Palin by Comparison

Republican Presidential hopeful, John McCain, has chosen his running mate: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

McCain was hoping to steal some of the women vote with this choice. Palin as 44 years old, a one term Governor from an insignificant state electorally and has only held her current position for less than two years.

McCain was wanting a surprise. He was wanting to show he could think outside the box and choose someone who would make the country say, "Wow. Who-da thunk it? Bravo!"

It didn't.

I will do for you, what McCain should have done for himself. I will make a list of pros and cons and then pass judgement, so to speak.

Affirmative Palin:

1. She's a Woman. She will make the disgruntled Hillary voters give a second look to McCain before voting for Obama.

2. She's a staunch conservative: pro-life, anti-gay marriage, pro-guns. She will help bring the Evangelicals over to the McCain camp, especially since they have been glaring at him whilecarrying crosses and garlic.

3. She's attractive. (It's superficial, but it matters.) A former Miss Alaska.

4. She's a governor which will help the "executive experience" debate. She also has an amazing approval rating: upwards of 80%.

5. She's "outside" Washington.

Negative Palin:

1. Who the hell is Sarah Palin? No one knows her. The McCain camp is going to need to define her and hope to hell they do it before Obama does.

2. She's under federal investigation for abuse of power. Hmm, abuse of power - that certainly negates the "I'm nothing like Bush" argument.

3. She has praised Obama in the not-so-distant past regarding his energy plan - a definite difference between he and McCain.

4. She has only held elective office for a total of two years. This causes the McCain camp to give up the argument that Obama is inexperienced. Especially because he has held elected office 8 years longer than she.

5. She's a woman. - No, I'm not being sexist here, so stop it. But there is an element of risk here. McCain wants to attract women 35 to 50 to him. But the Palin pick could be seen as a condescending move. It also adds an element of risk because her abortion stance will be seen

as a liability to democratic women.

6. The Alaskan Republican party is a mess and though she is not currently linked to them, Senator Ted Stevens and Representative Don Young are in legal pickles of their own. This is also giving democrats an edge in Alaska and could further hurt the McCain camp up there.

So there you have it. The cons outweigh the pros. This was a very risky and will ultimately be a very bad move for McCain.

The only smart move today was the way the info was released: the day after the Obama speech at the DNC, stealing his thunder.

However, if Dems try to paint her as another Agnew or Quayle, it will come back to haunt them. Too, Joe Biden now faces a very tough line to tow in the V.P. debate in St. Louis on October 2nd. He can now no longer be the pit bull that Obama needed. If he is, he will be accused of exactly what Obama was accused of: sexist.