Why Did McCain Pick Palin?

I mean the above question this way: What does this pick say about his judgement?

It's an important question, because for months McCain's been crowing about how judgment and experience are important. So, given what we know --or rather, what we don't know-- about Sarah Palin, why this person? why this woman? and why right now?

The reason I ask is that the more I learn about her, the less I understand the answers.

First, why her, given her relative lack of experience?

Seriously. As Paul Begala said yesterday, "She comes from a state with more reindeer than people...and she'll have to put on a few pounds to be considered a lightweight."

I understand (but don't agree with) the critique of Obama as inexperienced. But doesn't she make him look like an elder statesman?

She was the mayor of a town of 6,000 people.
He was elected to the state legislature in one of our most populous states.

She was elected governor in a state that only has 700,000 people.
I haven't looked it up, but I'll bet you a million bucks more people voted for Obama for US Senate just in the City of Chicago than live in Palin's whole state.

That doesn't automatically mean she's not a good candidate. But what does it say about McCain that he picked her?

BTW, an Alaskan blogger fills in some gaps about Wasilla, where Palin was Mayor, and offers this shot of "downtown," with prominently features "The Mug Shot Saloon."

I am not making this up.

The same Alaska blogger has this to say about Palin's "executive experience."

"Before her meteoric rise to political success as governor, just two short years ago Sarah Palin was the mayor of Wasilla. I had a good chuckle at MSN.com’s claim that she had been the mayor of “Wasilla City”. It is not a city. Just Wasilla. Wasilla is the heart of the Alaska “Bible belt” and Sarah was raised amongst the tribe that believes creationism should be taught in our public schools, homosexuality is a sin, and life begins at conception. She’s a gun-toting, hang ‘em high conservative. Remember…this is where her approval ratings come from. There is no doubt that McCain again is making a strategic choice to appeal to a particular demographic - fundamentalist right-wing gun-owning Christians. And Republican bloggers are already gushing about how she has ‘more executive experience’ than Obama does! Above is a picture of lovely downtown Wasilla, for those of you unfamiliar with the area. Behind the Mug-Shot Saloon (the first bar I visited when I moved to Alaska long ago) is a little strip mall. There are street signs in Wasilla with bullet holes in them. Wasilla has a population of about 5500 people, and 1979 occupied housing units. This is where your potential Vice President was two short years ago. Can you imagine her negotiating a nuclear non-proliferation treaty? Discussing foreign policy? Understanding non-Alaskan issues? Frankly, I don’t even know if she’s ever been out of the country. She may ‘get’ Alaska, but there are only a half a million people here. Don’t get me wrong….I love Alaska with all my heart. I’m just saying."

I love salt of the earth people too. I love small town America. I really do. Some of the best times in my life have been spent in Texas small towns.

But just how wise is making the jump from Wasilla to Vice-President of the United States?

As someone else here in Dallas noted today: Dallas has more population than the entire State of Alaska, but nobody's calling for Tom Leppert to be Vice President.

A sub-question to these questions about Palin's experience has to do with the obvious choices of other, more qualified women out there right now. If McCain believes he needed a woman Veep, then why not a more qualified woman from a more populous state?

Why not:
Kay Bailey Hutchison?
Cristi Todd Whitman?
Elizabeth Dole?
Olympia Snow?
Susan Collins?
Lisa Murkowski? (A US Senator from...wait for it...Alaska!!!)

The Republican Party has many women who have become stars in their own right, with decades of experience between them. Here is one list of thirty-two potential Republican women with more experience than Palin.

Why, with all of them out there, did he pick Palin?

One of his own advisors actually said yesterday,“I think we’re going to have to examine our tag line, ‘dangerously inexperienced...’”

Yeah, no kidding.

Questions about her qualifications are not just coming from hardcore Democrats. They're coming from some Alaska Republicans who know her best. These quotes are from a story in the Anchorage Daily News titles "Choice Stuns State Politicians."

