Jay Tea at Wizbang has done a fabulous job of detailing why Sarah Palin’s experience trumps Obama’s by a mile, and she isn’t even running for President:
Palin is inexperienced, has less experience than Senator Obama. That depends on your definition of “experience.” On paper, purely by the calendar, it’s true.
But what matters to me is not quantity of time, but quality. What Palin has achieved in her political career dwarfs Obama’s accomplishments, as well as those of a lot of other politicians with a lot more time in office.
In 2002, she ran for lieutenant governor, and lost. As an apparent “consolation prize,” she was appointed Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. There, she made an incredibly stupid rookie mistake — she took her job seriously. She actually investigated and brought action against corrupt politicians of both parties. And when the corrupt faction of the Republicans blocked her from going after their cronies, she issued a scorching resignation that named names — names that ended up paying very hefty fines for misconduct.
Palin then used that as a springboard to clean up the state overall, and ran for governor against the incumbent Republican. Frank Murkowski. Astonishingly, she beat him in the primary and won the right to take on the Democratic nominee, former governor Tony Knowles. Knowles had the experience and outspent her mightily, but she still beat him by over seven percentage points.
That’s right. She took out a sitting governor AND a former governor.
So, what has she done since she took office two scant years ago? Well, for one, she promised to cut the state’s budget and lower taxes. Some of the things she did was to put the state’s airplane up for sale on EBay. She also looked at the 30-year-long fight over the Trans-Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline and blew her way through the last obstacles. She shaved almost a quarter of a billion dollars off the state’s budget. She fought against a bunch of pork-barrel earmarks for the state.
One place she failed: she backed the Republican challenger for indicted Senator Ted Stevens. Stevens won that primary.
She also passed some significant ethics reforms, further burnishing her reputation as a fighter of corruption.
With her two years in the governorship, along with her prior four years of mayor of Wasilla, Palin has more executive experience than any of the other three people on the national ticket. She has more than all of them combined. All have spent their entire careers as legislators.
Oh and Senators Obama and Biden? Palin has also served as Commander in Chief of the Alaska National Guard for two years. Would you care to cite your own quasi-military records?
But of course we have the MSM complaining that her real minus is because she has never appeared on Meet The Press……I’m not kidding, check the link.
And the last line of this post goes to Mike Huckabee who took on Alan Colmes and beat him with a stick:
AC: Do you believe that Sarah Palin is ready, Day One, if God forbid something happens to John McCain?
MH: I think she’s far more ready to be President if something happens to McCain than Barack Obama would be if something doesn’t happen to McCain.
Take that!
But it’s not really her experience the nutroots are upset about…its because she is hitler, as written in this piece at KOS entitled “F___K YOU CBS and FOX NEWS!!!”:
Wow, Miss Beauty Fisherman Hunter Hitler Palin PTA Soccor Mom has ZERO experience and all the NEOCONS drool over her like she is all everything wrapped into one.
Stay classy lefties….stay classy.
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We are going to have ‘wait ‘n’ see’ if McCain has stolen the ball or lost the game in choosing Palin.
This was a high risk, high reward strategy, plain and simple and it’s hard for anyone to honestly say otherwise. It’s strains credulity to believe they chose her to add depth and strength to their package– to deliver a one, two punch! The McCain campaign rightfully determined that the political landscape was against them. Obama had 38 million viewing the convention and 85, 000 attending it; it was, stated conservatively, very good –polls are indicating he is still getting a bounce, and may go to low doubles digits. McCain’s campaign obviously saw this. Therefore, the choice was to go with a ‘one, two power punch’ or go off the beaten path, chart a new direction and roll and gamble. (That required some gutsto! I’ll give it to McCain on having brass.) Therefore, they made a straight play for women and evangelicals which led them to pick Gov. Palin, the place where McCain is weak and has a reasonable chance to get their vote, to get them to the polls.
No more really needs to be said about it, it’s now up to her to pull it off. Can she deliver them?
If nothing else, McCain certainly has rewritten the political play book in shattering the white male standard for both parties’ presidential tickets! Not even Geraldine Ferraro was as risky, being a congressmen and lawyer.
For those of you that strongly disagree with the above, give this a glance:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12997.html
Doug, my man…. you’re adopting a “wait and see” stance? Are we getting to be a more patient guy of late? Or only as it pertains to conservative matters that appear positive? LOL I do certainly hope it’s the former.
Yes, there was lots and lots of viewerswatching the convention. However of that convention viewing audience, you have to remember many of us were the popcorn munchers, waiting to see just how the DNC was going to screw FL and MI, and finally the roll call of states, and still leave their minions happy that their candidate was actually “voted” in. uh huh.
Guess that explains all the entertainment and fire works… and oh yea, why they didn’t enforce the marijuana law during that week. Keep ’em busy and keep ’em high. Then they won’t notice.
MH…, my bud, I now even think the SOFA is dead, understood in your any agreement terminology of a SOFA , as well as my MOU in lieu of a SOFA terminology, for this president.
Also, I still think there won’t be provincial elections this year, which is, obviously, quite clear.
I still think there won’t be constitutional reforms for the Sunnis this year; dangerously unfortunate.
