Here is John Podhoretz writing about the Sarah Palin pick for Commentary Magazine online, August 31, 2008.
The twist-yourself-in-knots-to-oppose-Palin-on-grounds-of-inexperience exercise being indulged in by those otherwise ecstatic about Barack Obama and indifferent to his lack of experience is truly astounding to behold. It is leading them into some fascinating mistakes. For example, Andrew Sullivan – who is quickly displacing David Gergen as the most ideologically elastic person in the annals of recent history — this morning: “It’s the most irresponsible decision by any leading presidential candidate since Bush picked Quayle.”
The thing is, if you were going by “experience” as your guide, Dan Quayle was eminently qualified to be president according to the standards of our time, at least. He had been elected twice to the Senate and once to the House. He had drafted major domestic-policy legislation on job retraining, and was a leading light on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Quayle had served twelve years in Washington, which is what led to him accurately saying in debate that he had the same level of experience as John F. Kennedy when Kennedy was elected president (the line that set Lloyd Bentsen up to say, “Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.)
The problem with Quayle wasn’t that his resume was lousy. It wasn’t. He was, perhaps, the most politically accomplished 41 year-old in the United States at the time. It was that his behavior — first in his introductory appearance as Veep and then with the malapropisms that dogged him throughout his tenure in the White House — made him seem like a lightweight, and thereby called his judgment into question.
Judgment, comportment, the largeness that seems necessary to hold high office without questionable baggage — these are the qualities that matter. There are, recall, no Constitutional qualifications to occupy the presidency other than being 35 years of age and a native-born American. It is voters who determine the qualifications of their president, which is why having an arguments over experience is the sort of thing that delights those of us who spend our time traveling to conferences in other countries and reading foreign-policy journals, but means absolutely nothing to voters. Nor should it. If it did, Richard Holbrooke might be installed as president, or Bob Kagan.
Palin will be a failed pick if her conduct between now and November 4 reveals that she does not have the judgment to be a heartbeat away; that her comportment is not what we would wish of our leaders; and that she does not seem large enough for the office. A great many things will go into determining all of those things, as they are right now with Barack Obama — and, incidentally, John McCain, who has every qualification for the presidency one could imagine except that he hasn’t won an election for it yet.
The effort to pre-determine her unfitness is not only a losing proposition; there is something fundamentally foolish, about it. Even un-American, in the sense that it suggests rule by wonk rather than popular fiat. Ask Bill Clinton, who tried his best to make the case against Barack Obama and then stood on stage on Wednesday night explaining to America that people were saying about Barack Obama just what they had said about him, Bill Clinton, 16 years ago. That is what interesting elections do.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Governor Gidget's Mother (In-Law) Knows Best
In today's NY Daily News, Faye Palin admits that "she enjoys hearing Barack Obama speak, and still hasn't decided which way she'll vote." Says Palin, "I'm not sure what she brings to the ticket other than she's a woman and a conservative. Well, she's a better speaker than McCain," Faye Palin said with a laugh. "People will say she hasn't been on the national scene long enough. But I believe she's a quick study."
Read the full article here http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/republican_race/2008/08/30/2008-08-30_sarah_palins_motherinlaw_uncertain_about.html
Read the full article here http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/republican_race/2008/08/30/2008-08-30_sarah_palins_motherinlaw_uncertain_about.html
Gloomy Gus Threatens to Rain on the Parade
Well, its not only the Fox News (aka Völkischer Beobachter -- remember the Nazi newspaper "We Report, We Decide") pundits that are blowing hard after a topsy-turvy 48 hours since the Palin announcement. Looks like Hurricane Gustav is barrelling pell mell for the Gulf Coast in an eerie reminder of Katrina three years ago (almost to the day).
Kinda makes you think for a moment about whether there is another hand in all of this. So, without further adieu, my two cents from both sides of the equation.
