHer post with comments (but read this one too) that express emotions and opinions that range from ecstasy to anger. Do not skip it, because 99% of the comments are by women – maybe 100%. In today’s world of social media, there is no excuse for generalizing about how women feel when you can read and/or ask for those firsthand, yourself. And even then, I am sorry to say, a lot of media and bloggers get it way wrong anyway – but I figured I’d try so that there’s no excuse based on me.
A more partisan set of comments can be read at this Rightpundits post (but check out this one for the video of her speech today as well as a transcript of McCain’s comments today, all accompanied by the second gendered remark – “sweet,” that I’ve heard today; the first was on NPR’s special coverage when a guest commentator said, after the speech, that Palin brings vivaciousness to the campaign) (if you are wondering what a gendered comment is, think of it this way: would you say that Mitt Romney brings vivaciousness to a campaign? I didn’t think so) which has many photos of Palin and a couple of videos – one with her and Glenn Beck.)
The quotes in this Ohio Daily Blog post by Jeff Coryell track with the Rightpundits’ video of Palin speaking – having studied linguistics, and having blogged about my concerns for Ted Strickland’s speech patterns, I empathize with this critique:
Jonah Goldberg (discussing pros and cons):
The way she talks. She has something of a native Alaskan’s accent/speaking style. When I heard her speak last month, I was stunned by how parochial she sounds, not substantively, but stylistically.
Eric at Plunderbund does a nice meta of Ohio blogs and the comments have good chat too.
At Huffington Post, my blogging, BlogHer buddy Morra Aarons has a must read item that recalls what happened to the last Gen X female Republican Governor who had babies and mom-duties while serving her state – Massachusett’s Jane Swift (who was eventually defeated by…Mitt Romney). This episode reminds us of the damned if we do, damned if we don’t bind around women: men use their gender all the time to succeed – think McCain and the might of the military for one – security, protection, and because he was a POW, we see his vulnerability, suffering. But if women express parental concerns, which society still so closely aligns with being a woman, we’re viewed as weak and penalized for placing the work above the child, OR the child above the work. Accordingly, in my comments at Plunderbund, I warn against allowing GOP proxies to have their cake and eat it too by suggesting that Dems are hypocritical if they bring up the working mom versus country first bind. There are many women who write about this better than I do but the fact remains: the bind exists and we have to be honest about. I’m not sure how I feel – whether a mother can be president and place country first and children second – for sure, if there is another parent, yes.
But should she have to? Does she want to? Those are even more important and tougher questions – not to many very personal and on a case by case basis. They’re also the emotional ones people ask when they go to the polls, a la Drew Westen.
Lisa Renee is fielding a variety of views on the choice while trying to remain the fount of info and debate that is Glass City Jungle. But like Eric, I would love to hear how she feels, herself – because of who she is. I hope she will share too, but if not, it’s understood that she isn’t.
Here’s one item on the investigation related to her sister, her brother-in-law and allegations that someone in her administration ordered that the BIL be fired in relation to the divorce and when that didn’t happen she fired the commissioner of the office involved.
Last but not least, and there is so much out there, someone sent me actuarial spreadsheets that I’m told indicate the chance that John McCain could die in the next four years. Honestly, I do not know how to read such things, but I imagine this friend who sent this to me isn’t the only one looking. The friend tells me it says McCain has a 15% chance of dying in the next four years, but I’m not sure how you get that.
The Republican Jewish Coalition says standard stuff but includes this:
As governor of Alaska, Palin has enjoyed a strong working relationship with Alaska’s Jewish community. She has demonstrated sensitivity to the concerns of the community and has been accessible and responsive.
FYI, there are 3,425 Jews in Alaska (there are nearly 80,000 on the East Side of Cleveland) or 0.5% (that’s not 50% but rather 1/2 of 1%) of Alaska’s population (there are between 1.5 and 3% Jews in the U.S. general population).
*Edited in: someone in the comments takes issue with me pointing this out. To drive home the comparison, Park Synagogue, the largest shul in NE Ohio, has more congregants (members and their families) than the entire state of Alaska has Jewish residents.
No comment yet from the National Jewish Democratic Council.
