Calvert praises Palin as veep pick
August 29th, 2008, 11:01 am · 1 Comment · posted by Dena Bunis, Washington Bureau Chief
“I think she’s a great pick,’’ said Rep. Ken Calvert, who said he was totally surprised.
“Certainly she’s going to satisfy a big portion of our party on the conservative side. She’s definitely a social conservative and she’s a strong reformer. In today’s political environment, I think that’s important.”
Calvert, R-Corona, said he has never met Sarah Palin but that people he knows who know her say she’s “a very impressive individual.’’
Calvert said he doesn’t view this as just an effort to check a gender box.
“In an interesting way I think Hillary (Clinton) shattered the gender issue before Sarah became the prospective nominee for John McCain. I think people today now know that a woman can be a credible choice as president of the United States. I don’t think there’s are any barriers towards women, African Americans or Hispanics to achieve the highest office in the land and that says a lot about the American people.”
August 29th, 2008 at 11:35 am
I have nothing against seeing a woman on the presidential ticket, she has every right to, and McCain has every right to choose her, and from a viewer’s standpoint, its great news to see a woman running for Vice President! But to me, it seems a little suspicious. Why? If you’ve been following the National Democratic Convention this week, all the Democratic superstars have been celebrating over and over again the significance of this week’s anniversaries of women’s suffrage (point to Hillary Clinton) and Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech (point to Barak Obama). The Dem’s seem to have so much to celebrate in this campaign, proudly showing that they have and are making history in this year’s election, from the rise of so much support for a woman candidate in early primaries all the way to nomination of an African American man for the November election.
Now, back to McCain. Poor old McCain (and I mean, old, the guy turns 72 today; Happy Birthday, Senator!) has been the center of Democrat attacks all week, mainly focused on his “old politics” ideals and strategies and more so his likeness to President Bush with regards to legislative decisions and foreign policy (and then some). I imagine McCain watching the DNC this week, seeing Obama and his supporters chanting, “We’re making history here! This is a historical moment! Be a part of this, America!”, and thinking to himself, “Man, I wish I could make history.” So what does he do? He uses his pick for Veep –which to me is so odd because for such a big decision, it seems to be one that has the most open-ended result with little political processes (in other words, you just picked whoever the heck you want!)– as an opportunity to do something he can’t, make history. Sure, we’re not gonna see a woman go to the White House this year, but a Vice President! That’s something new! Yay, now that the Republicans have their new toy they can join the Obama and the rest of the kids on the cool-history-making-kids sandbox!
Now before we all start saying, “You can’t say that, Steven, she has every right to be a Vice President! It doesn’t matter if she’s a woman.” I want to agree with this in that yes, it doesn’t matter if she’s a woman because she has every right to be on that ticket. However, what is the reasoning behind McCain’s choice? I mean, a Vice President is the second to the commander in chief! Given, yes, in US history the Veep is often just some guy that sits on the side, and maybe once in a while has to make a huge decision when there’s a tie on the Senate floor. But the more important role comes into play if something should happen to the President. So the question at hand is, if something were to happen to John McCain, would Palin be ready to take the office of President? Let’s look at her resume (according to Wiki):
4 years on the City Council for Wasilla, Alaska (Wasilla’s population is an estimated 8,500)
6 years as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska
1 year as Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Committee Commissionor
1/2 way through her first term as Alaska’s governor
Qualified? Sure, a little over 10 years of political experience is fine, on a city and state level. I did a little reading on her, and she’s actually doing a great job as a governor, with a 90% approval rating; she’s also made some pretty big stands against corruption in the her state government and also against big oil. But the question comes down to: is she qualified to be the President of the United States? I’m not too convinced. Now I don’t want to bring all the focus to the Vice President because yes, McCain is still the main guy, but my point is here that his choice for Veep seems a little suspect, fueled more by a desperate attempt to keep up with the “celebrity” Democrats than a wise, foresight-based selection of a semi-important political partner. We know Obama just picked up a ton of Clinton supporters, a huge majority of which are women. Seems like McCain needs a little bit of girl power too to get those voters back. But is that grounds for choosing a Vice President??
I’ll be blunt: John McCain is using a level-headed, well-meaning, well-respected woman to get himself into office.