In our last "Face Off" feature our bloggers wrestled over Barack Obama's choice of Joe Biden as his vice presidential candidate. Today they take on John McCain's decision to pick Sarah Palin as veep.

Mark Impomeni says choosing Palin is a bold political gambit that steals Obama's convention thunder and announces to voters that McCain is still a maverick. Mark's take, called "Palin Re-Energizes McCain Campaign," begins:

Sen. John McCain surprised even seasoned political observers today with his selection of first term Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. Palin was not mentioned on any short lists for the Vice-Presidential nomination, although her name has been floated in conservative circles for some time. The pick has brought a new energy to the McCain campaign and to its supporters, and has completely squelched the buzz in the media following Sen. Barack Obama's glitzy acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention last night.

Liza Porteus Viana on the other hand sees a number of reasons why McCain's choice is a major blunder. Liza's piece is called "Sarah Who?"

John McCain shocked some in the Republican establishment today with his pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. Just to play devil's advocate, here are some reasons why McCain might be criticized for choosing who he did, not least of which is that Republicans can no longer shoot down Barack Obama for his lack of experience. The choice of Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., balances the Democratic ticket, and the choice of Palin just decreased the "experience" strength of a possible Republican ticket.

Read both of our bloggers and then give us your take.

It's staggering. After spending the entire campaign thus far bashing Barack Obama for his lack of experience, John McCain picked a woman even less qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

How many times had John McCain actually met his newfound soulmate? Once.

You see, McCain is going after Hillary Clinton's voters. Betting that a woman--any woman--will do for Hillary's followers. Never mind she has nothing whatsoever in common with Hillary in terms of policy positions, she's a mom!

McCain knew that his experience argument wasn't going to beat Obama's Change mantra, so he ditched it, and went after a "reformer" with not a whit of foreign policy experience, even though he'd argued for months that the war on terrorism is the greatest challenge facing the country.

Picking a Vice President is really the first act of any would be commander-in-chief. With his choice, McCain displayed a calculated political cynicism that is anything but "putting country first."

If McCain wins and has a heart attack on Day 1, we're screwed.

The best thing about out-of-the-blue announcements, like the selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as McCain's running mate, is the breathless reaction of the cable news blowhards. Few people outside Alaska know anything about the woman. Yet Fox is already celebrating the emergence of an evangelical Erin Brockovich, while MSNBC is sneering and sniping about a bobbleheaded beauty queen.

My thoughts:

• Yes, it's a transparently political choice, meant to draw disaffected Hillary supporters. But so what? The selection of Biden by Obama is meant to reassure voters nervous about Obama's lack of foreign policy experience. Does anyone think Obama is actually going to rely - or even seek - Biden's counsel on foreign affairs? Veep choices are about perception, or picking up an extra state's electoral college votes. (Okay, Cheney ended up running the show. But for the purposes of this blog entry, let's ignore that.)
• The Obama camp can't fault her short time in office. (Remember that whole Change vs. Experience thing?) And they certainly shouldn't slam her as the Mayor of a small town. (Her personal story - at the least the 12 lines of it I read - is pretty compelling.) But McCain can no longer hammer Obama's lack of experience without seeming hypocritical.
  
• Palin calls herself a "hockey mom." Does that mean she flies off the handle and beats the crap out of people who disagree with her? If rumors about McCain's temper are to be believed, there could be one crowded White House penalty box.
  
• Conservative's one thing. Is she scary conservative? (Faithful reader Clif Kuplen weighs in: "Sort of a James Watt/Leni Riefenstahl hybrid with some fermented Anita Bryant squeezed in... She does have a firm grip on early nineteenth century science.")
• Since she is a former beauty queen, can we expect Mario Lopez to moderate the V.P. debate? (See Miss Teen South Carolina YouTube moment)

Alaska has twice as many caribou as people!

***

When I walked on to the field at Invesco yesterday for the Obama speech, I cringed at the "Temple" set. Would Obama appear as Apollo, god of poetry, with Oprah as Athena, goddess of wisdom, by his side? And what of Scarlett Johansson as Aphrodite? Would an animal, presumably organic grass fed, be sacrificed?!