"State Senate President Lyda Green said she thought it was a joke when someone called her at 6 a.m. to give her the news.

"She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president?" said Green, a Republican from Palin's hometown of Wasilla. "Look at what she's done to this state. What would she do to the nation?"
---------

"State House Speaker John Harris, a Republican from Valdez, was astonished at the news. He didn't want to get into the issue of her qualifications.
"She's old enough," Harris said. "She's a U.S. citizen."
---------

"Former House Speaker Gail Phillips, a Republican political leader who has clashed with Palin in the past, was shocked when she heard the news Friday morning with her husband, Walt.

"I said to Walt, 'This can't be happening, because his advance team didn't come to Alaska to check her out," Phillips said."

Speaking of vetting his choice, as this story from the Associated Press points out, McCain himself had promised to nominate someone far more substantial. The last time we had a Veep candidate who was this little known, with such a skimpy resume, it was Dan Quayle. And McCain himself promised he would NOT make a pick like that...

"McCain said in April that he was determined to avoid a pick like Dan Quayle, the little-known Indiana senator whom George H.W. Bush put on his ticket in 1988. The choice proved embarrassing.

Quayle "had not been briefed and prepared for some of the questions," McCain said while discussing his vice presidential search. He was clearly aware that, as a septuagenarian, the decision he made about a running mate would be "of enhanced importance."

Four months and one birthday later, McCain's announcement of Palin made clear the paucity of her experience."

Wow....

To top it off, the two of them have only met once in their entire life.

Seriously. I'm not kidding.

Politico.com has the story:

"John McCain on Friday announced a running mate whom he met only six months ago and with whom he spoke just once on the phone about the position before offering it in person earlier this week.

McCain’s first encounter with Sarah Palin came at a Washington meeting of the National Governors Association in February, according to a campaign-provided reconstruction of how the little-known Alaska governor was thrust into the national spotlight. The two discussed the position by phone on Sunday before McCain invited Palin and her husband to Arizona to formally make the offer. McCain, joined by his wife, Cindy, did just that Thursday morning at their home near Sedona, Ariz."

Now, obviously, John McCain can pick anyone he likes for his Veep selection. But I will point out that when we last hired a part time youth director at our church, I had more face-to-face meetings with him than John McCain did with the woman he now wants to be second in command of our nation!!!

Doesn't that seem a little strange?

I mean, this isn't someone he's held as a trusted and close confidant. It's not someone he's even worked alongside, legislatively, as partners in government. It's not someone he's spent family time with. As the story makes clear, he and Cindy met Sarah's spouse Scott last Thursday.

Sarah Palin is a conservative hardliner too. is staunchly anti-abortion. She is a leader in a group called "Feminists for Life."

So, to review....

He's picked a woman almost nobody knows, with very little experience....
He's pick this woman, when far more experienced women were available...
He's picked a running-mate even HE even doesn't know, when far closer confidants and colleagues were available...

So, I ask again....what does this say about his judgement?

Moving on.

The most incredulous part of this pick to me is the following: Sarah Palin is under investigation in the State of Alaska. This is not old news. This is breaking news. There are stories about it on YouTube from less than two weeks ago. (Does anybody in the McCain campaign watch YouTube?!!!)

The investigators involved have determined that there is enough credible evidence to depose Sarah Palin. ABC is reporting that she is likely to be deposed any day now.

And the final report on the matter? It's due to be released sometime during the first few days of November!!!

Now, so far, I have yet to mention any specific allegations against Sarah Palin. And, in some sense, the allegations are not germane to the point I want to make right here.

The point for me here is this: why, why, why...pick a politician in the midst of an ongoing state investigation?!!!

Don't you want somebody who's squeaky clean?
Don't you want somebody where all that's going to come out has already come out?
Why would McCain pick Palin right now, and what does that say about his political judgment?

Wow....

It gets more interesting when you peel back the onion of this state investigation.Talking Points Memo is doing some great investigation of the scandal, and has this helpful timeline. The story is that Sarah Palin had a brother-in-law (husband to her sister) who was a state trooper. He doesn't sound like he was a very nice person, and may have even been abusive to Palin's sister.

