Gail Collins has a wonderful Op-Ed Column in Saturday's New York Times on John McCain's pick of Sarah Palin as his running mate. She reminds us that as the head of the Alaska National Guard Palin is uniquely qualified to aide McCain in the "fight against international Islamic extremism." Of course Palin is also uniquely qualified to play in midnight hockey games, but that's another story.
Her point is that McCain is pandering to women, gee what a surprise. She is spot on. It seems John McCain thinks that just because Palin is a woman disaffected Clinton supporters of the same gender will jump on board. That really is an insult to thinking women everywhere. As Collins puts it,
The idea that women are going to race off to vote for any candidate with the same internal plumbing is both offensive and historically wrong. When the sexes have parted company in modern elections, it’s generally been because women are more likely to be Democrats, and more concerned about protecting the social safety net. "The gender gap traditionally has been determined by party preference, not by the gender of the candidate," said Ruth Mandel of the Eagleton Institute of Politics.
It is apparent to me that while McCain is guilty of pandering Palin is guilty of extreme arrogance. Only a republican could assume that after two years as the governor of a state with a population density equal to Siberia they were prepared to deal with the issues of America's cities; only a republican would believe a trip to the lower forty eight constitutes expertise on transportation issues; and only a republican would even think firing a Public Safety Commissioner could prepare them for the dirty tricks necessary to govern at the national level (oops, maybe that does prepare her).
When all is said and done if McCain named Palin because he truly believes that this woman is capable of leading America more power to him, but I agree with Gail Collins,
If she’s only on the ticket to try to get disaffected Clinton supporters to cross over, it’s a bad choice. Joe Biden may already be practicing his drop-dead line for the vice-presidential debate: "I know Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton is a friend of mine, and governor, you’re no Hillary Clinton."