What The Palin Pick Says About McCain

5 thoughts on “What The Palin Pick Says About McCain”

1. Today McCain went on Fox News Sunday to declare Sarah Palin his “partner and a soulmate.”

   This is how desperate he is to sell this pick, which is already beginning to look like “buyers remorse” from listening to all the other surrogate this morning. They still don’t know who she is, so they just regurgitating the McCain talking points of her being a “maverick” and independent.

   This role out a VP is a complete flop compared to Obama’s choice of Biden. Obama had the nation on the edge of their seats for an entire week waiting, speculating, and debating.

   With Palin, everyone just shook their head and said “who?” And now the GOP must spend a great deal of their time selling this pick to voters rather than focusing on the issues. And refering to Palin as his “soulmate” shows how desperate McCain is.

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2. These are not characteristics we look for in a leader. However, over the course of three days we have John McCain’s character is built upon these two flaws.

   From Josh Marshall over at TPM on McCain’s Gambling Problem

   Just after McCain announced his pick, a number of commentators — some independent analysts and others Republican partisans — said that this was McCain reverting to form. He’s a gambler, he likes rolling the dice, playing craps — to use the most chosen metaphor. (Little discussed is that McCain is, in the literal sense, a big time gambler, though he appears to keep the amount of money he loses under control.) But is that the temperament one wants in a president and commander-in-chief? Someone whose inclination, at critical moments of decision, is toward risky, high-stakes gambles? That kind of erratic behavior is pardonable, even an asset in a senator (who has little direct power beyond 1 of 100 votes and the ability to persuade people). But it’s a dangerous trait for a leader of a country of 300 million.“

   And he continues with McCain’s Exploitation of Hurricane Gustav

   That being said, I find it disturbing that McCain and Palin have decided to go down to Mississippi this week. A trip like this is worse than opportunism. Let us not forget that McCain doesn’t travel alone; he brings along staff and Secret Service agents, all of whom require the time and attention of local officials. The situation is reminiscent of Rumsfeld’s infamous 9/11 response to rush outside the Pentagon and give orders: the images on TV inspire confidence, at least until one remembers that our leaders are neglecting the responsibilities that are truly meant to keep us safe…

   [continued]

   And if visiting a possible emergency site to “check on preparations” (as the campaign refers to it) doesn’t bother you particularly, consider this line from Politico yesterday:

   “McCain was scheduled to deliver his acceptance speech Thursday but now may do so from the devastation zone if the storm hits the U.S. coast with the ferocity feared by forecasters.”

   It can be hard sometimes not to drift towards the spotlight. But that is precisely why we seek leaders with sound judgement, however they come across it.

   McCain’s judgement has been misplaced by the spotlight. He “needed” to be back in the spotlight so he picked Palin as his VP. He “needs” to be seen as an “emergency” politician so he rushes down to see a Hurricane firsthand an make his party acceptance speech, though he’ll offer no real help for the people in the disaster area.. He “needs” these things for himself.

   The American people need a leader with sound judgement, not selfish ambition.

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   1. What the Palin pick says about McCain:

      1. He likes and respects strong women. Married one an put one on his ticket. Tends to fall in love at first sight.

      2. He’s honest with himself. He knows the GOP ground machine would have sat on its hands if he hadn’t picked Palin.

      3. He’s strategic. He assessed Obama’s tremendous weaknesses, what with the selection of Biden, and he went for a governor who has executive experience that even outshines his own as well as that of Obama and Biden.

      4. He’s flexible. He moved with and in anticipation of events. After Obama picked a Washington hack with a record of plagiarism and far left pandering,  McCain went for an outsider who is a reformer. Reform means more than “change.”

      5. He’s a risk taker, as all good leaders are. None of this paralysis from analysis.

      6. McCain is comfortable within his own skin. Nothing showy, dramatic nor phony about McCain.

      Bonus:

      7. There’s no hubris in McCain. There’s a ton in Obama.

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      1. You seem to be alone in buying that pick as anything as other than a political pander to the far right faction of the republican party.

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      2. if you think Palin’s year long stint as Governor is experience that outshines that of McCain, Obama and Biden.

         That’s as ridiculous and ignorant as claiming she has foreign policy experience since Alaska is near Russia. I guess any border state politician has more experience on that front than Palin, since Mexico and Canada are also neighboring countries, still making her awefully unqualified.  

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