Posted by
"Mind and Morals" Michael Coyne on Friday, August 29, 2008 7:29:00 PM
Congratulations
to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Even though I pulled strongly for Senator
McCain to pick former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney as his running mate, I
feel confident that McCain made the right choice. Palin is an intelligent,
capable, conservative woman; she will be excellent as the next Vice President
of the United States.
Already,
however, I have been hearing Liberals try to attack her “inexperience,” or they
attack the fact that she’s a woman, or they attack her age. How progressive. As
usual, the Left likes to claim the moral high ground, but then proves that they
don’t deserve it.
We’ll
start with the “issue” of her gender. Liberal critics have claimed that Senator
McCain is merely trying to snatch up the disenfranchised Hillary vote. While
I’m sure that this was a factor in McCain’s decision, it was likely a small
one. It’s more important that Governor Palin has done great work in her state
and has advocated strongly against issues such as abortion.
I’ve had to listen to so-called
“feminists” gripe all day. “How stupid does McCain thin we are?” they ask, “he
thinks that women are so stupid that they’ll just vote for the woman.” It is
safe to say that John McCain dos not feel this way. Neither do I, for that
matter, but let’s be realistic. There were many Hillary supporters whose entire
basis for their support was “I think its time for a woman.” Just like Senator
Obama has secured 90 percent or more of the black vote. Now try to tell me that
there’s no racial component involved, either.
Attacking Governor Palin’s age
makes no sense at all. She is merely two years younger than Senator Obama, so
age is absolutely not a factor in this. If the Left tries to attack Palin’s age,
they are simply highlighting the age of the man at the top of their ticket. If
the Liberal critics are smart—and that’s a big “if”—they’ll
keep their mouths shut on this one. Meanwhile, let’s not forget that Richard
Nixon became Vice President at age 39, and he executed the office admirably,
both in the foreign relations arena, as shown in the Khrushchev debate, and as
a substitute chief executive, during Eisenhower’s health issues.
And finally they tout Governor
Palin’s “inexperience.” She has been Governor of Alaska for two years. Senator
Obama has been in congress for three and a half years, and he spent about two
of those years campaigning for President. Remind me again who has more
experience. Moreover, Governor Palin is the only one of the four people running
for executive office with any executive experience at all. She’s safe there.
I’ve looked over her record, I’ve
listened to her acceptance speech, and I’m incredibly comfortable with her. I
wish Governor Palin all the best for the campaign and the future. And I offer
my congratulations to John McCain. With your first executive decision, Senator
McCain, you’ve done extremely well.