My family says I can't stop smiling. They haven't seen such political glee from me in a long, long time.
And here's why: McCain's VP choice has single-handedly killed any prospect of him sneaking into the White House. And the great news is that many right-wingers don't even know it yet.
It comes down to voting blocs. And McCain's pick of this gun-toting, Creationism-spewing, oil-loving, Roe v Wade destroying mother of five from Alaska is only going to please two groups -- the American theocrats (though not all of them when certain things sink in about the pick) and the hardcore right-wing rabble who believe after all these years of Rove that they are entitled to the White House and everything the party higher-ups do is political gold. They're in for a shock.
But first, the voting blocs McCain has disaffected:
Moderate Republicans and Independents:
This is arguably McCain's core constituency, or should be. But his embrace of all the evangelical, neo-con babble was scaring off quite a few to Obama, joining those who had already defected because of the Iraq War and other W debacles.
The Palin pick scares these voters off even more. Many moderate Republicans are simply businesspeople who don't want their taxes raised. They are often social progressives in many cases. Some don't admit to that unless pushed. The Palin pick pushes them.
These are also Republicans who have retained some basic common sense and understand how horribly under-qualified this lady is to be a heartbeat from the presidency. As I said, they run businesses and they know throwing in a newbie to be in line to head the company comes close to insanity, or at least abject recklessness. They know corporate heads would roll in the real world if anyone made that dumb a choice, for whatever reason. When the reason could be the top guy has a penchant for models and beauty queens around him, things get even worse.
Independents fall in line here as well -- many have socially progressive stances but want a strong America and competent leadership. The Palin pick undermines this group who had been moving toward McCain with the attacks on Obama in recent weeks. They hate hardcore ideologues -- remember, W got in through "compassionate conservatism." And Palin is the definition of a hardcore idealogue, but not even a particularly sophisticated one at that. And they, too, now question McCain's decision-making abilities with her limited experience.
The good news is there is absolutely nothing McCain or anyone, even Rove, can do about it. McCain either has to stay with his pick or lose her. Either way, he's already made his bed with these groups. Once the media finishes giving Palin the obligatory coronation and start the serious review of her qualifications or lack thereof, they are only going to move toward Obama or abstain.
Angry Hillary Voters
Before the Palin pick, one could make the argument that in a close election, the angry Hillary voters could abstain or even vote for McCain and push the election to him. Now, that scenario will never happen.
In the right wing's continuing under-estimation of women's independent thinking faculties (I guess Republican women don't think for themselves much?), they have actually turned off all but the angriest Hillary voter with this pick and will push many back to the only logical choice for them. It's transparent for all to see that McCain thought that a woman -- any woman -- on the ticket would please them. It's a condescending, insulting and absolutely wrong assumption to make. And I've heard right-wing men who thinks this locks it up for McCain because of this idea. That will only piss the Hillary voter off even further once that's made clear. They didn't vote for Hillary to again be treated like children. And they know as well as anyone that a 72-year-old man could die on his inauguration day and leave Roe v Wade in the hands of an abject opponent of it.
Now, on to the Theocrats, who put W in office twice and helped Reagan as well. First off, it's wrong to consider these folks in favor of women in power. I'm going to take the wild guess that for the most part, they've hated the gains of feminism and think a women should be with her family. Now, if Palin was more like Pelosi with a grown family and lifetime in politics, things might be different. But Palin has five kids and a special needs baby at that. Many Theocrats, and even many in other parts of the political spectrum, will come to the conclusion that that's too much family commitment for one woman to abandon to politics and running a country.
And let's go one step further and look at the hardcore right-wing rabble, raised on the pablum of Rush, O'Reilly, Hannity, et al. These guys don't like women in power, period. Rush still uses the term "femi-nazi." If this were a Dem pick, they would be all over how Dems once again on their "aberrant" anti-family lifestyles. Sure, right now they're on board because they truly believe this negates the gains made by Obama's historic candidacy, a guy who was vetted for the past two years by voters in every state. They'll soon come down from their post-Palin high when they realize they are losing voters because of her. They wanted to put politics over country, and it didn't work. And they'll be left voting for a woman in power they never wanted to see in power in the first place.
To my mind, the Palin pick is the first major blunder of the post-Rove era. Rove's an asshole but he was their asshole who won them elections. They don't have his services full-time anymore, though they were making headway with the attacks on Obama's experience until this pick, which obliterates that attack line forever.
It's all too funny, too great. The maverick has just galloped off the cliff. I say he wins Alaska (is that two electoral votes?) and he'll be lucky to take another state.
God bless you, John. You've made it so America has to accept what in my mind is one of the best candidates for president in American history. And I didn't even think that until his acceptance speech Thursday night. It made my hair stand on my neck how good it was and how right for America at this moment in history.