Rove’s stone-cold heart must have thawed a couple of degrees the first time he got a look at Palin. Not only was she good looking and had the fundies in her pocketbook, but she could read a speech better than GWB can after fourteen years of training. Those of us who don’t see the world through a glass darkly couldn’t imagine a less likely choice for VP. Oh sure, it was easy to perceive what Rove was going for, but plucking no name and no portfolio out of no where and sticking them in the really big league of American politics was ludicrous on its face.
Must say that I underestimated her appeal to those white men with an IQ over a 100 that catapulted the Bush empty suit to the White House. Guess I expected some of them to use a few of their brain cells and forgot the other part of their bodies that they could let do their thinking for them. The same part they may have been using for years -- which could explain why they’re so homophobic.
Palinmania was definitely more intense than I could have predicted. Her lack of sophistication and quirkiness served her well. All on her lonesome, she broke one of those rules for President and Vice-president candidates. Not like the well known rules that JFK and Reagan smashed, but one that nobody, and most definitely not a Democrat, would even have considered challenging: an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter. Jumping that hurdle as effectively as GWB dismissed his "youthful indiscretions" surely reinforced the fantasy that Palin was GWB in a skirt -- and the coalition Rove put together to get GWB to the WH would be restored and in place by election day. And that plus the hardwiring of GOP election fraud would make McCain/Palin the winner.
Rove’s miscalculation had nothing to do with Palin’s lack of accomplishments and intelligence/knowledge which are on a par with what GWB gave him to work with. Nor does she present more challenging ethical/moral lapses. Where Rove blew it is that Palin is 1) an authentic religious wacko and 2) a backwater political hack. He forgot how long it took to polish up a hack like GWB who had the advantage of decades of rubbing shoulders with those in the big leagues. That he was a "good ole boy" poseur. And that he was merely a religious Rorschach test for the fundies. Those constituencies are not only critical to a Republican candidate but they must also not need more than the occasional winks and nods leaving the candidate the time and money to rope in the voters who prefer someone who reflects their self-image of being moderate and middle-class. Not that they have a clear concept of what either of those terms mean.
Not feeding those troops for so long in this election cycle, left them ravenous. A few winks and nods from Palin left them hungry for more. And the more Palin dishes out for them, the more they want and the less the moderates want to taste. Palin is now on course to accomplish in eight weeks what took GWB eight years. Namely, a twenty-two percent approval rating. The smallness of their minds and principles revealed for all who care to see.
Like the old Navy guy he pretends to be, McCain grabbed the lifeline to that 22% that would float his rusty bucket. He kinda overlooked what was attached to the other end of the rope. The smaller she gets the heavier the ticket load. Cutting her loose would sink him faster than keeping her on-board with the steady drip-drip-drip shorting out their circuits. And the babe from Wasilla becomes unborn.
