Mavericky Maverickness And The MILF-hunter Vote

I've been giggling to myself since I heard the news.  The Cranky Old Fart picked Governor Sarah Palin to replace him in the fight against Islamofascicommunism when he kicks the bucket.  Tasty pick ... bonehead.  I was so sincerely hoping for Mittens!, who is apparently a bit ... put out ... at having been played like a fiddle.  But Palin is truly a terrific choice from the Masters of Disaster, the GOP.

She's terrific on so many levels, I can't hope to list them all.  So let's start with the big one:  she has no experience at the national (or more importantly, the International) level at all.  None.  Zip.  Squat.  Her experience in administrating the largest-small state in the union is less than any large university Presidents (most Universities having populations and needs that rival Alaska's).  She's been a Governor for all of a year-and -half.  Though I've no doubts the wignuts will come up with all kinds of lunacy to defend her lack of credentials, that lack is so glaring that the defenses themselves will engender only further comedy.

(As an aside, Wiley Cody is making his bid to be seen as the Stupidest Blogger in Montana.  Pointing out that being a mayor of a town of 6000 people leaves you with no credential to administer a country of 300 million is the same as saying that being President of a chess club leaves doubt that you could be President of the United States.  At no point does the conclusion follow that one saying the latter 'hates chess clubs'.  And somebody who throws out the word "meme" as if they understand it looks pretty stupid claiming plagiarism or misatribution when a common phrase is used by more than one person.   Wiley, you got some championship caliber DUMB going on.  Eric and Andy should be nervous that you'll take the title any day.)  

Secondly, It's amusing me to no end that the party which has hissy fits about the "identity politics" of the Libs is now blatently showing their hypocrisy.  They chose, McCain chose, a woman specifically because she's a woman.  That speaks poorly of the GOoPers attitude towards women, and poorly of McCain's honesty.  But don't take my word for it.  Listen to the sage Rob Natelson:

To be sure, choosing a woman offers McCain more chance at the women’s vote (although it also may turn off those conservative Christians who believe leadership positions should be occupied by men).  But the choice also communicates a weakness for playing politics that is at odds with the McCain image of honesty.

And if that weren't enough, McCain has just insulted American women well beyond calling his own wife a "cunt".  Adam Serwer:

The pick of Palin is dripping with transparent condescension, the notion that the enthusiasm behind Hillary was simply the result of her being a woman, that it had nothing to do with what she actually stood for, and in that sense it's equally sexist. Palin is essentially a hard-right ideologue, and therefore nothing like Hillary as far as substance is concerned. It's not very different from running Alan Keyes against Barack Obama in 2004. The conservative media reaction has already engaged in paternalistic language, with FOX News reporting on television that "McCain broke the glass ceiling," implying in fact, that the pick had nothing to do with Palin or her qualifications, but merely her gender. It's fitting that the party positing affirmative action as a program that picks people exclusively based on race or gender rather than qualification should do something similar given an opportunity for political advancement. While Obama is promising change through policy, not simply through the circumstances of his birth, the McCain campaign thinks his appeal is simply visual and demographic, and therefore something they can exploit.

Oh yes, "my friends".  More than half of this country has just had their intelligence insulted, compliments of Angry McYouKidsGetOffOfMyLawn.

I know full well that McCain could have chosen more poorly, but he also could have chosen much better.  Unlike many, I wasn't all that surprised by the choice of Palin; she's been on my radar for months now.  She's hella-smart, articulate, commited and very beautiful.  Yes, I wrote that:  VERY BEAUTIFUL. 

Which leads me to the third reason I'm happy that Gelding McCain chose Palin.  She's beautiful, and he just got the MILF-hunter vote.  He just earned the vote of every randy buck crossing the field.  Only.one.problem.  That doesn't earn the vote of the women that McCain hoped to garner.  Check it out:  the feminists are up in arms about the fact that less that 2 hours after the anouncement a site went live declaring VPILF (Vice President I'd like to fuck.)  The fun part is, that is a tribute site for Sarah Palin.  A tribute to her beauty and objectified 'screwability'.  I invite argument from those who think that the message of her 'hotness'  won't completely out weigh the message gained from her real strengths, her intellect, her organizational skills.  And specifically, I invite anyone to convince me that that won't turn off the very women McCain hoped to gain by this move.  (As Obama said, McCain doesn't get it.  After all we are talking about a guy who expressed his desire for his wife to compete in a biker-stripper-symbolically-banging-bananas competition.)  I realise full well that I will likely be castigated as sexist for pointing out how Palin's beauty stands against her.  That isn't the point at all.  The Old White Guy hopes that Palin's beauty can help him, in a grossly exploitive fashion.  I await the failure of that hope with eager glee.

