In their coverage of the 2008 Presidential primary and election campaigns, the media have consistently promoted the idea that significant numbers of FEMALE voters who supported Hillary for the nomination are disillusioned with the Democratic Party's choice of a non-woman as their candidate and will therefore switch their support to John McCain.
This idea may sound far-fetched to anyone who pays attention to the candidates' positions on issues as Clinton is closer to Obama than McCain in virtually every case. The non-partisan Project Vote Smart provides a wealth of handy information on the candidates' public statements and voting records. It also provides an informative and even easier to digest listing of interest group ratings. Most groups rate a candidate on a scale of 0 to 100 depending on whether they have supported legislation which they favor. I have selected a sample of easily recognizable groups to make a quick comparison. All ratings are the most recent available and are for 2007 unless otherwise noted.
NARAL Pro-Choice America
Obama 100
Clinton 100
McCain 0
The Humane Society
Obama 75
Clinton 75
McCain 25
The Club for Growth
Obama 33
Clinton 11
McCain 100
League of Conservation Voters
Obama 67
Clinton 73
McCain 0
AFL-CIO
Obama 100
Clinton 100
McCain 0
Disabled American Veterans (2006)
Obama 80
Clinton 80
McCain 20
Make your own comparisons.
Obama:
http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=9490Clinton:
http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=55463McCain:
http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=53270Given the easily demonstrated fact that Hillary is closer to Obama than McCain on virtually every issue, other explanations need to be found to explain the switch from one party and set of principles to its opposite. Some helpful suggestions:
1. Gender identification is way more important than anything a candidate says or would do.
2. People are entirely ignorant of the issues and just want to vote for somebody they like. Especially if they have friends and family members who support the same candidate.
3. The people who voted for Hillary in the primaries were CONFUSED and should have been supporting McCain in the first place.
The media put this story on hold for about 5 minutes after Hillary gave Obama her enthusiastic support during the Democratic National Convention. Enter Sarah Palin.
Sarah Who? introduced herself to the American people in her acceptance speech, thanked Hillary for making 18,000,000 cracks in the mother of all glass ceilings and anointed herself as Hillary's successor. The media swooned and jumped right back on the Republican talking point. Disillusioned FEMALE voters would now climb on the McCain bandwagon because he picked ONE OF THEIR OWN to be a 72-year-old heartbeat away from the highest office in the land.
Never mind that the moose-hunting hot mama is politically to the right of George W. Bush. It also doesn't matter that a man with her thin resume would never be seriously considered for Vice President of the United States. Karl Rove makes this point very clearly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-jrk2e0MMsNo. What matters to many FEMALE voters according to the media is- if you turn Hillary and Sarah upside down, you can't tell them apart. I guess it's supposed to be some kind of liberation thing.