Friday, August 29, 2008

The Guns'n'Weed VP

Consensus on the internet seems to regard Sarah Palin's nomination as a calculated and cynical grab at the disaffected Hillary Vote. This is transparently so, her nomination is absolutely a campaign decision rather than a governing one and seems to me to reflect a desperation among the GOP just as Biden's nomination reflects a presumption in the mood of the Democrats (Biden being nominated to govern, more than campaign).

But Palin seems to be alot more than this. She seems to be the perfect GOP candidate. She is attractive, young, forward-looking and female. She favours offshore drilling and the opening of the ANWR but is tempered with the instinctive, conservative environmentalism of the blue-collar north-west. She is a devout, pro-life Christian but is steeped in the guns'n'weed, leave me alone creed of the Alaskan polity. She has had an impressively perfect little life (beauty-queen, star athlete, childhood sweetheart) but struggles with the eminently relatable problems of bringing up a family (Disabled kids, custody battles).

In the campaign she will attract the base of the GOP without scaring off the independents, like George W Bush she will flourish and shine under the dimmed lights of lowered expectations and make Joe Biden look like an over-bearing bully, and she will do this all for the price of the 'experience' weapon.

Not a bad trade off really.

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