Palin not a qualified candidate
Republican won't take female vote from Dem
Andy Boden
Issue date: 9/15/08 Section: Editorial/Opinion
On Aug. 29, one day after the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention, Republican presidential nominee John McCain announced to the country that his running mate would be Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska. This is the first time since 1984 when a presidential candidate from one of the major parties chose a woman as his running mate.
Certainly, McCain's choosing of a woman as a running mate, one of whom most people have never heard of, came as a shock to most. On the surface, this seems like a great way for McCain to reach out to the female voting population. In reality, however, choosing Palin as his vice presidential running mate is a desperate and staged attempt to win to women's vote and can ultimately be the downfall of McCain's campaign. The background of Sarah Palin is a short one; shorter than that of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
Palin, who is three years younger than Obama, is currently in her second year of her first term as governor of Alaska. Before that, she served as the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, a town with a population of only 9,000, for nine years.
The thing that she was most notable for during her tenure as mayor was the firing of the chief of police for political reasons, much like when Alberto Gonzalez fired nine attorneys when he served as the Bush Administration's attorney general from 2005 to 2007. The firing of Wasilla's chief of police was a move that nearly ended up in her getting recalled.
As governor, she hasn't shown the best judgment either. Even though she did oppose the "Bridge to Nowhere" project, she supported budget cuts of $237 million for over 300 local construction projects and has support drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), one of the last natural wildlife reserves in the country.
The McCain campaign has continuously criticized Obama for his lack of experience, but choosing Palin nullifies any reason to use the experience factor against Obama. Palin is younger, has no experience at the national level, has no foreign policy experience and hasn't even been governor for two whole years. For the record, I would also like to add that governing a state close to Russia does not count as foreign policy experience, despite what some conservative pundits might want you to believe.
As far as the issue of choosing a woman to be vice president is concerned, McCain isn't doing himself any favors, at least not with the voters who can see right through this staged attempt at winning the women's vote. Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee claims that by choosing Palin as the Republican vice presidential nominee, the GOP is keeping women in mind while the Democrats have forgotten about women. There are many reasons that this statement is false.
First of all, the Democratic Party was the first party to elect a woman as Speaker of the House. Secondly, the Democrats have a better voting record than the GOP when it comes to women's issues. Finally, Hillary Clinton was given numerous amounts of praise for all her efforts during the primary season at the DNC. Also, by Huckabee's logic, if the Democrats have forgotten about women by not choosing a woman as a presidential or vice presidential nominee, then the GOP would have had to have forgotten about people of color by not choosing someone of a different race for president or vice president.
So, John McCain have any legitimate reasons for choosing Palin as his running mate? Maybe because of Palin's strong conservative values, the same conservative values that have prevented McCain from being the real independent "maverick" he claims to be. Palin's values, however, are not what America needs. Palin supports drilling for oil in ANWR. This will endanger the environment and act only as a Band-Aid to the energy crisis.
She does not believe that people are in anyway responsible for global warming and she supports having creationism taught in the classrooms. As for foreign policy, she has yet to take a strong stance on what to do about our troops in Iraq. Obama and Joe Biden on the other hand are on the same page as to how to handle this situation. Certainly, she is the real one who is not ready to lead.
My friends, do not be fooled by McCain's pick for VP. This is not a genuine move on his part to reach out to the female vote, but a staged move. Not only that, but by choosing Sarah Palin as a running mate, McCain no longer has the right to use his dirty political tactics to paint Barack Obama as a recipe for disaster for being inexperienced. By choosing Palin, McCain has proven himself to be the typical phony politician that has plagued Washington for decades. Sarah Palin is the wrong choice for vice president, and John McCain is the wrong choice for America.
Boden is a junior political science major, College Democrats PR director and guest columnist of The Spectator.
Certainly, McCain's choosing of a woman as a running mate, one of whom most people have never heard of, came as a shock to most. On the surface, this seems like a great way for McCain to reach out to the female voting population. In reality, however, choosing Palin as his vice presidential running mate is a desperate and staged attempt to win to women's vote and can ultimately be the downfall of McCain's campaign. The background of Sarah Palin is a short one; shorter than that of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
Palin, who is three years younger than Obama, is currently in her second year of her first term as governor of Alaska. Before that, she served as the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, a town with a population of only 9,000, for nine years.
The thing that she was most notable for during her tenure as mayor was the firing of the chief of police for political reasons, much like when Alberto Gonzalez fired nine attorneys when he served as the Bush Administration's attorney general from 2005 to 2007. The firing of Wasilla's chief of police was a move that nearly ended up in her getting recalled.
As governor, she hasn't shown the best judgment either. Even though she did oppose the "Bridge to Nowhere" project, she supported budget cuts of $237 million for over 300 local construction projects and has support drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), one of the last natural wildlife reserves in the country.