I still think the ISCI/Kurd/Maliki alliance is fragile.
I still think Sadr is a wild card capable in stoking a political upheaval.
I still think Bush ‘sold the farm’, ignoring our troop leverage, in begging to let us stay longer than the Iraqis wanted:
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-iraq-deal.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin
In short, I still see deep concern over political grievances and divisions and am tired of the ‘wait and see’ for political progress.
But Doug, when you think of it, everything… politics and life in general… is always a wait and see. Nothing is stagnant. Humans take steps forward, and steps backwards all the time. The future is not written, but always constantly fluctuating.
Thus why history is, actually, fascinating to watch unfold. It’s a novel without end.
MH, I teach philosophy; you sure you want to go there? ; )
Teach philosophy, eh? Well, guy, that explains alot…. LOL I do say that with some affection, so don’t take it wrong.
But conversing with philosophy majors is like conversing with libertarians. Stimulating, but never ending, extremely abstract.. all from the foundation that what one sees as reasonable and reasoning, the other does not.
So, as I’m still brain dead from my wee hours experience with the Trooper’Gate post, do forgive me if I bow out of any deep philosophical debate at the moment.
I read that long post, and I must say, that is the longest thing I think you’ve done. It’s SO long, and thoughtfully reseached, it simply requires a weekly update; don’t you think? I mean the drama continues right up to the doorstep of the election.
“I teach philosophy” That explains a lot. Any particular branch of philosophy?
It amazes me that Doug can always look on the down side of everything. It’s been a while since I minored in philosophy, but I wonder if there is a name for that? Or do we just call people who think that way Democrats?
When someone states that they teach philosophy in order to apply force to their arguments, you pretty much know they are blowhards. They are also immature and full of bad ideas.
doug said
“MH, I teach philosophy; you sure you want to go there? ; )”
ROFLMAO,,, isn’t that the same as saying “I teach how to watch paint dry and then try to explain the experience in 10,000 words or more?????” hahahaha…
Myself,, I teach people skills that allow them to make a living and be successful and productive..
Yes I teach at a technical school,, HVACR to be specific..
I have former students making over 100K due to what I taught them..
Wait and see my ass,,
Everyone I’ve talked to is excitited about Palin,, only the lefties are pissed becuause they know it’s bad for them..
It was nice to see they made a good decision by choosing Palin…
the leftie threads are having a hard time with the palin pick. they are pulling out all the stops frommsaying she faked her last pregnancy to spare her daughter from being seen as a teen mother to being nasty about her having 5 kids and one being disabled and how that will affect her job performance. i saw one poster else where call her a broodmare. isn’t that classy. she must have a set of big balls for the left to be so freakin scared.
I like the choice, but the word is that she is a creationist — what is the deal with that?
First Polls:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003844485
doug, as you know know polls are just about useless, it depends on the way questions are worded and if you poll in a larger liberal area and all. i read polls and usually disregard them. they always have the +/- thing and so unless there is a seperation of like 20 points it could be an either or kind of thing. but keep at it doug. i really don’t know why you come here to be punished by mata and mike and the rest. i may not be college educated, i may not be the best with words and spelling, but i deal with rell people everyday adn get first hand opinions fromt he people who will be doing the voting. doesn’t mena i know more or less than you, just that i see everyday people, the ones who helped to make this natin what it is today.
luva,
‘if polls are just about useless,’ why do you think campaign managers use them–follow them daily– political decisions are based on the them, and there are campaign strategists, and media organizations that pay social scientists money to interpret them?
polls don’t matter to the average person, we could give a shit. most people look at issues and how things affect them, not what the polls say. like most things in politics, there is much money wasted. people hate negative attcks, they hate bringing spouses into it, they hate lies and innuendo. they want the trueth, not some varnished version of the trueth twisted to support the study of how long it takes a rat to run across the road while a kenworth is coming. the average american cares how things affect them and their families, not how rural immigrant farmers perceive a speech given 2 nights ago. do you think it matters to most if “group x” likes that obama hates ice cream, but “group z” thinks he should be hung for it?
The male, corporate-media oriented polls will do a similar hatchet job on Sarah Palin as they did on Hillary. What is it about these abusive men? Zogby, of Arab background, was the farthest out during the primary, meaning, liar. None of the rest of the polls gave very close estimates to the outcomes of the main primary states. SUSA sometimes came close. When it comes to women running for office, from right, left or center, pretense of truth goes out the window.
Well, here’s an interesting Zogby poll:
http://www.zogby.com/News/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1547
Gallop uses registered voters and Rasmussen uses likely voters. Polling likely voters, as a rule has been more accurate. That said, Obama has only enjoyed a 4 point lead coming out of his convention, that’s not a big deal especially when all the cards are supposed to be in his/dems favor this cycle.
McCain only announced his VP pick yesterday, I think once the voters get a chance to see and hear Gov. Palin, his bounce will surpass Obama’s meager 4 pts.
WTF doug,,,
you’re ignoring me… I tossed out a big ole bone of contention and you back down like a liberal wussy….
Have you no pride?? Or do you have no argument?