Was thinking about posting my own “in defense of SP” blog earlier, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it, given my vitriolic enmity against Kristi Burton — whom Sarah Palin mirrors on a national level. But this post gave me the extra-hard nudge I needed to come to her defense.
Interesting that many of the allegations that are coming from within the Republican ranks are similar to the questions that were raised immediately after she was picked, but that those same Republican ranks pointed to as partisan, sexist attacks. Kind of smacks as “Do as I say, not as I do” for the Republican insiders to portray her after-the-fact as not qualified for the job, while they were tying themselves into knots trying to make everyone else believe the ludicrous claim that she had more experience than anyone on the Democratic ticket.
Interesting that John McCain, who claimed that he always puts country first (by the way, isn’t this something that someone else should say about you? it’s kind of like making up your own nickname — takes all credibility away) and that he had the leadership experience necessary to be the commander in chief, selected a running mate who divided the country yet he stubbornly refused to acknowledge that impact on the race. Even worse, after a very graceful concession speech on Election Night — if McCain had acted that way on the campaign trail, the race may have been much tighter and we may have even had a different outcome — he’s awfully quick to cede any form of leadership of his own party and is likewise willing to stand quietly by as his pick for the #2 spot has her character publicly denigrated by his campaign team.
In less than a week, McCain has demonstrated all those claims of being a maverick who will take on the GOP were empty promises uttered to appeal to voters. In less than a week, McCain also has shown that any of the “united for a common purpose” or “leave no one behind” mentality that is supposed to resonate with all military personnel means absolutely nothing to him when it comes to his own running mate.
The fact that McCain’s not willing to stand by his selection of Sarah Palin as his vice presidential pick is so much more revealing of his willingness to forego his own principles than it is of Sarah Palin’s alleged character flaws. If I were any of the 99 colleagues in the U.S. Senate who will be working with him when Congress reconvenes, I’d think more than twice about negotiating with McCain and expecting him to stand by his position or to defend the agreement publicly.
