Proving once again that he is an unpredictable Maverick, only a day after every pundit who cared to pundit it predicted a McCain/Pawlenty ticket, John McCain has announced his VP choice. Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, hockey mom to five and honest to goodness conservative, has been added to the McCain ticket. It was a masterful choice, and it surprised me no end.
While liberal and unaffiliated voters may be saying “Palin . . . Who?”, the conservative base of the party, who have been terribly disillusioned with McCain as a nominee, have been talking about her for months. Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck have mentioned her as someone who could solidify the base that McCain often seems to either forget or take for granted. William Kristol has been salivating about her as a VP choice whenever he has been asked.
The fact that she is a woman (yes, a good looking one) is mere window dressing to her outstanding credentials as a conservative. She’s pro-life, opposed to gay marriage, and when she took office as Governor of Alaska, she sold the gubernatorial jet on E-bay.
But the strongest point in her favor is her genuine blue collar roots. While Obama claims to have come from poor stock, he was raised by a globe trotting intellectual mother and her middle class parents. Sarah Palin, on the other hand, has worked side by side with her husband on a commercial fishing boat, and gone moose hunting with her grandfather.
Finally, her pro-life stance, at least, has been proven to be more than just words. When pregnant with her fifth child, the child tested positive for Down’s Syndrome. After being counseled to abort, she and her husband made the decision to keep the baby, whom she brought with her to work.
I don’t think Palin can completely erase conservatives’ unease with some of McCain’s decidedly not conservative stances (McCain-Feingold being among the most heinous) but she has become a large dollop of honey on a formerly “hold your nose and vote” Republican ticket.
Yes, she is a very large dose of honey. I was a nose holder and now will contribute money to the GOP race.
A couple of other things: Unlike Joe Biden, she didn’t cry during her acceptance speech. A least she’s not a wimp. Unlike Obama, she has actually run a few things. Dare I say it, her portfolio is actually bigger than Barack’s. Unlike Obama and Biden she is a proven reformer. And unlike Obama, Biden and McCain, she is easy on the eyes and there sure isn’t anything wrong with backing up her intellect with that feature.