December 2, 2008 7:13:44 PM CST
(Newser) – E.J. Dionne can't resist comparing John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate to President Bush's attempt to put Harriet Miers on the Supreme Court. “Palin is, if anything, less qualified for the vice presidency (and the presidency) than Miers was for the court,” Dionne argues in the Washington Post. But Palin is getting a pass from the same conservatives who blocked Miers, because she’s a proven right-winger.
Conservatives who trashed Miers for "lack of judicial grounding" were really bothered, he posits, because they thought she might be a "closet moderate." Inexperience, apparently, is “irrelevant” this time—though very little is known about Palin, and McCain only met her twice before picking her. "McCain is asking us to roll the dice,” Dionne concludes. “You'd think that people who call themselves conservative would have a problem with that.”
Source Washington Post
Nov 25, 08 2:24 PM CST Sarah Palin will lend her star power to Saxby Chambliss in his Senate runoff battle against Democrat Jim Martin, Politico reports. Palin will appear with Chambliss at rallies across Georgia the day before the Dec. 2 runoff, capping a GOP full-court press that has seen Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and John McCain drop by to try to keep Chambliss’ seat in Republican hands. More »
Nov 17, 08 4:45 PM CST Sarah Palin made such a splash in American politics this year that she deserves consideration for Time magazine Person of the Year, Kathryn Jean Lopez writes for the National Review. “They’ve probably long picked The One,” Lopez writes, referring to Barack Obama. But “like Obama, all you had to do was look at her to see that she offered something different on a national ticket.” More »
Nov 16, 08 11:00 AM CST Backlash against the New York Times reporter who contacted minors on Facebook to locate sources has led Times public editor Clark Hoyt to declare, “I would not have sent the messages.” Jodi Kantor, author of last month’s unflattering front-page profile of Cindy McCain, reached out to classmates of McCain's daughter to find parents who knew McCain. Her efforts were labeled by some as “disgusting.” More »
Nov 13, 08 12:07 PM CST Breaking from presidential-campaign habits with a press conference, Sarah Palin thanked supporters, mentioned Joe the Plumber, and dodged the obvious question about 2012 today at the Republican governors confab in Miami, the New York Times reports. “The future is not that 2012 Presidential race, it’s next year and our next budgets,” she said, citing opportunity in 36 gubernatorial races in 2010. More »
Nov 11, 08 9:17 PM CST John McCain poked fun at himself and his campaign on Jay Leno tonight but refused to place blame for his loss on Sarah Palin or the media, Politico reports. "The one thing I think Americans don't want is a sore loser," said McCain. "I'm a fighter. I knew I had a headwind. I can read the polls. They tried to keep them away from me. But I knew we had a real headwind." More »
Palin is, if anything, less qualified for the vice presidency (and presidency) than Miers was for the court. But there is one big difference: Palin passes all the right-wing litmus tests, which means she is unlikely to suffer Miers's fate.
Miers's lack of experience was a convenient rationale for opposing someone conservatives worried might become another David Souter. Palin's lack of experience is irrelevant because she is far right on the conservatives' issues.
In picking Biden as his running mate, Obama made a prudent choice. It is McCain who is asking us to roll the dice. You'd think that people who call themselves conservative would have a problem with that.
Election 2008 • John McCain • Sarah Palin • Republican • conservatives • Harriet Miers