Here's a video of local news coverage.



What is now known is that Palin and her executive staff in the governor's office contacted the head of the state troopers (Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan) for Alaska two dozen times with "information" about Palin's ex-brother-in-law.

Two dozen times!

Eventually, Palin fired Commission Walt Monegan from his job as head of the Alaska State Troopers. And from that very moment, Monegan has consistently claimed he was fired, in part, because he would not fire Sarah Palin's ex-brother-in-law... because he did not act on the two dozen contacts he had from Sarah Palin, her staff...and even her husband.

Wow!

She, as you might imagine, denied any involvement for weeks, and said that nobody from her staff was involved either.

But! Just two weeks ago, she flip-flopped. She has now admitted that members of her staff DID contact Commissioner Monegan, and that she understands such contact could be seen as inappropriate. BTW...she flip flopped because a tape has surfaced of one of her staff actually placing an actual phone call, inquiring about getting the bro-in-law fired...ooops!

So, now she's switched her story to a denial that she "coordinated" the twenty-four contacts. But, given what else she's denied, it sure doesn't look good for her, does it?

Now, again, I'm certainly not defending the ex-brother-in-law, or Commissioner Monegan. And there may have been other reasons to fire him.

But twenty-four contacts with Comissioner Monegan about an ex-brother-in-law?

That's twenty-three more than she's ever had with John McCain!!!

Then, to deny it profusely, only to later admit part of the story IS true?

Ouch.

BTW, the man she choose to replace Commissioner Monegan with as head of the Alaska State Troopers? He lasted all but two weeks on the job. He was forced to resign after allegations of sexual harrassment that Sarah Palin later admitted that she knew.

This story is hardly over. And given that fact, I just have to ask: Why pick her?

Politico.com suggests some answers. They suggest six reasons why McCain made this pick. You can read the whole thing here. Here's the highlights of their top two reasons:

"1. He’s desperate. Let’s stop pretending this race is as close as national polling suggests. The truth is McCain is essentially tied or trailing in every swing state that matters — and too close for comfort in several states like Indiana and Montana the GOP usually wins pretty easily in presidential races. On top of that, voters seem very inclined to elect Democrats in general this election — and very sick of the Bush years.

McCain could easily lose in an electoral landslide. That is the private view of Democrats and Republicans alike...

2. He’s willing to gamble — bigtime. Let’s face it: This is not the pick of a self-confident candidate. It is the political equivalent of a trick play or, as some Democrats called it, a Hail Mary pass in football. McCain talks incessantly about experience, and then goes and selects a woman he hardly knows, who hardly knows foreign policy and who can hardly be seen as instantly ready for the presidency.

He is smart enough to know it could work, at least politically. Many Republicans see this pick as a brilliant stroke because it will be difficult for Democrats to run hard against a woman in the wake of the Hillary Clinton drama..."

So, to sum up: There seem to be a lot of questions about McCain's judgment in picking Palin.

I am sure more of these will get played out in the coming weeks. But it sure has me scratching my head this morning.

The Daily Show --ever the repository of its own biting, twisted, yet often dead-on versions of the truth-- asked the same questions I ask here in a piece last night. While I would never say it quite the way they do, I'll let the court jesters have the last word as to why McCain picked Palin. And we'll let the next few weeks see if anybody else agrees with them.

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"He's The Best I've Ever Seen"

Last night was historic in many ways. Many of those ways have been duly noted in papers and blogs around the nation today.

But last night was historic in one intensely personal way too. It marked the first, and only, time in my entire life that my favorite candidate for President actually came away with his/her party's nomination.

I've been a political junkie for years. Never before, in all my years, have I backed the right horse right from the starting gate.

Back in 2005, Dennise and I got something perhaps a lot of other folks didn't get: an early, albeit brief, glimpse at the phenomenon that was to become Barack Obama.

