http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/31/AR2008083101621.html"
John McCain has flummoxed the leaders of his Republican Party and most of the media by picking Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. It's a choice no other candidate conceivably could have made -- a typical McCain gamble, unpredictable in its consequences."
*snip*
"
Here in this convention city, the initial shock at the choice of Palin has given way to a hopeful tentative prognosis -- conditioned by the realization that she has yet to face real tests.
The two-step reaction is best capsulized in the comments of a smart veteran campaign operative, a New Hampshire delegate and early Mitt Romney supporter, who told me: "When I first heard, I was appalled. I thought we had forfeited the election. But then I got a call from my 22-year-old daughter. She's a pro-choice voter, just like I am. But she was very excited and enthused by this choice. She is captivated by Palin's life story, the way she has taken on the odds. She may be more acute than I am."
That's the kind of reaction McCain is counting on, not just among Republicans but, importantly, among independents and women, where most of the undecided votes are. And without realizing it, Obama may have boosted the odds on this gamble paying off.
Obama began his campaign for the nomination as the outsider candidate, promising fundamental change in Washington and offering a post-partisan approach to politics. With time, he has come to be seen as a much more conventional Democrat who is now half of a ticket based in Congress, the least admired institution in a widely scorned capital. Millions who saw his acceptance speech heard a standard recital of liberal Democratic programs.
By picking Palin, McCain has strengthened his reputation not as an ideologue, not as a partisan, but as a reformer -- ready to shake up Washington as his hero, Teddy Roosevelt, once did. My guess is that cleansing Washington of its poisonous partisanship, its wasteful spending and its incompetence will become McCain's major theme.
The Democrats' great advantage is that they are not responsible for the pain and frustration that many voters have suffered in the Bush years. But if McCain and Palin can shift the focus to the future, they may be able to appeal to the "change" voters who will in the end decide the election. Broder is such a pompous windbag wanker!
I just had to underline the part of his column where he reduces Obama's spectacular, historic speech Thursday night to a tired cliche of Democratic boilerplate. The verbal blow jobs he gives to McCain at every opportunity is not only predictable, but he is most always wrong when he analyzes the average Joe America.
Broder, with his status as "Dean of the DC press corps" and his acceptance into the circles of power in this country, not to mention his huge paycheck for dispensing his wisdaom, makes him blind to what average Americans think.
But McCain could have chosen a person who had spent the last 20 years in a coma and Broder and his fellow pundits would praise McCain's maverick-y maverickness and marveled at how having no knowledge of any world events makes his choice refreshingly unspoiled by the cynicism of years of politics.
The MSM wants McCain to win badly and I hope Obama and Biden can speak to the public above the din of the media love fest for McCain.
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