So – what do I really think about Sarah Palin? It’s hard to know – I know extremely little and certainly not much if anything beyond what I’ve read or seen. But I thought a flow of my Twitter tweets as I heard them speak and the NPR folks comment on Diane Rehm might give a good idea:
Eleanor Clift [on Diane Rehm] – can she pass threshold test of her being an instant president – McCain can no longer attack Obama on experience
oy Palin has “no stance” on foreign policy – heartbeat away? this is going to be a long 67 days to Nov. 4 http://tinyurl.com/5sus9a
curious to see how The White House Project hails this, will depend on Palin’s record on issues that matter, impact women
ok- I have GOT to say, I am so sorry, but I have to say: for all the terrified of terrorist threat people, Palin must incite EXTREME anxiety
Palin is unknown, internationally & nationally; if military operations are CRITICAL, I don’t see how McCain people can be ok with this pick
at the McCain event right now, they just brought out teen cheerleaders -for real saying Go McCain! total fratboy
apparently MCCain uses cheerleaders a lot before he comes out omg http://www.daylife.com/phot…
catch the fearmongering – McCain knows we live in a dangerous world
do VPs really help shake up DC?
I actually think that Huckabee’s senior advisor Charmaine Yoest had something to do with this pick
here’s what Yoest wrote http://tinyurl.com/5ctnmj McCain was hugely problematic for this contingent
Ha! now he mentions women’s suffrage – he didn’t even have a statement on the actual Women’s Equality Day
what’s this pick do for affirmative action? people standing there watching her go past them, thinking, she got it because she’s a woman UGH
do snow machines use a lot of gas? [she said that her husband races them; no wonder she wants to drill more]
there you go already – sorry @acarvin guest just said, as the first thing Palin does is bringin “vivacity” – would never be used for a man
you know the upside is? as women, we CAN show that we do NOT go for candidates because of gender, ENd OF STORY
she kept her pregnancy a secret for fear of how people might react to her having a Down child?
remmeber when Edwards got flack for running while Eliz had cancer, and two young kids? how does the VP play w/five kids including newborn?
how does the family values thing fit in – that is not a facetious question – she will have to put country first, no?
does she actually reflect conservative women’s values? how will they feel – that is most important, yes?
I will, without question, have oh so much more long-windedness to expend on this topic. But for now, I stick with my assessment earlier today: this choice is an enormous miscalculation of who votes, who votes for whom, and why.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:19 pm August 29th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Democrats, Gender, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Politics, Republicans, Sarah Palin, Sexism, Social Issues, Vice President, Voting, WH2008, Women, leadership
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You could be right. By and large, however, the GOP base is happy with the pick.
Went to the BlogHer post you mentioned and started reading. Got to “very few people can say that they lived within a hairsbreadth of being Russian or Canadian every day of their life.” and had to come to comment – WTF?? Alaskans worry about being Russian or Canadian (double WTF) EVERY DAY OF THEIR LIFE???
Sorry about the over the top punctuation, but this left me beyond flabbergasted.
I may come back and comment more when I’ve read the rest and the comments there. Thanks for the great post & links.
The following assumption leaves me stunned:
McCain and his advisors think they can reel in the supporters of Hilary who may still feel disaffected. On the one hand we have a brilliant, accomplished, forward thinking, pro choice woman and on the other hand we have her precise opposite. It is insulting to realize that they believe we might be influenced because these two women share the same type of reproductive organs!
Dawno’s comment reminds me about something that happened to my dh when he started the job of Asst. Dir. of Hopkins airport in 1998.
In the security training mandatory for new airport employees, the instructor said, “You may not think there are any foreign threats to this airport, but we have a potentially threatening foreign country just a few miles away — Canada!”
This was 3 years before 9/11. When 9/11 happened, I recalled that statement, thinking that maybe airport security had the right idea after all — too bad they were looking for terrorists in the wrong direction.
Minor correction … Jeff was in the air when I wrote that post on ODB. In case someone took offense at it, I didn’t want them blaming the wrong person.
Jill wrote: I empathize with this critique:
Jonah Goldberg (discussing pros and cons):
The way she talks. She has something of a native Alaskan’s accent/speaking style. When I heard her speak last month, I was stunned by how parochial she sounds, not substantively, but stylistically.
But you quote only part of Goldberg’s assessment. He also said:
The disadvantage is that the press will make fun of her for it. The folks at Slate and New York magazine will titter at the rube from the provinces. Look at what sophisticated talkers Biden and Obama are compared to this bumpkin! [...] This in turn could be a great advantage for her and the ticket because she’ll play well in Peoria as an authentic American woman (and man, oh, man will the Nascar crowd love her husband).
Jill also wrote: this choice is an enormous miscalculation of who votes, who votes for whom, and why.
I would suggest that you may have the calculation wrong. Perhaps the primary intent was not to appeal to disaffected supporters of Hillary Clinton (or women in general). Rather, I think the intent may have been to fire up the conservative base, much of which hasn’t been that excited about Sen. McCain. If that was the intent, it seems to have been realized, with many conservatives quite enthusiastic about Gov. Palin. If others decide to support Sen. McCain because of his vice presidential nominee, that’s simply frosting on the cake.