I write this blog today not to endorse a candidate, since neither Dennise nor I ever would ever do that. But I'd like to tell you about that brief meeting, why I believe Obama won the nomination, and why --discounting the genuine novelty of actually being *right* for once-- I am not surprised he is the Democratic nominee.

We met Obama at a rally here in Dallas in the Fall of 2005. It had been almost a year since the election of 2004, when Dennise and several other Democrats broke through to win what many saw as improbable victories in Dallas County.

The rally was intended to be a "kick off" for the 2006 campaign, then about a year away. Three sitting US Senators --Harry Reid, Joe Biden, and Barack Obama-- came to Dallas for an outdoor rally at Lee Park.

Dennise got invited to the "pre-event reception" in the building there at Lee Park (I can't remember the building's name), and I was lucky enough to tag along as a spouse.

When we arrived, two things struck us immediately:
1) Although it was a year away from any election, there were about 3,000 people in the crowd that day. It stunned us that so many would come out for an off-year rally. And we thought then that it probably boded well for Democrats in Dallas County (it did).
2) We were stunned by the rows and rows of potential Democratic candidates lined up at tables to collect the obligatory signatures necessary to get on the ballot. When Dennise had run in 2004, running as a Democrat was a lonely business. Six brave souls ran for judge. One for sheriff. Stunningly (to many) four of them won.

As we saw all those potential candidates out for the rally that day, it was clear that the 2004 wins had motivated others to give it a shot in 2006. That "shot" ended up being heard 'round Dallas County; as a year later, almost all the folks we met that day were swept into office.

After soaking-in our amazement at these two developments, we made our way into the reception. And it's there we briefly met Barack Obama for the first time, and each separately came to the conclusion that he was a special human being.

To get the feel for what I mean, let me describe how the three Senators entered the room.

Harry Reid arrived first. Many people shook his hand. Many people took pictures. As we did here: 


 
The reaction was polite and decorous, as you might imagine it would be for the Majority Leader of the US Senate. Harry Reid is nothing to sneeze at, to be sure.

Next came Joe Biden. The room got a little more crowded for Biden, ever the affable extrovert, who was shaking hands and working the room vigorously. (But, sadly, just far enough across the room that we didn't get a pic...)

Finally, after some minutes, it was announced that Obama was about to arrive.

Suddenly, dozens of people who had been in the main room of that building crammed their way into the much smaller entry foyer. Elected officials. Party activists. People who you would not expect to get "giddy" over the arrival of anyone.

We followed them. It was electric. You would have thought they were awaiting the arrival of Bono.

Obama came into the room, and in the ensuing few minutes, we were able to get this pic of Dennise and Obama: 


 
As Obama moved through the Foyer, I was stunned at how many of Dallas' Democratic powerbrokers had all but abandoned two sitting US Senators --Biden and Reid-- to come and greet this relative newcomer.

For brief moment, in the midst of the pushing and jostling, I found myself standing next to former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk.

We were both just looking across the room at the scene. Semi-jokingly, I said to him, "Man, that guy's a rock star, isn't he?"

To which Ron Kirk --no slouch in the charisma gene-- replied:
"Oh...you have no idea...He's the best I've ever seen."

I thought at the time about what an endorsement that was. I watched as political insiders who don't normally go giddy for anyone, pushed and shoved to get a chance to meet Obama.

Obama went on to give a great speech that day. He was already well known for his speech at the Democratic Convention the year before, in which he said this:

"Yet even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America — there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America."

There is something about that way of thinking, that belief that we can acknowledge our differences and still work through them together with respect, that is resonating quite deeply with the American public today.

As Dennise and Obama chatted briefly, as a bystander told Obama how Dennise had been elected, and how great that moment had been. Obama said something like, "Well, thanks for keeping things going here in Texas."

Almost an hour and half later, he bumped into Dennise again, and said, "Hi Judge."

Now, that doesn't mean a whole lot. But we were both impressed that he'd remembered who she was, in the midst of that big crowd, an hour and a half later.

