The Best Possible Choice

[billroper]

I was delighted when the news broke this morning that McCain had selected Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential running mate, having gone to bed last night expecting Pawlenty. McCain needs to take risks if he's going to have a chance of winning this election and this looks to be one of the good ones.

McCain needs to get people who can be persuaded to do so to take a second look at him. (If this doesn't apply to you, that's fine. I suspect that McCain could have picked the deity of your choice as his running mate with a divinely-backed promise of Peace on Earth and he still wouldn't be your preferred candidate. :) ) Palin provides that in a way that none of the supposed front-running choices could have. Whether it will make a difference remains to be seen.

And I am absolutely thrilled to have someone on board the Republican ticket who has made her reputation by going in, kicking butt, and taking names in her efforts to rid her own party of corruption. If it were possible to say the same about Senator Obama, I'd be much less worried about him than I am. (Yes, I know about the investigation into Palin. It appears to be a non-event. Certainly McCain knew about it and picked her anyway.)

That is change that I can believe in.

I wish we had such Republicans in Illinois.

Comments

[judifilksign.livejournal.com]

"And I am absolutely thrilled to have someone on board the Republican ticket who has made her reputation by going in, kicking butt, and taking names in her efforts to rid her own party of corruption."

This is, in fact, the message McCain needs to get out to the world before the election. This ought to separate him from Bush, in that it will be clear that McCain/Palin want to rid the government of those who aren't following our own laws in both the letter and the spirit.

He can take the risk of somewhat alienating his own party, because the Republicans will still rally 'round the conservative flag. Palin and McCain's differences with the Republican party, after all, are far less than those of Obama's Democrats.

I think the pundits on TV and radio saying that the Palin pick means that McCain is trying to get the women's vote available after Hillary's withdrawal from the consideration are oversimplifying and insulting to both the McCain campaign, and to voters. Women won't vote for other women unless they share a connection and belief system in common, just as we won't vote for a male candidate with views with which we disagree.