Republicans Nominate McCain and Palin

The Republican Party nominated Senator John McCain for president and Governor Sarah Palin for vice-president this week. The convention was an improvised affair because of Hurricane Gustav that kept more than a few speakers away. Ms. Palin’s selection came as a surprise, as did her speaking talent. However, the ticket has a tough path ahead.

Mr. McCain is probably the best choice the GOP could have made given that, as one party bigwig put it, “if the Republican brand was dog food, they’d take it off the shelves.” Mr. McCain has voted with President Bush 90% of the time (bearing in mind this year, he’s missed 60% of the votes in the Senate) but has enough of a “maverick” reputation that he is more popular among swing voters than the party.

That is why the selection of Ms. Palin is so very strange. She appeals to the social reactionaries and has only a nodding acquaintance with the truth (e.g., Troopergate, a “fiscal conservative” who saddled her town with $3000 of debt per capita, backing the “bridge to nowhere” but saying she opposed it and more). She is a disciple of Karl Rove. Her well-written and well-delivered speech on Wednesday got the delegated worked into a lather. The Republican base feels fired up. Yet an enthusiastic and excited 43% of the electorate still loses. Nominations are won on the wings, elections in the center.

Perhaps, the McCain campaign’s strategists feel that the anti-Republican mood is so great that most swing voters will decide to “throw the bums out,” so an appeal to the center is a weak choice. Perhaps internal polling showed the lack of support on the extreme right endangered states like North Carolina, Virginia and North Dakota (where Senator Obama currently leads). Perhaps, they realize the McCain candidacy of 2008 isn’t that of 2000, that their man is going down, and they want a rising star for next time around.

Rick Davis, who runs the McCain campaign, actually said, “This election is not about issues. This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates.” That’s really the only shot the GOP has -- ignore the issues (Iraq-Nam, Russians in Georgia, Iran’s bomb, gas prices, job losses, mortgage meltdown, etc.), make it a popularity contest. Rather shameful when one looks at it that way.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

Kensington Review Home