My Thoughts on Palin

Admittedly, I have mostly been driving all day, listening to L. Patrick Gray’s rebuttal to Mark Felt (and Bob Woodward), punctuated by surveys of Nebraska’s and Iowa’s excellent public radio stations (the guy from Minnesota with the Obama bumper sticker who filled up the same time as me was listening to Rush, and warned me that Rush’s comments on Palin weren’t worth the trouble). So these aren’t influenced by all the smart and witty things already said about McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin to be his new girlfriend running mate. But here are my thoughts on Palin.

  1. McCain believes all the BS in the press about the PUMAs–even though none of them showed to the Convention, and even though Hillary and Bill did such a good job reaching out to Hillary voters.
  2. McCain believes women are too stupid to understand the difference between women’s issues–and women. 
  3. McCain saw in Palin a fellow-traveler: someone who makes loud nods to "maverickyness," even while abusing power.
  4. McCain just sacrificed every legitimate claim to environmental creds he had to Palin’s fight against the polar bears. I do hope the DNC does some ads pitting Palin against the polar bears, because Palin’s suit against the polar bears is her one act that affects national governance.
  5. McCain is sinking deeper and deeper into the oil culture that corrupted Bush and Cheney’s Administration. It’s like crack cocaine for Republicans–they can’t keep away.
  6. I wonder whether Paris Hilton’s ad made McCain see the wisdom of running with someone who is hot–rather than another wrinkled white dude like Lieberman.
  7. Apparently, Palin isn’t going to be able to help McCain with his ignorance about Wikipedia culture.
  8. McCain is apparently down to one campaign event a day–though, admittedly, that’s still a laudable activity level for a guy who turned 72 today. But Palin has 5 kids, the youngest a special needs kid. When exactly do these two plan to campaign? Particularly since it’ll take Palin an extra several hours to get anywhere to do any campaigning.