Shalom Jill,
Sarah Palin is a gift to the Democratic party and to the campaign of Barack Obama.
Anything that can cause Dave Hickman to agree with Tim Russo is something to celebrate.
Republicans are gnawing on skulls.
B’shalom,
Jeff
[...] The Wisdom of Choosing Sarah Palin, McCain’s VP pick Posted in Comments, Election [...]
BREAK THE GLASS CEILING !!!
WOW … What a great pick!!! America should elect
McCain & Palin for the Whitehouse in November,
for a return to wholesome American values.
An experienced Governor for V.P. vs. a
community organizer for President … I pick Palin.
No Wright, no Farrakahn, no Ayers, no Rezko,
no [edited] Michelle, NOBAMA
NOTE ON EDIT: Folks, no ad hominem attacks. I have no problem hitting delete and defending it.
Hmmm. The implicit racism aside, Gina’s logic leaves me unconvinced. Palin isn’t breaking the glass ceiling; she’s a poster girl for the status quo. She’s like Anita Bryant on steroids — with money from the gun and oil lobbies pushing her toward fame but not, unfortunately, greatness.
Her political background puts her firmly in the tradition of VPs like Dick Cheney and Spiro Agnew, and in that she represents values I find neither American nor wholesome.
(Unless Gina’s post is meant to be sarcastic?)
LilaTov Cocktail
My reaction, when I heard the news, was “huh?” It felt a bit like the choice of Dan Quayle, when there were so many more qualified folks about.
But the Quayle choice seemed a bit pathetic to me. The choice of Palin seems desperate.
And because she is such a social conservative, I’m worried.
Name a governor with a higher approval rating, of either gender. How can the best governor in the nation be considered nothing but a token? So much for a new post-anything kind of politics emanating from the left.
Shalom Daniel,
Did you really just type that with a straight face? Are you really suggesting that Gov. Sarah Palin is the second best (John McCain being the best) Republican the party has to run for office?
But seriously, what is her approval rating and what poll determined that rating? Without that information it is impossible to compare her to her 49 peers as judged by the same poll during the same time frame.
B’shalom,
Jeff
Fair enough. The polls revealing the approval ratings were regional polls rather than those conducted by national pollsters. So, you may make a case that there is no conclusive poll from a national pollster that rates governors across all 50 states simultaneously, but at least I can provide evidence that at the end of May, a poll conducted by Ivan Moore Research showed an approval rating of 89% for Governor Palin, and a poll conducted by Dittman Research and Communications Corporation showed an approval rating of 93%. By the end of May, John McCain had already clinched the Republican nomination, so the VP search was ramping up at that time.
Of course, the challenge I issued was to name a governor with higher approval ratings. In the absence of a national poll, go ahead and give me a name to rival Palin’s and we can begin the debate on who’s the better governor, and we can begin to gather evidence to help further the debate.
And even if, at the end of the debate, she turns out to be the 2nd best or 3rd best governor, would that relegate Sarah Palin to the rank of “token?” I would submit, Jeff Hess, that the left side of the political spectrum is being completely dishonest in not recognizing Palin as being an accomplished governor.
I just have this to say to the notion of Palin’s popularity ratings:
Alaska, estimated population 670,053. (Wikipedia)
I’m not saying that Alaskan’s opinions don’t count, just that there aren’t a whole lot of opinions to count there. (And some of them are dissenters: see What is McCain Thinking? One Alaskan’s Perspective.)
I can’t find any poll that shows Palin’s approval ratings below 76% (Ivan Moore Research at the end of July).
lilatovcocktail, who’s opinion is the one that counts? Emily’s List? Is Emily’s List the only arbiter of which women are legitimate and which one’s aren’t?
Of course there are some dissenters.
But go ahead and name a governor to rival Palin, so we can get the debate underway to see who’s the best. The cries of tokenism from the left are a complete sham.
Shalom Daniel,
Such stratospheric approval ratings are suspect in of themselves, but I’ll accept that for now.
I did a quick search on Ivan Moore Research and didn’t turn up the May data.
First, is there anything more recent, say after 22 July?
Second, would you post the link to the May survey please?
The same for Dittman Research and Communications, please.
And have any non-local pollsters looked at Palin?
As to my broader question, by my count there are currently 22 Republican governors. Of those, two, count’em two, plus Palin, are women: M. Jodi Rell, Connecticut and Linda Lingle, Hawaii. Not a big pool to select from.
Rell has served the citizens of Connecticut since 1985 and been their governor since 1994. Lingle has been in public life since 1980 and was elected governor in 2002. She is also in her second term.
