A Second Hand Conjecture

It has become a serious question to ask if there is any argument in Obama’s perceived interest that Andrew Sullivan will not advance. In the latest project for that question, Sullivan argues that Palin represents the most “irresponsible” pick for the office of Vice President since Dan Quayle, on grounds of her alleged inexperience. It’s left to John Podhoretz to indirectly remind Mr. Sullivan that Quayle’s twelve years in Washington prior to 1988 made him vastly more experienced than Mr. Sullivan’s own choice for president, Barack Obama.

At some point here Sullivan and the other proponents of this line of attack against Palin have to recognize the untenability of their charge, at least as active supporters of Mr. Obama. I’ve no serious objection to anyone rejecting Sarah Palin for her qualifications after all, I can only object when it’s done in the service of a candidate for higher office who possesses even less relevant experience.

It is impossible to believe that Barack Obama’s resume qualifies him as experienced to assume the presidency at the end of this year, whilst Sarah Palin’s resume does not qualify her to serve as vice president at that same moment. Either they are both unqualified, or neither is. Charles Krauthammer for instance quite logically argues that both are unqualified. To argue one over the other, is only to expose yourself as a fantastically obsequious partisan of the saddest sort.

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Here at ASHC we get an enormous amount of traffic from people looking for Sarah Palin photographs. My friend Jason over on postpolitical says he’s experiencing the same phenomenon on his blog, and we took to calling it the hunt for “Palinporn.” Toward that, my favorite keyword from this hidden web image search also comes from Jas: “A MILF we can believe in.”

Of particular interest I’ve found, are those lovely pictures of casual Sarah in the Kuwati desert visiting Alaskan National Guard troops. So here is a gallery of all the pictures we have of that, culled from public-domain government websites, some of which appear to be no-longer publicly accessible.

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The hard sacrifices of the unselected.

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Rasmussen’s first Palin poll suggests that while many Americans still need more information to make a judgment, she’s already made a superior impression to Biden on the day of his selection by Obama.

Of enormous significance is the finding that she receives a 63% favorable rating from independents, and a 61% favorable rating from independent women.

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Paul Begala laments the fact that McCain didn’t select a vice presidential candidate who is more traditional, old, boring, uninspiring…in essence, an ossified agent of the establishment, like Joe Biden for instance.

Well, he doesn’t quite phrase it that way, but it’s the political implication of his complaint. Reviewing his catalog of allegedly superior selections, I feel slightly like shouting out as a teenager: boo-ring. Just as a great many Democratic partisans of Mr. Obama did, when surveying a field of establishmentarian dinosaurs in a year of change.

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Way back in February 2007, when I was still writing for postpolitical, an obscure little blog popped up pitching Sarah Palin for the Vice Presidency. At the time few were that familiar with Sarah’s record or wise enough to predict its national electoral implications. Yet despite the novelty of the idea, I thought then and since that it was an inspired choice. I’ve since journeyed further toward that prescient blog’s recommendation and concluded it was the only choice. Thus it’s fun to finally see Draft Sarah Palin for Vice President reveling justifiably in the moment.

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CNN and Foxnews are reporting. Pretty surprising to me, but a pleasant surprise.

Discussion topic: I am hearing from Obama supporters that she’s a bad pick because she’s inexperienced. Is this an actual argument Obama wants to make? Does this preclude McCain from attacking Obama’s inexpience? Does the fact that Palin has over 100 times more executive expience than Obama help? (100×0=0)

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Ah, the fever of speculation. This is an interesting report from a local paper in Ohio, which found an eyewitness to the alleged Palin plane:

According to Rich Bevis of B&B Aero, the fixed-based operator at Hook Field, the jet, a Gulfstream IV which has the flight range to fly from Alaska to Europe, landed at about 10:15 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28.

Bevis said the woman “was a real close match to Palin” and added that the flight crew that’s based in the Seattle area was told to fly to Anchorage to pick up their party and fly to Middletown.

Bevis said the jet had a woman, two teenagers and two men on board and that a couple of white vans met the plane, gathered their gear and took the party to an undisclosed location
(OxfordPress)

And yes, Palin has two teenage daughters (Bristol & Willow).

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Thankfully Pawlenty is out, Romney is out, and Matt Drudge is dropping a big tease that it might be Sarah Palin for Vice President after all. I personally would forgive McCain three decades of criticism if he selected her. It would constitute a genuinely visionary decision, for this election and the future of the Republican party. And, it should be said, one very much outside McCain’s normal comfort zone.

CNN is reporting that a plane has left Anchorage for Dayton, Ohio carrying the governor of Alaska. Hmm.

Alaska news is unable to confirm the flight carried the governor however.

ABC News’ Kate McCarthy says Palin is in Wasilla, Alaska. Uh-oh.

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Jason notices that a significant name is missing from the speaking lineup at the Republican convention. The libertarian South Carolina governor and longtime McCain backer would be an unexpected and welcome selection.

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After speculating upon Hillary Clinton’s strategic thinking with respect to the Democratic nomination, James Taranto concludes (emphasis added):

To summarize, Mrs. Clinton maximizes her chances of becoming president if she (1) does enough damage to Obama to snatch the nomination away from him, (2) failing that, does enough damage to him to bring about his defeat in November, and (3) gets herself on the ticket, whether he wins in November or not.

Some will say Mrs. Clinton is being disloyal to her party if she undermines Obama’s chances of winning in November. But maybe she just practices a different kind of party loyalty. After all, if you can be a patriot while hoping your country loses a war, why can’t you be a loyal Democrat while hoping your party loses an election?

It is an interesting question.

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Photo: Wolfgang Staudt

Ken at Oblogatory Anecdotes, along with many other Mormon Romney supporters, is naturally very disappointed about Mitt’s withdrawal from the Republican race. Like many Mormons Ken is convinced Romney was defeated “for the most part because of his affiliation with Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.” But unlike some, Ken places the blame squarely and solely on everyone’s favorite liberation theologist, Mike Huckabee.

Ken goes so far as to say that “Huckabee’s main motivation for entering and staying in the race is his hatred of Mormons.” While that’s clearly a bit much, it’s a view he says is commonly held among Mormons in Utah. Ken goes on to predict that Utah may vote Democrat if Huckabee is named he VP by McCain. While Utah deserting the GOP for Hillary or Obama seems like a fantastically remote possibility, consider that in the state, opposition to Huckabee is indeed very fierce. In the Utah primary the crypto-theocrat finished dead last (behind even Ronpaul), with a mere 1% of the vote. The worst defeat Huckabee has suffered anywhere.

It’s just a thought, but it might be useful for secular and economic conservative opponents of Huckabee to explore an alliance with concerned Mormons, to exert pressure on the McCain campaign to resist the temptation for the dreaded “ecumenical reform coalition.” Surely it is asking too much of loyal Republican Mormons in Utah to vote for a man they widely perceive to be a bigot against their faith. Of course, McCain has rarely proven sensitive to pressure from within the party, so it may be a useless exercise.

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