Thomas B. Edsall has written an incredibly comprehensive article for Huffington Post. It is titled "The Palin Plunge", and it confirms the success of a collective push here in South Florida - while bringing back some quirky memories for me personally.
The more voters learn about Sarah Palin, the more wary they become. Once the focus of post-convention Republican euphoria, the Alaska Governor is now viewed as a serious liability to the McCain campaign.
How does that relate to the condo I live in? And why does it give me a good excuse to use the pic of Chris Matthews' analogy?
"Among middle-class Jewish career women in particular, there's a resentment bordering on rage that somebody so obviously unqualified was appointed on the assumption that she would appeal to women. As women of accomplishment, they deeply resent the pandering and take it quite personally."
I live three blocks from a Kabbalah Center. Many of my friends and neighbors fall into this voting block. The Obama campaign has not officially focused on Sarah Palin's intolerant views and connections, but I have. It is mad satisfying to see these results reported.
On May 22, 2008, well before the Palin pick, the New York Times reported widespread concerns about the prospective Democratic nominee in a story headlined "As Obama Heads to Florida, Many of Its Jews Have Doubts."
That is correct. We would have been in big trouble down here. But then...
The Palin pick was from the start viewed even more negatively by Jewish voters. By a margin of 57-37, Jewish voters nationwide said they disapproved McCain's decision according to a September 8- 21 survey by the American Jewish Committee.
Among Florida Jewish voters, according to University of Florida political scientist Ken Wald, "there's a great deal of resistance to her for a couple of reasons. First, on the issues, she's simply wrong. Jews as a group are pro-choice, anti-gun, and generally associated with liberal values on social and economic issues. Even many orthodox Jews, who are somewhat more traditionalist, are hardly raging social conservatives. The fact that her church hosted a Jews for Jesus speaker--at a service she attended and applauded--adds insult to injury. (Many in the Jewish community consider Jews for Jesus as a group that seeks the continuation of the Holocaust by peaceful means.)"
In addition, Wald told the Huffington Post, "among middle-class Jewish career women in particular, there's a resentment bordering on rage that somebody so obviously unqualified was appointed on the assumption that she would appeal to women. As women of accomplishment, they deeply resent the pandering and take it quite personally."
In an interview with the Tampa Bay Times and Bay News McCain acknowledged that he would be having a much easier time in Florida had he picked the state's Governor, Charlie Crist, instead of Palin. "Charlie, because he's so popular, he probably would have made a significant difference,'' McCain said.
Indeed, it would have been a very different ballgame in my neighborhood if he would have picked Crist. And the South Beach vote would have skyrocketed. But he didn't. Thanks, John McCain.
The article is more meaty than any other on details of the Palin Plunge. And it uses the inane symbol that is epitomizing the ultimate lameness of the McCain campaign. The plunger.
Seriously. They are waving toilet plungers. Not only does that signify a major "back-up" in their strategy, but it brings back eerie memories of another very pretty woman who wanted to be famous. She is my first cousin, and she "co-starred" in Bikini Island.
The movie is lamer than the McCain campaign, although they do continue to set new records every day. I will bold the relevant connection within a comment on imdb by "tenn-noodlehead":
Okay, you don't expect a movie with a name like Bikini Island to be intellectually stimulating or filled with great acting or an actual plot, but you wouldn't think it would be boring, would you? This movie is boring. The starlets are attractive, and costumes and acting are kept to a minimum. The plot is simple: Swimsuit magazine sends models with sleazy photographers and manager to a remote island paradise for a photoshoot. The girl chosen for the cover gets an additional $100,000. The girls start disappearing one by one. Most of the people who die are smothered to death with a toilet plunger, believe it or not. Every cliche you can imagine is trotted out, but very little is ever done with them.
Yes, it's true. The movie involves death by toilet plunger and every cliche you can imagine used badly.
Sound familiar?