Let me be clear about my views.  Sarah Palin appears to be a sharp and able politician.  She has some great ideas about ethics, when she's not being vindictive against her sister's ex-husband.  If she gets the hell out of Alaska, she may be a great star in the GOP someday.  But she was a poor and desperate pick for VP now.   If McCain had done this a week before the election, I'd have called it a "coup".  As it stands now, McCain just bought a world of hurt.  I celebrate this choice, because Cranky McPOWIsMyExcuseForEverything is going down.  Sadly, Palin will go down with him.

Comments

[Patia]

I totally agree that McCain's choice of Palin is blatant pandering to women. Sadly, I suspect many women (and men) will take it at face value.

Yep, she's very beautiful, probably very smart and also very, very non-threatening to neo-conservatives.

[david]

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Palin is a GREAT pick - for ideological AND political reasons. If her credentials and experience didn't measure up, then no way would McCain have selected her.

[Wulfgar]

Do you care to clarify beyond useless (IS NOT!!!) refutation, David?

[Doug]

This I'm not too sure about:

McCain chose, a woman specifically because she's a woman.

Maybe I should say I'm not sure this is the only reason for the pick. I believe you know I'm not a McCain guy, but the first reaction I had was that he chose her because of her ideology, not because of her gender. Being that I'm also a hopeless cynic, this also makes me wonder about her ideology; why would any committed conservative want to hitch their wagon to the crooked talk express?

[Randy]

I loved this comment on the following post:
http://web.me.com/dnksr/vpilf.com/SARAH_PALIN__Vice_President_Nominee/Entries/2008/8/29_10_Things_You_Didnt_Know_About_Sarah_Palin.html

"Is it just me or is she crazy hot. I heard Mccain is goint to hire Hugh Hefners girlfriends to be the Joint chiefs of staff and his whole cabinent is going to be made up of female Telemundo Journalists. And every time he enters a room they have to say "Hola Poppy" in-sync. I'm really starting to like Mccain."

[Wulfgar]

Maybe I should say I'm not sure this is the only reason for the pick.

Doug, I would never contend that Palin's womanness was the only reason McSame picked her. But it was first and foremost. Just as Republicans have been claiming that Democrats picked Obama because he was the "magic negro", safe in all respects, McCain needed a woman who would shore up his base with the fundy-right. That's what he gets with Palin. He also gets a whole lotta smarts ... too bad he doesn't appear to care one whit about those.

[Mandy]

I'm still amazed he picked her knowing she is under state investigation on an ethics issue! Is that what you call vetting?

[david]

I didn't think my comment needed furthering, but in a nutshell: ideologically, she is a great choice - good conservative credentials on social issues, gun ownership, family, integrity, etc. Politically, she is a great choice because she is Someone New, a Woman, Attractive, Articulate, executive experience, military (CinC of Alaska Army/Air Guard) etc.

McCain is going for broke by selecting someone that he really would like to have at his side -- someone who is genuine and not part of the DC "insiders" and will bring a new perspective to the issues, and hopefully a "straight talk" mindset to the politics as usual crowd.

Pawlenty, Ridge, Lieberman -- they are all decent men, but they reek of "same old, same old" -- solid, staid, by the numbers politicians. But if Palin can execute the office just as well as those guys would, but does it with a sense of vigor, candor, and "outsider" perspective to a degree, then McCain just might have ushered in a new era of politics.

[JC]

I don't understand why we have to get beyond the "Palin fails the CiC test miserably" conclusion and discuss anything else about her. Either we care about the ability of a potential successor-at-a-moments-notice to the president, or we don't.

There's really only this one argument that needs to be advanced against Palin. And she fails it. Thus McCain is either unelectable because of his bad judgement and impulsive nature (or he feels that he is omnipotent), or we really don't care about who leads this country into (or out of) war.

Oh, wait a minute... we elected GWB, didn't we.

I guess that leaves the VPILF scenario open for discussion. ;-)

[James]

She's up there because the Democrats have spent the entire campaign claiming McCain and GWB to be one and the same, and then McCain goes and shows them to be wrong. Brilliant Move. Obama got zero 'Bounce' from his convention because of this move.

[Wulfgar]

James, are you a dunce or a liar? I'm gonna go with dunce, simply because it appears more complimentary ...