In fairness, it looked very much like the colonnade that connects the Oval Office to the main building of the White House. (Most viewers know the colonnade as the backdrop for Rose Garden press appearances.) It was meant to evoke the executive mansion (an example of Palladian architecture, itself derived from Greek and Roman classical), to make Obama appear presidential, not god-like.

It turned out that the Obama people had nothing to fear. The speech was a rousing success on site and I'm told it looked great on TV, focusing on tight shots of the candidate and avoiding the impression that this was some glassy-eyed cult-fest.

As for the speech itself, my favorite line was directed to John McCain: "You make a big election about small things." Bulls-eye. McCain's only successful blow against Obama has been the "celebrity issue," a total non-issue. If the election turns on that, we are a sorry people!

Speaking of celebrity, I sat only a few rows in front of Oprah's box. The crowd around me went batty. She handled it well, with the support of Gayle, waving to the crowd before settling back. (Is there any more high pressure job than Gayle's? If you're Oprah's best friend, you're on call all the time. You can't just hit the silence button when her name flashes up on your cell. I almost want to be Gayle's best friend, if only to absorb some of the stress Gayle feels from being Oprah's best friend.)


Oprah waves to the crowd

Soon she was joined by Forrest Whitaker, Mary J. Blige and Kanye West. Still the people at Invesco were more focused on what was happening on the stage. During Major General Scott Gration's speech, a woman in my section screamed "Kanye!" The shushes came down hard on her.

Really, the last thing I want to do is start a conspiracy theory, especially about
America's Hottest Governor.

Watching the video of Senator John McCain's VP announcement, however, and seeing that he had to carefully read what seems to be a fairly simple sentence, makes me wonder if he, you know, had any idea who she was before he stood up to the podium. Check it:



Now, look. I realize these are high-pressure, high-stakes moments. But even considering the verbal gaffes by both Obama (who called Biden "the next President of the United States") and Biden (who said Obama could have given an equally rousing nomination acceptance speech in 1972 "had he been alive," which he had been) you would think that McCain could have at least pulled his eyes away from his notes, looked at the crowd and not read through every syllable while saying "Governor Sarah Palin."

As I said, I really hate to conject. But maybe he was expecting another name on the cue sheet?

B. Brandon Barker can also be found here.

Sarah Palin was throughly vetted, I'm sure. So what will the official story be on "Trooper-Gate" ?



More information on the subject here, here, and here.

Palin is also a fan of creationism being taught in public schools.

McCain Pick 'An Empty Pantsuit'

Tommy Christopher
Denver, CO - John McCain has announced Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential nominee. I heard the news via text-message this morning from a strong Hillary Clinton supporter who now supports Obama. Her take is likely to be predictive of a lot of women voters':

She is an empty pantsuit. A heartbeat away from Grandpa? Very risky. Poor judgment pandering to women so blatantly as this.

We discussed the pick over breakfast today, and I said that today would tell the tale. While it is a bold pick by McCain, I think the above summation has a 60-70% shot at emerging as the narrative by day's end. We also talked a little about Palin's personal life, and I hope that the media, and McCain's opponents, show restraint in that area.

Guffaw.

McCain Picks Former High School Freshman for VP

Caleb Howe
Denver, CO - "Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency." - Obama Campaign

What, former beauty queen too hot for Obama to use? It seems some consider being Governor of a State to be less important than being a "community organizer," a post so valuable nearly every single speaker at the Democratic Convention has lauded it as near unimpeachable proof of being Presidential material. Former Mayor? How far back in resumes do they wish to dip in their effort to dismiss the first woman on a major party ticket since 1984? A woman with more executive experience than the Democratic ticket put together.

The question of the day today is, did Barack Obama have some kind of speech last night?

If my significant other is any indication, the answer to that is an emphatic yes. Previously she couldn't stand McCain and said as she put it, "I figured he'd pick some other boring old politician." She also reports that the internet mom boards are buzzing with excitement over Sarah Palin.

