McCain's selection of Sarah Palin: Radical or Unsettling?

"There, there John... don't worry, here's your baby mama!". Ugh. I can't help but wonder whether or not there is something more to this than meets the eye... And not simply a calculated attempt to win over disenchanted Hillary Clinton-ites from the Dems. I remember reading about Sarah Palin a while back, and thinking, yes, she is a maverick, and yes, she does stand up to her other GOP old school cronies. So good for her. And first of all let's get it out there that this is not so shocking - it's been in the works for over a year.

But let's be clear. She's also championed her keeping of her child through pregnancy and not having an abortion after learning it would be born with Down's Syndrome into some kind of cause celebre for Pro Life. I don't think she did it intentionally but I sure as hell don't see her stopping McCain and others in the campaign from using it as such either. That makes her complicit in using her child as a stump speech for Pro Life.

And, once again (Surprise, surprise...) the elite Republicans have missed the point: She was also able to keep this child. While her husband is being painted as "blue collar" (remember position isn't everything - income matters too) I have the sneaky suspicion she and husband had the means, the health coverage, the access to schools and support to make this birth tenable. I am NOT saying it isn't "noble" - It's despicable however when others use it as the case that ALL women should have their babies then, regardless of their ability to provide them meaningful and comfortable lives. But back to the main point...

Karl Rove phoned Lieberman and told him to bug off. I have little reason to believe he wasn't involved in this arrangement either. Why should that matter? Well because Rove is a slimy, lying, prick that belongs in jail (and don't even try to contest that charge) so there is no reason to trust him that he selected Palin to further champion the rights of women in politics. It's a calculated political decision to get Republicans into the White House again - at whatever cost to the moral and political fabric of most of the country. From the NY Times:

The McCain campaign is eagerly citing Governor Palin’s appeal to Christian conservatives, as a Christian and mother of five whose oldest son is in the Army and will leave for Iraq on Sept. 11. “She’s exactly who I need,” said Mr. McCain, a Capitol insider who is trying to make the case that he can shake up Washington as president.

Yes, exactly who McCAIN needs to win the ticket. Not what Americans need. Not what women need. Not what environmentalists need. No, what Republicans need. A "maverick" is someone who breaks the rules all over the place - not just standing up to one or two fellow party members. As NOW (National Organization of Women) notes - while Palin might speak to women who share similar interests and challenges she clearly does NOT speak for women. And as Gail Collins of the NY Times also notes:

"I do feel kind of ticked off at the assumptions that the Republicans seem to be making about female voters. It’s a tad reminiscent of the Dan Quayle selection, when the first George Bush’s advisers decided they could close the gender gap with a cute running mate....The idea that women are going to race off to vote for any candidate with the same internal plumbing is both offensive and historically wrong.

In the coming days we'll see more on her no doubt as the muck raking machinery gets to work. For my part I will say I'm pleased to see a choice that shakes things up. But I am unsettled by who's still doing the shaking...

This is an edit - add-on from another post - it bears being in two places to make the point:

Jon Stewart shows the two-faces assholes of the Conservative media and the GOP for what they are; picking them one by one he shows clips of when they said one thing that supported their candidate and then turned around and said EXACTLY the opposite thing, under the same subject about the Democrats. Including teen pregancy, playing the gender card and "Sarah Palin's" experience issue. It's a bit of a digression here to cover so much but check the clip - it's all there. One by one Karl Rove, Bill O'Reilly, Dick Morris, and Nancy Pfotenhauer are shown to be truly collosal idiots who will say anything - the will LIE through their teeth - to get elected. For example, Karl Phat Fuck Rove is showsn saying that Sarah Palin is a experienced for being mayor and governor - of a town of 9000 people. Then in a clip just weeks earlier he is shown calling the possible choice of Tim Kaine as V.P. on Obama's ticket would be "an intensely political choice," noting that Richmond, VA, with its population of 190,000 is America's 105th largest city: "It's not a big town" Rove says. Of course Kaine, can hardly hold a candle to Governor Palin's 48th most populated state in the country vs. his 12th most populated state... Being Governor of a state barely larger than the population of Washington D.C. must be excruciatingly difficult. Phew!