Thursday, May 29, 2008

Que Sarah, Sarah, or, Why McCain Should be Pallin' Around with Palin

From "The American Spectator":
By Thomas Cheplick
Published 2/26/2008


As John McCain inches closer to the 1,191 delegates he needs to secure the Republican nomination, attention has turned to the vice presidential sweepstakes. Who should McCain pick as his running mate? The answer will be especially important if the aging four-term senator's general election foe is a youthful freshman agitating for change.

Sarah Palin, the beautiful conservative Republican governor of Alaska, would be an ideal choice to help McCain slay this unholy ObamaOprah beast which is set to rake in nearly $50 million a month in campaign donations alone, and has intense auxiliary support coming from the unions, George Soros's billions-infused Democracy Alliance organization, and other rich Democratic networks.

Mrs. Palin is one of conservatism's own, and would be the first female vice president. She's young being only 44 (two years behind Senator Obama), she is wildly known to despise government corruption. She defeated a horribly entrenched and corrupt Republican political machine in Alaska. She has a son in the U.S. military. She's strongly pro-life, belonging, in fact, to Feminists for Life.

Click on the link to see the entire article:

Gov. Palin could become the Republican Party's Segolene Royal, the French Socialist Party's glamorous leader known for her heels and political bite. She is the perfect antidote to Sen. Obama's cheap thrills, and would help rejuvenate conservatism.

If Camille Paglia or the huffers on Huffington Post are anything to go by, the standard line that will be repeated often against John McCain will be that he's an "old coot"; a vintage George C. Scott-style warmonger; old; hypocritical; and just plain odd.

As McCain's advisers most surely know, the best way to combat that line of attack is to choose a running mate who in no way can be seen as old or as a "coot."

MRS. PALIN IS most certainly not an "old coot." She has enchanting, fresh charisma and the credentials, too, to win back and motivate a lot of conservatives, disaffected Republicans, and independents tired of government corruption and Republican degeneracy and sheer idiocy.

McCain needs someone who like Sen. Obama physically represents a departure from the past, who also oozes vibrancy and intelligence, will motivate die-hard conservatives, but what's more, who will also let the Arizonan take advantage of his age and enable him to be the playful and charming Reagan-esque grandfather figure that Americans always fall in love with. In other words, Sen. McCain, like President Nixon in the 1968 election, needs an opposite number -- that's Sarah Palin in the flesh.

President Nixon's opposite number was Spiro Agnew, then the Governor of Maryland. It worked fantastically. Gov. Agnew was the gregarious and boastful conservative Greek who contrasted very well with the inherently shy and calculating Nixon. Choosing Agnew not only reassured and motivated conservative Republicans but also added a nice touch of Greek pizzazz that competed well against Hubert Humphrey's Midwestern sparkle.

Barack Obama is the raffish 46-year-old, witty, and charming who is magnificently skilled in making himself appear inclusive, open-minded, and not at all prone to socialist-thinking. What's more, Sen. Obama is the George W. Bush of this election. Like President Bush in 2000, Sen. Obama is the candidate with less experience but tons of charm. If history is anything to go by, Americans always pick the charmer.

Under the "anti-coot" rubric Senator McCain has few available options -- and that's perhaps being too extravagant. The beautiful young conservative female governor from Alaska really is it. What's more, Mrs. Palin is in Washington, D.C. this week. She is "hoping," according to the news reports, "to meet with the presidential front-runners while in Washington to discuss Alaska's role in the new administration."

Doubtless, many patriotic Americans want to know: What time will she and Sen. McCain be meeting for dinner?

Thomas Cheplick is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here's an important piece of advice: If it looks like it's going to be McCain/Palin anyway (and that should be a "no brainer" for Team McCain), McCain should announce NOW or VERY SOON, rather than later towards the convention. There's currently a growing chorus for Obama/Hillary (as VP) ticket (in fact the Dems are likely aware of the Palin phenomenon). If the GOP waits while movement for Hillary as VP grows -- even worse until after it is solidified that Hillary will/could be VP pick -- selecting Palin will be portrayed by Dems/liberal media more as a reaction by GOP selecting its own female (overshawdoing Palin's own remarkable assets), rather than McCain taking the lead on this. Selecting Palin now or early (contrary to the punditocracy) will mean McCain will be seen as driving the course of this campaign overwhelmingly, and the DEMS will be seen as merely reacting. And, there's absoultely no down-side to this because even if Hillary is a no-go as VP for Obama, the GOP gains by acting early. McCain the maverick. Palin the maverick. Do it now!

There's no reason, and actually substantial negative, in McCain waiting to see what the Dems do first insofar as his picking Palin as VP, because, no matter who Obama picks, Palin is by far (and I mean far) the best pick for McCain and the GOP, especially in this time of GOP woes. The GOP can be seen as the party of real 'change' (albeit I hate that mantra, change, change, bla bla), while not really having to change from GOP core conservative values, which Palin more than represents.

In light of the current oil/energy situation, as well as the disaffected female Hillary voters situation, and growing focus on McCain's age and health, Palin is more than perfect -- now.

(Perhaps Team McCain is already on to this.)

LilMissRepublican said...

PALIN FOR VP!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

There’s been noted buzz of late on rising GOP star Louisiana Gov Bobby Jindal as a McCain prospective Veep. Certainly Jindal is more than very good, However, I believe there’s some “strategerie” going on here. The “real” beneficiary of the Jindal talk is the other rising GOP star, Alaska Gov Sarah Palin. Palin’s got everything that Jindal has (new/exciting, wildly popular, ethics and spending reformer, core conservative etc.) and more — mother of 5 w/remarkable bio, she’s 8 yrs older than Jindal, Alaska energy issue, and set to garner the disenfranchised female Hillary voter (I don’t believe Dem leaders can dump Obama).

Getting Jindal’s name out first — at Team McCain’s BBQ for instance — sets the stage for the obvious choice, Palin. For example, albeit Rush Limbaugh introduced Palin’s name, and later Jindal’s as good Veep choices, of late Rush has been praising the name of Jindal while on his very same shows discussing at great length the frustrated female Hillary voter and the global warming hysteria/need for energy development, without mentioning Palin’s name as the obvious beneficiary of those two issues. Rush walks a fine line, introducing Palin, yet can’t, at least yet, reiterate much, knowing that his praises may be counter-productive to many a swing, moderate and/or formerly Dem voter (who’s against Obama and switching to McCain). Moreover, while I feel that Palin has more real accomplishment, experience and qualification than Obama (and Hillary combined, albeit w/Obama the bar is pretty low), the only potential argument against Palin is she’s a newbie to the national scene. By having Jindal out there first as a VP prospect “passing” the “experience” and “new to the national scene” test, implicitly passes Palin as well. (For that matter Palin’s got as much if not more experience and accomplishment than Florida Gov Crist who’s only been Gov for 2 yrs — and the media has been touting Crist as a VP prospect.)

That’s my thinking at least.

Bill Shaw said...

Ted;

Please email me through the link on my sidebar. I am thinking of offering guest spots and I really like the way you think.

Your 2 comments here certainly qualify for their own posts-but-I like to give credit where it is due.

Let me know.

B.

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