And yes, it's a brilliant move not just for this but for other reasons. Significantly, Palin is the one who killed Alaska's "bridge to nowhere" and has been significant in rooting out corruption in the old Republican power structures in that state. She's pro-energy and pro-drilling (as you would expect).

Her husband is an Native American and an Eskimo. Her son is being deployed to Iraq in September (Joining McCain's son). The whole family is outdoorsy sports, hunter and fisher types. She just described herself as a "hockey mom".

She is also pro-life, pro creationism, pro-God. NRA member for life.

In short, she unites the Republican coalition again, and adds in blue collar types and average working moms. It's a four or five-fer! (depends on how you count). Again, just simply brilliant. Almost every type of Republican, from economic to social conservatives to the NRA crowd is simply ecstatic over this pick. McCain just signalled that the future of the GOP is solidly conservative. I don't know about the Moms but he just won his base back.

Dailykos and other are grousing about her being just an identity politics pick and another Dan Quayle. They are also saying the experience attack is dead. But then they go and use it against her anyway. Heh. But the Dan Quayle template doesn't fit at all. Dan Quayle was a child of privilege and became a lawyer, using family connections to follow the normal political route. Sarah Palin is not a child of privilege and is not following anyone's standard template.

Back when Barack Obama was considering Kathleen Sebelius as his Vice President, many irate Hillary Clinton supporters cried foul. They saw Sebelius as a second-rate version of their candidate, and hinted that such a move would be a crass, calculated attempt to woo disaffected women back into the big tent.

Well, considering that Sarah Palin, John McCain's apparent choice for VP, has far less experience than either Obama or Sebelius, and much, much less than Clinton, one wonders whether selecting a woman with zero foreign policy experience will help lure the gender toward the would-be commander-in-chief.

And Chuck Todd just asked another good question. There weren't other, more qualified women in the GOP (Hutchinson, Rice) that McCain could have picked?

John McCain wins the Vice Presidential selection round for two reasons - better choice and his team executed it with more precision (a.k.a., they know how to be disciplined and not leak). Barack Obama's choice of Biden leaked the night before.

Five reason's McCain choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK) is phenomenal:

1) More executive experience than both Biden and Obama combined. She's been a serving Governor. Additionally, she was a city legislator and mayor longer than Obama has been in politics. So the experience issue is moot.

2) The daughter of a teacher, she's an avid sportswoman. The contrast of two lifetime members of the National Rifle Association leading the GOP ticket will help win over Hillary Clinton Democrats. Blue collar Democrats welcome to the GOP.

3) You can't get further from Washington than Alaska. Palin is change. She beat an incumbent in her own Party to become Governor because she was a crusader against corruption; she was the whistle blower on scandals. Palin is a total reinforcement of McCain's maverick narrative.

4) Governor Palin successfully shatters the glass ceiling. I'm sure liberals will note that she was a former beauty contestant. Exposing their devotion to liberalism over the cause of feminism. But Palin was also point guard as a high school basketball player. And, obviously, she's a working mom.

5) She's a regular Jane. Palin drives a snowmobile, shoots a gun, eats meat, has 5 children and married an Alaskan native who is a blue collar worker.

Liberals will surly attack her. A young woman who disagrees with them can't be experienced. She's not from Washington D.C.'s "swampland." And this will be her challenge. Because they don't know her, the establishment will fear her.

In fact, one of their lines of attack will be - she's not a celebrity. Bingo. Welcome to the rest of America.

Congrats Governor Sarah Palin and well played Senator John McCain.

Two hours until showtime, and recent developments since DK's last post, which was chock full of recent developments itself:

-The Politico is now reporting that Romney won't, repeat won't be in Dayton today.

So process of elimination time. it's not Pawlenty, and if that ABC report that Palin is still in Alaska is true, then it's not her either, so who's left.

I think we're missing the obvious here: It's Dayton, OH and it's going to be an Ohio guy. Kasich or Portman is what my gut tells me now. They're both here, and all the rest was apparently serious vetting plus some elaborate head fakery.

On Palin, I think it would be a bold gutsy move, but if McCain's major focus is on experience, Palin will undercut it, even though governor trumps senator in presidential politics. Gotta hand it to Team McCain, they sure are generating some buzz.