[Rhodes22-list] Politics - ANWR - Slim?

[Brad Haslett]

Ed,

Here's a good interview with Gov. Palin from a couple of weeks ago.

http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1837536,00.html

I'll attach what Jack Kelly of the Pittsburg Gazette had to say about
the Guv back in June.  Some of the visious attacks coming from the
left against Mrs. Palin in the first 48 hours have been pretty
disgusting. She's been under consideration since February and that has
been public knowledge since at least May.  The O people want us to
think this was some last minute gimmick.  How are they going to find
the other O guy's cave with this kind of intel?

Brad




June 04, 2008
McCain Should Pick Sarah Palin for VP
By Jack Kelly

Who? When?

Republicans including, I imagine, Sen. McCain himself are asking these
questions about his selection of a vice presidential candidate.

Ideally, a presidential candidate wants a running mate who will help
him or her win the election, and (maybe) to govern afterwards. But
most will settle for a veep who isn't a drag on the ticket, as Dan
Quayle was for the first President Bush.

Traditionally, a presidential nominee has chosen a running mate to
balance the ticket geographically, or to appease a faction of the
party. The most successful example of this was when John F. Kennedy
picked Lyndon Johnson, though neither liked the other, and LBJ joined
the ticket only because he thought Kennedy would lose.

Bill Clinton broke with this tradition when he chose another young
(purported) moderate from a neighboring southern state. By picking Al
Gore, he hoped to reinforce his campaign theme of generational change.

Which way will Sen. McCain go? The potential running mates most often
discussed have downsides nearly as great as their upsides. Gov. Tim
Pawlenty helps only in Minnesota, and not enough, according to current
polls, to make a difference there. Sen. McCain's friend Sen. Joe
Lieberman would bring in some moderate Democrats, but could further
antagonize conservatives already suspicious of Sen. McCain. Gov.
Romney would have little appeal to working class whites unhappy with
Sen. Obama, and evangelicals fret about that Mormon thing. A Huckabee
nomination would irritate economic and foreign policy conservatives as
much as it would please evangelicals.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is a rising star. But he's only 36, and
he's been governor for less than a year.
There is one potential running mate who has virtually no down side.
Those conservatives who've heard of her were delighted to learn that
McCain advance man Arthur Culvahouse was in Alaska recently, because
they surmised he could only be there to discuss the vice presidential
nomination with Gov. Sarah Palin.

At 44, Sarah Louise Heath Palin is both the youngest and the first
female governor in Alaska's relatively brief history as a state. She's
also the most popular governor in America, with an approval rating
that has bounced around 90 percent.

This is due partly to her personal qualities. When she was leading her
underdog Wasilla high school basketball team to the state championship
in 1982, her teammates called her "Sarah Barracuda" because of her
fierce competitiveness.

Two years later, when she won the "Miss Wasilla" beauty pageant, she
was also voted "Miss Congeniality" by the other contestants.

Sarah Barracuda. Miss Congeniality. Fire and nice. A happily married
mother of five who is still drop dead gorgeous. And smart to boot.

But it's mostly because she's been a crackerjack governor, a strong
fiscal conservative and a ferocious fighter of corruption, especially
in her own party.

Ms. Palin touches other conservative bases, some of which Sen. McCain
has been accused of rounding. Track, her eldest son, enlisted in the
Army last Sept. 11. She's a lifetime member of the National Rifle
Association who hunts, fishes and runs marathons. A regular
churchgoer, she's staunchly pro-life.

Kimberley Strassel of the Wall Street Journal said Sen. McCain should
run against a corrupt, do-nothing Congress, a la Harry Truman. If he
should choose to do so, Gov. Palin would make an excellent partner
"The landscape is littered with the bodies of those who have crossed
Sarah," pollster Dave Dittman told the Weekly Standard's Fred Barnes.

Sen. Barack Obama's support has plunged recently among white women.
Many Hillary Clinton supporters accuse him -- I think unfairly -- of
being sexist. Having Sarah Palin on the ticket could help Sen. McCain
appeal to these disgruntled Democrats.

Running mates usually aren't named until the convention. But if Sen.
McCain should name Gov. Palin earlier, it would give America more time
to get to know this extraordinary woman. And because she's at least a
dozen feature stories waiting to be written, she could help him
dominate the news between now and the conventions.

Another reason for selecting Sarah Palin early would be to force
Barack Obama to make a mistake. He'd have to rule out choosing someone
like Virginia Sen. Jim Webb as his running mate, for fear of
exacerbating charges of sexism. And if he chose a woman other than
Hillary, the impression Democrats are wimpy would be intensified.