McCain: Trys for his base AND Hillary voters

Congratulations to Governor Palin on the nomination.

So Sen. McCain picks Governor Palin from Alaska. Certainly out of left field. Interesting that somehow Mr. McCain is a maverick for this pick when in fact she is as close, actually more so, toward his base then anyone on his short list that had been reported - Hutchinson, Romney, and Palenty, others. One shouldn't be called a Maverick simply for picking a staunchly, make the Republican base ecstatic, conservative woman.

This pick certainly energized a base who had been coming home but not with enthusiasm. However, this election is seen as decided by independents. Independents don't take to either party's base. How much this helps with disaffected Hillary voters time will tell but it is rather hard to imagine a pro-choice, liberal woman or even centrist taking to Gov. Palin's political views. To be sure, their will be independant or even liberal leaning voters that will appreciate the fact they could vote for a woman VP as there were independent and conservative women voting for Hillary simply because she is a woman.

Mrs. Palin is a life long NRA member. She has a son going off to Iraq on September 11 of this year. She was a mayor of a city that, because of varying reports, either had 6,500 people or 8,000 or 9,000 people. She is a two year Governor which means she has more executive experience than even Sen. McCain let alone Sen. Obama and Sen. Biden. One could argue two years isn't much but it is still more. She has literally no foreign policy experience, so far not even any interviews on her opinions of Iraq, Russia, Iran, Israel, etc. which allows her to simply say word for word rhetoric that matches McCain's so we'll hear spin that her judgement is sound when we don't have a fair way to judge it. All three other candidates have more foreign policy experience, Sen. McCain and Sen. Biden obviously with the most. She has no experience at the federal level which to be fair, very few of the Presidents we've had that were Governors ever did as well.

Governor Palin is under investigation for allegedly firing a man who wouldn't fire her sisters ex-husband while in a messy divorce and fighting for custody. The evidence doesn't look like it will come back not guilty as her story about it has changed twice now. This is a very risky thing for the McCain campaign to try and handle during a presidential election. She also apparently appointed a man to replace who she fired knowing he had been reprimanded for sexual harassment. Details haven't finished coming in on that. The only interview that has been linked as to her opinion of Iraq was her saying something to the effect of "I've been too busy with state affairs to give it much thought". Now, she has a son going there...strikes me as she supports and agrees with what we're doing there. We don't know the context in which that was said but it should be pointed out that Alaska was having major corruption issues (still is; she is still very much supporting Ted Stevens who is under investigation for massive corruption) and any Governor trying to clean up the mess in Alaska would be very much focused on her/his state. Especially one without presidential or vice president dreams; until now of course.

Here's a piece from an Anchorage Daily News editorial:
She worked with liberal Democrats in the Legislature to pass a multi-billion-dollar tax increase on Alaska's oil industry. She went back to Democrats again to win approval of her natural gas pipeline deal, which bypasses Alaska's major oil companies in favor of a Canadian company.
Like McCain, Palin doesn't mind using government to dictate individuals' personal choices. She staunchly opposes abortion and same-sex marriage, which will help energize the religious Republican base.
McCain picked Palin despite a recent blemish on her ethically pure resume. While she was governor, members of her family and staff tried to get her ex-brother-in-law fired from the Alaska State Troopers. Her public safety commissioner would not do so; she forced him out, supposedly for other reasons. While she runs for vice-president, the Legislature has an investigator on the case.

Reading the comments after the editorial, Alaskans are split. One person said she'd vote for her again if she ran for a second term as Governor but she isn't White House material. Others loved the pick from a strategic standpoint for McCain. A couple pointed out that Alaska has huge issues she hasn't done anything about.

It is also curious that those in the national media who are of the Republican base love her but the entire Republican party in Alaska hates her according to the same editorial. I suppose that could add to the maverick image considering the Republican brand isn't well liked. Odd though that despite its "stock being down" a pick that energizes the base could help win an election decided by independents.