McCain names Sarah Palin

I guess I was as gob-smacked as everybody else by John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, as the Republican’s VP candidate.  But having slept on it, I think he’s played a blinder.  I loved her comment when she quoted Hilary Clinton saying “American women haven’t broken the glass ceiling this time, but we’ve made 18 million cracks in it” (referring to the 18 million votes she received in the Democratic primary).  And then Mrs Palin added: “But American women aren’t finished yet!”.  A naked appeal to disaffected Hilary Democrats, but how engagingly done, how devastatingly effective!
 
Her description of herself as “a hockey Mum” will resonate with middle America.  Her commitment to the Second Amendment will energise the Republican base (it had me wearing my National Rifle Association tie today).  And let’s face it, she looks a whole lot better than Joe Biden.  As a former Beauty Queen, she may just appeal to red-blooded American men (though for myself, I couldn’t possibly comment!).
 
The Democrats, predictably, are saying that her experience is paper-thin, that her foreign affairs experience is zero.  So not too much different from Barack Obama, then.  They say this pick blows out the Republican argument that Obama is too young and lacks experience.  But the fact remains that the Republicans’ candidate for VP has more executive experience than the Democrats’ candidate for President.  She sounds like a good deal to me, and provided she keeps her end up in the VP debates, she could swing it for McCain.

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