What Palin Means

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

She wasn't McCain's first pick. He wanted Joe Lieberman because Joe was safe and would burnish his "reputation" for being bi-partisan -- who better to do that than an Independent and Former Democrat. There's some logic to that; as much as we despise Lieberman around here, he would have been a formidable running mate and sent a message to swing voters.

But there's an alternate logic. That being the McCain can overcome attempts by the Democrats to paint him as the Bush Administration cabana boy, and that his "maverick" label will resonate with enough voters to get by -- particularly after they unleash a torrent of scurrilous attacks on Barak Obama. Between raising enough questions about Obama's fitness for office and pushing their reliable, albeit tarnished, brand, Republicans think they can win.

Except.

Fundamentalists hate McCain. Really, really hate him. Forget that McCain has repudiated every centrist position he's ever taken -- they're not foolish enough to think that the leopard has changed his spots. In order to avoid having the religious right stay on the sidelines, McCain needed something to get them into the game.

That something would be picking a hard-core right-wing conservative fundamentalist to be his running mate. Given the opportunity to put one of their own a failing heartbeat away from the Presidency, fundamentalists will come out in droves to support her. And then pray that McCain dies on January 22, 2009.

Now we know the strategy of the Republican ticket. McCain is going to be pushing his non-partisan, maverick image while Palin will be doing church meetings all around the country. They're going to keep Palin away from the mainstream media to prevent her from speaking in tongues and scaring the hell out of moderate voters. And they're going to get ugly as hell in their attacks on Obama. Screw the big tent and ever getting the black vote -- they want to keep power.

What do we do?

Push back on Palin's religious extremism. Don't worry too much about offending the values voters -- I go to church every Sunday and I can tell you that this woman is a nut who I wouldn't want anywhere near the nuclear button. Even religious voters recognize a headcase when they see one.

Push back on Palin's inexperience. Those all-important swing voters tend to be practical and pragmatic; they know that McCain is old that there's a good chance he won't survive his first term (statistically speaking, a 72-year-old has a 30% chance of dying before reaching the age of 76). Do you want the former mayor of Wasilla, AK to be in charge of national security?

Push back on Palin's political corruption and lying. Using her powers to conduct personal vendetta's against her enemies; lying about being opposed to pork-barrel spending; leaving her town $20 million in debt. Draw parallels between Palin and the Bush Administration.

And, of course Tie McCain to the Bush Administration. McCain felt it necessary to denounce the last eight years in his acceptance speech. We need to constantly remind people that McCain supported every disastrous policy of the Bush Administration and, to this date, has NEVER said what he would have done, or will do, differently.

We can beat this guy, but it's not going to be as easy as many people thought.