Sucking Up Every Line of Snow Cain Offers : Palin Addition

The news is out that McCynical has chosen Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be a short breath away from the presidency. On the one hand, and at first hearing the news, it almost seems like a smart move. Picking a woman with an independent streak, and one so young, can offset certain McCain deficiencies. The fact that she is solidly conservative helps McCain's standing among the hardcore in his party.

But the more you observe the choice, the more you realize how absurd it is. In addition to finding someone thoroughly lacking in experience, he is working under the assumption that women voters, particularly Democratic women voters, will prove highly emotional and lacking in good judgment. In a pander to the masses of women upset over Senator Hillary Clinton losing the nomination, he is assuming these women will neglect the issues that made them choose Hillary in the first place. Will the ploy work?

Of course all of this is hard for us here at BALT to take. Being conservative, we really have no business being on the Obama bus, but then again, between the economy and international difficulties, we remain somewhat concerned that the path of the past, and especially the attitudes of the past, won't make for smooth travels going forward. We hardly blame Bush for the economy, which has performed rather well given certain uncontrollable factors (Katrina, 911, collapse of the dot.com that unwound all the fake jobs created under Clinton, the necessity of lower interest rates to spur the economy early on). However, we work under the assumption that government spending will invariably rise, and the wiser candidate will be the one who is not merely proposing tax cuts, and the wrong kind, without any increases or offsets. Thus the position McCain is putting forward is not unlike the existing climate, where deficits continue to grow. At least former President Clinton, while receiving undue acclaim for job creation, had as a goal the balancing of the budget.

Nor do we expect McCain to push the issue of abortion, an issue that has often guided our voting in the past. Abortion has always been issue number one, before moving to a candidates other positions. But having experienced 20 years of Republicans unable to move law or public opinion, we hardly want to base our future vote on that issue alone when so many other problems are pressing.

McCain, the so-called maverick, has been the master of multiple faces; two faced if you will. For while savaging and mocking his opposition, he took Obama's nomination moment to run a commercial of congratulations. It was a calculated move to pop his face in on the event and say, "Look at me being respectful." And that was one day indeed. He has used all his energy to run this campaign of mockery, while simultaneously courting a supposed Christian crowd who ought to have a bit of skepticism toward the tactics, but have been largely applauding like sheep in the shed, or like addicts sucking up every line of snow Cain offers. McCain has reversed on nearly every position that previously won him acclaim, in a desperate desire to be president. Lacking the courage of his own convictions, he daily masks himself in strange mantels better worn by authentic candidates.

Huckabee at least had the honest convictions and beliefs that would have left us enthused, and with our vote correctly deposited. For while being conservative, there was a softness and pragmatism that would have gone over well in actually interacting with a world that must be met halfway.

And now McCain picks the governor of a state with a population the size of Obama's previous congressional district to push the artifice that this woman is prepared to run the show if and when he kicks the bucket. This woman, lacking Obama's experience, education, intellect, and organizational ability will be there, from this day forward, undercutting McCain's previous thrust that Obama himself was not qualified to run the nation.

Right now McCain is probably euphoric, feeling slick in his choice and assumption that nearly everyone is stupid. He is snowing Christian conservatives. He is snowing former Hillary supporters. He is snowing himself, at every turn fleeing his own center. Eventually enough people will realize what is at hand, will get their faces off the glass, stand up, and say "Not another line this time."