{"id":3664,"date":"2008-09-03T13:08:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-03T19:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/09\/palin-will-help-mccain-if-she-can-withstand-the-heat\/"},"modified":"2009-08-22T14:47:00","modified_gmt":"2009-08-22T20:47:00","slug":"palin-will-help-mccain-if-she-can-withstand-the-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/09\/palin-will-help-mccain-if-she-can-withstand-the-heat\/","title":{"rendered":"Palin will help McCain, if she can withstand the heat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Media focused on scandal and John McCain\u2019s<\/a> vetting (or lack thereof) of Sarah Palin<\/a> fail to realize one key detail — many of the very voters who will decide this election like the Alaska governor in spite of or even because of some of the revelations the media has brought to light. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Because of that, McCain\u2019s selection might have been brilliant — if Palin can survive the media vetting.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The issue is what one Washington Independent<\/a> writer called a \u201cbacklash against elitism.\u201d This election is going to be decided by rural and independent voters in a handful of states — New Mexico<\/st1:state>, Colorado<\/st1:state> and Nevada<\/st1:state> among them — who, like so many other Americans, are sick of highly educated, wealthy and ingrained politicos in Washington<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> failing to address the nation\u2019s most pressing issues.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

While independent voters are difficult to put in a box on issues, rural voters tend to be religious, pro-Second Amendment and favor more drilling for oil. Palin fits the mold on all of those issues. On the issue of religion, many media outlets have appropriately called her words and those of her pastor<\/a> controversial, but it\u2019s the same familiar talk many Americans hear every Sunday.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Generally speaking, rural Americans hunt and fish. It\u2019s more than a pastime; it\u2019s a huge part of their lives. Photos like this one<\/a> with a hunted caribou, this one<\/a> with a bearskin rug and this one<\/a> fishing resonate with such voters.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s her gender. Though Palin has been attacked by many women\u2019s-rights advocates for her views on abortion and funding for teen pregnancy, one could argue that she broke ground as a sports anchor for an Alaska TV station<\/a> in the 1980s. She was doing a job traditionally done by men at that time, especially in a rural, conservative state. She wins respect for that.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The volunteer basketball coach who got her start in politics through the local PTA still commutes to work. She and her husband own a small business.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u2018I feel like I know her\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Rebecca Powell, an independently minded blogger for NewWest.net<\/a> who once lived in Montana, wrote in a Monday posting<\/a> that, the more she reads about Palin, \u201cthe more I feel like I know her, that I have lived beside her, sat a few pews behind her in church, and maybe bumped into her at the local grocery store.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Palin, Powell wrote, \u201creminds me of dozens of Northern women I met in Montana<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>. Physically imposing and fiercely competent, they make running their homes and communities look effortless. Men call them \u2018good gals,\u2019 and children need them. They hunt, bake, fish and camp for weeks on end with the same smile and perfect hair.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the issue of Palin\u2019s daughter\u2019s pregnancy<\/a>. Powell has something to say about that, too:<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cHer underage, unwed daughter is pregnant, yet that story seems familiar, too, like a story that happens in small northern towns where summer nights last and last and the threat of winter makes everyone a little frenzied,\u201d she wrote. \u201cHaving worked with teenage girls and been a particularly headstrong teenage girl, I think the appropriate Christian response to such a story is \u2018there goes I, but for the grace of God.\u2019 Show me the mother that has perfect control of her teenage daughter and I will show you a teenage girl locked in a basement without windows or cell service.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The vetting<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The media frenzy that erupted after McCain announced his surprise pick is justified. No one should get to the White House without being fully known by the American people. Some serious issues have been brought to light, including the trooper scandal<\/a>, Palin\u2019s flop on the bridge to nowhere<\/a> and alleged ties to the Alaskan Independence Party<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But none of the revelations reported thus far are worse than controversies many other politicians, including New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a>, have faced.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Critics can complain about Palin\u2019s lack of political experience, but she\u2019s riding the same wave of anti-Washington sentiment that carried Barack Obama<\/a> to the Democratic Party\u2019s nomination.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Washington<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> is broken. Experienced politicians have proven over and over in recent years that they\u2019re unable or unwilling to solve our nation\u2019s problems. Americans want change. Obama and McCain are both working to reach rural and independent voters, but neither has won over enough to have the election in the bag.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Palin\u2019s speech tonight at the Republican National Convention will be a strong indicator of whether she can withstand the heat. Assuming she can, she will help McCain win over rural voters, and that will increase the GOP nominee\u2019s chance of winning the presidency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Media focused on scandal and John McCain\u2019s vetting (or lack thereof) of Sarah Palin fail to realize one key detail — many of the very voters who will decide this election like the Alaska governor in spite of or even because of some of the revelations the media has brought to light. Because of that, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-haussamen-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3664\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}