This started off as a response to a post on Becky's blog -- in which she asked, "Are you voting for (or leaning toward) Obama because you?d like to see an African American be president or McCain because you?d like to see a woman as VP?" -- and then, since other parts of that entry focused on McCain's VP pick, I sort of went off talking about Sarah Palin (ugh).
Anyway, I think an Obama victory could have very beneficial results for the social progress/evolution of the nation, but I've got to say that if he were running on the Republican platform I'd vote against him based on the issues. Similarly, if Hillary had won the Democratic primary and McCain had selected, say, Michael Steele of MD for his running mate, I'd still have voted Democratic in the end -- just as I voted against Steele when he ran for the Senate in 2006.
I agree with the (more/less) general consensus that Palin probably isn't the best pick to woo independents. She comes across as highly partisan, and her record significantly undercuts McCain's message and her current presentation of herself in a number of ways. With respect to her claims that she took on corruption, it seems like she only went against it in order to bolster her "reformer" creds and spearheaded it when it was beneficial for her to do so. And forget the "Country First" crap -- she's even got ties to the Alaskan Independence Party, which has the motto "Alaska First, Alaska Always" and advocates a vote on whether the state should secede. Whether she and her husband are official members is a moot point, since she filmed a video message for the convention this year. I honestly don't think she was vetted thoroughly, which speaks volumes about McCain's judgment. I mean really, he met her once before and is ready to place her next in line to lead the country?? Or maybe it shows that he's not in control of his message or party at all, since the RNC (Lieberman speech aside) has been anything but the convention that a maverick reformer would run.
As far as Palin's speech went, she came across to me like a typical, mean, partisan Republican. And considering all the whining about the "sexist" criticisms of her family and experience, I find it incredulous that she spent the first part of the speech introducing her family at length (I saw that during her initial rollout and didn't give a crap then either) before proceeding to lie hardcore about her record and then hurl really nasty insults at Obama. The "glass house" metaphor comes to mind, except, inside hers, Palin built a giant boulder-launching catapult with R-BUSH stamped on it. I hope she ends up shattering her own roof and sending the whole transparent structure crashing down and politically impalin' Palin. (Ha!) Seriously, she sounds really, really nasty.
I'm not sure how truly undecided voters will react to Palin and the RNC coverage, but I've seen absolutely no evidence that this is the party that's going to be reaching across the aisle and bringing about change. Now contrast that pitbull raving (which is pretty ironic, given Bush's mention of "the angry left") with Obama talking about the convention speeches today. McCain's got a chance to rectify that tonight, but for the time being Obama is spot on.
UPDATE: Elsewhere, I posted a comment in which I noted that Palin's performance last night "brought a certain five-letter word to mind" -- a comment which, of course, was met with a veiled charge of sexism. It's an understandable response. But in my defense, Palin pretty much described herself as being a pitbull with lipstick. What is the textbook definition of that five-letter word to which I alluded? "A female dog." It's also a slang term that suggests a pretty specific image, which she nailed -- and I think intentionally so. She pretty much said, "I'm a bitch!" and then proceeded to be bitchy. So if that's what she wanted me to take away from the speech, mission accomplished.
It's also worth noting that some pretty unflattering four-plus-letter words came to mind when I watched Giuliani and Thompson speak. Not the five-letter word, since admittedly that term is tied to gender -- so if anyone wants to employ a fairly unforgiving definition of the word to call me sexist, that's totally fine and I'll accept it. Of course, one would also have to call McCain and his campaign sexist (and arguably more sexist) on those grounds, since it's pretty clear that his decision to pick a woman was a manipulative attempt to use sex/gender to sway voters.
