I do give Sarah Palin credit for her improbable rise in Alaskan politics as a reformer to become governor, defeating the incumbent Republican and a former Democratic governor, despite more limited resources. I also think that her decision to give her Down syndrome baby an opportunity to live versus the typical path of eugenic abortion is nothing short of inspirational.
I'm personally getting sick and tired of hearing Fox News contributors making excuses for Sarah Palin's inexcusably incompetent performance during last year's campaign--and making McCain, whom has gallantly, consistently and repeatedly praised Palin's contribution to the ticket, the target of their ire. Let me make myself clear: we were talking about electing this woman a heartbeat from being President. Her performance was embarrassing; she did not understand anything about the financial tsunami, she was not cognizant of McCain's positions on regulation, she exhibited diva-like behavior, publicly rebuking the campaign, during the campaign, for withdrawing from Michigan and unconscionably trying to blame the campaign for her abysmal performance, instead of accepting responsibility for it, during the interviews, she repeatedly repeated a line (even after it was debunked) implying she offered to give the Congress their money back for the Bridge to Nowhere project, which in fact she supported during her gubernatorial campaign, and she supposedly got miffed because Katie Couric asked her a question on what sources she uses to keep up on current events? I mean, if she can't calmly and professionally handle a softball question concerning what newspapers she reads, how is she going to handle more trying and difficult decisions as President?
Come on, Dennis. I have no doubt that just like thousands of parents of troops stationed in Iraq, Sarah and Todd Palin were concerned about the safety of their son Track. Track Palin joined the Army almost a year before Sarah accepted the Vice Presidential nomination. Sarah Palin is a grown woman capable of making her own decisions and accepting responsibility for the ones she makes. If she felt it was too emotionally upsetting that she couldn't do an interview, it was her responsibility to postpone the interview. The fact is that the McCain campaign had not released Sarah Palin for interviews until some time after her acceptance of the nomination. I remember at the time being quite puzzled by the delay which seemed to raise a red flag; she had given two very well-delivered speeches.
But Sarah Palin, a second-year governor from a state with less than 1% of the nation's population, was pushing her executive experience, argued foreign policy experience because Alaska's neighbors are Canada and Russia (although there is little evidence she had hands-on involvement with trade missions), and burnished her defense credentials because of a key military base in Alaska and the fact she has responsibility for the Alaska National Guard. That's a real stretch and badly hurt her credibility, which Palin look-alike SNL comedienne Tina Fey expertly tweaked with the much-quoted line, "I can see Russia from my house!" I think Sarah Palin would have come across as more credible by acknowledging the limitations of her experience but arguing that her credentials as a outsider bipartisan reformer were just the kind of change Washington needed, that she is a quick study, and that she has the ability to get things done. There were things I would have stressed if I had been holding her hand of cards; for example, I would have stressed her credentials as a small business owner.
As I wrote this post, I saw a clip on the Greta Van Susteren show On the Record showing the media conservative Rush Limbaugh, as is his custom, defending Sarah Palin and saving his most venomous comments for conservatives like me whom oppose any future national role for Sarah Palin. Rush doesn't get it; he likes what she says and how she says it. I think Rush Limbaugh is in a state of denial. How sad in the week following the death of a real conservative and man of ideas, 1996 Vice Presidential nominee Jack Kemp, whom wrote several books and avidly read Ayn Rand and Friedrich von Hayek, we recall that two of the past 4 GOP Veep nominees were Dan Quayle and Sarah Palin. I have the deepest respect for George H.W. Bush and John McCain, but they made bad decisions that hurt their candidacies. In McCain's case, with the selection of Palin, he threw away the biggest card he was holding against Barack Obama--experience. True, there were more substantive reasons he lost, including his misstep of unilaterally suspending his campaign during the financial tsunami and he never really managed to separate himself and his policies from the Bush Administration. But the fact is, McCain took a huge hit because of the Palin pick, and she picked up the highest negatives in recent electoral history. Those negatives were due to Palin's own performance.
