Ok. I just got talking to my mother. She is in that target demographic for this Sarah Palin VP choice.
My first intuition was to dismiss Palin as a VP choice. Then I spoke to my mom, who has voted for Bush the last two elections and Clinton and Mondale before that. She is, I guess, the target demographic for this choice. She was going to vote for Hillary in the primaries, but didn't because of the urging of a certain son :)
She is damn sick of these Republicans and the way they have run this country into the ground.
She was (now retired) the highest ranking female executive at a big company. She was passed up for promotions more than once, and has a lot of sympathy for the working women out there trying to make it.
In her opinion, and she may be right, this pick is a very double edged sword. Sarah seemed like a smart, sharp, ambitious person. She said, "they unleashed a tiger in the tent."
According to her that means that maybe the Republicans don't really know what they are getting into. She said that Sarah seems like she isn't going to take any shit. That she may just not be controllable or the patsy that the Republicans think she is. It might mean that she could make a very effective attack dog.
It was my initial opinion that this was a very weird pick, high risk high reward. My mother thought it was stupid. Then she heard the speech.
In her view, this is something to take very very seriously. Palin will make a difference to "low info voters," women who do not have time to learn about the candidates. This pick could make a difference among women who struggle to work up the corporate ladder.
Yes, she has little to no experience on any foreign policy issues, little experience on any national issue, and wrong experience (views) on social issues, but that doesn't matter. The Republicans have to paint her a certain way, and the have to do it fast. She will be painted as a working mom, and woman who stands up to power, a reformer, someone who has good judgment, a normal everyday working woman who represents the struggles of women. If they succeed in driving her narrative she may end up being a formidable choice. But, if and when the truth gets told, that certain demographic will not vote for her.
My mom does not like McCain, and is going to contribute to Obama. She loved his speech, and thinks it is time to get away from the dumbass policies of the last eight years. A lot of people in her situation do too.
But she does warn that this pick, this person, can and could make a difference, especially when no one is aware of her extreme right-wing views, especially if all the dominos fall the right way and we don't get message out there.
This is not concern. We need to take everything seriously. We need to take Sarah seriously. So, we need to do what we can in order let the people know who this woman is. We really do need to take this seriously and fight back as hard as we can. Regardless of her gender, race, whatever...
"Treat her like any other candidate, because that is fair," is what my mom said.
PS I love my mom, she has lapses in politics at times, but she rocks