Matt Damon on Sarah Palin
Despite all the furore around McCain's bizarre choice of running mate, the hypocritical accusations of leftist smears (hypocritical if one considers the sort of slime that's been pumped out almost non-stop regarding Barack Obama for months on end) that are now preventing the Dems to talk policies, there remains at least one important and legitimate concern regarding her nomination. Rarely before has the prospect of a VP becoming president before the end of term of the presidency been so real, due to McCain's ripe age. Simply put, as the chances of the Reps holding on to the White House are very roughly 50/50, the probability of a natural presidential demise and ascendancy of the veep to the throne has almost never been higher than in this race.
The US and in particular potential McCain voters, really needs to ask itself, rather than concentrate on fawning over this "populist hockey mom", whether they really want this largely unknown quantity to be president. It's ironic that presidential candidates go through a grueling vetting process of highly intense and very prolonged scrutiny, often (like McCain) having to stand for a party's presidential candidacy nomination twice, that in Sarah Palin we have someone about which we know almost nothing. Apart from a few well crafted speeches, written on her behalf, there's almost nothing we know about the kind of president she would actually make. That in itself points to the fact that McCain took a rather desperate gamble, one that might actually pay off, yet bring about many unintended consequences.
Matt Damon has his own take on it:
posted by Gert @ 5:49 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Gert, come on...Matt Damon?? Look, Palin polls 10 points higher than Biden nationally as the better VP selection. The only question is whether or not choosing Biden over Hillary will cost Obama the election.
In real life, Obama and McCain aren't far on policy. They are apart culturally.
Obama has been laid back, because for McCain to win, he needs to win 8 out of 10 close primaries. He is focused on local races.
Republicans expect a replay of when Hillary first won the senate seat. The guy she ran against accused her was accused of bullying and sexism. It will be easy for Biden to avoid that trap, by focusing on McCain.
She is winning conservative votes, but not moderate.
Gert: first of, how do you know Pallin's speeches were scripted? Give her some credit. She may have been able to write a few quality speeches herself.
But what I really don't understand is why you're so deeply interested by American politics. I realize I'm interested more with Israeli than local politics but I not only lived there, my people consider to reside there. What's your special connection;)
Hi Eitan,
All political speeches are scripted, so are Obama's, McCain's or Biden's.
As regards my interest in American politics? The US is the last remaining superpower and wields much influence on the geopolitical stage. When it rains there, it drizzles here.
On top of that, US politics is a spectator sport: very gladiatorial. That makes it very ugly sometimes but fascinating to watch nonetheless: at heart we're all voyeurs...
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