Oba's never run a two-car parade.
Obama Campaign Attacks Palin
WEEKLY STANDARD
By John McCormack
Barack Obama's spokesman says that Alaska governor Sarah Palin is too inexperienced to be vice president:
"Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency. Governor Palin shares John McCain's commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of Big Oil and continuing George Bush's failed economic policies — that's not the change we need, it's just more of the same," said Bill Burton, Obama Campaign Spokesman.
Jen Rubin calls the "town of 9,000" line "bittergate II"; Sonny Bunch writes:
"Please," John McCain is praying right now AS I TYPE, "Let a Democrat say that an executive with 2 years of experience and no foreign policy expertise isn't ready for the presidency. Oh pretty please. Because you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to take that soundbite, put it in an ad, slap Obama's mug up there, and run it over and over and over again."
Because Palin has exactly as much experience as Obama–arguably more, since she's an executive. The only difference is that she isn't running for president.
And here's the official McCain campaign response:
"It is pretty audacious for the Obama campaign to say that Governor Palin is not qualified to be Vice President. She has a record of accomplishment that Senator Obama simply cannot match. Governor Palin has spent her time in office shaking up government in Alaska and actually achieving results -- whether it's taking on corruption, passing ethics reform or stopping wasteful spending and the 'bridge to nowhere.' Senator Obama has spent his time in office running for President." --Jill Hazelbaker, McCain Communications Director
What Palin Does
By Noemie Emery
1. Steps on the story of Obama's speech (and convention), and possibly the bounce coming from them, and wipes them off the news cycle. The Sunday news shows will be all-Palin, all of the time.
2. Sends Republicans into their convention on a huge head of steam.
3. Wipes out the image of McCain as the crotchety elder and brings back that of the fly-boy and gambler, which is much more appealing, and the genuine person.
4. Revs up the base AND excites independents, which no one else in the party, or perhaps in the world, could have accomplished.
5. Puts youth, change, and history on both of the tickets.
6. May detach some young people, especially women.
7. May attach some women pissed off about Hillary.
8. As a pro-life super-achiever, puts feminists in a tizzy.
9. Revives some of the double-edged nature of the Democratic primary, which featured a black vs. a
female trail-blazer, and put both sides on notice on sensitivity issues. Democrats used to raising charges of racism against Obama's critics may face charges of sexism and/or condescension if they try to diss her.
10. Steps on Obama's claims to have been a reformer, as he reformed nothing (much less the corrupt mare's nest of Chicago arrangements), while she was a dragon-slayer up in Alaska.
11. As a mother of five, one a Down's Syndrome baby, helps her side take on the Democrats on abortion extremism and the Born Alive bill.
12. Reignites the deep and unhealed stresses inside the Democrats, some of whom will now wonder more loudly than ever why they didn 't pick Hillary.
13. Counters Michelle in a way Cindy couldn't.
14. Counter-intuitively, makes the issue of Obama's light resume more potent than ever. Her lack of experience is no more than his is. And he's--to use a term from Alaska, and the Iditarod--their lead dog.
How McCain Decided on Palin
By Stephen F. Hayes
Fantastic tick-tock from ABC's Jan Crawford Greenburg
It wasn't until Sunday night that John McCain, after meeting with his four top advisers, finally decided he could not tap independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut to be his running mate. One adviser, tasked with taking the temperature of the conservative base, had strongly made the case to McCain that it would be a disaster for the party and that the base would revolt. McCain concluded he could not go that route.
The next day, McCain studied the three men at the top of his shortlist: Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge. All had different strengths and negatives, but McCain was not satisfied. None of them had what McCain believed he needed to do -- and would have done -- with Lieberman.
McCain wanted to shake up the ticket.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's name was in the mix as an unconventional choice for months, but she had not been considered a front-runner. So, over the next few days, with McCain continuing to believe he needed someone who had more of a maverick streak than his other choices, lawyers reviewed her vetting information. They kept their activities from even some in McCain's most senior inner circle....
The campaign secretly flew Palin into Dayton last night. She and McCain met privately for a couple of hours. McCain concluded she would "shake up the system" and was "a maverick," qualities he believed Lieberman would have brought to the ticket. But she also would appeal to conservatives -- which Lieberman most certainly would not have done.
After their meeting, McCain concluded he was comfortable with his choice. He notified Pawlenty this morning that he was going in a different direction. |
