McCain Knocks It Out of the Park

Friday, August 29th, 2008 3:55 pm by Neal

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is the real deal.

The contrast between the Democrat and Republican tickets couldn’t be any clearer: The Democrats ticket features an empty-suit gasbag and a DC-establishment blowhard. The Republicans, on the other hand, are offering a genuine war hero who’s a political maverick teamed with a pro-energy, maverick governor who is solidly conservative and has a history of integrity and reform.

Obama made the most conservative choice available in picking Joe Biden.

McCain, on the other hand, makes a bold, risky choice in Sarah Palin. We think it was a grand slam. Palin is risky since she’s relatively unknown, she will be targeted by the Obama campaign and the MSM as inexperienced, and McCain will be criticized of picking a woman solely because she’s a woman. We assure you those risks will evaporate as Americans learn about Palin’s life, her family, the contrast between her rise in politics compared to Obama’s, her integrity and leadership in fighting corruption, and much, much more.

As we said, Sarah Palin is the real deal.

Michelle Malkin has a comprehensive post on Palin here, Palin for America: A true conservative Also, check out Michelle’s poll: “Are you on board with McCain/Palin?”

Ed Morrisey at Hot Air has an analysis on the tickets, What Palin does for McCain, and to Obama:

For McCain, this gives him a boost like no other in several different ways. First, the media will eat this up. That effectively buries Obama’s acceptance speech and steals the oxygen he needs for a long-term convention bump. A Romney or Pawlenty pick would not have accomplished that.

Second, Palin will re-energize the base. She’s not just a pro-life advocate, she’s lived the issue herself. That will attract the elements of the GOP that had held McCain at a distance since the primaries and provide positive motivation for Republicans, rather than just rely on anti-Democrat sentiment to get them to the polls.

Third, and I think maybe most importantly, Palin addresses the energy issue better and more attuned to the American electorate than maybe any of the other three principals in this election. Even beyond her efforts to reform the Oil and Natural Gas Commission, she has demonstrated her independence from so-called “Big Oil” while promoting domestic production. She brings instant credibility to the ticket on energy policy, and reminds independents and centrists that the Obama-Biden ticket offers nothing but the same excuses we’ve heard for 30 years.

Finally, based on all of the above, McCain can remind voters who has the real record of reform. Obama talks a lot about it but has no actual record of reform, and for a running mate, he chose a 35-year Washington insider with all sorts of connections to lobbyists and pork. McCain has fought pork, taken real political risks to fight undue influence of lobbyists, and he picked an outsider who took on her own party — and won.

This is change you can believe in, and not change that amounts to all talk. McCain changed the trajectory of the race today by stealing Obama’s strength and turning it against him. Obama provided that opening by picking Biden as his running mate, and McCain was smart enough to take advantage of the opening.

Great pick, Senator McCain. Great pick.

Comments are closed.