Extreme Make-Over: Sarah Palin Edition

As news reports announce Senator Barack Obama opening a double-digit lead over Senator John McCain - two weeks before the November 4th Election - the 'Joe Six-Pack' public persona of Sarah Palin - expertly-crafted by the McCain image machine (formerly of the G.W. Bush machine) - has been caught with toilet paper trailing from her high-end heels.

Breaking News:
It's been discovered that the Republican Party has invested more than $150,000 on clothes, cosmetics, hair and accessories for Sarah Palin and family since she was named as the vice-presidential candidate in August. According to financial records obtained by Politico.com, the high-style spending spree started in September.

$150,000... In One Month?!

Hmmm... It kinda flies in the face of her claim of being an "... average hockey mom" who is the candidate of the "Joe six-packs."

Not only that, questions are arising over the legality of Palin's wardrobe being paid for with McCain campaign donations.

Campaign finance experts cite the Federal Election Commission's opposition to campaign money being used to buy items for personal use.

In response, a campaign spokesperson weakly offered that the clothes would eventually be donated to charity. (That's all well and good, but it still doesn't answer the legality question.)

And, if you haven't noticed the change from August until now (I didn't... but I try not to actively pay any attention to her.)... that's probably because her look hasn't changed as much as the names on the labels and their prices.

After initially refusing to comment on the expensive wardrobe make-over, the McCain/Palin campaign turned to its recurring red herring: the media.

The news of this startling shopping spree comes out even as the Republicans have the gall to attack Senator Obama as a tax-and-spend Democrat.

In Other Good News (the kind that restores my belief that human beings can and will avoid causing their own self-destruction)...

According to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll (of 1,159 registered voters, conducted from Friday to Monday with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points), "... the popularity of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has fallen. Voters are less likely to see the Republican vice presidential nominee in a positive light, and much more likely to report negative feelings, the Wall Street Journal said.

Forty-seven percent view Palin negatively, compared with 38 percent who see her in a positive light.

Fifty-five percent of voters say Palin is not qualified to be president, up from 50 percent two weeks ago."
(From: www.reuters.com/)

Whew!

Why do I have such an aversion to Sarah Palin?

Well, it's nothing personal... it can't be... I've never met her.

For me (and, thankfully, more than enough voting people) the Glaring Issue here isn't wardrobe or any other superficial item.

It is that - for still unidentified and utterly unimagineable reasons - Senator John McCain chose a completely unqualified person for Republican VP nominee.

And, I figure that, once the choice of Palin was announced to the media and the public and the cat was out of the proverbial bag... No matter what - if any - serious concerns or relevant questions that might come up regarding Palin, her qualifications, her past... the Republicans were stuck with her. It would be virtually impossible for McCain to announce (even if he really wanted to) -say at the RN Convention, "Oops! Heh... heh. My bad! Scratch that. How 'bout this one instead?". Though, at that time, I wished he would.

What makes her unqualified?
Where do I begin?

First and Foremost:
The simple fact is that she has no idea of what is required of/the duties expected of the person holding the position of Vice President of these United States?

This wouldn't be a problem for me... if she weren't aiming to try to occupy that position.

In more than one interview, when asked what the Vice President does or what she would do if she were to become Vice President, her responses have consistently made this fact excruciatingly obvious.

Examples:
1.) In an interview on KUSA, an NBC affiliate in Colorado:
Third grader Brandon Garcia wanted to know, "What does the Vice President do?"

Palin's response didn't just overflow with insincere rhetoric... it was patently false:
"[T]hey're in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom."

2.) In an appearance on Hardball with Chris Matthews:
GOV. SARAH PALIN (R-AK), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: "A vice president has a really great job because not only are they there to support the president's agenda, they're like the team member, the teammate to that president, but also they're in charge of the United States Senate. So if they want to, they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better."

"As Colin Powell said on Sunday's "Meet the Press," the job of the vice president is to stand ready under the Constitution in the tragic circumstances to replace the president. Now, that's one role. The other role is to have only a tie-breaking role as presiding officer of the U.S. Senate. That's it. The Constitution specifically prescribes that. In fact, it says that's all that a person has the right to do."

"She believes somehow that the vice president of the United States has a commanding policy development role... and can lead the U.S. Senate. Where'd she get this from? You've got a candidate who doesn't know the job description."
(From:hardblogger.msnbc.msn.com/)

As Matthews put it succintly in a follow-up interview with McCain campaign spokeswoman, Nancy Pfotenhauer:

Matthews: "Somehow, in all these trips to Washington — through Neiman's, and through Saks, and through everywhere else she stopped off, she never picked up a copy of the Constitution. It is a problem. It is a problem, Nancy, and you know it."

Hello? America? This is a Serious Problem.

Whenever I've been job-hunting, I've researched the duties of the position I was seeking. I would Never interview for a job without knowing what the requirements/duties were. Would you?

The person who is the Vice President is a hair's-breadth away from the Presidency.

And, in the 2008 Race, in John McCain, we have a respectable candidate for President who made a singularly poor choice for a VP running mate.

Sarah Palin not only is unqualified and unprepared to be our Vice President...

She is - without question - unqualified and unprepared to be our President.

It isn't at all Personal.

It is a Simple Fact.

Since the McCain campaign is run by those who ran the G.W. Bush campaign, I can see where the rigid refusal to admit mistakes comes from... they raised it to a satirical art form.

But, a mistake was made. They refused to admit it. They refused to correct it. They named Sarah Palin and - after the announcement - for perpetuity... they saw no other option but to 'stay the course'... relying heavily on damage control teams, red herrings, name-calling and media-bashing along the way.

It's unfortunate, but it is what is.

Maybe they'll learn things from this experience...
Things like Humility... and the value of being able to admit making a mistake and the pride that comes with being Honest and the empowerment felt when you correct a mistake...

... Yeah, I know... But, I can Dream can't I?

Peace.
L.