My big question of the day: Just how uncomfortable is John McCain going to be standing next to a much younger, very non-manly VP candidate? His pick of one-term (well, part of one-term, following a stint as mayor of a small town) Alaska governor Sarah Palin is at once very mildly scary in that it could siphon off a couple of women voters, and hilarious in that Mr. Thinks-He’s-Macho is going to have to do a whole lot of chest-puffing and manly hand-shaking to feel comfortable with a female candidate. Oh, and she’s pro-life, an interesting thing for those 12 Hillary supporters who are thinking of throwing in with McMaverick.
What are they going to do backstage before campaign events? They won’t be able to smoke cigars and slap each other on the shoulder, that’s for sure. And things like that matter to Republicans.
Pat Buchanan has called it the biggest gamble in American political history. With Palin under the shadow of an ethics investigation and so unqualified she makes Barack Obama look like an aged world leader, I think this gamble could come up very empty. There’s also the fact that many evangelicals don’t think women should even be allowed to speak in church, so VP might be considered quite uppity of Palin in their eyes.
I also look forward to seeing how the "daddy party’s" aging bastions of testosterone try to incorporate this blow to their manly image!
This will be one interesting election.
UPDATE:
The answer is clear. Palin is going to make up for a lack of experience with a really, really big flag lapel pin, a lapel pin to rule them all and in the darkness bind them.