God is a Democrat
Gustav will hit the Gulf Coast wreaking havoc and, despite Shrub's best effort to be on the ground, we will see Homeland Security botch the job yet again. This reinforces the "
McCain is Bush III" arguement.
God is a Republican
Gustav has already created three great ops for the GOP. One, Bush and Cheney get a pass on attending the convention and therefore do not speak -- and I for one was dying of curiosity as to how the planners were going to distance Bush from McCain. Two, Bush gets to actually look Presidential. Three, days before the convetion begins, McCain and Palin (The Geezer and Gidget) are on the ground down in the Gulf Coast while Obama and Biden are trolling for votes in Ohio.
Kinda makes you think for a moment about whether there is another hand in all of this. So, without further adieu, my two cents from both sides of the equation.
God is a Democrat
Gustav will hit the Gulf Coast wreaking havoc and, despite Shrub's best effort to be on the ground, we will see Homeland Security botch the job yet again. This reinforces the "
McCain is Bush III" arguement.
God is a Republican
Gustav has already created three great ops for the GOP. One, Bush and Cheney get a pass on attending the convention and therefore do not speak -- and I for one was dying of curiosity as to how the planners were going to distance Bush from McCain. Two, Bush gets to actually look Presidential. Three, days before the convetion begins, McCain and Palin (The Geezer and Gidget) are on the ground down in the Gulf Coast while Obama and Biden are trolling for votes in Ohio.
Rush Sez Vote for Governor Babe
Rush Limbaugh Show - February 28, 2008
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Julie in Kodiak, Alaska.
CALLER: Good morning, Rush.
RUSH: Hi.
CALLER: Mega dittos from the last frontier, where the environment and the isolation creates naturally independent, strong, and conservative minds.
RUSH: Thank you very much. I like that.
CALLER: I was calling today because I heard on our statewide news that one of the running mates for McCain being considered would be our governor from the great state of Alaska.RUSH: Talked about this I think yesterday or the day before.
CALLER: Yeah. I think that it would create quite the paradox for your Drive-By Media. Our governor, Sarah Palin, is intellectual, she is --
RUSH: How do you pronounce her last name?
CALLER: Palin.
RUSH: Sarah Palin. Okay.
CALLER: Yep. She's been heralded throughout the state as being personable, likable, intelligent, strong, and conservative. And she crosses over from conservative to liberalism not in thought, but because she stands by what she believes in. And, surprisingly enough, she has been at the forefront of ethics reform in our great state --
RUSH: Yeah, plus she's a housewife, before that, she's a babe. I saw a picture.
CALLER: (laughing)
RUSH: Well, it's undeniable.
CALLER: Well, it is undeniable, and that's why the paradox is there for me. I think that because she's intelligent, number one, conservative maybe number one also, but she is photogenic, she is likable, she is engaging. When you meet her, she is interested in you, she speaks well.
RUSH: By the way, wait a second. I'm not diminishing any of those things by pointing out that she's a babe.
CALLER: Oh, no, no, no.
RUSH: The babe is the icing on the cake aspect, something the Democrats can't claim on their side.
CALLER: Exactly, especially when the highest Democrat that you can speak of is Mrs. Bill Clinton.
RUSH: You said it, not I. I just advanced the theory.
CALLER: Well, I can tell you that Governor Palin doesn't have to lift her chin up to 12 o'clock to get a good photo of her.
RUSH: I just love you. I love you, Julie. I love listening to women talk about other women like this.
CALLER: I am not berating Mrs. Bill Clinton, I am just --
RUSH: No, of course not. You are elevating Madam Palin.
CALLER: (laughing) Exactly.
RUSH: Absolutely.
CALLER: She can't take a bad picture not even from the back end.
RUSH: (laughing) She can't take a bad picture even from the back end. All of which you say is true. Her name has been thrown up there. She has four kids, I think she's 42 years old, very conservative. I don't know how serious it is, but her name has been thrown in the hopper out there. Look, Julie, I'm glad you called. Thanks much.
