The Alaskan governor is pro-life and a Washington outsider, both of which will appeal to suburban America. McCain is really trying to pick up the angry women who supported Hilary at the same as load his ticket with representatives of truly rural, credit-crunched conservative Americans.
I’ll say it boosts his chances of winning, but at a steep price for the women’s movement. I was recently criticized by feminist friends by blogging here that a woman VP candidate, after the gender issues that have dominated coverage of Hilary’s defeat, would look like such tokenism that it could be the torchpaper to an anti-feminist backlash. Given that Palin is already being summarized as “young … and relatively unknown“, it’s not a far step to “only chosen because she’s female”. The yelling matches that erupt over her qualifications are unlikely to be helpful to the cause of women making it on merit.
Fortunately, however, there’s already a good scandal in her closet to distract us. The attack dogs are here and here.
I’ll bite and say it seems like she was only chosen because she’s a woman. But you never know, and perhaps it doesn’t matter. A person with less experience than Obama is an interesting choice…
I think she’s a brilliant choice - does everything McCain needs from a VP - see Flaming Libs for more - though I guess the one exception is if the Dems can insinuate successfully that McCain is likely to die in office and she isn’t ready to step in as Commander in Chief. That, however, would be a far nastier campaign than the Dems have shown themselves capable of.
Gail Collins of the NYT is with you on this one, Kate. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/opinion/30collins-.html