Sunday Open Thread, With a Palin Tilt

We probably ought to have both a Gustav watch and a Palin watch thread, to see which is the greater disaster.

Ross Douthat argues that maybe Palin won't be so bad. 

My take - I run into Connecticut women in their 40's and 50's, almost all with college or advanced degrees and professional experience.  I understand that is not Palin's target demographic nor was there any thought of turning Connecticut Red.  However, the best thing I can say about the Palin pick is that all these women are now wishing they were Republicans because they would be qualified to be President, too.

I don't like the pick - I feel as if McCain is throwing long on second down with plenty of time on the clock (Note - we are officially abandoning baseball metaphors for the rest of year).  I don't have confidence in his selection process, I don't like the result, I have a hard time believing this is the way he will pick a Cabinet and staff the executive branch, I don't like surrendering the "inexperienced" card with the idea of out "hope and changing" Barack - let's say I don't like it. 

Oh, well - maybe this pick is killing 'em in the heartland.  I would think Ms. Palin would have good working class and evangelical appeal.

Next thread - Gustav.

MORE: OUCH.  Well, I could cherry-pick negative reaction all afternoon.  Here is some good advice from Jonah Goldberg.

Comments

[Danube of Thought]

I like the pick a lot more than either TM or Douthat does. I think it is electrifying, and my only concern is that she endure two months of ridiculously unfair scrutiny without making something that the press will decide is a fatal gaffe.

[capitano]

I think it is an inspired choice and I'm not alone. More importantly, the more I learn about Palin the more convinced I am it was inspired.

[MaryD]

Agree with the first comment. I would love to have someone convince me that Tim Pawlenty had the foreign policy cred that the naysayers are saying Palin lacks. BTW She has dealt with Russia and Canada in her capacity as Governor.

[New Guy]

Experience and Judgment are two different things. Palin has Obama beat on both counts. I am willing to chance it with a breath of fresh air. So far impressed.

[Jane]

I love, love, love the pick! TM, tell your democrat friends that it's okay, all they need to run is a husband who is an ex-president.

[anduril]

C'mon, get real--look at the other three bozos on the tickets!

[anduril]

And Brookhiser, for God's sake! If my life depended on it...

[clarice]

She's a dynamite pick for any real American.
RealAmerican=anyone whose heart has melted at a Frank Capra movie.

[anduril]

apparently that doesn't happen in connecticut. although TM should probably talk to my niece there.

[Huggy Bear]

"I run into Connecticut women in their 40's and 50's...and professional experience.

Just curious, are we talking doctor/lawyer professional or Ashley Dupre professional?

[Teddy Roosevelt]

I had less than 2 years Governor experience and I did ok.

[Chris]

TM will come around on this pick, I'm guessing (hoping). Jonah makes a great point wrt the gender thing. The point's been made. Get on with the econ/energy discussion.

[centralcal]

Anduril - I am with you 100%

I think Sarah Palin probably impressed the hell out of John McCain, judging by the background we got in The WaPo today.

I don't think it is too easy to impress the man.

I like the choice he made a lot so far.

[Latrisha Jones]

Mmmmm, TM doesn't like Obama nor Palin. He's sexist and a racist!

[Lou Shumaker]

Happy to say you're wrong. I'm former Democrat (now Independent), and she is an exciting GOP candidate. And when was the last time you ever saw "exciting" and "GOP" put together?

The only risk comes from seeing how she'll handle the pressure over the next few months. But I would bet that with her record -- high school state championship, battling her party leaders, raising five kids -- she'll do just fine.

Imagine the VP debate. Who's going to embody change: the professional senator or the Alaskan governor?

[Chris]

Anyone know if she's got a sister? Hadn't heard.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

I don't have confidence in his selection process, I don't like the result, I have a hard time believing this is the way he will pick a Cabinet and staff the executive branch, I don't like surrendering the "inexperienced" card with the idea of out "hope and changing" Barack - let's say I don't like it.

Everyone makes mistakes, Tom. We won't make fun of you for this one.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Just curious, are we talking doctor/lawyer professional or Ashley Dupre professional?

Ooooh.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Have we officially closed out the other thread? I had a question for Leo.

[Chris Thorne]

The bunnyhugger vote is going to be something to see. I live in Commiefornia, and outrage is intense over Palin supporting the culling of wolves.

Of course, when actual large predators such as mountain lions and bears end up wandering into the back yards of their expensive CA properties, exactly the same bunnyhuggers DEMAND that the animal be destroyed at once. The Silicon Valley yuppie enclave of Palo Alto gets the occasional mountain lion, and the police deal with those cats by shooting them dead with high-powered rifles while they sleep on tree branches.

