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By Bill Altreuter

Governor Palin is only slightly more qualified to be President of the United States than my mom. TCA is a restless soul, and when she and my father retired to the Tarheel State she got the itch and went into politics. She was a town council member and then mayor of a town more or less the size of Wasilla, and there was talk at one point of a run for Congress. She passed on that, since it wasn't really consistent with being retired, but there it is. An accident of history, if you will. A Vogue cover and a matter of a few years and it could have been my mom standing there being leered at by John McCain. Of course, my mom's a Democrat, so there's that too. I don't know much more about Governor Palin than anyone else outside of the 49th State, but I'm pretty sure I'd prefer my mom's platform.

This selection really makes me wonder at the cynicism of the Republican party. I suppose it might work-- but I don't think it will. HRC's supporters didn't want just any woman-- they wanted HRC. In the Comments at Lawyers, Guns & Money someone said: "This is all about short-term control of the news cycle, stepping on the Obama speech. This is a tactical choice, not a strategic one. This isn't answering the Biden pick, this is answering the positive press on yesterday's speech.
"This is actually a pretty good window into what a McCain presidency would be like--short term fixes, lurching from crisis to crisis, totally misanalyzing problems and proposing bogus but flashy solutions that don't actually work."

I think that pretty much nails it, and I think there might be a backlash because the pick is so nakedly manipulative.

On the other hand, people are chumps. I have to keep reminding myself of this. Obama is running a campaign for grown-ups, and we've seen that fail time and again. Every four years I think about the SNL Bush-Dukakis Debate. "I can't believe I'm losing to this guy". It speaks volumes about the decline of public discourse that Bush pere now looks coherent, let alone like a statesman.

I'm sure Governor Palin is a lot of things. She seems articulate, and I imagine she is quite a bit more honest than the usual Alaska Republican, admittedly a low bar. On the other hand, the fact that she can stand there and accept this nomination without blushing is troubling. She is probably a lot closer in her beliefs to mainstream America than I am, and that's the most troubling thing of all. I take back saying that she is more qualified than my mom-- TCA would be a far better candidate.

Full post as published by Outside Counsel on August 29, 2008 (boomark / email).