Is that yo' chick?!


Reaction(s) to McCain's VP selection.


So I just finished The Paragon's post [link] and spent about an hour skimming through the world's reaction to McCain's VP nomination on BBC News [link]. Thankfully most of the world sees the choice for what it is, a desperate move to try and draw Hillary zealots and traditional conservatives. Which I assume McCain didn't expect anyone to pick up on, so now the world is insulted - especially the women.

I laughed at one person who thought the VP choice was some brilliant landmine to help the right-wing harp on Obama's inexperience if anyone questions Palin's experience, when in actuality it undermines all the months of attacks on Obama. Essentially it's a lay up, just start your criticism with "McCain attacked Obama's inexperience for months and then selects Palin who..." Insert the laundry list of faults she has going against her that make McCain's selection a seriously disturbing error in judgment. If debate persists, rinse and repeat.

Which yes, just lay's up the judgment argument against "C. Niles McCane". When already barely defending his judgment by claiming the surge worked (more so patting himself on the back over how the "surge" brought the situation in Iraq -having gone from terrible to horrendous- back to merely terrible) McCain now has to defend his choice in a VP who doesn't counter Barack Obama but instead establishes hypocrisy that his campaign has to weasel around before making its arguments.

Then you have the so-called strategy to win Hillary supporters. Which is an insult to women, so much so that I'm insulted. You're essentially saying that they will vote for Palin simply because she is a woman. Regardless of how she stands for the exact opposite of everything Hillary Clinton did, including Clinton's sparse attempts at claiming she was not riding her husband's coattails (which she stopped addressing), in that Palin has already intrinsically admitted riding coattails by claiming she is picking up where Hillary left off and shattering "the highest glass ceiling" - though not, since the highest glass ceiling would not be vice president. Maybe she is alluding to McCain's likelihood of passing away while in office; a humorously morbid statement to make especially with that man standing by her side. I was insulted however at the commenter who likened it to Black people voting for Obama because he is Black - so dissimilar in that those Black folks probably would have voted for whatever Democrat was selected, Obama being Black is just icing. To clarify, were Condoleeza running she would not have the same support. Which makes you wonder, as in-line as Palin is to the right-wing agenda why didn't McCain select Rice? He already gave up trying to distance himself from Bush/Cheney and hugged The Decider when he endorsed McCain's campaign.

That Midas touch of Bush points to what's possibly the understated truth. McCain's campaign is kinda like the Titanic. Last week, they were merely headed for the iceberg but had plenty of time to change course and possibly squeak out a convincing victory. However, joining a campaign like that is a risk few politicians are willing to make, especially when up against a savvy campaign like Obama's (you have to admit, Hillary was the presumptive front runner last year and his campaign systematically dismantled that). Why would a GOP member risk that kind of historic loss when they could just wait for a future run? Who wants to be the candidate that opposed "Hope"? Imagine how long you would have to wait before you could win your party's nomination again.

That said Palin is likely a concession of the election by the McCain campaign. I'm not sure if it is an intentional concession or not but I'd like to think his campaign does "get it" unlike Obama said and has purposely picked this candidate that could so easily be used to point out the flaws in McCain's judgment and campaign. Again, if he were to pass away in office, Palin would be President. Let that marinate. I say this as I try to find more on the time during a speech in which she gave away the deployment information of her son's unit, endangering his and his fellow soldiers' lives.

So why am I nervous...
Well, I'm sure Palin has her benefits but i'm not sure they outweigh her liabilities which is why most of the think tank was not expecting the choice. (My first thought was "ah, Lassie-choice, somebody that won't undermine Presidential decisions" - not a jab at gender.) The reason the choice is surprising is that a candidate would have to harbor an extremely brilliant team behind him to spin this VP choice into an overall asset to the campaign. Though McCain is the nominee now, he was almost out of the race because they couldn't handle their finances. Yet for that reason I would in no way count McCain out, CLEARLY he (though really I mean those behind him) knows how to appeal to his party and stay competitive. Essentially the choice is so crazy it might work.

Whether this is rolling over and playing dead or not -which for some is a strategy and some a concession- I know Obama better not concede if McCain somehow wins in November. There are a lot of people out there and though some truly believe this an "inspired" VP choice, it seems most everyone else sees the iceberg. I've read a number of comments about people more likely to vote for Obama now after McCain's first action as potential President. However, I don't recall seeing anyone inspired to "abandon Change" and vote GOP now that it is the McCain/Palin ticket. Even still, I am wary of foul play and the most dubious spinning EVER on the horizon.

Recounts... all day.

[In case you care...]
Who is Palin?
Why the fuss?

Let the spin begin...

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