The Palin Phenomenon: From corrupt governor to GOP superstar
Sarah Palin has gone on the type of journey that is only possible in America. She came out of nowhere; a little-known politician from a relatively insignificant state. As governor of Alaska, she participated in many questionable acts. She took funding from Congress for a project that was going nowhere, she abused the same earmarks that John McCain claims to fight against, and she has the same kind of shady past that McCain supporters have claimed that Barack Obama has.
So how exactly did she become a GOP superstar? The simple fact behind the choice of Palin was that John McCain needed a woman. It didn’t matter to him who it was (many more qualified women in the GOP), he just had to have a woman. Now he is allowed to use sexism and the gender card as a firewall against any attacks. This came at a perfect time for McCain, as people were beginning to accept the fact that being a former prisoner of war doesn’t mean he can never be questioned. Now, McCain can use anything Obama or Biden say against Palin, or even himself, and twist it into sexism. This poses an instant problem for Obama, who is good with words but cannot possibly tell what can be twisted one way or another, and for Biden, who doesn’t exactly have a reputation for saying what people want to hear.
By picking Palin, McCain also dug into two key demographics: young people, and women. Young Republicans who may have felt alienated when their party passed on Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee for a 70+ year old with a documented history of health issues, are now being excited by the McCain/Palin ticket. Also, women now view McCain more favorably than before, even though any intelligent women would know that he was attempting to pander to them with the pick of Palin. A true feminist would never vote McCain, but unfortunately women voters haven’t come as far as we thought they had.
While the pick of Palin should not have worked and on Election Day likely will not work, for now it’s certainly interesting, and sad, to watch.
Written by Ken
September 15, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Posted in Politics
Tagged with barack obama, biden, congress, Election 2008, GOP, joe biden, john mccain, mccain, obama, palin, Politics, republicans, sarah palin, sexism, superstar, vp, women, young, young people
4 Responses
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PolitiCrazy 
Good post.
Palin is Bush in a bra.
All the while . . .
The stock market crashes: Taxpayers get the bill, yet you’ll soon realize the big-wig CEOs won’t lose a dime from their compensation, or from their golden parachute contracts. The wheeler-dealer stock brokers won’t lose a dollar from their fat bonuses, but the taxpayers will foot the bill.
And the GOP promises us more of the same.
And STILL, non-thinking voters will support the business as usual GOP ticket.
Go figure!
christianliberal
September 15, 2008 at 9:03 pm
As a woman voter, (who has supported McCain since Janurary) I consider myself one of the few true feminists who support the abolition of the rampant sexism in society. I , an intelligent woman, never supported Hillary because I knew that I must vote on real political issues, such as foreign policy, over gender.
Oh, and I do not consider Barack Obama to be “good with words”. He can give the most glorious speeches if they are written for him, but he is slow to answer a question to which he must come up with his own reply. However, whether a candidate is good with words or bad, that’s a pathetic reason to vote for a president!
And, while I’m in the neighborhood, what has given Barack Obama more experience than Sarah Palin? He has no executive experience whatsoever, and his foreign policy consists only on voting on the war. That’s precious little.
Addy
September 16, 2008 at 1:19 am
In your case there is no hypocrisy since you supported McCain from the start. It’s the women who have switched to McCain just because of Palin or because they think they got robbed by “the democratic process”.
And by the way, going by your theory on executive experience, McCain wouldn’t be qualified to be president either.
Ken
September 16, 2008 at 1:26 am
I agree that women who vote for the McCain/Palin ticket just because they want a woman in so high a office are not using good judgment. It is equally ridiculous to vote for Senator Obama because he is black. (I hope that term does not offend anyone– I simply don’t know what else to call him because he is not African American.)
McCain’s executive experience comes from a time when he was a Captain in the Navy.
Addy
September 16, 2008 at 1:39 am