Sarah Palin, that's who. Our latest candidate for vice president, the person who could be one (lack of) heartbeat away from being commander in chief and chief executive of the United States. John McCain's latest joke.
I spent a little time today learning about Sarah's background and watching her appearance with old John. No gravitas. It's an insult to all Americans that John McCain would nominate a person who was mayor of a tiny Alaska town only 18 months ago to be vice president of the United States. McCain dies; would anyone choose Palin to deal with Boris Putin or Iran? McCain lives; can you see Palin as president of the senate, which is one of the vice president's jobs? What has she done to earn the respect of those in high places? She is a child by comparison.
This episode points out the sad truth of our electoral process. It seldom identifies the best leaders because it must attract votes from the lesser educated masses who understand little about policy and the political process. Palin will appeal to many who share her starkly conservative agenda, admire her beauty queen freshness, and don't have the faintest clue about what her job would be if she were elected. However, she terrifies me.
There are only about 63 days until the election. I'm trying to be optimistic about it. It's hard to believe that a majority of Americans could choose McCain and Palin over Obama and Biden, simply because of the latter's giant advantage in experience and accomplishment. It's not about republican -vs- democrat; it's about us turning over leadership of the world's richest and most powerful country to people who we feel have the judgement to move it forward and avoid stupid mistakes. We know what happens when we make a mistake in choosing...America has been slipping in every category for eight years. McCain-Palin would be a worse mistake, not because they are bad people but simply because they are the wrong people.
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I've walked most of the Appalachian Trail...its ups and downs are a lot like life. I love life, but EMT work has taught me that life is uncertain for us all. Let's talk about how to make the world work. There's lots of people who've got to live with what we leave behind.
2 comments:
Jeff Greenfield called the choice "A hail-Mary pass," and I think he's right.
But the thing is, the score is tied- I'm not sure that was the best strategy for him.
I heard one conservative defend her lack of foreign policy experience by pointing out that Alaska is the only state to share a border with Russia. This might say more about Republicans contempt for government than their respect for Palin.
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