This blog's old chum (and stringer) from Way Up North, Tom Terrific, sent along the following e-mail today:
Can you believe????• Bret Favre: New York Jet?
Only in America. . . .
• An Illinois African American: Democratic nominee for President?
• The Chicago Cubs: 2008 World Series winners?
• New Orleans: another major hurricane?
• Michael Phelps: eight Olympic gold medals?
• Chinese women gymnasts team: all older than 16 years of age?
• Republicans spend millions to attack Obama's qualifications?
• The same Republicans then nominate 42-year-old Sarah Palin?
Tom Terrific's mention of this Dumbo woman brought the recollection of Willie Morris' list of types of mean, nasty people Morris had met prior to his encounter with a slumlord in NYC: "...The landlord and his sons treated every complaint (by tenants) with a hurried, exasperated crudity. I had known Mississippi red-necks, mother-killers, grandmother-killers, sixth-year graduate students, and spit-ballers who threw at your head; I had never run up against people so lacking in the human graces." (North Toward Home, p. 342.)
There is no quarrel with Morris' typology of mean, nasty people, but Willie Morris omitted one large and nasty group: Republican women. From Phyllis Schlafly to Liddy Dole to Kay Bailey Hutchinson to Laura Bush and down to Sarah Palin, we have a monstrous regiment of women who are lacking in the human graces. All of them will gibbet a political target in the blink of an eye. The Geezer chose The Mighty Quinnette to slip the shiv to The Hopester with a smile. Jumpin' Joe cannot attack a chick mano-a-mano although the Dumbos had no qualms in savaging Geraldine Ferraro in 1984. Nor did the Dumbos shy from going into the gutter in their attacks on The Hillster in 1992 and 1996. And, (drumroll please), the nastiest of the Dumbos on the attack? Republican women! Leading the way for this monstrous regiment will be the former mayor of Wasilla, AK (pop. 9780) and first-term Governor of Alaska: The Mighty Quinnette! If this is (fair & balanced) misogyny, so be it.
[x Time]
Why McCain Picked Palin
By Michael Grunwald and Jay Newton-Small
John McCain needs to persuade swing voters that he's willing to take on the Republican establishment. He needs to persuade conservatives that he isn't squishy about social issues. And he needs to close the gender gap. When you think about it, the real surprise about Sarah Palin's selection as his running mate is that it's such a surprise.
Palin may be an obscure 44-year-old first-term governor and mother of five from Wasilla, Alaska, but in many ways she reinforces John McCain's narrative. She's risen to power by battling corruption in her own state's Republican establishment, exposing misconduct by the state GOP chairman and challenging the incumbent GOP governor. She's pro-life in practice as well as in theory; she recently gave birth to a son that she knew would have Down Syndrome. She'll be the first woman on a Republican ticket, which could appeal to Hillary Clinton voters and help reduce Barack Obama's advantage among women. Her son is about to deploy to Iraq. She's an ice fisherman, a moose hunter and a lifetime NRA member. She killed her state's pork-laden Bridge to Nowhere that McCain has ridiculed on the trail. She's a fresh face to counteract Obama's message of change.
One more point in her favor: In the topsy-turvy election of 2008, the Last Frontier is actually a battleground state—and Palin is Alaska's most popular politician.
There are, of course, real risks to the choice. Palin's presence will make it awkward for McCain to harp on Obama's inexperience, much less play that attack-dog role herself. She's only served as governor one month longer than Obama's been running for president, and she's argued that her youth helped her clean out corruption in Juneau, echoing an Obama talking point. "The age issue, I think, was more significant in my career than the gender issue; your resume isn't as fat as your opponent's, that kind of thing," Palin told Time last month. "I don't have 30 years of political experience under my belt but that's a good thing. I've never been part of a good-ol'-boys club."
Still, it's a long leap from the Wasilla city council to the White House, and the top consideration for any candidate for the number-two job is readiness for the number-one job, an issue that may weigh more on voters' minds when the potential number one is 72 years old.
And Palin has not always seen eye to eye with McCain. Her strong support for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will contrast with McCain's muted opposition, and though she has no foreign policy experience, she has criticized the lack of a long-term plan for Iraq. She also surprised her state's conservatives by vetoing a bill that would have denied state benefits to same-sex couples.
Her profile as a good government crusader may not be such an easy sell, either. She was endorsed in an ad by Senator Ted Stevens, who is now under indictment, and she faces an investigation into the firing of her public safety commissioner; there have been allegations that she sacked him because he refused to fire a state trooper who's involved in a custody battle with her sister.
Palin certainly does have an unconventional profile for a national politician. She won Miss Wasilla in 1984 and competed in the Miss Alaska contest. She's worked as a TV sports announcer. Her husband, Todd Palin, is part native Eskimo and a champion snowmobiler; he's known in Alaska as the First Dude.
But politically, in a year where the Republican brand is so tarnished, Palin will help McCain make the case that he's a different kind of Republican. It might be his best shot to be America's First Dude.
[Before joining Time magazine to cover politics, Michael Grunwald was a reporter for The Washington Post. He has won the George Polk Award for national reporting, the Worth Bingham Award for investigative reporting and numerous other prizes, including the Society of Environmental Journalists award for his reporting on the Everglades.
Jay Newton-Small covers politics for Time magazine. She has covered the Bush 43 White House and also Congress from the DeLay era to the present. And, yes, despite the misleading name SHE is a she.]
Copyright © 2008 Time, Inc.
Get an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Reader at no cost from Google. Another free Reader is available at RSS Reader.
