Sarah Palin
Diamond or disaster?
O.K. so this is a bit tongue in cheek, but I wonder this weekend just what the Republican Vice Presidential nominee is all about? If Senator McCain wins America’s big X Factor in November he will be the oldest man elected to the Oval Office and may conceivably only serve one term, and Sarah Palin may then be well placed to succeed him.
Her sudden elevation to international news coverage has given the McCain camp a huge rise and polls now put the Republicans and Democrats almost neck and neck, the Governor of Alaska brings something to the campaign that Hilary Clinton just failed to do. She is popular with women as well as men, she is an unknown quantity with no taint from previous experiences in Washington, she relates well to her own local constituency, hunts, shoots, skins a moose, watches ice hockey, has a pregnant daughter with a “redneck” boyfriend, and her youngest son suffers with downs syndrome, yet despite being the Governor of a state which was once Russian and is the largest in the USA by area (yet only has a population of 670,000), she still appears to the majority as just an ordinary mum.
She has strong religious values, apparently, but doubts exist about her ability to control the state’s budget, and surprisingly, for now, she is not giving interviews only pre-planned speeches! I guess that allows her more time to draft responses to Obama’s “pig with lipstick” jibes.
Some are even suggesting that this “hockey mom” is Americas’s equivalent to Margaret Thatcher, O.K. so she has a little political pedigree as Mayor of her “borough” and State Governor, but where are the convictions and beliefs? Is there a suggestion of a tough uphill battle to defeat male counterparts in climbing the greasy pole, I haven’t seen it yet? Any pronouncements of foreign affairs or domestic policies to confront recessional tendencies?
Whilst looking fresh with an air of toughness and excitement, there is time yet for the US press to discover any skeletons in the cupboard, I guess there is still time to decide whether John McCain has unearthed a rough gem or found a disaster for the GOP.
If her star is on the rise and continues to shine, then Britain (and David Cameron), could well be dealing with the USA’s first female President in just over four years time.
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As more and more comes out about her, it seems she is no different from the other politicians who have learned how to hide emails, hire lobbyists to get earmarks, flip-flop, lie, be under ethics investigation, she’s in the big boys club now, except it’s like having Gary Bauer with no ethics running
A.j.
September 14, 2008 at 10:54 am
[...] Original post by curly [...]
Curly’s Corner Shop
September 14, 2008 at 1:49 pm
I think she brings something to the campaign that Hilary Clinton managed all too well: exaggerations and lies. Palin’s 2007 world tour (a refuelling stop in Ireland, a trip to Germany and a look-see at Iraq from the Kuwaiti border) was her first trip outside of the USA. What better qualifications could there possibly be for the leader of the free world?
Aside from banning books and building bridges to nowhere, of course.
Michael
September 15, 2008 at 3:04 pm