John McCain spent the last year flip-flopping his way towards his party’s nomination in an effort to ingratiate himself to the hard right of his party. The selection of Sarah Palin is McCain’s last ditch attempt to win them over. McCain seems to have abandoned his maverick roots in favor of the old, stale Karl Rove playbook of the last two elections.
After months of arguing that experience is of utmost importance, McCain chose a hayseed governor with little experience and few accomplishments to be a heartbeat from the presidency. While it’s obvious that Gov. Palin can give a speech, and by first appearances seems to be an amiable woman of adequate intelligence, there is nothing in her record to demonstrate an ability to govern the United States.
Palin’s tenure as governor is so weak that she lied about her support of the bridge to nowhere and deceived about putting a state plane on eBay. Her tenure as mayor was defined by taxing and spending, and in the true spirit of the Republican Party, she reportedly left the town with a large debt. She brags about her experience as mayor but her town is so small that the McCain family budget is probably bigger than the town’s. John Adams this woman is not.
The little that we know of Palin shows that she is intolerant of dissent, has trouble with truth and facts, supports extreme social policy and has poor judgment. It’s humorous how well this description also fits George Bush, an indication of the paltry nature of McCain’s version of change.
Palin is so ill-prepared for her current challenge that she refuses to speak to the press. A 72 year-old cancer survivor teamed with an unaccomplished neophyte who is afraid of the press is not a picture of strength, judgment or confidence. Each time I see McCain and Palin together, I’m reminded more of the curmudgeonly cook Mel and sassy waitress Flo from the 1970s sitcom Alice than I am of strong leaders like Roosevelt and Truman. When Palin eventually faces the press, I imagine her standard response to tough questions will be “Kiss my grits!!”
The Palin selection is revealing in other ways, too. By selecting Palin, it’s clear that McCain has not yet secured the support of the Republican base. While Barack Obama campaigns in Montana and North Dakota and attracts 80,000 Coloradans on a hot August night, McCain is still fussing with those voters that should be his most loyal. McCain’s standing with the right wing base is so tenuous he couldn’t select his first choice for VP, Sen. Joe Lieberman.
It’s also clear that John McCain will do and say anything to win the presidency. If McCain wanted to offer an historic candidacy of his own by choosing a VP who was not a white man, he could have selected any one of a number of Senators, e.g., Libby Dole, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Kay Bailey Hutchison or Mel Martinez. If he wanted to choose a Governor, he could have tapped Laura Lingle, Hawaii’s governor who is of the Jewish faith. Instead, McCain chose politics over competence, a reflection of his judgment and character.
McCain has adopted the campaign slogan “Country First” as a gimmick to suggest that Barack Obama is not patriotic. McCain has also made insidious remarks in recent days, such as the suggestion that Obama would rather gain political advantage than win the Iraq war. A regular on late night talk shows and with a cameo in Wedding Crashers, McCain had the audacity to accuse Obama of being a celebrity. The McCain campaign even had the gumption to call Obama an elitist all the while Sen. McCain is being chauffeured between his 7 homes on a private jet.
By selecting a female version of George Bush as his VP, questioning Obama’s patriotism, and flip-flopping on major issues, McCain has put political expediency first, ambition first, greed first, chutzpah first, poor judgment first, beauty queens first, intellectual dishonesty first, questionable character first, extremism first, recklessness first and Hee Haw first. The two things he has not put first are country and good manners.