McC Picks Anti-Corruption Whistleblower

There's a lot of speculation going around about this surprise pick (just this morning I agreed with Kevin Hayden that it was most likely going to be Bush fave and equal unknown Rob Portman). What does it mean? Why did he do it? From the Female Angle to the Experience Dodge to the Creationist/Pro-Life Sop to the Religious Right Trick to Adam Nagourney's facile Upstaging Obama Suggestion to the It Makes No Sense At All Dismissal, the one thing no one's talking about is the maybe subtle brilliance of picking an anti-corruption whistle-blower who is loved in Alaska because she fought her own party.

Ms. Palin, a former mayor of the small town of Wasilla, an Anchorage suburb, and one-time beauty pageant queen, first rose to prominence as a whistle-blower uncovering ethical misconduct in state government.

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But Ms. Palin ran as a change agent when she was elected as governor of Alaska in 2006, and in a move that might have appealed to Mr. McCain, she took intense criticism from members of her own party for turning the spotlight on the failures of Alaska Republicans, some of whom had been beset by corruption scandals.

She was elected Alaska’s chief executive after fighting off a comeback bid by a former Democratic governor. Her victory came after she had helped uncover misconduct in the administration of Gov. Frank Murkowski, whom she later trounced in a Republican primary.

While one argument goes that McC just killed the no-experience attack line his campaign was using on Obama by picking a VP who's been Gov for less than two years and whose only previous experience was as Mayor of a suburb, I could make a pretty good counter argument that what he gained is a running mate who undercuts one of the Democrats' strongest attack lines: that McC represents more of the same Bush-style corruption.

Palin fought her own party and took down a sitting GOP Governor in a successful insurgent campaign - one of the very few you'll ever see in the tightly-controlled, highly-scripted Republican machine. She broke all the rules and got away with it in a party that lives for rules.

Yes, she thinks creationism should be taught side-by-side in schools and she's a committed anti-abortionist crusader and an evangelical theocrat. She's far more complicated and apparently a helluva lot tougher than your standard GOP clone. She has a kid with Downs, her husband's a union guy, and - we might as well say it, this is a visually-oriented electorate (ask Karl Rove) - she's beautiful.

She looks good standing next to the silver-haired lizard. Far more important, he looks better standing next to her. Hell, he almost looks human.

But don't get side-tracked by her gorgeous face and cute little "I'm a beauty contest winner and an intellectual, honest!" glasses. You don't take down a sitting governor because your teeth are capped and your cheekbones stick out like Angelina Jolie's. I've already seen speculation that Joe Biden is going to make mincemeat of the little soccer mom in the debates. Don't bet on it. Murkowski was a rough customer and she took his seat away from him. Joey is going to have a much harder time than people think, maybe than he thinks.

Do not underestimate this chickie. She's no cream puff. She's tough, she's smart, and she isn't afraid of anybody. This may be the smartest move McC has made in months.

Hell, it may be the only one.

Comments

[eRobin]

This was the first post I read to make those points and now it's coming around to be the consensus. I still think she was a token pick and that really grates at me since I'm part of the group being undermined but you're right about how it's going to take a smart strategy to work against her.

[You think so?]

Sorry, but she is not an anti-establisment candidate. She is a Ted Stevens 527 board member, earmark loving, Abramoff cash pipeline participanting, corrupt gop alaskan politician, AND a supporter of an Alaskan seperatist movement. Isn't that just what we need, a break away republic. The Russians could send military aid to support the opressed Alaskans. That would be just lovely.