In case you missed it, and I am betting the answer is no unless you leave outside of the US, John McCain announced his running mate for the presidential race, and her name is Sarah Palin. I am linking three stories to the announcement, one from BBC news, NY Times, and Wall Street Journal.
I think it is easy to see that McCain was going for the vote out women constituents, especially those Hillary supporters that are lamenting her losing to Obama. And as a pure observer in this, since I cannot vote in the election, I will say that on first glance there seemed to be a bit of panic in the voice of several Democrats I know. That said, as the dust from the announcement settles, I doubt that this will end up being as good a move as the GOP was thinking. As stated in the articles linked above, McCain's ability to target Obama for his inexperience in foreign affairs is bound to be weakend by his choice for a VP. Then again, I didn't think people would re-elect a man that sent the country to war under false pretenses.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I think McCain made a good choice for the reasons you outlined. In a country where 50% of the citizens are female and 30-some percent are not white, I think that it's past time for diversity in the executive branch. I'm happy that this is the year where we see that.
As for the political consequences of picking Palin, I think the greatest advantage is that it energizes the GOP. While there are a lot of Hillary supporters who may be tempted to vote for a woman regardless of political affiliation, I really think Palin's position on some key issues (hint, it begins with an 'a' ends in an 'n' and has 'bortio' in the middle) will ultimately mean that they don't steal a lot of women from the "sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits."
Maureen Dowd comes out swinging.
As a woman, I can say this...As much as I want to see women in such positions,I really think it is stupid if women vote for a woman based on the fact that she is a woman rather than issues.
Voting for someone, without regard for their stance on issues, just because they happen to be female is like voting for someone just because they like the same sports team as you.
He's a Cardinals fan?! He's got my vote!
Post a Comment