As many have noted (in the media and here on the SDMB) Palin has energized the Republican party base like no other since Reagan.
The question I have is: why?
Reagan was running for President; she is not.
Some possible explanations
[ol]
[li]They are assuming McCain has a high likelihood of dying, so she will take over[/li][li]They are assuming that she will be able to influence White House policy in her role as VP[/li][li]They see this as proof that McCain has capitulated to the religious right, and he will not be the “maverick” they were afraid of[/li][li]They are giddy about finally having someone with broad appeal and charisma (after months and months of suffering through the fact that only Democrats had a “celebrity”), and don’t care that she makes no difference in terms of the policies that McCain will eventually pursue.[/li][li]Other?[/li][/ol]
It seems to me that:
Reasons 1-2 are rational, but not likely.
Reason 3 is rational, and quite likely.
Reason 4 is not rational, but then, people are rarely rational.
What’s your explanation of why Palin has energized the Republican party?
McCain’s “maverick” thing tends to cut him both ways–the moderates know it’s bullshit, but the evangelical base is afraid it might be true. That’s why he had a hard time catching fire in the primaries and came out on top just because everyone else was so much worse.
I think it was the McCain campaign itself that leaked the discussions about how he really wanted Lieberman, but the party elders said it couldn’t happen. It reassures the base that however much he might talk the Maverick talk, in the end he’s not going to let them down when it matters.
Well, for a lot of reasons. Some of them include: They were pretty limp about McCain. Contrary to the views here on the SD, McCain isn’t considered much of a ‘conservative’ in the circles that actually matter (i.e. REAL right wing conservative groups). Palin walks the walk and talks the talk afa real conservatives are concerned. Also, frankly, she is fairly young, attractive and she plays well on TV…she has a lot of personality and character and plays well to ‘just folks’, sort of like Bush did. And Reagan. And Clinton. And Obama. And UNLIKE McCain, who has as much fire or personality as belly lint. (also unlike Biden).
So…why WOULDN’T they be fired up or energized by someone like this? That’s more the question I’d love to hear the folks who were out blasting her mercilessly last week.
Doubtful it has crossed many of their minds.
They probably feel she will have some impact. Not sure how right they are, but if she DOES get very popular then she many have more influence than most VP’s do. And she may be able to carry over to the NEXT election.
Maybe. I think more they see it as increasing McCain’s cred with the right wing types.
Yes, I’d say this is pretty close to it here. I think they WANTED someone who was charismatic and full of personality like Obama, but they got McCain instead. So, when Palin came along it really fired them up…for much the same reasons that the Dems are fired up this year, as opposed to how they felt when Kerry ran.
Because there is the platform in addition to the candidate. Not voting Republican is not an option – regardless of the candidate, there are basic positions (e.g., guns, pro-life, and to the chagrin to some, creationism/evangelicalism) that are firmly in the Republican camp (I’m not counting third parties).
This holds for both parties – no matter what the outcome of the primaries, most of the base would have been supportive of the eventual nominee (Hillary fiasco notwithstanding).
As for Palin, from the little that we know of her she strongly squares with the base’s platform/outlook much more closely than McCain. So until now there was tepid support for McCain – yes, people want a Republican in the presidency, but there is an underlying distrust and luke-warmenss to his candidacy. Along comes Palin, much more suggestive of being ‘one of them’, and away they go – not only a party to support, but a candiate (surrogate or otherwise) that is firmly in their camp. I daresay the enthusiasm isn’t so much for Palin as it is for the general idea of a female (take that Hillary), fundamentalist candidate.
Are any conservatives upset about her past support for tax increases? Usually, the no-tax branch of the party would be making noises about “holding him/her accountable”, if not sending the candidate outright to Palookaville.
I don’t think people fired up about Palin are making rational decisions about her. The didn’t want Obama to win, but those on the right wing of the party had grave misgivings about McCain, which they announced quite openly, even threatening to vote for Hillary (as preposterous a bluff as the PUMA one to support McCain’s very anti-Hillary agenda). But people need a narrative hook, something they can claim explains their change of heart. As far as that goes, “I was wrong/insincere to begin with” isn’t very catchy a meme. What works much better is giving people an excuse to say “this is different.” Whether that claim of difference will stand up to any scrutiny at all is beside the point. You can always disparage the motives and character of anyone who would question the difference, but once you have a narrative hook to make your change of heart seem like anything but some flightiness on your part, then you can suddenly claim to believe all kinds of things.