48 Hours Later, What They're Saying
This year, Hillary Clinton took things to a whole new level. She didn’t run for president as a symbol but as the best-prepared candidate in the Democratic pack. Whether you liked her or not, she convinced the nation that women could be qualified to both run the country and be commander in chief. That was an enormous breakthrough, and Palin’s nomination feels, in comparison, like a step back. - Gail Collins
Americans, suspicious that the Obamas have benefited from affirmative action without being properly grateful, and skeptical that Michelle really likes “The Brady Bunch” and “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” reject the 47-year-old black contender as too uppity and untested. Instead, they embrace 72-year-old John McCain and 44-year-old Sarah Palin, whose average age is 58, a mere two years older than the average age of the Obama-Biden ticket. Enthusiastic Republicans don’t see the choice of Palin as affirmative action, despite her thin résumé and gaping absence of foreign policy knowledge, because they expect Republicans to put an underqualified “babe,” as Rush Limbaugh calls her, on the ticket. They have a tradition of nominating fun, bantamweight cheerleaders from the West, like the previous Miss Congeniality types Dan Quayle and W., and then letting them learn on the job. So they crash into the globe a few times while they’re learning to drive, what’s the big deal? - Maureen Dowd
Americans, suspicious that the Obamas have benefited from affirmative action without being properly grateful, and skeptical that Michelle really likes “The Brady Bunch” and “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” reject the 47-year-old black contender as too uppity and untested. Instead, they embrace 72-year-old John McCain and 44-year-old Sarah Palin, whose average age is 58, a mere two years older than the average age of the Obama-Biden ticket. Enthusiastic Republicans don’t see the choice of Palin as affirmative action, despite her thin résumé and gaping absence of foreign policy knowledge, because they expect Republicans to put an underqualified “babe,” as Rush Limbaugh calls her, on the ticket. They have a tradition of nominating fun, bantamweight cheerleaders from the West, like the previous Miss Congeniality types Dan Quayle and W., and then letting them learn on the job. So they crash into the globe a few times while they’re learning to drive, what’s the big deal? - Maureen Dowd
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Ready, Aim . . .
"His temper would place this country at risk in international affairs, and the world perhaps in danger. In my mind, that should disqualify him." - Former Senator Bob Smith, R-NH
"The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He is erratic." - Senator Thad Cochran, R-MS
"I decided I didn't want this guy anywhere near a trigger." - Senator Pete Domenici, R-NM
"What happens if he gets angry in crisis in the presidency? It's the president's job to negotiate and stay calm. I just don't see that he has that quality." - Former Arizona GOP Chairman John Hinz "
Sarah Palin - Vice President and Padawan Learner
From this morning's NY times: “She’s going to learn national security at the foot of the master for the next four years, and most doctors think that he’ll be around at least that long,” said Charlie Black, one of Mr. McCain’s top advisers, making light of concerns about Mr. McCain’s health, which Mr. McCain’s doctors reported as excellent in May.
Welcome to RandomPolitik
For the last two elections -- well, actually one election since 2000 was a defacto coup d'etat -- I found myself collecting and circulating newsclips, articles, quotes about the candidates and the campaigns to a fairly small group of friends and associates. Some in electronic copy. Some in hard copy.
This time round, I am plunging into the brave new world of the blog (new for me anyway, at age 44). RandomPolitik is intended to be a scrapbook of sorts to capture articles, share my observations and irreverent humor, and even make some speculation about the 2008 presidential race. With a little over two months to go, being heard is important and makes me feel more part of the process.
On with the show!
This time round, I am plunging into the brave new world of the blog (new for me anyway, at age 44). RandomPolitik is intended to be a scrapbook of sorts to capture articles, share my observations and irreverent humor, and even make some speculation about the 2008 presidential race. With a little over two months to go, being heard is important and makes me feel more part of the process.
On with the show!
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