Nonlethal alternatives? Traps? Tranquilizer dart? Man, you've never seen an affluent yuppie soccer mom who is freaked out that something might eat her children.

Yet it's verboten to take these same measures in flyover country, or in Alaska.

[centralcal]

Chris - yes, there is a sister who had a messy divorce from a real winner of a guy.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

McCain and Palin are at a rally that C-Span is covering right this minute.

[centralcal]

Chris Thorne: So true and so funny, the way you nail the phonies in "Commiefornia."

[kim]

Tom will be happy when he sees the way the polls move. This solidifies the base and steals moderate Dems and women of all ages. And she's gonna make Celebrity Obama look pale.
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[anduril]

Actually, what's interesting is if you go to RCP and read the three editorials it links--all from liberal papers (yes, I include the Chicago Tribune in that category)--you'll see that all three have a basically positive reaction to Palin and aren't at all blown away by the experience argument. That, to me, is a significant reaction. I suspect that the rest of the country will be more open to Palin than TM's anecdotal evidence from Connecticut would indicate.

I'm afraid that the way politics has evolved in the US, it's difficult to get the kind of experience that would make the WH a logical step up. The best we can do, IMO, is to select governors. Alaska is a small pond politically, but it does give her some prep on significant issues that happen to be important in this election. Having watched a couple of video's of her--all admittedly friendly--I don't believe she'll be a Quayle who will misspeak herself. While I've also harped on foreign policy experience I would add that doing well at it in real life versus doing well debating it are two very different things. Outside of trick questions (quick, the capital of Byelorussia, and who's the president?) I suspect that she may be able to acquit herself decently in the debates. We'll see.

[kim]

That's really a lot of it; she's stealing his mojo. It was collapsing anyway, but still.
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[Chris]

CCal,
Oh yea, that's right. I was only kidding, but hey, a guy can dream, no?

To the topic of the thread, I doubt that all that many professional women in CT, or anywhere else, were enamored of Reagan either, fwiw. I certainly can't recall if they were. That's not to say he didn't attract some very successful and intelligent women to his side. I just don't recall too many of the coastal elites (male or female) signing on to defeat the evil empire, for example.

[anduril]

One last thing: the reality factor. As Hewitt said, The One comes across as a self invented man, a construct of his will and imagination. McCain, for all his flaws, comes across as a real person, and so does Palin. I think this will be important to voters. Let's not even talk about The Mouth...

[centralcal]

Oh good she has her hair down in Missouri and the crowd is going nuts over her!

[anduril]

My wife likes her better with her hair down. The thing for her to do, I think, is to change her style once a week. It'll suck all the publicity away from the Dems.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

Here's a publisher who got lucky.

[M. Simon]

TM,

She exactly fits two of the three themes McCain is running on:

Integrity and energy.

Security she will have to learn on the job. As would the D picks and they are weak on the first two points.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Okay, on the off chance Leo comes back, I was thinking about it in the grocery store. Come to think of it, I can't think of anyone on the D side of the aisle who has a similar record of following corruption into the ranks of their own party. Lots of people who insisted, eg, that Trent Lott resign from his leadership posts according to Republican rules, rather than changing the rules to match the Democrat party rules; and a lot of people defending "Cold Cash" after he was indicted; and a lot of suggestions that the prosecution of the Mayor of Detroit was political.

Could you suggest who you'd add to my list of McCain&Palin?

[Lori]

TM,
I've talked to several Connecticut women in their 40's and 50's who are thrilled with the pick. And those who aren't don't know that much about her. The anti-Palin sentiment in places like Fairfield County is really about elitism and sexism.

[M. Simon]

Charlie,

Same thought at the same time. It's an omen.

[centralcal]

She is a damned good speaker. Never looks down at notes and if she is reading a teleprompter it sure does not show!

[Paul]

Sarah Palin is in another class than anyone I can think of in the political arena. She's got brains and guts in spades, she's utterly ethical, and authentic in a way that is simply nonexistent in our political culture. She has arrived in the nick of time, and is going to galvanize the party and ultimately the nation.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Tom, seriously, the obvious answer is "after you work your way up from PTA to Governor and have an 80 percent approval rating, sure!"

[Terry Gain]

As qualified as Palin? Wow Maguire I had no idea you hung out with women who are governors with an 80% approval rating, who've taken on and routed the corrupt establishment in their own party, and then in their spare time raise 5 children. And are they all gorgeous and perfectly normal?