No matter what actual difference Sarah Palin makes, she gives people who desperately want to change their minds an excuse to do so. On the other hand, the pick seems to me such a naked grab for the PUMA vote that it provides a powerful counter-narrative, which in typical Democratic style will not be taken advantage of: It appears that the Republicans think women think women are interchangable and that Hillary’s supporters are stupid.
McCain is seen by some as a conservative who does not like conservatives. Picking an outspoken, eloquent conservative like Palin to run with shows he is comfortable with conservatives.
Also, if he wins Palin would be his heir apparent, so that someone who is like them socially and ideologically is the future of the Republican party.
I suspect that it has to do with the fact that she is at least as attractive as Obama, and better qualified. Plus she drives the lefties off into la-la land, in public.
My cousin just returned from the first combined McCain-Palin campaign stop, in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Sh said there were over 17,000 people there. She got to shake hands with John and Cindy McCain, but couldn’t get to Palin.
Apparently McCain is a much shrewder politician than I gave him credit for. This woman has energized the party like nobody I have seen since Reagan.
For the first time since the race began, I get the feeling that if she holds even roughly even in the debate*, McCain-Palin is going to win going away.
Regards,
Shodan
*Don’t even bother. I know Biden could wet himself onstage and still win the debate in the eyes of 80% of the Dope. I’ll make up my own mind, thank you.
You haven’t really answered the question. Even if she is more qualified than Obama, she is not running for President, McCain is. What practical implications make her qualifications important for conservatives, given that she is running for VP?
No, McCain made a mistake in my opinion. He is not going to get the moderates and fence sitters he will need to beat Obama, they simply won’t vote for him because of her. Well, maybe the people calling in to NPR today were simply a statistical anomaly - and more people like her than say they do.
I’m neither Republican nor conservative, so I wouldn’t presume to know why she does strike a chord with conservatives.
But her large family (five children), personal choice against abortion (regarding her latest child), and trumpeting of her small-town values* must resonate with many conservatives. Her participation in hunting* also can’t hurt, nor can her husband’s activities in motor sports.
*If I hear another pol yawp about small-town values, I may be sick. Are the issues and problems of city life now completely irrelevant in political discourse at the national level?
**I think most of my fellow leftists, and probably mainstream opinion, is far too quick to condemn hunting for sport. Yes, I know it involves the slaughter of innocent cervids and other woodland creatures, but I’d rather have a few hunters running around than have the whole forest leveled for another housing development.
Really Shodan, how can you claim this with a straight face? You know you don’t really believe this, I know you don’t really believe this, the American people know you don’t really believe this. You only say it to…how did you put it? Ah yes, to annoy the leftists.
And besides, you didn’t answer the question, you just restated that Sarah Palin energized the base without explaining WHY.
Sarah Palin is a political neophyte. She’s not going to be influencing John McCain’s Administration. Her views on guns, god, and gays don’t mean a thing because the only constituional duty of the Vice Presidency that means anything is to take over if the President drops dead.
So why in the world would you be elated that McCain chose Sarah Palin? McCain chose Sarah Palin to pander to you movement conservatives, but the reality is that Sarah Palin doesn’t change the McCain administration more than two or three whits…unless McCain drops dead.
She has energized the base because she is as attractive as Obama, and better qualified.
I realize you don’t want to believe this, but it is true nonetheless.
See above.
Because she is running for Vice-President. In case McCain is not able to complete his term of office, one wants a qualified candidate for VP.
One also wants a person on the second half of the ticket who makes it more likely that people will vote for the ticket. People who like Palin are more likely to vote for McCain-Palin than they would for Obama-Plagiarist.
These seem to be questions so obvious that I am tempted to conclude that you are asking them for reasons other than the quest for understanding.
That’s OK. Shodan’s Rule of Thumb: If they didn’t read it the first time, they won’t read it the second either.
If you are seriously arguing that it matters not at all if the VP candidate is exciting or qualified, well - that explains a lot about the Biden pick.
Regards,
Shodan
*You might want to read the sticky at the top of GD, which reads in relevent part -
And I would appreciate it if you could confine accusations of trolling to the Pit.
It isn’t like Palin dreamed up the wolf hunts. They’ve been going on for decades, under the theory that fewer wolves means more moose for hunters. And while Palin proposed re-introducing bounties for wolves, that was defeated.
And people in Alaska typically don’t hunt for “sport”. It’s the outsiders who come to hunt for sport. Alaskans hunt and fish to put meat in the freezer.