Palin: Clever strategem or "Hail Mary" play

[MindMatter]

Basically, what was McCain thinking? Why did he make such an unusual and unexpected move?

Does he think the Hillbots hold the key to this election?

Could he just not stand the thought of campaigning arm-in-arm with Romney?

How does he conclude that Palin would help him more than Romney?

Does this reflect confidence or desperation?

I'll offer some opinions on a separate post, but I'm more interested in other opinions.

[TwilightGardener]

1. McLoon does not want a governing partner. He wants a pretty houseplant

that will help him win the election, and then go away and sit pretty. That is a disservice to Palin, and to the American people.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

2. I'm real interested in yer opinion!

"Hillbots"?

[MindMatter]

8. See my post #9 for a full explanation

[gratefultobelib]

3. I assume they think it will get enough of the disaffected Hillary voters to carry some

battleground states.

[Xithras]

4. Credit where it's due. It was a good move by HIS HANDLERS

I don't for a moment believe that McSenile picked her himself. That said, she was probably the most brilliant choice his campaign could have made. I watched her speech and, for the first time, felt that our "easy victory" just turned into a real fight.

What we need to do, of course, is to keep the focus on McSame and OFF of Palin. We need to keep reminding people that HE will be running the country if Obama loses, not HER.

[PATRICK]

5. Comparing moves

Obama was brilliant and astute, ending with a list of three whose comparison made the final pick choice not so much a surprise as a lock on wisdom. The result is a remasrkably fit man to be a partner and possible stand-in as President. McCain has been awkward,lying, jostling Romney and Pawlenty around like pawns and comes out with a shocking terrible, unqualified choice(among dismal not so shocking choices). Only the MSM makes GOP moves work at all at any time.

Someone should also point out how dismal most GOP Veep choices are with the main concern trying to find someone, anyone, who would not outshine the POTUS. The exception of Cheney proves the misery of the rule.

[MindMatter]

10. Whitman or Hutchinson?

I certainly agree that none of the other 2008 GOP candidates made any sense. Intelligent people know Romney is slimy and not so smart people know he's a Mormon. Guiliani is just plain creepy. And no preacher is just plain wacko.

But if he was looking to lure Hilary supports, I would have thought Hutchinson or Whittman would have been better choices.

[PATRICK]

6. Comparing moves

Obama was brilliant and astute, ending with a list of three whose comparison made the final pick choice not so much a surprise as a lock on wisdom. The result is a remasrkably fit man to be a partner and possible stand-in as President. McCain has been awkward,lying, jostling Romney and Pawlenty around like pawns and comes out with a shocking terrible, unqualified choice(among dismal not so shocking choices). Only the MSM makes GOP moves work at all at any time.

Someone should also point out how dismal, involuntary, most GOP Veep choices are with the main concern trying to find someone, anyone, who would not outshine the POTUS. The exception of Cheney proves the misery of the rule.

[MindMatter]

7. McCain figured he needed a serious shake-up factor

The most basic question is "Why not Romney"? It is easy to say that the volatile, only marginally sane McCain can't stand the guy and just couldn't do it.

I don't think that is the right answer. At the end of the day, all politicians are life-long ass-kissers and they all do lots of things that more principled people never would do. If McCain thought Romney would help him get elected, Romney would have been the man. So McCain's calculus says that Romney would not help him enough. Maybe it is a polling thing. Maybe he was afraid of losing the fundie vote. Maybe his polling shows there is a significant shift in the fundie base to Obama, and the Mormon thing would make matters worse. I don't know, but you can bet there were some serious calculations going on.

If McCain determined, and obviously he did, that Romney would not get him over the top, then what thought process led him to Palin?

Clearly this is not a safe choice, so it represents some degree of desperation on McCain's part. If he had a safe route to the White House, he would have taken it.

It seems to me that McCain was ultimately impressed with the Hillbot factor. Now, let me be clear, I don't consider all Hillary supporters to be "Hillbots". Indeed, at another time in other circumstances, I could support her myself. By "Hillbot," I am talking about the subset of Hillary supporters who are mindless in their support -- irrational in their devotion to the cause, even to the destrution of our Party, even after she has asked them to move on. McCain may have correctly figured that this Hillbot faction will support anybody with a vagina, and the rest of the facts don't matter to them.

If we judge from many of the trolls that dominated this site over the past week, I can easily see how he could draw this conclusion. I think that would be an error. While many people support Hillary, I don't think there are so many of these Hillbots in the real world.

I suppose another possibility is a very tactical one -- that he wanted to disarm Biden in teh debate. But I can't see wasting a VP choice for a tactical advantage in one 90-minute encounter.

[MindMatter]

9. What is the net effect among the "not so smart"?

Remember, half the public is below average. That below average demographic is decidedly Republican. In simple terms, the GOP is a union of a few super wealthy with the vast universe of below average thinkers.

But one other thing about the not so smart, this is where you find most of the racists and misogynists.

So it becomes an interesting question how this breaks for the two tickets. A person who is a hard-core racist will not go for Obama-Biden. They will either vote for McCain or not vote.

But are there people in the white hillbilly double digit IQ range (McCain's main base) who are more open to blacks than women?

I don't know. I'm thinking that there are some white people who have guilt feelings about their racism, enough that they would consider Obama-Biden, and a woman on the GOP ticket could be enough to push them over the edge. Maybe this is wishful thinking on my part, but I think it will be very interesting to watch.

Of course, some of this will turn on how well Palin presents herself, but I don't see how she can be viewed more favorable than Biden.