When the little head does the thinking

By Libby

I've seen a lot of commentary on the Palin pick that suggests this was some kind of brilliant move on McCain's part. Sure he managed to steal the news cycle from Obama's historic and incredible speech. For the last 48 hours it's been all Palin, all the time but much of it has been negative. I mean how is it smart to give Leftopia an oppo project on a holiday weekend where otherwise we would be searching for content?

For myself, I've been burning up the Detroit News blog with her negatives. I own the real estate over there at the moment. I've posted so much my regular critics are having apoplectic fits in the comment section. This incomprehensively stupid pick has been the gift that keeps on giving.

And tomorrow's still a holiday. Having made my case about Palin, I plan to ignore her and blog Obama's speech for the next 48 hours, as people come home and are ready to pay attention. I have a lot of links saved and I haven't blogged it all. The long range dynamic works in Obama's favor for my purposes.

McCain made this choice on his own and he didn't think it through at all. He spent a sum total of four or five hours with her, which included a private tete-a-tete in the back forty at Sedona, interrupted only by Cindy. Today he told Fox News that in that time he discovered a partner and a soulmate in Palin. His 'thought process' on this choice is painfully apparent.

Need more proof? It's clear to me McCain didn't make this choice with his left brain.

Comments

[zenpundit]

I disagree.

While qualitatively Gov. Palin is, like Barack Obama, poorly prepared in terms of experience to assume the duties of president ( Palin might actually have the edge, being a governor), her gender appears to be driving the Left into a frenzy of nasty personal attacks and generally inane behavior that is going to wear thin with swing voters.

DailyKOS just libelled on of Palin's children today. I don't recall too many campaigns where one side opened by attacking the kids of the Veep candidate and I find it to be just a little bit nuts. If that's the visceral reaction of the Left blogosphere today, where will the rhetoric be by the end of October ?

[BJ Bjornson]

Zen,

Experience isn’t Palin’s real weakness, it’s that she seems to have never gave even the slightest bit of thought to maters beyond Alaska before being picked as a VP candidate. Obama beens vetted under a microscope for the last 18 months regarding his judgements and vision for America. We don’t even know if Palin has one.

As to attacking kids, McCain himself is famous for an off-colour joke at Chelsea Clinton’s expense. The right already made the fact that Palin had the fifth child while knowing full well it had Down’s Syndrome a reason to support her because it shows her principles on abortion. He seems destined to be a political prop regardless.

I still think the rumour-mongering over his birth is shameful, but in today’s tabloid-style politics, it was probably inevitable that it would become a story. Besides, focusing on this means the Republicans don’t have to answer all of the other far more substantive reasons why Palin is unfit for the VP slot.

[Libby]

Zen, what BJ said and I'd add that it's not about experience, it's about knowledge, it's about intellect, it's about judgement. What exactly has Palin in her executive role in a state with a total pop of 600,000? Besides abuse her power of office to try to get her ex BIL fired?

I'd also appreciate not being lumped in with 'every leftie' because of a diary on KOS, a site I haven't been to in years. I haven't seen a whole of lot of lefties willing to pursue that line but I've have a lot of them criticizing the few who have.

[zenpundit]

Hi Libby,

Consider yourself unlumped from DailyKOS - when I wrote " Left blogosphere" I meant a collectivity, not you personally.

Obama has had more vetting - he, McCain and Biden are known quantities. It's a bit early to make a judgment regarding Palin's intellect. My guess is that a good part of her naive, just a hockey mom, imagery is calculated schtick. You don't tangle with very experienced and corrupt politicos like Stevens and come out on top by simply being a naif and being lucky. It takes a fair amount of ruthlessness and insider manuvering to gain the upper hand.

Secondly, there's no comparison regarding running a Senate staff and running a state bureaucracy, even in a small state, in context of the range of administrative issues, obligations and procedures. A governorship is a more complex job than being a senator, if lower profile nationally.

Not saying she's a good choice for VP - in fact I've indicated otherwise on my blog - just that to unersetimate Palin or concentrate on personal attacks may be foolish.

[Libby]

Hey Zen. I think you're right about underestimating her. I'm sure her nickname of Sarah Barracuda was well earned and everything I've read suggests she is indeed a formidable opponent, in an underhanded kind of way.

As for her executive experience, she presided over a state with a pop. smaller than most large American cities, oversaw a budget backed by a 7.7 billion surplus, has demonstrated no intellectual curiousity about world or lower 48 events and has a long history of abuse of power. I'm not saying she's stupid, but she's clearly not ready on day one to step into the job, which was supposed to be the criteria.

In the end, the issue really is that this hasty pick for political purposes demonstrates McCain's unfitness more than hers.

[Jason]

I can understand why you look at Palin the way you do. Fact is, she is there mainly because she's a woman. It was the GOP way to be PC. However, after admitting that, it's also obvious that Obama is the Dem. nominee mainly because he is a black man. There. I said it. This "his experience vs her experience" argument is out of place and pointless because if anything, they are equally inexperienced. So my advice is to just vote partisan like we always do and get this crap over with for another 4 years.