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Some of My Best Friends are Women
By Al Owens

“The Choice” started as mere speculation during the early morning hours on Friday. That was replaced by repeated murmurs by mid-morning.

By late morning, “The Choice” was made official. It’s Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska.

Who? That’s how many of the blurry-eyed pundits responded when “The Choice” for John McCain’s running-mate was made official.

In case, like most people outside of Alaska, you don’t know who Sarah Palin happens to be (or what she represents) – if McCain is elected president – he’s just proven that his administration will be the third term of George W. Bush. Palin is Dick Cheney, but with a lot more hair.

On the surface, McCain’s V.P. pick seems to have been a good way of trying to lure all of those disenchanted Hillary Clinton supporters away from their yet-to-be passionate support for Barack Obama.

But, by now, we all know Hillary Clinton. Palin is DEFINITELY no Hillary Clinton. If anything she’s the Anti-Hillary.

To Clinton’s devoted followers, she just could represent the lowest of insults. The Republicans are trying to lure them away, as if they can’t think for themselves. Just as McCain would like to convince Democratic voters that there’s no need looking under his political welcome mat – when we all know it conceals a “Beware of the Attack Dog” sign.

Palin so entrenched in her conservative philosophy, (pro-life, pro-guns, anti-gay marriage) that her positions are virtually indistinguishable from Bush/Cheney’s.

And too, McCain’s 73 years and his two bouts with cancer could make his Vice-Presidential choice more important than Joe Biden as Obama’s.

So, I’d like to ask EXACTLY WHAT FOREIGN POLICY EXPERIENCE DOES SHE HAVE? Ok, here’s the answer: NONE!

McCain is now throwing what had been his trump card away. Obama’s supposed inexperience can’t compare to Sarah Palin’s.

But I will be fascinated over the next few weeks to find out how many conservative pundits and political operatives will find the need to tell us that Barack Obama has to “reintroduce himself to the American public,” when they have a Vice Presidential candidate they know nothing about.

Obama has been on the national scene since the late summer of 2004. He’s been running for president for 18 months. But even until the morning of his historic acceptance speech – the McCain machine kept reminding us that Obama is an unknown quantity.

Palin is a known quantity? Did you know she’s currently facing ethics charges in Alaska?

There’s some nasty business about how she’s supposedly tried to use her political influence in her hiring and firing practices. Come to think of it, isn’t that right in line with Bush/Cheney/Gonzales?

The surprise “Choice” will most likely face some scrutiny. But you can expect conservative Republican/apologists to ask the American public to take their word for it – Sarah Palin is “right for America.” That that guy Barack Hussein Obama is not.

They don’t even believe he loves his country, no matter how many times he tells us. Palin, to them, is the true patriot. She owns a gun.

The excitement over McCain’s should is understandable. She’s a hockey mom, with five children. She’s got genuine conservative credentials. But certainly the appeal to Clinton’s multitude that Obama isn’t ready to lead on “day one” should, if all things were equal, apply to Palin.

I have a sneaky suspicion that it won’t. That those who still churn out daily emails that Obama is the anti-Christ, a Muslim, the product of sleazy Chicago thugs – will ignore Palin’s current brush with ethics problems, or her decidedly Bushlike resume.

Republicans will overlook her utter lack of foreign policy experience will pointing out the lack of Obama’s. That’s how they’ll work it.

Just as they’ll paint Palin as the worthy alternative to Hillary Clinton, but they won’t realize just how much of an insult that is.

That such ploys are really a “pat on the head” to those thoughtful women voters who hitched their fate to Clinton’s – because they feel she truly represents their interests. They just may try that stuff. But I doubt it if will work.
Edward A. Owens of Uniontown is Webmaster of “Red Raider Nation: Where Champions Live.” E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net