But what I saw in Dayton was (1) the "maverick" GOP presidential candidate introducing his "maverick" running mate, although Palin, even more than McCain, is actually a conservative ideologue whose selection thrilled both cultural and economic factions of the Right; (2) a direct appeal by Palin to HRC supporters to consummate Hillary's campaign by shattering the splintered "glass ceiling;" (3) a compelling personal story of a woman who (a) has one son with Down's Syndrome, (b) another who is being deployed to Iraq on September 11; (c) is married to a Native American (at least technically) union worker and athlete; and (d) has bravely defied her party and oil companies in Alaska.
yesterday i thought that Palin would be unappetizing to testosterone-obssessed GOPers but her conservative creds are solid: anti-choice, anti-gay, fiscal conservative, believes global warming is fiction, wants to teach Creationism in schools, dedicated evangelical - no wonder ralph reed loves her. (which should have been my first clue!!)
so what's a dem to do?
i'd say leave the gender thing alone. we're too far along to keep playing these identity politics games.
yes yes yes - she's a chick. but so what? her gender is incidental to her regressive social and political beliefs. but more importantly, she's a chick who believes in all the things that tanked this country for the last 8 years. rip the mask of her so-called 'freshness' and 'maverick' status and frame her this way: she's a good-looking theocrat who wants to turn the clock back, basically a george bush in a skirt. we've done bush before, remember?
it should be really interesting to see the Dems in conflict with their desire to win and their unwillingness to be the bully.
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