VandeHei is showing his bias, don't you think? I think he ticked off each of the Democrats' talking points, I submit deliberately.
2 things - I don't see how he is concerned about his conservative base. He's already conservative enough on the hot issues. This list can't figure out whether he is concerned about his age or not. See #3, and #4. I would have appreciated it if the authors had actually taken one or the other position on this.
Here's why I think McCain chose Palin: 1) She's a fresh face, the future of the Party. 2) She's a woman, changes the tenor of the Party from being old white men. Chance to appeal to Hillary voters. 3) She's well liked by people in the Party. 4) She presents extremely well. 5) It was a bold move. The talking heads on TV aren't talking about Obama's big crowd and his speech, they're talking about her. 6) Democrats are going to look bad if they attack her.
"playing it safe" isn't going to appeal to the voters he needs to win. Obama basically acknowledged his weaknesses with his pick. It gave McCain the opportunity to make a newsworthy pick.
I agree with you on 1, 5, and somewhat on 6. I disagree with 2. I still think that it's a leap of faith to think that they are going to pull in Hillary's constituencies. If they really wanted Hillary voters, they would have gone with a pro-life person. We can look at the voter domographics after the November election and see if I was right. I don't trust the polls, I'm not a poll guy.
I really wish the religious wrong would get the hell out of the Republican party so that abortion will stop being the defining issue. Being a centrist in this country sucks
I'm pro-life, but I absolutely agree with you. Unfortunately, if you're pro-chocie, and pro-gay marriage, you can't run for President or VP, or depending on where you live the House or Senate as a Republican. The Republican party shouldn't disqualify people because they disagree on abortion. It should be an issue, but at the end of the day, what really matters is people are able to stay in their homes, don't have to worry about the economy, don't have to worry about sky high gas and food prices, and feel safe under the threat of terrorism.
Let's be clear about something: The goal of an election is to be elected. Nothing else matters. On that basis, Sarah Palin was a strong choice for vice president. She's a young, pro-life woman who has made few gaffes (coutesy of her limited experience). The Republican machine concluded that someone with those characteristics would provide the most benefit to the goal of getting elected, and so she was selected, not unlike how Dan Quayle was selected to be the vice presidential candidate a decade and a half ago. She'll gain more votes for mcCain then she will cost, and that is the bottom line. Putting that aside, on ANY objective basis, she is a TERRIBLE choice for vice president--basically, a joke. Think about what a vice president does; what his or her role is (or should be). It is to provide advice to the president on sensitive matters and represent the U.S. Government abroad. How could she POSSIBLY advise John McCain on ANYTHING? McCain has met her once, so he has no reason to trust her judgment. She has no foreign policy experience, experience dealing with Congress, or experience in nearly any issue that is regulated or addressed by a federal department or agency. Some of you, who have criticised Obama for the past several months on the basis of his lack of experience, are now justifying this selection because she has "no less experience than Obama." How hypocritical. The two situations are nothing alike. Obama was chosen as his party's nominee by going through a grueling selection process. Millions of voters around the country weighed his inexperience against his other qualities, and those of his opponents, and concluded that he was the best candidate to represent the Democratic party. Maybe they will turn out to be wrong, and that his inexperience should have outweighed other factors--but the key is that he was chosen despite this obvious weakness, and that the voters were willing to take the risk that he could lose the general election on that basis. Who chose Sarah Palin? Certainly not John McCain, who wouldn't even recognize her at a cocktail party. Certainly not Republican voters. It was the Republican machine that is only interested in increasing the probability of getting elected, by trying to attract those shallow, one-issue voters. If you are suspicious of Obabma's credentials to be president, then there is no way around it: you should be suspicious of Palin as well, and the process that chose her to be McCain's running mate. Could she make a good Vice President? Yeah, sure, but so could three hundred of my acquaintences. But as an American, I am disgusted that it had to come to this--that she was "selected" solely because she was a young woman who was pro-choice, experience and likely contribution to the administration be damned. But hey, if Quayle didn't take down a campaign, no vice presidential candidate ever will. As for McCain--it seems to me that he is now no longer in charge of his campaign. All the decisions are being made for him. This is a pretty good read on that point: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1836909,00.html.
VPs rarely advise the president on anything. Cheney and maybe Gore being the exceptions to the rule. What the VP does is: 1) Attend lots of state funerals 2) Be ready in case something happens to the president 3) President of the Senate, and cast tie breaking votes there. The only thing she's really going to struggle with is #3 - Biden would be able to get Obama's legislation passed a lot better since he knows people and the ins and outs of the Senate. As for #2, Truman wasn't very prepared to be president in one of the most important times in our history and he did pretty well. He did have the advantage of being VP for a while, which she is going to do as well. Truman was kept out of the loop on most things, especially the A-Bomb.
Between Bush and Cheney, it's pretty clear that Cheney is extremely valuable to W. I would argue that Cheney should be the President and Bush should be VP. W has nothing going for him other than the connections that he has through his dad. He is a mindless mouthpiece for everyone and everything around him. Faith-based initiatives? lol... The same can be said for Biden/Obama. Biden should be the guy in charge of that team.
I think the vice president role is though of so highly only in the United States. I know at least in the Balkans for example, people run for the president position and when they are chosen then they get a vice president. I follow politics closely in Albania and Kosovo and I don't even know who's the vice president there, because it really doesn't matter, they never are around, they don't run anything, and are basically there only if something was to happen to the president.