If we’re restricting ourselves to female Republican governors, both Lingle and Rell look pretty good.
But my question was not whether or not Palin was the best female Republican governor available, but rather whether she was best female Republican the party had to run, which means if we ignore state legislators, who was her congressional competition?
There are currently five female Republican senators: Lisa Murkowski, Alaska; Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, Maine; Elizabeth Dole, North Carolina; and Kay Bailey Hutchison, Texas.
I’m not able to find a convenient list of Republican women in the House of Representatives but I’m sure that there a comparable number of intelligent, committed Republican women in the House as well.
Can you honestly say that Palin shines above all these other women?
B’shalom,
Jeff
Shalom Lila,
More importantly, there are 476,472 registered voters in Alaska in all parties. That’s smaller than the whole population of Cleveland, Ohio.
Another interesting number would be, given the rural nature of Alaska, how many of those registered voters have landlines on which the pollster could conduct their polls on?
Remember the Great Gallop Telephone Poll Screw-up of 1932?
B’shalom,
Jeff
Jeff, I’m not concerned with the best female Republican or the best female Republican governor. I think the best Governor, male or female, is the one who was picked. John McCain, seeing the best elements of himself in Sarah Palin, probably felt he picked the best Republican, bar none.
Here’s an article from July 28, 2008 with some poll numbers:
http://community.adn.com/adn/node/127886
Shaolom Daniel,
Let me be very clear here.
You’re saying that there is not one Republican in the entire Republican party who would make a better vice president in 2008?
B’shalom,
Jeff
Comparing Alaska to Cleveland, if someone beat Cleveland’s good old boys, uprooted all the corrupt politicians, implemented reforms to clean up government, and began the process to make Cleveland energy self-sufficient while garnering 80% approval ratings over the course of two years, I’d be impressed. If Dennis the Menace can potentially be President after running a city into default, then certainly Palin can be President.
Not all Republicans would be suitable for a McCain ticket, but I think McCain chose someone he rated the best.
Shalom Daniel,
Now I understand the relative yardstick you’re using.
Sarah Palin is a true measure of John McCain’s abilty to make good decisions.
That’s good enough for me.
B’shalom,
Jeff
Good enough for me, too.
Ah, Jeff, explained that way, it is also good enough for me.
All of the conservative hacks are pitting a white woman with few credentials (sarah Palllin)against the long impressive accomplishments of Barack, the democratice nominee of his party, a mam who has campaigned for almost 2 years and been vetted by every newspaper, media outlet, and law enforcement agency in this country; a man who has been beat up on by the right wing and has emerged even stronger, even as he has been subjected to all sorts of scrutiny: show us your birth certificate, where is your church; who is your wife; and so on and so on. He has passed every test and promised us a return to leadership in this country. And now these hacks and many other ordinary Republicans and probably some racists out there, are truly trying to justify this selection of Sera Paulin by tearing Obama down. It won’t work, however because Pallin is so unqualified that the not even the most independent independent can support that ticket. Pawlin’s nomination as VP will be such a joke as we go forward and it is truly an insult that she was even chosen. We know nothing of her. What church does Pallin attend? Is she only a hockey mom? Does the little girl play hockey too? When she kills the moose with her big gun, does she make sure it doesn’t hurt the poor animal? What school did her husband attend and where can I get a copy of his thesis? When was the last time she delivered a speech on national or international security? Does she know who the Supreme Court justices are? Was she president of the Harvard Law Review? Did she make cookies for the PTA? Bring on the information. I want to know everything like we know everything there is to know about Barack Obama and Joe Biden. And of course we know all about the POW experience of McCain. So bring on the information about Sarra Pellin.
Here is an article from The Washington Post discussing the selection of Gov. Palin as the vice-presidential candidate. A snippet:
Far from being a last-minute tactical move or a second choice when better known alternatives were eliminated, Palin was very much in McCain’s thinking from the beginning of the selection process, according to McCain’s advisers. [... Rick Davis, McCain campaign manager, said Palin was selected after] having gone through the full vetting process that was done for other finalists. That process included reviews of financial and other personal data, an FBI background check and considerable discussion among the handful of McCain advisers involved in the deliberations.
about approval ratings. It is interesting to note that Alaska has @ 130,000 registered Republicans and @ 75,000 registered Democrats. And the Alaska Independence and Libertarian parties have @ 20,000 combined.
Could account for the high approval rating.
Ash – thanks. Yeah – don’t know but also, from what we can tell, she does seem to get some things done that at least some Alaskans want done. The issue is that that’s not playing all that well with those of us who don’t see any interest on her part to do well for the rest of us, possibly at the expense of AK.