Friday, August 29, 2008

Didn't See that Coming...

So McCain has chosen Sarah Palin as his running mate. Wow... I thought for sure it would be Romney. I truly am stunned because McCain has just made an enormous gamble, and what I think this shows is that McCain is really uncertain about his chances. I also think it's interesting that Romney was the obvious choice for obvious reasons yet he didn't get chosen; and the reason he didn't get chosen is because Palin is a woman and is pro-life.

This choice has absolutely nothing to do with picking someone who would make a good president; it's all about winning the election. For one, McCain is looking to steal some Hillary supporters. Palin, today, said something like, "now we can finally break that glass ceiling." This, of course, refers to Hillary's comment about putting 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling. Secondly, McCain chose her because of her pro-life record. The Dean of Liberty University Law School, here, says that this will energize conservatives. So the pro-life, born again president we have now disappointed the religious Right on abortion, but McCain, who they're already suspicious of on abortion, picks a pro-life VP and they're going to be energized? Ok...

The biggest gamble with this choice, however, is the fact that McCain is an old guy with lots of health problems. The primary purpose of the VP is to fill in for the president if the unfortunate occurred. McCain and the Republicans main attack on Obama is his lack of experience, yet Palin is significantly less experienced than Obama.

Nevertheless, it's ironic that McCain chose her to attract Hillary supporters and pro-life conservatives. Now that's a change indeed.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think it's brilliant and an excellent choice. She has more experience than Obama so that can't really be an issue with people who want to have intellectual honesty. They can say they don't like her politics, or she's a republican so she sucks, but this move was brilliant. Of course, this was done to win the election. That's what both parties are trying to do.

Anonymous said...

i said that she wasn't chosen because she would make a good president because mccain said she would. of course, mccain says obama is to inexperienced to be president, so it's mccain who has the intellectual honesty problem. and palin has more experience than obama? i'd like to know how.

and on an unrelated note, what about that prooftext? also, i think i need to do another post on rethinking forgiveness soon since we read that chapter.

Heath Countryman said...

Palin has 8 years of experience in the Executive branch of government, 6 as mayor and 2 as Governor. NObama has zero. Palin has been in politics since 1992. NObama has been in politics since 1997.

So really? Obama is not being intellectually dishonest in criticizing her experience? I thought he said experience doesn't matter!

Heath Countryman said...

BTW, in regards to your title, no one saw it coming, so don't feel bad...

Anonymous said...

oh heath, this is too easy...
being mayor of a town with a population smaller than the amount of people who attend my church doesn't give the experience and knowledge to govern the U.S. and she has less than two years experience running alaska.

obama, working as a community organizer and a civil rights attorney, dealt with neighborhood economic development. so he has in-depth experience working with the poor and working class in the third larget city in the country.

he's an expert on the constitution, teaching constitutional law for over a decade.

and of course his political career started in 96, where he was a senator in illinois, a state much more populated and connected to the rest of the country than alaska. his district also covered part of chicago including the south side.

in the u.s. senate he's worked on the domestic fron and on foreign relations.

Anonymous said...

the thing is though, in the last couple days i've felt more and more cynical, and i don't know why. and while i think obama has what it takes to be a good president, i keep second guessing how enthused i should be about anyone from any major party.

Heath Countryman said...

Well, Its ok to be enthusiastic. Just don't be blind. Obama seems to be a good man. But his speech on thursday certainly was not the high politics that he said he was going to engage in. Perhaps that is part of the reason for your cynicism.

Politicians are not to be trusted...

BTW, I am interested to see your answers for the "Who Said It?" post I put up on my blog...

Anonymous said...

"Politicians are not to be trusted..."

and that's a big part of what i have been thinking about lately.

Anonymous said...

ya know, i had a feeling they were all obama quotes- I REALLY DID!- because i could see you doing that, but i gave you the benefit of the doubt. i guess i learned my lesson... and at least you now no that i'm not some hopeless obama worshipper hanging on his every word.

Heath Countryman said...

lol... thanks for not ruining the game on my blog... I was actually surprised by Obama's quote on McCain that I read in Reader's Digest the day after his acceptance speech. They didn't seem to be coming from the same person. So I thought, hmmmm. I wonder if I could find a bunch of quotes from Obama that sound like they are coming from a bunch of diffrent people... That's what led to the blog post. Anyways, glad you gave me the benefit of the doubt... but really, I am pretty predictable.