Jeff.OToole
11-08-2008, 03:43 AM
I have to admit when I first heard the Republican Party picked Sarah Palin to be McCains running mate I couldn’t for the life of me understand their decision. I did some basic Google searching and realized within 20 minutes she was in no way qualified to be the VP of the United Sates. When they finally allowed her to get in front of a camera she removed any possible remaining doubt. You guys saw the interviews. Wow. There were reports that she was not properly vetted but even at the time I couldn’t help but think there is no possible way the Republican Party didn’t know how unqualified she was. The Republicans are a lot of things but stupid isn’t one of them. I just couldn’t quite put the puzzle together.
I wasn’t really surprised when McCains numbers went up after Palin was announced. She was charismatic, she was folksy, she was interesting, and her views and positions catered to the far right – a group of Republicans notorious for favouring religious rhetoric to intelligence in a candidate. And we do live in America, a country where the substance of the issues falls at the bottom of the scale – well past star quality and likeability. There was even a time when I thought their gimmick might actually work.
After the glimmer wore off though America finally sat back and reflected on the possibility of this woman being one step from the Presidency with only a 72 year old man w/ multiple heart attacks blocking her way and were rightly scared to death. Poll numbers began to decline and Obama never looked back. Again I was not surprised but I just couldn’t figure out what the Republicans were thinking.
This week the news has been drowned in stories about just how bad Sarah Palin really was. Every single network – even Fox News – has been lambasting her lack of knowledge on key issues and basically stating the obvious facts that the American people have known for months. They have gone farther though with numerous attacks on her character and all of a sudden seem to have the unified goal of absolutely humiliating her in front of the entire world. Wasn’t this the same group arguing how qualified and capable she was for the last several months? ...That’s when it hit me.
The Republican Party undoubtedly did the math early on in this election and realised there was no possible way they were going to beat Obama. What was worse, with a black man running with support levels unheard of in recent memory there was no way they were going to get away with any creative vote counting on election day either. A loss was this time inevitable. That’s when the Republican Party turned their focus from how to win an election to how to best lose it. Enter Sarah Palin.
The Republicans knew she would energise crowds and grab massive media attention. They knew that women would immediately identify with her. They knew that pro-life Republicans, Christians, and Rednecks (a solid portion of their base) from across the country would flock to her like the disciples to Jesus. They knew that America would fall in love with her thus LEGITIMIZING their decision to pick her as McCain’s running mate. No one could then blame the Republican Party for making a bad decision – she energised the base!
What the Republicans also knew was that with her lack of qualification and knowledge of basic issues she would be an easy target when they lost the election. She would be the perfect person to give the blame. The Republican Party couldn’t stand to have their long held ideals defeated in Election 2008 so they needed a fall guy. That guy was Sarah Palin. It finally all made sense.
I’d like to finish with some thoughts about the fact that Palin didn’t know Africa was a continent and couldn’t name the countries in NAFTA. Yes this is appalling. It’s appalling that an intelligent woman capable of managing a budget of 11 million dollars as governor of a one of the 50 states doesn’t know this basic information. You know what? The majority of Americans wouldn’t know the answers to those questions either. It’s not really a lack of intelligence as much as a lack of education. And who have we given the task of educating American citizens? That’s right – the governments own Department of Education. Do you feel the irony? ...If the Republican Party really wants to see who REALLY cost them this election they should take a long hard look in a mirror.
I wasn’t really surprised when McCains numbers went up after Palin was announced. She was charismatic, she was folksy, she was interesting, and her views and positions catered to the far right – a group of Republicans notorious for favouring religious rhetoric to intelligence in a candidate. And we do live in America, a country where the substance of the issues falls at the bottom of the scale – well past star quality and likeability. There was even a time when I thought their gimmick might actually work.
After the glimmer wore off though America finally sat back and reflected on the possibility of this woman being one step from the Presidency with only a 72 year old man w/ multiple heart attacks blocking her way and were rightly scared to death. Poll numbers began to decline and Obama never looked back. Again I was not surprised but I just couldn’t figure out what the Republicans were thinking.
This week the news has been drowned in stories about just how bad Sarah Palin really was. Every single network – even Fox News – has been lambasting her lack of knowledge on key issues and basically stating the obvious facts that the American people have known for months. They have gone farther though with numerous attacks on her character and all of a sudden seem to have the unified goal of absolutely humiliating her in front of the entire world. Wasn’t this the same group arguing how qualified and capable she was for the last several months? ...That’s when it hit me.
The Republican Party undoubtedly did the math early on in this election and realised there was no possible way they were going to beat Obama. What was worse, with a black man running with support levels unheard of in recent memory there was no way they were going to get away with any creative vote counting on election day either. A loss was this time inevitable. That’s when the Republican Party turned their focus from how to win an election to how to best lose it. Enter Sarah Palin.
The Republicans knew she would energise crowds and grab massive media attention. They knew that women would immediately identify with her. They knew that pro-life Republicans, Christians, and Rednecks (a solid portion of their base) from across the country would flock to her like the disciples to Jesus. They knew that America would fall in love with her thus LEGITIMIZING their decision to pick her as McCain’s running mate. No one could then blame the Republican Party for making a bad decision – she energised the base!
What the Republicans also knew was that with her lack of qualification and knowledge of basic issues she would be an easy target when they lost the election. She would be the perfect person to give the blame. The Republican Party couldn’t stand to have their long held ideals defeated in Election 2008 so they needed a fall guy. That guy was Sarah Palin. It finally all made sense.
I’d like to finish with some thoughts about the fact that Palin didn’t know Africa was a continent and couldn’t name the countries in NAFTA. Yes this is appalling. It’s appalling that an intelligent woman capable of managing a budget of 11 million dollars as governor of a one of the 50 states doesn’t know this basic information. You know what? The majority of Americans wouldn’t know the answers to those questions either. It’s not really a lack of intelligence as much as a lack of education. And who have we given the task of educating American citizens? That’s right – the governments own Department of Education. Do you feel the irony? ...If the Republican Party really wants to see who REALLY cost them this election they should take a long hard look in a mirror.