- Mitt Romney - one term as a governor, though he is an old white guy.
- Bobby Jindal - less than nine months as governor and two terms as a congressman. He is younger than Sarah Palin and his third child is only two years old
- Tim Pawlenty - One term as governor and several terms in the Minnesota state house. He is only a bit older than Sarah Palin
A lot of people are also focusing on the fact she has kids and one of them very young. Oddly enough no one has raised the issue that Barak Obama has young childern at home, if he can do it and run for President, then I can not see why anyone would comment about Sarah Palin.
The other angle is that Alaska is somehow not a real state because it has less people living in it when compared to most states. Last time I checked, each state has the same powers and legislates over the same things. The number of people in the state makes very little difference in governance. The same is true of a mayor, a town of 8000 has to deal with most of the same legsilative issues that a town of 500 000 has to.
Will McMartin hits the issue square on in this article in the Tyee, the US is still not beyond considering women and non-whites equal in elections. In Canada no one asks about kids or makes an issue of sexual orientation or skin colour, in the US it still matters and it is odd how much it is still an issue for the left.
1 comment:
To me biden and mccain trump each other. They both have considerable experience in the senate and both have been reasonably independent in thier thinking for most of that time. Although Mccain's shift to the right brings his integrity into question. I say this after strongly considering him in the 2000 election.
There is a natural tendency to compare the two on the ticket with the least experience (obama and palin). Politically this is not a good thing for the dems for obvious reasons. But since that is where we are I will give my .02 as to why Palin should not be considered a legitimate vp pick.
1)Her experience as a mayor is weak. The town has only about 9,000people. I live in a town of about 25,000 and we have a mayor/city manager system not unlike wasillas and put it this way, the mayor is mainly the head of the city council and doesn't have any real power or responsibility as far as running anything.
2) Obama has children but they are school aged. He does not have a 5mth old special needs child. That is a different story. I know many women who think she should put "family first".
3)Palin was a governor. Most consider this to be great experience in prep to be pres or vice pres but she only has had 17 months or so on the job. So the real question is WHAT DID THAT EXPERIENCE TEACH HER?
It did not teach her anything about foreign policy or national security, it didn't give her an understanding of the nations economy. So then what is the point? I have no doubt that she is capable of ordering people around. I do have doubts as to whether her instructions will reflect any wisdom. I think Mccain will be on his own if he makes it to the white house simply because Palin will not be able to offer any insight or perspective whatsoever. Almost the opposite of the cheney/bush model.
As for your comment about the race/gender card: it is clearly the Mccain camp that is “not beyond” this issue. They wisely chose a candidate who was a woman so she could steal Hillary voters. Sounds crazy because Palin is almost opposite from hilary on every issue. Mccain was cynical enough to think it would still work on the basis of her XX chromosomes. It is insulting to most women I know. In fact, I know a number of successful women who are registered republicans who were changing registration on the basis of the republicans hawkish behavior and palin as the last straw.
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