So, while it wasn't really until 2007 that most Americans paid any attnetion to Obama, the Fall of 2005 was the moment Dennise and I first got a glimpse of the charisma and excitement that would become a movement.

And we each thought to ourselves: If this guy runs for President, he's going to do much better than anyone imagines.

He has. And none of it has been surprising to us. 
 

 
Obama is a saavy politician. I know folks are wondering what Bill and Hillary Clinton really think of him. And I'm not sure we'll ever really know. But I can say that I noticed a very telling little moment at the end of the third night of the convention.

It was when Obama took the stage to thank all those who'd already spoken and to invite the crowd to the next night at Mile High Stadium. Notice what happens in this video right after the 1:45 mark. Obama has just acknowledged President Clinton's great speech.

Then, during the applause, you can almost see it dawning on Clinton just how saavy this guy is. And you can actually see him mouth the words, "This was smart."



The consummate politician acknowledging one who is perhaps just as masterful.

Obama's background is as a community organizer. That's what he's done, professionally. He knows how to assemble teams to get things done. He knows how to motivate. He knows how to inspire. That's what he's done in this campaign.

Obama did one other very astute thing these past few years. He traveled around the country, including Dallas County, to learn how local Democrats had won in new and unexpected places. Now, frankly, he may not have really cared...I have no idea. But I know he showed up, he asked, and he listened. He didn't just fly in, raise money, and then leave again.

That kind of attention at the local level is what has caused this huge organization to seemingly appear out of nowhere. Obama had been working to create friendships and trusts long before he announced his run for the presidency.

This is the "Fifty State Strategy?" It's another part of his success...to leave no part of the country uncovered and unaccounted for.

I hear people express concern ---perhaps even fear-- over the size of Obama's rallies....as if there is hero worship underway...as if it's something like "The Borg." (Thank you, thank you. Star Trek references are hard to work in...)

But I think folks who fear fail to realize is that Obama gets that NONE of this is about him. He, more than anyone, seems to realize that he's tapped in to a pre-existing desire for change and a new direction. As he said last night:
"This election has never been about me. It's about you."

I personally believe he gets that. And that this is why he's attracting the crowds that he does.

Time and time again during this campaign, I've been surprised to hear the surprise of others at Obama's success. But if you'd read his books, if you'd paid attention to his public appearances, if you'd been aware of his background, you probably weren't surprised at all.

And given the truly epic and historic nature of 75,000-plus people at Mile High Stadium last night, and millions more watching on television, I trust nothing he accomplishes from here on out will surprise anyone. 

(As always, if you like this post, then "share it" or "like" it on Facebook by clicking the box below, so others can see too...)  

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How to Save $13,636 While Driving 100,000 Miles

Did I get your attention with that headline?

Hope so.

Because I'm not kidding, and I've done the math to prove it. I am about to tell you how Dennise and I saved $13,636 by driving 100,000 miles.

Let me raise the stakes.

Driving that same 100,000 miles, we also reduced dangerous greenhouse gases by 78,875 pounds, roughly the equivalent of a highly polluting car's five-year output.

"Wait," you say, "there must be catch. This is like one of those commercials on late-night TV, right? Nobody gives you money for driving a car. Nobody saves greenhouse gases by driving that much."

Ah, dear reader, but that's where you'd be wrong. Because you see, there's a very simple answer to how it's very, very possible...possible for just about anyone, really.

The answer is this: You can drive 100,000 miles, save $13,636, and eliminate the greenhouse gases equivalent to the average car all by doing one simple thing:

Drive a Toyota Prius.

Longtime readers will recall my love for Hybrids, and my love for the Prius. I wrote this entry some years back, imploring everyone to consider getting a Hybrid.

As we drove home from breakfast with my parents at Cindi's this morning, a funny thing happened to our Prius' odometer. We rounded the corner of the block, down by the creek, and up popped this:



So, that gave me pause. I asked myself a variation of that same simple question I asked in my original blog about Hybrids a few years back:

If we had another Jeep, instead of our Hybrid, how much more would it be costing us to go that 100,000 miles?

