Palin may prove to be a brilliant move -- let's not get too smug

nichomachus

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Sun Aug-31-08 06:21 PM
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Palin may prove to be a brilliant move -- let's not get too smug

It's quite possible that McCain has pulled off a masterstroke by naming someone with a half-page resume as his running mate.

There are a thousand logical reasons why Sarah Palin is a bad choice as McCain's VP and a bad choice for a potential president of the United States. Any person with a lick of sense knows that she is a disaster waiting to happen. However, let's not kid ourselves -- logic and right-wingers do not co-exist in the same quadrant of the universe.

The GOP was in serious trouble. The religious right, which is so important to them (if only to make an election close enough to steal) was in danger of wandering off the ranch. Even non-religious GOPers were despairing. Many were thinking of voting for Obama.

Almost anyone McCain picked from among the "usually suspects" came with a box full of negatives. The crucible of the primary had knocked the snot out of many of them.

Rudy revealed himself as a joke.

Huckabee proved to be squirrelly.

Mitt is scary to a lot of people, not the least of whom are the Xtians.

Dr. Ron Paul made the right diagnosis and offered the wrong cure. I've likened him to the doctor who correctly diagnoses your appendicitis, but wants to cure you by sacrificing a chicken.

Even non-primary suspects come with negatives. In the world of politics, you have to take positions, and every time you do, you leave a trail and sometimes you make enemies. Palin is unique in that she has no record other than a few missteps -- which most Americans don't give a rat's ass about.

So, everyone else you could reasonably name as being "qualified" brought some baggage with them that would alienate them from some segment of the base. Despite the fact that GOPers can believe some serious nonsense, it's hard for a lot of people to erase the negatives that are already in their mind to replace them with the spin doctors' "positives." For example, it's really hard to forget Rudy's "9-11 Tourettes" or his cross-dressing, once that's implanted in your brain.

However, by picking Palin, McCain has chosen a tabla rasa. People have no negatives about her because 99 percent of the US never heard of her before Friday. This makes it easier for the spin doctors to implant good memories, while dismissing any bad news as merely "liberal attacks."

It allows the desperate GOPers, wavering indies, and closet racists the luxury of the willing suspension of disbelief to arrive at the conclusion she is just what the ticket needs. They have nothing to erase and can simply choose to grasp at the straws that are being offered them by the GOP and the corporate media.

The evangelicals would put anyone in office who would support their anti-choice, anti-gay, anti-evolution, pro-theocracy agenda. They would have elected Terri Schiavo if they could have gotten away with it.

Any attempt by the Dems to bring her down will be painted as "politics as usual," at best, and "sexism," at worst. Any attempt by any media people to present a true picture of her will be shouted down as "sexist," and unfortunately that charge has been validated a priori by the Hillary supporters who claimed that her loss was a result of media sexism (instead of a dismally run campaign). So, the groundwork has already been laid for that charge.

There is a sexist angle involved, but it's reverse sexism. Biden is now really hamstrung in what he can do during the VP debate. If the candidate were a male, Joe could go for the jugular. If he tries that now, people will recoil and it could hurt the Dems. People still don't like seeing a woman dissed by a man.

So, basically, in the eight weeks between the end of the RNC and the election -- in reality, it's seven because most people will have made up their minds by then -- the GOP just has to keep up the spin, keep the talking heads praising her, and painting the Dems as vicious goons if they try to define her any other way.

I would not be at all smug about the chances of the McCain/WTF? Ticket winning or, at the very least, keeping it close enough to steal.