Sarah Vowell nails the McCain/Palin ticket
Sarah Vowell has an op-ed about McCain/Palin in today's NYTimes entitled "Party Guy" that begins by comparing the new McCain brand to Tom Sawyer, and everyone should read it. (American readers may know Vowell from This American Life on public radio). Here's a nugget:
I’m convinced that the immediate mass flip-out over the Palin nomination can’t be entirely explained by sexism, elitism or partisan animosity. It was a symptom of just how much the presidential future is a suspense movie scored by Bernard Herrmann. It’s enough of a nail-biter to throw in with a two-person ticket for four years. So if newscasters don’t even know how to pronounce the vice presidential pick’s name upon announcement, the violins of apprehension start to screech “Psycho” shower-scene loud.
The good news is that Governor Palin has sufficient experience in public life to leave behind enough of a paper trail that we can discern her positions on many of the most important issues of the day. The bad news is that after taking this crash course in where she stands, I know that if she were elected I would be afraid to leave my apartment after sundown.
During a gubernatorial debate in 2006, Governor Palin claimed that if her daughter, then 16, were impregnated as the result of being raped, Ms. Palin would hope that the girl would “choose life,” which is a polite way of saying she would expect a tenth-grader to give birth to her rapist’s baby.
Here’s a not-so-polite fact about the United States: According to Amnesty International, a woman is raped here every six minutes. ...
Despite his consistent party-line voting record, some independents and Democrats still think of Senator McCain as the most palatable, independent-minded Republican. But this is the sort of empty compliment a friend of mine once compared to being called “the coolest Osmond.”
Senator McCain’s name will not appear on ballots under the category “Maverick.” A vote for him is a vote for the Republican Party, which is to say the people who were standing there on the floor in Minnesota all week long chanting, “Drill, baby, drill,” or rattling maracas to cheer on Mitt Romney as he bragged, “Just like you, there’s never been a day when I was not proud to be an American.” Really? Not even on Abu Ghraib thumbs-up photo day? Or Superdome bedlam day(s)?
Those conventioneers are the party faithful Senator McCain will appoint to run our government. Those are the people who have his ear, the people who chose his running mate, the people who will choose his - or in the event of his demise, Sarah Palin’s - Supreme Court appointments. We let presidents surprise us for only four years a pop. Justices can keep us guessing until they die.
Amen. Lord help us.
I’m convinced that the immediate mass flip-out over the Palin nomination can’t be entirely explained by sexism, elitism or partisan animosity. It was a symptom of just how much the presidential future is a suspense movie scored by Bernard Herrmann. It’s enough of a nail-biter to throw in with a two-person ticket for four years. So if newscasters don’t even know how to pronounce the vice presidential pick’s name upon announcement, the violins of apprehension start to screech “Psycho” shower-scene loud.
The good news is that Governor Palin has sufficient experience in public life to leave behind enough of a paper trail that we can discern her positions on many of the most important issues of the day. The bad news is that after taking this crash course in where she stands, I know that if she were elected I would be afraid to leave my apartment after sundown.
During a gubernatorial debate in 2006, Governor Palin claimed that if her daughter, then 16, were impregnated as the result of being raped, Ms. Palin would hope that the girl would “choose life,” which is a polite way of saying she would expect a tenth-grader to give birth to her rapist’s baby.
Here’s a not-so-polite fact about the United States: According to Amnesty International, a woman is raped here every six minutes. ...
Despite his consistent party-line voting record, some independents and Democrats still think of Senator McCain as the most palatable, independent-minded Republican. But this is the sort of empty compliment a friend of mine once compared to being called “the coolest Osmond.”
Senator McCain’s name will not appear on ballots under the category “Maverick.” A vote for him is a vote for the Republican Party, which is to say the people who were standing there on the floor in Minnesota all week long chanting, “Drill, baby, drill,” or rattling maracas to cheer on Mitt Romney as he bragged, “Just like you, there’s never been a day when I was not proud to be an American.” Really? Not even on Abu Ghraib thumbs-up photo day? Or Superdome bedlam day(s)?
Those conventioneers are the party faithful Senator McCain will appoint to run our government. Those are the people who have his ear, the people who chose his running mate, the people who will choose his - or in the event of his demise, Sarah Palin’s - Supreme Court appointments. We let presidents surprise us for only four years a pop. Justices can keep us guessing until they die.
Amen. Lord help us.