The McCain campaign has continuously criticized Obama for his lack of experience, but choosing Palin nullifies any reason to use the experience factor against Obama. Palin is younger, has no experience at the national level, has no foreign policy experience and hasn't even been governor for two whole years. For the record, I would also like to add that governing a state close to Russia does not count as foreign policy experience, despite what some conservative pundits might want you to believe.
As far as the issue of choosing a woman to be vice president is concerned, McCain isn't doing himself any favors, at least not with the voters who can see right through this staged attempt at winning the women's vote. Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee claims that by choosing Palin as the Republican vice presidential nominee, the GOP is keeping women in mind while the Democrats have forgotten about women. There are many reasons that this statement is false.
First of all, the Democratic Party was the first party to elect a woman as Speaker of the House. Secondly, the Democrats have a better voting record than the GOP when it comes to women's issues. Finally, Hillary Clinton was given numerous amounts of praise for all her efforts during the primary season at the DNC. Also, by Huckabee's logic, if the Democrats have forgotten about women by not choosing a woman as a presidential or vice presidential nominee, then the GOP would have had to have forgotten about people of color by not choosing someone of a different race for president or vice president.
So, John McCain have any legitimate reasons for choosing Palin as his running mate? Maybe because of Palin's strong conservative values, the same conservative values that have prevented McCain from being the real independent "maverick" he claims to be. Palin's values, however, are not what America needs. Palin supports drilling for oil in ANWR. This will endanger the environment and act only as a Band-Aid to the energy crisis.
She does not believe that people are in anyway responsible for global warming and she supports having creationism taught in the classrooms. As for foreign policy, she has yet to take a strong stance on what to do about our troops in Iraq. Obama and Joe Biden on the other hand are on the same page as to how to handle this situation. Certainly, she is the real one who is not ready to lead.
My friends, do not be fooled by McCain's pick for VP. This is not a genuine move on his part to reach out to the female vote, but a staged move. Not only that, but by choosing Sarah Palin as a running mate, McCain no longer has the right to use his dirty political tactics to paint Barack Obama as a recipe for disaster for being inexperienced. By choosing Palin, McCain has proven himself to be the typical phony politician that has plagued Washington for decades. Sarah Palin is the wrong choice for vice president, and John McCain is the wrong choice for America.
Boden is a junior political science major, College Democrats PR director and guest columnist of The Spectator.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 46
Ryan
posted 9/15/08 @ 7:16 AM CST
It is absurd that this is a front page article, it's written with the intelligence and writing ability of a 10 year old. I would expect to see the headline on Thursday to read "Obama not a qualified candidate", in the interest of the political fairness that The Spectator always claims to have. (Continued…)
katharine
posted 9/15/08 @ 7:38 AM CST
Palin has done the Democrats a favor. She has solidly aligned women with their party, since no self respecting Democrat Hillary supporter would fall for McCain's ploy and vote for him. (Continued…)
Dave
posted 9/15/08 @ 7:39 AM CST
Ryan, you are absolutely correct. I don't understand at all why an opinion piece is on the front page. At least it is tagged as opinion this time. The writing is awful and the author simply spews the democrat talking points without any sources to back up her claims. (Continued…)
24
posted 9/15/08 @ 8:03 AM CST
Sorry but this article is ridiculous, and extremely biased. I'm glad you are pointing out Palins inexperience and comparing it with the Democratic Presidential Candidate, but did you forget Palin is the Vice president candidate? Obama still doesn't have that experience. (Continued…)
Vince
posted 9/15/08 @ 8:18 AM CST
The Spec just lost a lot of my respect. You are or should be aware of left wing bias in the media (polls of media personnel have borne this out). You have just shown the same leanings. (Continued…)
robert
posted 9/15/08 @ 9:14 AM CST
The Republicans have become charactures.
They attack everything, everywhere but like the boy who cried wolf, after a while, nobody responds.
Palin is a joke. (Continued…)
Scott Olson
posted 9/15/08 @ 9:22 AM CST
As a alumnus of UWEC, it saddens me that the Spectator would blatantly try to pass off an editorial opinion column as a headline news article in their e-mail edition. (Continued…)
JAM
posted 9/15/08 @ 10:42 AM CST
Here are some other ideas to consider to counter the frivolous article in the Spectator regarding the experience of the Republican VP nominee...
You couldn't get a job at McDonalds and become district manager
after 143 days of experience. (Continued…)
Aaron
posted 9/15/08 @ 10:59 AM CST
This article is laughable. All democrat party talking points with nothing to back them up. I wonder if the author is a Obama supporter? The one thing I can agree with is now McCain can no longer use the "experience" issue to his advantage, but that can be said for Obama using the "CHANGE" slogin as well. (Continued…)
Seth
posted 9/15/08 @ 11:17 AM CST
First of all, editorials should NEVER be the front page of a newspaper. Secondly, if you insist on giving your opinion make sure the facts are straight. (Continued…)
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