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Before Sarah Palin takes the stage, it's important to look at polling on what women voters think of Sarah Palin. EMILY's List released new polls this morning. To me, here is the most important point:
Governor Palin's inclusion on the ticket squanders
John McCain's previous advantage over Barack Obama with regard to
experience and readiness to lead. When women voters learn that
Palin's total experience in elective office includes two years as
governor of Alaska, six years as mayor of a small suburban city, and
four years on the city council, and that she has never served in
Washington D.C. and has no foreign policy or national security
experience, they express notable concern. In fact, a majority (52%) say
that this information alone makes them less favorable to Palin (34%
much less favorable, 18% somewhat less favorable).
This speaks volumes to the fallacy of John McCain's decision making process, if he was going after women voters in choosing her as his nominee. Women voters don't just vote for other women, John. Now, there's no doubt Palin has got women talking about her. I'm sure copies of Ok and Us Magazine and the National Enquirer are flying off the shelves. Perez Hilton is blogging all Sarah scandal, all the time. But women voters buy tabloids, we don't vote on what they say.
We respect judgement and experience. Myrna the Minx has a great post highlighting how McCain's choice of Palin "confirms McCain’s penchant for making impulsive and erratic decisions.
It is widely acknowledged that McCain wanted Lieberman or Ridge to be
his selection for vice president, but after his campaign aides
convinced him that he needed a “pro-life” candidate, he picked Palin
after speaking to her once (or maybe twice) and without submitting her
to a full vetting process."
And here's what does matter: on the most basic provision for women's issues, Palin has let women down. Jill Zimon notes that Palin cut funding for children, youth and women.
Now, as I have written elsewhere, reality may not matter for Palin. Her image alone may help McCain attain victory. But as the new polling shows, women voters do embrace reality, and the McCain campaign is going to have to deal with this at some point.
I don't doubt Palin can win elections. I doubt she and McCain have the good judgement to lead our country out of our doldrums. When I see the sea of tabloid coverage aligning "Palin" and "Scandal" I question it even more. For someone who staked his qualifications to lead by attacking "celebrity," it seems McCain's aligned himself with a pretty darn big celebrity himself.
