On Palin

So, Johnny-come-lately here, finally getting around to commenting on the nomination of Governor Sarah Palin for Vice President on the Republican ticket. I know, I know, I should have jumped on the commenting band wagon weeks ago, but feh, whattayagonnado?

Anyway, I like it. I think she's a strong candidate. She's the only candidate on either ticket with ANY experience at all in the executive branch of government. I think that in itself is an interesting point. Secondly, she seems to be a bit independant, and willing to go against the crowd, which makes her somewhat of a Maverick, very similar to Senator McCain.

That's actually the one of the biggest differences I see in the VP nominees at this point. Senator McCain picked someone very much like himself, who doesn't toe the party line, will go against the current of mainstream, and do what's right, because it's the right thing to do.

Senator Obama on the other hand, didn't pick a VP candidate based on how similar he was to himself, but based seemingly on what holes he could fill in the noticeable empty spots on his resume. What seemed like a good choice at the time, has turned out to be not so much of a good choice.

Now that the Veeps are chosen, the rhetoric has gone into overdrive, and it seems like the only thing the Dems have is mud-slinging. The Chairwoman of the South Carolina Democratic Party, stated that Governor Palin's main qualification for VP was that "she hasn't had an abortion"...Seriously.....don't believe me? Read about it here.

The Democrats need to be careful. The vitriol with which they're going after Governor Palin is reminiscent of the Republican attacks on Former President Clinton. Republicans were so rabid for Clinton, that they held impeachment hearings for a personal indiscretion on his part. That kind of silliness should have cost the Republicans the White House in 2000. The only reason Bush won, in my opinion, is the fact that Gore was such a non-candidate. He didn't learn to give a stirring public speech until after the elections were over, and they were disputing vote counts. If he had shown up with any kind of oratory prior to the election, I think he might have won. I know I for one, was quite disgusted with how the Republican party had acted towards President Clinton. Now it seems that the Democrats may be putting themselves in that same boat. The blind attacks against Palin aren't going to sway anyone who is already a McCain/Palin supporter, and far from their intent, may actually drive more moderate members of the Democratic party into the McCain/Palin camp.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Less than two months to go, and we may have a strong woman in the White House who actually got voted in there :)

Casey