Posted by
Matthew on Saturday, August 30, 2008 7:47:16 AM
When John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate yesterday, the energy level of conservatives spiked as it has not in 20 years. It has been a long time since we were able to look at the Republican Party's leadership and not feel a little stung by the "rich old white guy" rhetoric of the left (not that they had much room for pointing fingers, mind you). It has been a long time since we were able to see someone up there who really lives like one of us.
The immediate take on the MSM was that this was a play for the Clinton backers, the PUMAs. I beg to differ. While the left chose to interpret her introductory speech as a play for those voters, I saw it as an honest recognition that her presence on that stage did owe itself to a couple of women who, whether we all agree with their ideals or not, have opened the door for other women to raise their voices in politics. It is fitting, when you look at how Palin has truly reached across the aisle in filling her cabinet and in getting legislation through the Alaskan legislature, that she would mention those who made the "glass ceiling" appear not-so-thick.
Susan Estrich, a liberal Fox News contributor, had an article up almost as soon as Palin's name was out stating how the Republicans had another think coming if they thought women would flock to Palin. That was demeaning to women, sayeth Estrich, to think that they would vote based on anatomy. I agree. That is condescension at the same level as assuming that someone might vote for a candidate based on pigmentation.
Palin deserves a closer look not because she is a woman, but because she was willing to take on the criminals in her own party.
She deserves consideration because she is not the normal product of the slow-grinding political machine that turns smart people into bobble-headed mouthpieces.
She deserves consideration because she recognizes that being a representative of the people is a priviledge, and that it does not deserve priviledges.
She deserves consideration because she walks the talk - she knew the likelihood of her baby being born with developmental issues, but stayed true to her beliefs (and Trig isn't a showpiece for her; he is a blessing).
She deserves consideration because she is skin-and-bones evidence that conservativism is not dead.
Strange that it took John McCain to bring us Sarah Palin.