Palin, eh?

i also posted this on my personal blog.

From Jack:
"Some early observations: McCain is desperate to win the same votes that Sen. Clinton won in the primaries, so he tries to find the "Republican Hillary." And by "Republican Hillary," McCain means a woman. There is no "Republican Hillary."

From Daily Kos:

Sarah Palin was had political experience only as a small town mayor until less than two years ago. What we don't know about her could fill a book. Here are a few things we're learning about Palin.

Sarah Palin left the finances of her town Wasilla in tatters when she moved on in 2002 (h/t xgz). She wanted a legacy as mayor, it seems, and pushed hard for the town to build a hyper-expensive sports complex. But Palin screwed the process up badly. Instead of buying the land for the complex when it was offered, her administration allowed a developer named Gary Lundgren to snap it up. Then Wasilla tried to seize the land from Lundgren through eminent domain. In the end, what with court costs Wasilla paid at least $ 1.7 million for land it could have bought for less than one tenth that sum - if the purchase had been handled properly. For this incompetence, Wasilla is still paying a steep price: higher taxes and cutbacks in services. In other words Palin is about as efficient as Michael Brown, onetime head of FEMA.

Diarist loyalson, a resident of Wasilla, has more to say about the damage Palin did to his town while she was mayor.

On the single most debated issue of our times, the Iraq war, Sarah Palin similarly was out to lunch until as recently as last spring. Shortly after becoming governor, she was asked her views on the surge (h/t LizzyPop):

(More...)

An excerpt of a letter i received from Moveon.org today:

"Yesterday was John McCain's 72nd birthday. If elected, he'd be the oldest president ever inaugurated. And after months of slamming Barack Obama for "inexperience," here's who John McCain has chosen to be one heartbeat away from the presidency: a right-wing religious conservative with no foreign policy experience, who until recently was mayor of a town of 9,000 people.

Huh?

Who is Sarah Palin? Here's some basic background:

• She was elected Alaska's governor a little over a year and a half ago. Her previous office was mayor of Wasilla, a small town outside Anchorage. She has no foreign policy experience.¹
  
• Palin is strongly anti-choice, opposing abortion even in the case of rape or incest.²
  
• She supported right-wing extremist Pat Buchanan for president in 2000. ³
  
• Palin thinks creationism should be taught in public schools.⁴
  
• She's doesn't think humans are the cause of climate change.⁵
  
• She's solidly in line with John McCain's "Big Oil first" energy policy. She's pushed hard for more oil drilling and says renewables won't be ready for years. She also sued the Bush administration for listing polar bears as an endangered species—she was worried it would interfere with more oil drilling in Alaska.⁶
• How closely did John McCain vet this choice? He met Sarah Palin once at a meeting. They spoke a second time, last Sunday, when he called her about being vice-president. Then he offered her the position.^7"

Some of my own opinions:
Like Jack, my first impression is that McCain has selected a "Republican Hillary" --- a shallow choice that is further evidence of the common criticism that he is "out of touch." i view his selection as an insult to women nation-wide, laden with the underlying assumption that Hillary supporters chose her as a viable candidate, not because of her policies and experience, but because of her gender. The "we'll replace the kids dead pet with one that looks just like it and they'll never know" ideology is a slap in the face to female voters. My criticism is more of McCain than Palin, really. Though, of course, Palin did accept the job. It's difficult to imagine past Hillary supporters voting for an anti-abortion rights, creationist, gun-toting member of the NRA. i guess we'll just have to wait and see.

McCain is also surely trying to strip away the "historical precedence" card from Obama, a potentially wise move that could swing votes. Many who are planning on voting for Obama solely on the historical nature of his candidacy will now reconsider. Like Will says over at Hopolis, McCain now has a "change" ticket like his Democrat counterparts. Perhaps i'm a bit biased, but the Palin story is a lot harder to sell than the Obama story. Some experience looks shinier when placed next to no experience. So it goes.