Is it just a woman or is it for change?

Question

If McCain wanted a VP solely because she is a female he could have chosen one with more experience. Its clear he wants to make a real change when he becomes president.

I think that if Palin was a man we would not have all the negative talk.

Answer 1

It's not solely because she's female. This is both pandering to the women (as if female politicians are interchangeable) and to the conservative base, as she is anti-abortion, NRA, and for an amendment to ban g*y marriage. She is the female Huckabee.

Answer 2

McCain (and the Republicans) seem to think that all women are interchangeable. Women are not going to vote for just ANY woman. And Palin goes against women's rights, so why would they support her.

As for your comment that there would be no negative talk if Palin was a man....there would still be huge questions as to whether she could take office in the event of McCain's demise.

Answer 3

The problem is that McCain did this purely for political reasons, instead of choosing the most qualified running mate. There are plenty more qualified women than Palin!

Why does it matter - because of his age! It's a real possibility that she might need to take over! Scary!

Her entire political career consists of running of a town of less than 10,000 and then less than 2 years running a whole state ot 700,000. That's less than half the size of a major city!

Really, how hard could it possibly have been to balance the budget and reform in Alaska? Could she have even survived politics in  New York, and lead big city change like Hillary? I think not.

There are city Mayors who have more on their plate than the whole state of Alaska.

Answer 4

McCain has always been his own man.  He said he would pick someone who shares his values.  I took that to mean a moderate.  I now see he meant a fellow maverick.  

Answer 5

Palin is a joke with no experience.

Palin's FIRST speech with McCain was trying to get Hillary supporters to vote for her.

Do Mccain supporters think Hillary supporters are really that stupid to be manipulated so easy to vote for someone that is completely the opposite of Clintons values?

Answer 6

Let me say, McCain has very cynically chosen a woman to try and snag the disenfranchised Hillary voters.

For the dumbest ones it will work.

For the dumb guy vote, a hot woman will work.

For a dumb conservative, anybody who says "I'll let you drill in my home state" will work.

In short, this is an election that will be decided definitvely by morons. Brace yourself for 4 more years of Bushbotism.

Answer 7

He clearly picked someone who knows what they're doing.  I don't believe this nonsense about him picking her solely because of the Hilary issue.  I'm sure that was a factor...anyone would be silly not to act on that (Obama I'm talking about you).   But it wasn't just that reason, Palin offers much more than being the famale voice.  It's sad other people are failling to see that.  You can't compare Hilary and Palin - it's true, they are different from one another - Thank goodness!

Answer 8

it was just a woman

out of all his women choices she may have been the least risky

Answer 9

I think if Palin were a man she wouldn't have been selected, honestly.  

Just know if you vote for her that she is far flung right wing.  She doesn't believe in choice under ANY circumstances (including rape and incest), she thinks global warning is a myth, and would like creationism taught in schools.  If you want to live in a church state if McCain kicks off, then you have your woman.  If you believe in modern science, then you might want to rethink.

Answer 10

Palin would make a poor VP and was chosen for 2 reasons.

1) She's a woman, and the hope is that she will be able to draw in female voters who are angry enough at Obama for beating the only credible female candidate that they would vote Republican to spite him.

2) While she is a woman she's not even remotely feminist, and so would not threaten the Republican base by introducing a female agenda. She's pro-gun, pro-life and anti-welfare.

Striking against her, she has no foreign policy experience and what domestic experience she has isn't VP worthy. Excuse the expression but Alaska is the boondocks as far as political experience is concerned. It does nothing to equip her with the kinds of problems a VP would face. She's also out of touch with both inner city and suburban life, and thus with much of the American public.

You say that he could have picked a more experienced woman, well, I will counter that by asking you to name a single more experience woman who hasn't previously stood against one McCain's core beliefs.

In this day and age you'd struggle to find a powerful and experienced woman who doesn't oppose McCain on either gun control, abortion, church V state, welfare reform or social reform. And you can't have a running mate who doesn't share your core values.

Personally, I think that being a woman is protecting Palin from criticism. There's a lot that Obama can't say against her for fear of loosing the Clinton vote.

Had Palin been a man Biden would have ripped him to shreds by now on experience alone.

Answer 11

just a woman.

Mccain thinks he can fool America, but obviously judging from on here and several other discussion boards and the media, it didnt work

Answer 12

If she were a man she wouldn't have even been noticed by him. She is under investigation for what is known as troopergate so she brings drama with her. I think they wanted someone who believes in abusing power.

Answer 13

Democrats take the female vote for granted. They're pissed off that the Republicans stole a move out of their playbook. If Sarah Palin were a man, she'd still be criticized for 'lack of experience,' but not quite this much.

P.S. Picking the "most qualified running mate" is impossible because that's a subjective designation. Obviously, McCain thought Palin was the "most qualified" for a completely different set of reasons. Yes, she's not the most educated or the most experienced person he could have picked, but is that all that makes a person "qualified"? Frankly, I think it's nice to have someone not-so-qualified. Ted Kennedy and Strom Thurmond have/had LOTS of experience, but I never would have voted for either of them. Know what I mean? Experience isn't everything.