The Sunshine Empire

I spent today in Gainesville taking in the Florida vs. Hawaii college football game and I came away with only a small portion of my forearms sun burnt. This along with just my kneecaps due to my folded arms during the game. I have been sleeping very little lately with all the political conventions and Tiger Woods 09, and I am starting to lose grip due to the strain. The schedule is clear tomorrow so there will be some deep slumber in front of me tonight.

On the way to Gainesville I had a long conversation about the Sarah Palin pick by John McCain with two of our closest political advisers. Yesterday TSE’s chief political adviser suggested a bumper stick that would say, “Honk if you are qualified to run for Vice President.” I had not had strong feelings on the pick, but he said the pick was almost insulting. The clear political reality is she was a pick to bring in certain voting blocks and not to play a strong roll in any future administration. McCain accomplishes two things with this pick. He can make an awkward play for bitter Hillary Clinton people that are still outside the fold, and he throws red meat to the evangelicals. Governor Palin is extremely right wing in her social positions and this is meant to calm them, as they distrust him. She does not believe even in birth control pills and condoms, and is for creationism being taught in public schools. Now these are not positions that Hillary supporters are going to be keen on, but he thinks that is counterbalanced in some sense by the expectation that most women will vote for a woman on the ticket simply because they have the same equipment.

Yet both of Alaska’s main daily newspapers questioned the pick and claimed she was not even prepared to be Governor of Alaska according to the Huffington Post. You can even sense the frustration in those sent out with talking points to defend the pick. They claim that “running” the Alaska National Guard is the preparation she needs to be Commander-In-Chief, and that because there is oil below Alaska means she has foreign affairs experience. Representative Eric Cantor on with Wolf Blitzer was flummoxed when Wolf re-asked a question about her lack of national security experience when he only had replied the first time about her reform ethic. Some say that her lack of experience makes her a brilliant pick because Obama can’t attack her because he only reveals himself and his record to scrutiny.

Some are saying that the pick is brilliant and some say it could be the point at which we mark the end of the campaign. Suffice to say Joe Biden was slice her to shreds rhetorically. Yet the pick more and more just smacks of desperation.