John McCain?s choice of running-mate raises serious questions about his judgment - The Economist

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<a href="http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12066224">http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12066224</a>



<blockquote>Vetted for 15 minutes

<strong>Mr McCain had met Mrs Palin only once, for a 15-minute chat at the National Governors? Association meeting, before summoning her to his ranch for her final interview.</strong> The New York Times claims that his team arrived in Alaska only on August 28th, a day before the announcement. As a result, his advisers seem to have been gobsmacked by the Palin show that is now playing on the national stage. She has links to the wacky Alaska Independence Party, which wants to secede from the Union. She is on record disagreeing with Mr McCain on global warming, among other issues. The contrast with Mr Obama?s choice of the highly experienced and much-vetted Joe Biden is striking.



Mr McCain?s appointment also raises more general worries about the <strong>Republican Party?s fitness for government</strong>. Up until the middle of last week Mr McCain was still considering two other candidates whom he has known for decades: Joe Lieberman, a veteran senator, independent Democrat and Iraq war hawk, and Tom Ridge, a former governor of Pennsylvania (a swing state with 21 Electoral College votes) and the first secretary of homeland security. Mr McCain reluctantly rejected both men because their pro-choice views are anathema to the Christian right.



The Palin appointment is yet more proof of the way that abortion still distorts American politics. This is as true on the left as on the right. <strong>But the Republicans seem to have gone furthest in subordinating considerations of competence and merit to pro-life purity.</strong> One of the biggest problems with the Bush administration is that it appointed so many incompetents because they were sound on Roe v Wade. Mrs Palin?s elevation suggests that, far from breaking with Mr Bush, Mr McCain is repeating his mistakes.



</blockquote>


This is esentially the argument I was attempting to make, but much better written, and with the pithy rhetoric stripped out.
 
This reiterates my theory that she was chosen to gain the religious right, which McCain has struggled to get totally on board. I think he knew of her daughter's pregnancy, and this will only help his case with the religious right. You have Sarah Palin, who chose to have a child who has down syndrome, (I see nothing wrong with that and I think that is a noble thing to do if you are able to provide the care needed for a special needs child), and now you have her 17 year old daughter who is pregnant and choosing life. Mmmm... then you have quotes from the religious right coming out saying that this is a normal family and things like this happen. Of course better parenting could have played a role here and things could be a lot different. But, they are now all on board and proud to support such a pro-lifer, since McCain has flip flopped on the issue himself.
 
[quote author="graphrix" date=1220750463] and now you have her 17 year old daughter who is pregnant and choosing life. Mmmm... then you have quotes from the religious right coming out saying that this is a normal family and things like this happen.</blockquote>


I suppose they have to look at the bright side on the public stage, but that is not the religious right that I grew up with. Sorry, Nude, but in my experience NOBODY was happy or proud (or any positive emotion) of an unmarried, pregnant teenager. Instead I heard things like "Oh no!" and "Oh my god!" and "they knew better" and "that is such a shame. She had her whole life ahead of her." My general impression from being a teenager deeply engrossed in the life of right-wingers was that getting pregnant outside of marriage while still in high school was an absolutely terrible thing, something you should be ashamed of (and get plenty of dirty, judgemental looks for) and even got the same comments you hear about a child who has died. It was hard-core punishment for your sins.



For that reason I still find it very hard to believe that McCain knew about the daughter's pregnancy. He may not have cared, but some of his advisors probably would.
 
cayci, I agree with you on the general reaction to an unwanted pregnancy; it's been the same all my life, too. But we don't know what was in Bristol's mind when she decided to have sex, we don't know that the pregnancy was unwanted or even unplanned. In fact, we know so little about the circumstances that people are filling in their own assumptions and then making judgements about the results based on those assumptions. Based on the available information, it doesn't appear that the Palin family was anything but happy about it and no one has proven otherwise.



Her nearly adult daughter's decision to have sex doesn't indicate bad parenting, it indicates bad judgement by a 17 year-old girl and her boyfriend. I doubt Gov. Palin was cheerleading the effort; most likely she would have tried to talk her daughter out of it given the opportunity. I also doubt that McCain was going to let what is a completely personal matter derail his choice for VP.



graph, I've been hearing this meme for a while, but where has McCain flipflopped on being pro-life? It's not hard to reconcile "pre-marital or underage sex is bad" with "don't abort babies"; the results of an irresponsible act do not automatically dictate that abortion is the only course of action. I see no disconnect between teaching abstinence and the acceptance that not everyone is going to practice it, yet still embracing the unborn child that results.
 
McCain's shocking error isn't really about Bristol's pregnancy. Palin has an entire closet of nasty skeletons - Troopergate, book suppression, pork barrel politics, leaving Wasilla with a MASSIVE new debt, flipflopping on the bridge to nowhere, etc. Bristol's pregnancy and the weirdness around Trig's birth don't have much to do with Palin's fitness as VP but in this Jerry Springer nation they make it impossible to keep the closet door closed on all the other stuff that does. Plus his spokespeople were just so hideously unprepared for the questions that came up. Seriously, when a military-oriented campaign is not able to respond to a question about National Guard orders, that's like running the football into your own endzone.
 
McCain has not flipflopped on abortion, which he has always opposed. He *has* flipflopped on repealing Roe v Wade:



<blockquote>But on Sunday [August 22, 1999], in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, McCain said he favors the ultimate repeal of Roe vs. Wade, "but we all know, and it's obvious, that if we repeal Roe vs. Wade tomorrow, thousands of young American women would be (undergoing) illegal and dangerous operations.</blockquote>


http://mediamatters.org/items/200702200008
 
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