Peder D4

Discussion of politics and other odious things

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Even more...

Maybe, I'll just keep updating this as I find great stuff.
From Mark Steyn, a list of reasons why he likes her:
Third, real people don't define "experience" as appearing on unwatched Sunday-morning talk shows every week for 35 years and having been around long enough to have got both the War on Terror and the Cold War wrong. (On the first point, at the Gun Owners of New Hampshire dinner in the 2000 campaign, I remember Orrin Hatch telling me sadly that he was stunned to discover how few Granite State voters knew who he was.) Sarah Palin and Barack Obama are more or less the same age, but Governor Palin has run a state and a town and a commercial fishing operation, whereas (to reprise a famous line on the Rev Jackson) Senator Obama ain't run nothin' but his mouth. She's done the stuff he's merely a poseur about. Post-partisan? She took on her own party's corrupt political culture directly while Obama was sucking up to Wright and Ayers and being just another get-along Chicago machine pol (see his campaign's thuggish attempt to throttle Stanley Kurtz and Milt Rosenberg on WGN the other night).

More Palin

Most of the media coverage so far has been nothing deeper than the astonishing fact that Palin is a woman. Their simple idea is that she has no value beyond a pair of ovaries and a nice smile. I was thrilled over her pick and it had nothing to do with her feminine qualities. I'm not the only one that feels that way.
Of course, already the blogosphere is abuzz with speculation that Palin was chosen because she is a woman and maybe this is true. But it is not the reason I will be pulling for her and McCain come November. For me, Sarah Palin represents many right-leaning libertarian ideas that I personally support: low taxes, gun rights, and smaller government.
Me too. If she was a man named Michael I'd still be jazzed about this.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Palin!

For the first time in this entire election cycle (now going into it's third year), I'm excited about the Republican ticket. John McCain has selected Sarah Palin as his VP. Whoohoo!
The biggest problem with the GOP is corruption. This happens to every party that is unchallenged in power for a long time. Remember the Dems in '94? The Gingrich revolution kicked them out but then the Republicans fell under the same spell. Political parties can't survive the impression that they're in office solely for their own personal gain.
Palin took office a few years ago and started rooting corruption out of the Republican party in Alaska. She's campaigned against incumbents in her own party and made clear that principle is more important than power. Elevating her is exactly the message that needed to be sent. Every party goes through rotten patches, this is a big step towards weeding their way out.
Her big minus is that she hasn't been in office for long, only two years. I'd been hoping that she would be the front-runner for the 2012 race but she seems to have grabbed the tiger by the ears. Two things here, first she's at least as experienced as the Presidential nominee for the Dems, maybe more so. Certainly she has more executive experience, though I'm sure Obama has been better briefed on foreign policy. I'll reserve some judgement until I hear her speak.
The second thing is that there is a difference between Pres and VP. If elected, she'll have some time to soak up the foreign policy stuff. Obama would really be in charge 'on day one', as they say. Worst case scenario, she's thrust into the top job very quickly then she'd simply have to lean on the machinery until she figured things out. I belive this would be true of an VP who suddenly takes over.
I think she's a great pick, truly one of the rising stars of the GOP. I've been leaning towards voting libertarian but this might have done enough to bring me back. Sarah Palin!