Anyone else notice that "palin" is an anagram for "plain"? (IS she tall?) I love that story and the slow evolution of its characters from hardnosed, intransigent and wary to considerate, understanding and trusting. I doubt there's a parallel to draw between Patricia MacLachlan's character and the gov. of Alaska, but it's amusing to think about.

I must say that I think choosing Palin speaks well to McCain's not being as stodgy and same-old same-old as I feared. It also means he's reading the electorate cleverly, I think, as well as having a desire to effect actual change of his own. Yeah, sure, it's stealing some of the democrats' thunder (woman, change, etc.) but it's also putting a governor in the mix (all three other candidates are senators) and stealing thunder is part of the game, isn't it? Not to mention that if he gets elected and if his administration does well, in eight years a woman will be likely to become president. Goodness. And in the clips I've watched of her online, she seemed real (not phony), sincere, able to handle herself with the press, and good with presenting and structuring a speech to go where she wanted it to go.

McCain's ad congratulating Obama was generous, gracious and smart. I guess he's swinging into action. Their new slogan is "Reform - Prosperity - Peace" which pretty much covers the whole kit and kaboodle assuming you believe they mean it and believe they can do it.

Palin is a basketball champ, a runner, a moose hunter, a former fisherman, the mother of five (!), is married to an Eskimo, she's bucked backroom politics and won't be boxed into doing what she disagrees with, if what I read is true. Given Alaska's importance in the all-important energy issue as well as her apparently non-doctrinaire opinions, she might be compelling. In fact I would think she's cool except that she's supposedly both anti abortion and pro death penalty which is an inconsistent pairing that never makes logical sense to me. That aside, however, I think the election is a real horse race now because there are many democrats who say they might vote for McCain and there's that +/-28% of Hillary's supporters who say they will not vote for Obama under any circumstances.

It's not as if the veep has much to say about things unless the president specifically assigns him/her to something (although Cheney is repudiated to have run things but who knows if that's true). Maybe McCain would give Palin real authority over some matters of substance - that would be great at least from some points of view. Anyway, at present it's not as if the veep makes much of a real difference but - hesitantly - I'd venture to say that if the election were held today, McCain would win although by a narrow margin. What do you think?

Update. A friend who watched Palin's speech a few minutes ago wrote me, "I'll tell you one thing, this woman is a good public speaker. She doesn't need any sessions with media consultants. She just gave a better speech from a technical standpoint than any I've ever heard Hillary give. She also seems like a real person. Maybe all the things she said about herself are lies, but I doubt it. I may not agree with her about anything . . . but she doesn't seem like a phony. . . ."

Labels: 2008 election, government, gwb