The answer --again, averaged out-- is that it would cost $13, 636 more!!!

Here's how I get that number....

We start with what has, more or less, remained our real-life working averages for some years.**

The Prius gets about 45 miles/gallon. (Dennise get a little more than this...me a little less...it's an average...)

The Jeep Cherokee we own gets about 12.5 miles/gallon. (Pretty pitiful...mostly my driving...)

Using those real numbers from our real experience, the Prius has used: 2,222 gallons of gas to go 100,000 miles.

To go the same distance the Jeep would have used: 8,000 gallons of gas.

For a difference of a whopping 5,778 gallons of gas!!!

Then I went online and found average gas prices since January 2003. If you take the weekly average since that time, gas has cost $ 2.36.
(BTW.....doesn't this seem low to you?)

That means we saved $ 13,636 dollars!

That's the good news. The depressing news is that that means we could have bought gas for two more Prius' with what we'll spend to go 100,000 miles in the Jeep!!!

Wow....

The gas calculation is based on our real-life experience. Since I have no real-life experience with the cost of greenhouse gasses, my assertion about them comes from a cool little widget at hybridcars.com. The widget allows you to compare any make and model car to any make and model Hybrid, and see the savings in gas, money, and pollutants.

The per-year numbers may be easier to get your head around...

Per year, a Jeep puts out: 23,929 pounds of greenhouse gasses.
Per year, a Prius puts out: 8,154 pounds of greenhouse gasses.

Another calculation, hydrocarbons (read: plain old smog) factors out this way per year:
A Jeep: 23 pounds
A Prius: 10 pounds

The final point to make. Besides the savings of thousands of dollars in gasoline, and the elimination of whole cars-worth of smog from the air, there is one final crucial reason to buy a Hybrid: Fighting the war on Terror.

I'll refer you here to a great page on hybridcars.com that's titled "Oil Dependence."

Here's the relevant part:

Let's look at the energy security spiral resulting from our dependence on Persian Gulf oil:

1. Ensuring free access to oil forces the U.S. to maintain a military presence in the Persian Gulf. This presence costs the American taxpayer more than $50 billion per year in defense spending—and obviously a lot more during times of war.
2. The presence of the U.S. military and oil firms in these nations arouses hostility from people who reject American values or resent American wealth and power.
3. The production of oil in otherwise under-developed societies funnels vast wealth to a few, leaving the rest behind in poverty, undermining the stability of those nations and arousing more hatred in their people.
4. Oil money from the West—that means the cash you fork over at the pumps—fills the coffers of terrorist organizations to pursue a program of anti-American violence. 911 is just one example. (Oil money enables Saudi Arabia to invest approximately 40% of its income on weapons procurement.)
5. Pipelines, tankers and oil rigs become critical and very vulnerable targets for terrorists trying to bring the international economy to a standstill, by diminishing the supply of oil.
6. Both the International Energy Agency and the Energy Information Agency of the U.S. Department of Energy currently project a steady increase in world demand for oil through at least 2020. This means further enrichment of the oil-producing countries, continued funding to terrorist groups, sustained lethal threats to the U.S. and its allies, and fluctuating oil supply lines.

As long as we remain (and grow even more) dependent, this cycle of energy insecurity—oil and blood and oil and blood—will continue.

Buying a Hybrid is a very significant, and very real way, you can personally fight the war on terror, and help win it, in a way that military-might can never do. I mean this as literally as I can. Most Americans have not been asked to sacrifice in this war (something that continues to astound me) and as you'll note from the underline portions above, the money we pay for our gas can help to finance terrorism. This is something we all can do.

So, enough with the preaching. Enough with the facts.

Time for the only question left.

Given that there are now Hybrid SUVs, trucks, sedans, and luxury cars from almost every known manufacturer....

What are you waiting for?


** I recognize that many people get vastly different averages than this. This is our real-life experience.

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