NEWS BLOGS
NEWS BLOGS
category: news
02 Sep 2008

This is getting interesting:

The woman introduced to America as a reform-minded Washington outsider who opposed the infamous “bridge to nowhere” — the symbol of McCain’s hatred of wasteful spending — originally supported its construction. The governor who in her introductory speech decried the practice of budgetary “earmarks” sought, as the state’s chief executive and as mayor of Wasilla, hundreds of millions of dollars in such federal funding for local projects.

Most importantly:

One Republican strategist with close ties to the campaign described the candidate’s closest supporters as “keeping their fingers crossed” in hopes that additional information does not force McCain to revisit the decision. According to this Republican, who would discuss internal campaign strategizing only on condition of anonymity, the McCain team used little more than a Google Internet search as part of a rushed effort to review Palin’s potential pitfalls. Just over a week ago, Palin was not on McCain’s short list of potential running mates, the Republican said.

Wow. What is crazier - and more insulting to women - is that Republicans think that would-be Clinton voters would not throw their support behind Palin.  Which is crazy when you consider this:

As a staunch opponent of abortion, even in cases of rape or incest, Palin has invigorated religious conservatives and other members of the GOP base who have been cool to McCain’s candidacy and reluctant to work for the campaign with the same verve that fueled President Bush’s 2004 reelection.

Wow indeed.

Critics continue to question why McCain, after months of assailing Democratic nominee Barack Obama as lacking foreign policy experience, would tap a running mate who has been governor for less than two years and before that was mayor of Wasilla, population 7,000.

Madness indeed.  This shows the Republicans desperation… but more importantly, it does strengthen the Republicans chance of winning by emulating Karl Rove’s tactic of going to the right to bring out the Evangelical base… which shows just how backwards the USA has become.

Face it, this was a dumb move… but when you are appealing to a rational-less constituency, dumb ain’t a bad idea:

Palin could face questions in on other facets of her past, such as her 1990s membership in the Alaskan Independence Party, a group that has pushed for more than 30 years to give Alaskans a vote on whether to secede from the union.

Another potentially troublesome story line is Palin’s past support for federally funded projects that she now claims to have opposed — a key piece of her reformist image to which McCain was most attracted.

As mayor of Wasilla, Palin made regular trips to Washington seeking federal aid. The city received $26.9 million in earmarks during her tenure from fiscal year 2000 to 2003, according to the nonpartisan Taxpayers for Common Sense, which tracks pork barrel spending.

As The Times reported Monday, Palin has requested 31 earmarks in next year’s federal budget worth about $197 million. On Friday, she portrayed herself as a champion of curbing the “abuses” of earmark spending.

For McCain, the Friday surprise of introducing Palin resulted in a weekend of buzz and anticipation. But if additional surprises surface about Palin, McCain could face stark choices.

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