September 2, 2008 at 12:10:17

McCain's Palin Equation

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By Stephen Pizzo (about the author) Page 3 of 3 page(s)

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Republicans claim that Palin has more executive experience than Barack Obama, which is true, but only if you narrow the definition of "executive experience" down to Palin's time running her local PTA and school board, her tenure of mayor of a tiny rural hamlet and her one -- tumultuous -- year as governor of a state awash in oil money. Then you have to discount entirely Obama's stellar academic record, his years in the trenches of depressed South Chicago, his remarkable rise to US Senator and his breathtaking rise as his party's nominee for President of the United States.

Republicans have done their best to beef up Palin's foreign policy resume, noting that "she's governor of the state virtually next door to Russia." Well, I live about 8 miles as the crow flies form Francis Ford Coppola's Sonoma County estate. So, if that's the new qualification standard, I ought to head straight to Hollywood, Google map in hand, and demand a movie deal.

Then there's the little matter of whether McCain's choice for VP of the United States of America even wants to be part of the United States of America:

Palin Member of Alaskan Separatist Group

Palin was a member of the Alaskan Independence party (AIP) before becoming an elected Republican official, and recorded a video message for the AIP convention this year. The party's chief goal is securing Alaska a vote on seceding from the US, a goal that AIP leaders believe the state was denied before it became part of the US almost 50 years ago.

Yet it is the AIP's motto, "Alaska First, Alaska Always", that may cause the most trouble for McCain. The Republican's campaign slogan this year is "Country First".

At the convention where Palin's video was played, the AIP vice-chairman, George Clark, told the audience that she was an AIP member before getting her first political post as mayor of the small town of Wasilla, Alaska.

"But you get along to go along — she eventually joined the Republican party, where she had all kinds of problems with their ethics, and well, I won't go into that," Clark said. "She also had about an 80% approval rating, and is pretty well sympathetic to her former membership."

Palin suggested in a July interview with CNBC news that she would insist on making Alaskan issues a high priority before agreeing to serve as a vice-presidential candidate. "We want to make sure that that VP slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans, and for the things we're trying to accomplish up here for the rest of the US, before I can even start addressing that question," she said. (Full)

Now, having said all that, I am not about to predict that McCain is going to lose in November because of his choice of a laughably unqualified running mate. After all, in a similar attempt to appear "with it" George H. Bush picked Dan Quayle -- a man who makes sonny boy, George W. Bush, look and sound like a Rhodes Scholar -- and he still won the presidency.

Because we are still a nation of halves; half of us are interested in being at the point of the spear, pushing the social envelope into the 21st century, continuing mankind's always difficult march towards a more and more inclusive, humane and caring social order.

And the other half -- who want to circle the wagons against change, just like their religious counterparts in the Muslim world. Despite all the obvious reasons she's not in the least bit qualified to be America's co-pilot (or, god forbid, pilot), Sarah Palin is precisely their kind of candidate.

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Stephen Pizzo has been published everywhere from The New York Times to Mother Jones magazine. His book, Inside Job: The Looting of America's Savings and Loans, was nominated for a (more...)

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