Posted by
Kevin on Sunday, August 31, 2008 10:03:00 AM
Democrats and the MSM still appear somewhat shell shocked by McCain's VP choice, Gov. Sarah Palin. I am sure that they believed in the end McCain would do the safe thing, like Barack Obama did and go with Mitt Romney or Tim Pawlenty.McCain-Romney or McCain Pawlenty. They were known commodities. Both would help with the conservative base but who cares? Dems were not going to get that vote anyway. Neither ticket would have increased potential votes by much.
So Democrats went into their convention confident they could dot the I's and cross all the T's and get the Clinton's to call for unity and they would close the sale. The talk comming out of Denver for days would be THE SPEECH, the fire works, the spectacle of sight and sound that ended their convention like no other before it. They planned for months. They spent money. They thought they had the momentum. Sure McCain would name his VP the next day but so what. Who would care? the talk would be THE SPEECH, the spectacle.....Hold on ....
Breaking News! Fox News broke the story. Romney? out. Pawlenty? He was staying home. Lieberman? on Vacation..Then rumors...Palin! WHO???! Sarah Palin! Governor of Alaska of all places and in one move, one stroke of genious, McCain Shook the political world and ripped the mantel of change off Obama, ended the glowing coverage of THE SPEECH. Ended discussions of the Clinton's (Thank you John!), He tore up their play book for the rest of this election.
The first knee jerk reaction of the Obama Campaign was to slam her as inexperienced. Before becoming Governor 20 months ago she was Mayor of a small town, blah, blah, blah.
Three things wrong with this reaction.
1. It was rude, after all, McCain called Obama to congratulate hin on Picking Joe Biden the previous week.
2. Barack Obama has even less relevant experience and he is running for President, not Veep.
3. Sarah Palin is ....A woman....duh!
Democrats had a problem with a lot of women for rejecting Hillary Clinton in the primaries by a fairly small margin. This was her and their year. It was time. She/they deserved this. Barack Obama came from no where and stole it from her...from women. He then dissed her again by not picking her for Vice President and apparently never even considering her !
So they had better be careful slamming another woman. It will look like Democrats are against a woman for President AND Vice President. McCain boxed them in. A new statement was released, more conciliatory. Later Obama expressed his and Biden's congrats and one could see on Biden's face as he stood in the back ground that he was not a happy camper. I heard no one on TV mention this but it was there...a very serious and unhappy expression. They had been had and Biden knows it. He now has to change his debating tactics so as not to look too hard on a woman while Palin is free to sail into Biden because he should be able to take it! Sexist but so what!!!
So far this weekend the bulk of the news coverage is Gustav, what will McCain do about the convention if the storm hits New Orleans and of course Sarah Palin. NOT Obama, or Biden, or the Clintons or THE SPEECH. The sound of the wind deflating the Dem Balloon rivaled Gustav. This morning's Zogby polls shows McCain Palin with a slight lead, 47-45%! since Dems got a 4-8pt bonce from their convention, this is really a great net gain for Republicans. Biden gave Obama NO bounce, ZERO, ZIP!
I will give my take on the experience issue in another post later today or tomorrow (if I can get on here again due to T-Storms we are getting from fringes of Gustav.) But the Democrats have to re-write their play book to deal with someone they didn't see comming: a Gun toting, Moose hunting, Ice fishing, motorcycle riding, snow mobile racing hockey mom from the wilds of Alaska with talent as big as her state and political savy to match!