Palin’s Problems

Posted by Seth on Sep 02, 2008 - 11:50 pm

So, in only a few days I’ve gone from exultation to frustration over the selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s VP.  I suggest you go back and read what I said in my earlier posts about my thoughts on Palin and her candidacy.  I stand by those comments, and see her, still, as a great candidate.  She’s being given scrutiny from the major news media that she’s never received before, and this is allowing a lot of things to become public that either the McCain camp knew about and was waiting to become public, or they didn’t know because of an improper vetting of Palin.  The public will likely never know for sure which of those is true, so instead of dwelling over this concept, I’m going to run down these controversies and point out why I don’t think they will matter in the next two months.

Palin’s Daughter is Pregnant:  She’s strongly pro-life, the daughter’s keeping it, and even Obama has called this issue off limits, noting that he was the child of an unwed, teenage mother.

Her Husband was a member of the Alaskan Independence Party:  Despite attempts by Democrats to tie her to this group, the only evidence of her connection to the party is her husband’s on and off registration in the party.  He is now an independent.  Her only connection was a video address to the party’s convention where she welcomes and encourages the competition of third parties in Alaska.  On top of that is the charges about her support for Pat Buchanan which are completely false.  She backed Steve Forbes.  Her husband’s lack of political decision-making will likely not affect people’s opinions of the actual candidate.

She’s hired an attorney for Troopergate: OK, first of all, can we PLEASE stop using “gate” after every scandal that happens in this country?  It’s uncreative and boring, and I’m tired of hearing it.  Anyway.  For those of you listening at home who are not familiar with Troopergate, here’s the rundown.. Palin’s sister was married to Trooper Mike Wooten, but went through a nasty divorce.  Palin fired Wooten’s boss, former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.  Obviously, this has led to speculation that Palin was involved in the firing for personal reasons.  Palin had no choice but to hire an outside attorney for this.  She is unusually open and ethical, and her sheer openness to being investigated makes me think that this is being pushed as more of a scandal than it really is.  When the truth about all of this comes out, Palin will likely be at the safe side of this.  On top of all that, this is a minor blip when it comes to political scandals.

Between Gustav and all of Palin’s controversy, the general election has gotten off to a rough start for Republicans.  Just remember, Obama’s bounce was much less than other past candidates, and the race is beginning to stabilize again.  This will all pass, much like Gustav will eventually pass out of existence, and we’ll wake up to a re-invigorated Republican base that was begrudgingly pro-McCain until he picked a fan favorite for Republicans as his VP.

We’ll see what happens with the race in two weeks.