Marrin: Choice of Palin Dishonorable
A conservative Republican woman who idolizes Margaret Thatcher decries McCain's choice of Palin as cynical and dishonorable:
' In choosing a woman he doesn’t know or understand, purely for electoral advantage, he reveals a dishonourable lust for office, a disrespect for women generally and a dishonourable indifference to the future of his country. After all, if this known unknown woman does become president, it will almost certainly be because he himself is dead - quite possible given his age and health - and past caring.'
posted by Juan Cole @ 9/07/2008 12:34:00 AM
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3 Comments:
McCain's choice of Palin (makes one want to refer to it as the McPain ticket) exposes him as more impetuous than maverick. A maverick wold be one such as Ted Turner, who would appear to make snap decisions, but only after long periods of private deliberation. McCain is tooo much like Bush, the lesser, who seeks the mantle of power through the appearance of courageous acts which always turn out to be more sudden than bold. A person such as either of them will hide from scrutiny. Ergo, the McPain ads which try to scare us away from the Democratic ticket rather than tell us what the Republicans will do about the mess the Republicans have made.
I agree with Marrin's analysis that our political season makes us look like fools. The only thing that will make us look worse would be a McPain presidency.
I agree with Marrin's analysis that the actuary tables for a person with McCain's age and medical history make it more likely that Parrot would one day ascend to the higher office which brings me to this. What Marrin did not say, but that I will, is that an unrecognized reason for her selection may be just that turn of events, namely a Parrot Presidency which would allow Cheney and Company to continue to rule.
It may also be true that the Republican calculus does not include the need for the McPain ticket to garner enough votes to actually win. For all we know, they figure to get close enough and let Diebold put them over the top.
Dear Professor Cole
Ms Marrin is the first comentator I have seen to describe the Vice Presidential candidate's education as minimal, compared to say Senator Biden teaching Constitutional Law.
As such her article is in a delicious juxtaposition with Mr Friedman's piece in the New York Times where he continues his long standing campaign for more American Education and Innovation.
He says:
That focus needs to be on strengthening our capacity for innovation — our most important competitive advantage. If we can’t remain the most innovative country in the world, we are not going to have $1 billion to toss at either the country Georgia or the state of Georgia.
While we still have enormous innovative energy bubbling up from the American people, it is not being supported and nurtured as needed in today’s supercompetitive world. Right now, we feel like a country in a very slow decline — in infrastructure, basic research and education .......
As Chuck Vest, the former president of M.I.T., said to me: “Both candidates have spoken a lot about ‘change,’ but in most areas of need, innovation is the only mechanism that can actually change things in substantive ways. .......
A developed country’s competitiveness now comes primarily from its capacity to innovate — the ability to create the new products and services that people want, adds Curtis Carlson, chief executive of SRI International, a Silicon Valley research company. As such, “innovation is now the only path to growth, prosperity, environmental sustainability and national security for America......
Our competitiveness, though, he added, is based on having a broadly educated work force, superb research universities, innovation-supportive taxes, immigration and regulatory policies, a productive physical and virtual infrastructure, and a culture that embraces hard work and the creation of new opportunities.
Friedman on Innovation
I think it is allowable to comment on the lack of Higher Educational Achievement displayed by the Vice Presidential candidate's children as she paraded them on stage for all the world to see.
I would expect a candidate's family to set some sort of example for the rest of the electorate to follow. So far hockey seems to figure large in the path being followed by the youngsters to success and achievement.
Chelsea Clinton has a Masters degree from Oxford in International Relations, Joe Biden's son is a qualified advocate and member of the Bar.
Advanced education in the skills and knowledge necessary to run a country is a passport to membership of the meritocracy which is the Elite.
For some reason the strident rejection of the culture and mores of the Washington Elite brings to mind the excesses of the Cultural Revolution in China and Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge campaign against city dewllers and intellectuals and the devastating effects of their ideologies on their economies.
While not wishing to draw any analogy between the Vice Presidential Candidate and the late leaders of the Asian Countries, I do wonder what countries would be rubbing their hands with glee, if Governor McCain were to be elected.
Ms Marrin may be right about America being a laughing stock. Others may be right about them being a turkey, ripe for plucking, in this globalised age.
Given McCain's lust to be elected president, I have a compromise to offer. McCain could dump Palin, choose Obama and agree to resign immediately after his inaugural address. The chief justice would be right there to swear in Obama as president. Problem solved.
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