Of course you are in the same boat (or is it chauvinist sinking ship) as Krauthamer, Poweline and Frum -people we used to be able to rely upon for reasoned opinion.

Palin is an inspired choice. She's not only more experienced than Obama, she is fit to be VP, or if need be POTUS, whereas the man whose first impression was to not know whether Russia or Georgia is the aggressor, never will be be fit to be POTUS.

To underline the point, as if it should be necessary, a man who wanted to concede Iraq to al Qaeda and Iran and was totaly sanguine about the chaos, including genocide, which would have followed will never be fit to lead the one nation on earth which must stand tall against the jihadi threat the western world is facing.

Thanks to the Anbar Awakening and the Surge of U.S. and Iraqi forces it is probably no longer possible to concede Iraq to al Qaeda but Obama is still determined to proceed wih a premature withdrawal and undermine the progress purchased with the sacrifices of America's best. He will destoy the morale of the American military.

Everyone with a clue about security is voting for McCain. Palin will bring in enough of the others to put him over the top.

[boris]

If I thought John McCain would surely win this with steely eyed composure by crushing the opposition with a flawless ground game, the skepticism from TM and others would be more understandable. Frankly I have never seen McCain that way and IMO the suggestion from many of them that McCain would have been a better president than Bush in 2000 always seemed like a serious misreading of the two.

McCain is actually doing something he is good at. Taking every advantage in a situation where the stakes are very high. The Rush Limbaugh operation chaos was based on exploiting the same advantage. If McCain was going to win a squeeker anyway, this will make it a landslide. If he was going to lose, this may give him the win.

[Chris]

CCal,
Thanks for the heads-up on the CSPAN coverage. She's getting better every day it would seem. Teddy Roosevelt in a skirt! Lovin' it.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

She's good. She just explained to the crowd what governors do in natural disasters, such as the recent floods in Alaska. She could give specifics, because she's EXPERIENCED the responsibility.

Take that Obama.

[capitano]

Palin's national security and homeland defense experience.

[M. Simon]

WTTW (PBS Chicago) is running a bit on Alinsky for an hour.

[kim]

Don't ya think Obama would like to take a mulligan about now? Would he pick Clinton and win for sure, or Sebelius, and watch her be outshone by Palin.
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[kim]

That's what is eating the Democrats right now. They have thrown this away, and it is obvious sooner than it was with Kerry.
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[centralcal]

John is beside himself. He can't believe he found this great WOMAN!

I hope you are all watching CSPAN right now! Who needs a convention?

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Kim, I find myself serviously wondering how much flexibility there is for Obama to take, not a mulligan, but a Torricelli.

[JM Hanes]

TM:

If you can wade through the party, there's some good stuff in the Saturday thread. I was particularly interested in this excerpt from Jonah Goldberg's mailbag which Larwyn posted:

Before you dismiss that Commander of the Alaska National Guard stuff. This came from a reader who plays the game and it jibes with my knowledge.

Alaska is the first line of defense in our missile interceptor defense system. The 49th Missile Defense Battalion of the Alaska National Guard is the unit that protects the entire nation from ballistic missile attacks. It’s on permanent active duty, unlike other Guard units.
As governor of Alaska, Palin is briefed on highly classified military issues, homeland security, and counterterrorism. Her exposure to classified material may rival even Biden's.

She's also the commander in chief of the Alaska State Defense Force (ASDF), a federally recognized militia incorporated into Homeland Security's counterterrorism plans.

Palin is privy to military and intelligence secrets that are vital to the entire country's defense. Given Alaska's proximity to Russia, she may have security clearances we don't even know about.

According to the Washington Post, she first met with McCain in February, but nobody ever found out. This is a woman used to keeping secrets.

I'll take Palin over your "Connecticut women in their 40's and 50's, almost all with college or advanced degrees and professional experience" any day. Especially when they apparently can't be bothered to familiarize themselves with Palin's actual credentials -- one might even wonder about whose "professionalism" should be at issue here! In my own experience, there's no discernible causation in what correlation exists between advanced degrees and common sense. I'm also not sure where the conventional wisdom about Senators seeking Executive Office suddenly disappeared to.

[centralcal]

Sorry, Sarah had me enthralled and I didn't post my comment in time.

I gotta tell you all, that Sarah has to be careful in only one are - that she doesn't overshadow John McCain. I think she could do it easily.

And, on the other team? Messiah's and blowhards - hardly even competitive!