McCain Selects Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh’s Pick

Sarah Palin looks like an amazing pick. I posted a few comments on Joel Comm’s blog (search the page for “Elliot Lee”) with my thoughts. I may update this post later with other details.

People sometimes say that McCain voted with Bush 90% of the time, as if this is a bad thing. Though I haven’t verified this, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s true. It’s quite likely in fact that Bush’s votes are good 90% of the time. Perhaps it’s the 10% where Bush voted differently from McCain that those people don’t like. In other words, McCain’s votes might be exactly what those people want. After all, he did differ from Bush at least 10% of the time!

And there’s really not that much bad about Bush as he was for most of his presidency. Watch the 2000 Presidential Debates. It’s very clear there that he is qualified to be President, and would make at least a decent one.

Geraldine Ferrarro, a Democrat and the first woman to be nominated for the Vice President position of a major party ticket, made a blog post supporting the choice of Sarah Palin.

The U.S. has not had a woman Vice President yet. Let’s hope Palin is the first (and not the last).

Fred Thompson on Sarah Palin: “I am absolutely delighted by this selection. Once again, John McCain has shown that he is an independent thinker who paints in bold strokes. Sarah Palin is a conservative reformer with executive experience who will bring a breath of fresh air to Washington. She will be an ideal running mate for John McCain, and will make a major contribution to our country’s future.”

“True conservatives” all liked Thompson, right?

Scott MacLeod writes for Time Magazine:

Palin may have no foreign policy record, but there are still a few things to say about McCain’s choice in this area.

I do like the fact that she’s an outsider, a political maverick, a can-do administrator and is a woman–perhaps the latter has something to do with the former. The Middle East’s problems are not beyond the capacity of the the world’s super power to solve. But Washington has done more harm than good because of Beltway pandering to special interests, gutless politicians unable or unwilling to challenge conventional wisdom and plain lack of diplomatic and military competence. Palin strikes me as somebody capable of thinking outside the box, standing up to special interest groups, empathizing with the ordinary suffering people and pushing no-nonsense, effective policies in the Middle East. Yes, I’d prefer a vice president who knows something about foreign policy. Yet, I’ve always been impressed by how ordinary Americans I know often talk more sense about the Middle East than the politicians and experts. If Palin can use her smarts and pragmatism to grasp the essential issues in the Middle East, and help formulate and articulate common sense policies that the American people will support, she could prove a better vice president than Obama’s No. 2. Another optimistic way of looking at McCain’s choice: in contrast with Bush’s selection of the experienced, influential and ultimately disastrous Dick Cheney, McCain intends to keep his vice president out of foreign policy decision-making.