Political digression.

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I just finished listening to the audiobook of Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by Heilemann and Halperin. It was really fascinating - it was compiled with hundreds of anonymous sources, so no one is cited. Nevertheless, it certainly has an air of authenticity. If you're interested, I could upload

Comments

[probing_grays]

I remember being somewhat ambivalent about Sarah Palin until the Katie Couric interview happened...when Sarah Palin couldn´t even answer a question about WHAT NEWSPAPERS SHE READ.´

I have no idea why she is still seen as this big beacon of hope for Republicans. I guess the party is in disarray, but that is what people were saying about Democrats just before the 2008 election...and then look what happened.

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Yeah, the book says that the Couric interviews combined with Tina Fey's mockery, were the two things that ruined Palin and destroyed the campaign the most.

I think that she has managed to put herself into such a position of power at this point is remarkable, but not all that surprising. She clearly has an appeal. I personally think that appeal is dangerous for our country, but it worries me that people aren't taking her seriously enough because she's such a "lightweight". She's definitely a smart woman. She wasn't fit to be VP, but she's not an idiot.

[probing_grays]

Yeah, the Couric interview and Tina Fey definitely opened the floodgates for a lot of doubt about Palin.

I have no idea WHY McCain chose Palin...I remember a lot of the speculation was about how the Republicans were hoping to capture the vote of women, particularly women who were angry at Obama for not choosing a female VP. But I can only hope that there were more competent women in the GOP than Palin...regardless, that was a political strategy that majorly backfired.

I know Palin is kindda the darling of the GOP at the moment, but at the same time, I really doubt she would be able to appeal to swing voters. If she can´t appeal more to the center, that´s a dangerous combination...it would mean she would probably do well in any primary, but not any general election.

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The way the book describes it, the McCain campaign wanted to do a couple things with their VP pick. First, they wanted to pick a "game changer", someone who would really shift the campaign in a dramatic way. Second, they wanted to pick someone immediately after the Democratic National Convention, to steal Obama's thunder

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I did see that. I agree that she's the fakest faker in fakeville, but I don't think she's dumb at all. She's just...ignorant. IMHO, her religious faith helps her believe that she is right and that her actions are god's will, which I think is incredibly dangerous, and because she's guided by god, actual knowledge is immaterial. God >>>>>> book learning, you know? But there are a lot of people out there who agree with her.

[meiou_set]

Oh man that takes me back. I had SO MUCH FUN --I am West in leftie paradise and in a univeristy to boot-- (and alternatively SO MUCH FEAR) that election season. I might have read snippets of that book on Newsweek, I remember they had a series about it covering Obama's debate prep, Palin in her robe and the general meltdowns on both sides.

I remember finding out about Palin and at first not knowing who she was...once I did I remembered thinking that the only Clinton people voting for her would be people who were either (a)grudge voting or (b)ridiculously attached to optics.

*sigh* It was a scary time, but a good time overall. My season freakin' took a vacation mid-to-late election season, it was the oddest thing. ^_^

[meiou_set]

lol *cynicism* I massive word fail there.