Then Palin, a reader says:
All four of Lowry’s reasons that Huckabee could help McCain are equally
achieved by Sarah Palin, and she has many other benefits as well without the
risks. If McCain picks Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, he locks up the election. To
Lowry’s 4 points on Huckabee:
1) Connecting with the average Joe on wealth, lifestyle, likeability—While
fairly well-off, Palin is entirely self-made and not filthy rich (By the
way, McCain did a great job answering the wealth question last night on
Leno). She has working class creds: her husband is a commercial fisherman.
She is an outdoorsman and hunter. She has something like 80-90% approval
ratings.
2) Sanctity of Life—Palin is staunchly pro-life and will not fracture the
base. She has 5 kids and is proof positive of the wisdom of Feminists for
Life’s the effective call to “refuse to choose”–women should not have to
give up motherhood for career/education or vice-versa.
3) Debates: Palin is an excellent speaker and in a debate with Biden he
would come off as the gasbag buffoon he is. And if he goes too far attacking
her he comes off as Lazio did vs. Hillary, i.e., mean.
4) On-the-record statements against the nominee: She has no major
“differences” with McCain at least on the record the way Biden did w/ Obama
(maybe one slight exception on energy where she expressed favor towards one
particular element of Obama’s energy plan, but nothing compared to Biden’s
praise of McCain).
In addition, Palin could increase the share of women voting GOP (maybe even
grab some disaffected Clinton supporters if they can get over the abortion
thing), plus she is such a darkhorse that it would be a total media
blindside and thus create a huge story right when McCain needs to tamp down
Obama’s convention “bounce.” Plus it makes the ticket exciting/fresh/hopeful
(take your pick) and can help seize the change mantle back from Obama
(rather than being another ticket of boring white guys.) Palin has a
reformer/outsider image which dovetails well w/ McCain’s themes. In Alaska
she ran on an anti-corruption platform and totally toppled the Alaska GOP
establishment. Finally, her oldest son is an enlisted soldier in Iraq,
which, like McCain, gives her more credibility on war issues and with the
military vote.
McCain and Huckabee are too similar in their often-democrat-sounding class
warfare rhetoric. Palin could moderate McCain on that front, yet she too is
a reformer who has “taken on big oil”, etc. Huckabee is a tax-raiser who
scares Wall Street. Plus his theocratic comments scare many McCain-inclined
independents.
Palin is the clear choice to shake things up. I just hope McCain is
open-minded enough towards women to pick her. I’m not expecting it but what
a welcome surprise it would be.