Conventions, on both sides, are great shows. Who wasn't inspired by McCain's own version of his POW experience? Even the most hard-core partisan can be drawn into the emotion of the moment. When it comes to the art of persuasion, emotion wins out over logic every time. But now it's time to come down off the emotional high, wipe away the tears and take a good look at how these two men would govern as president. We have two months to do that, and the last few months and weeks have given us a peek into how they behave, and how they regard the voters.
McCain's handling of his VP choice has given us a greater insight into McCain than anything else. We're seeing the same arrogance and sense of entitlement that we've seen in Bush over the last eight years. By all accounts, it was a slipshod process of decision making on one of the most important decisions a president will make. According to Karl Rove, it was not a governing decision, it was campaign decision. Rove wasn't criticizing McCain when he said that. He was defending him . . . and himself because Rove had a hand in that just like he's had in the Bush administration. Passing over highly qualified people to choose glitz and glamour doesn't seem to be putting Country First.
But wait, let's give her the benefit of the doubt. She certainly did a fine job of making a speech, and she fired up those folks at the convention. In my opinion, public speaking skills should be one of the qualifications for president - something we haven't seen for eight years, and if McCain is elected we won't see for another four at least. She aced that part of the job interview. And, she's just oozing so much charisma that they have a clean up crew mopping up the floor behind her. She looks real good on the stage even if she's delivering a speech that was written before she was chosen as VP.
However, when we look at they way they've attacked the press for asking legitimate questions that apparently weren't answered in the vetting process, we have to wonder if they're taking us back to the Bush days when anyone who had the audacity to question the president was regarded as unpatriotic. I'm grateful that the press is not being as malleable as they were during the run up to the war.
Listen to this astounding interview with Nicole Wallace, McCain spokesperson, as she flatly states that the voters know all they need to know about Palin, and she won't be available to the media for questions.
That should offend even the most partisan Republicans, and it's just another indication of how McCain will run this country. You decide.
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You make several interesting points. I had heard on the news that up until the night before they chose Palin, McCain was wanting to pick Lieberman as his running mate. Everyone was kind of expecting it. Then, his strategists told him that he didn’t want to do the expected and they needed something that would “shake up” the campaign. Now, I’ve seen accounts online dating back to May indicating Palin was on his shortlist for VP, so it wasn’t an entirely spontaneous gesture, but I’m sure McCain had his reasons for NOT having Palin as his first choice.
ReplyDeleteI also noticed how he went on the offense when the media questioned him about his vetting process and Palin’s background. You know he plans to sue the Enquirer b\c they were going to report Palin had an affair with her husband’s friend (or coworker from another source). I thought it was a HUUUGE indicator of how things may become if he were to take office. The American people have the right to question the process and the nominee’s choices. We’re not picking homecoming king…its who is going to not only be our “face” to the world, but the leader of our country who has the unfortunate burden of cleaning up a huge mess that our current administration has left. Thus far, I think McCain has proven himself to be nothing but “more of the same” as the media is so fond of saying. NPR had a gentleman on this morning that made an interesting comment. He said McCain “welded” himself to Bush so long ago that he’s finding it hard to prove to the American public that he now believes otherwise. I mean, didn’t he vote 90% the same as Bush? How is he an agent for change? Sure his VP is prettier than Biden and is “sassy” and a woman with whom some women see a connection, but beneath that….what is there? Lies. I know that sounds melodramatic, but it’s the truth. NPR picked apart some of her statements she made during her televised acceptance speech. They noted congress had already begun the process to kill the bridge to nowhere and she merely “performed the last rites”. The way she presents it, she was the lone “maverick” who was against it. They also pointed out a lot of half truths she told regarding Obama’s tax policy. My favorite, favorite thing is how during the convention the Republicans talked about how our government and economy are the strongest in the world. Ummm….what? Our government is only the strongest because our president has taken away the rights of many and attempted on many fronts to shut out the legislative branch completely. We are the strongest because our president has made our country the bully of the world. And our economy? Psssht. Hello? Credit crunch? Mortgage crisis? One of the first things Bush did when he took office was make it more difficult for citizens to declare bankruptcy. Then he allowed credit card companies to double the minimum payment to “help people pay their bills off faster”. In theory, that makes sense because more money is applied to the premium, but ifJoe Blow is having a hard enough time covering his payments….and then they double…and then he cant file bankruptcy how does that contribute to the strength of our economy? It doesn’t. I really think that the Republicans have single handedly destroyed our nation and for them to pretend its as strong as its ever been is laughable. How deluded to they think we are?