Interesting. The young, inexperienced, possibly corrupt, female governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, is the pick of John McCain for his running mate on the Republican ticket.
I think the first video in THIS SET explains why and what the centerpiece of the Republican campaign will be this fall.
PALIN (with text "Drill! Drill! Drill! underneath): [McCain] ... eventually supporting ANWR opening. Obama is way off base on all that. I think that those politicians who don't understand that we need more domestic supply of energy to flow into our hungry markets, you know, they're living in La La Land.Obama/Biden better be ready for this. She is completely disarming and very, very effective in this energy bit. She deftly deflected the fact that McCain is doing a hard flop against his previous environmentally protective position on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Obviously the Republicans are leading with the Newt Gingrich program and taking the offensive on fuel prices. So far, they have very effectively drilled the Democrats into a corner. The fuel prices quite simply are the most potent reality of the deep failure of the Bush Administration. Gingrich has turned this around into the fault of the Democrats!
"Drill here, drill now, pay less" is a simple, appealing slogan. To unpack it requires at least ten minutes of explanation. The typical U.S. voter simply is not equipped to view the sloganeering with any skepticism. The production/consumption numbers and geopolitics of world oil simply do not suggest domestic oil drilling is any kind of route to U.S. energy independence. But the typical consumer does not see this when turning over a regular slug of cash at the local gas mart.
The Democrats have tried to inject some reality into the drilling debate. But they too promote "energy independence." I'd go as far as to say that in the long-run this is a myth. Every projection of future oil production suggests that the Middle East rapidly will become more important as a source for the U.S. and every other oil consumer no matter how much extra drilling happens on U.S. soil and in U.S. waters. The domestic drilling slogans offer no solution. The Democrats better not run away from making that clear.
People who think this veep choice automatically loses it for McCain are wrong. If the Democrats aren't careful, this woman will have them for lunch. She's capable of launching absolutely devastating attacks in what is lined up as a Republican mockery campaign. She'll be well briefed and very difficult to paint as an air-headed former beauty queen. In a match with Biden, do not expect a gaffe from her.
Still, it is the Democrats campaign to lose. If they play it right, the presence of Palin on the Republican ticket does undermine the argument that Obama is "not ready."
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