September 26, 2008

So What if He Dies?

So far, I think the "heartbeat away" blitzkrieg against Sarah Palin has been wildly overblown, despite the fact it seems to have finally browbeat Kathleen Parker of National Review into submission.

Now I can only imagine the email she's getting at the moment, and hope none of my readers pile on, but really, how well thought out is this fear-mongering that John McCain could catch a cold/have a heart attack/mysteriously trip and impale himself on a nearby moose antler the week after he is inaugurated really thought out? While I suspect McCain have several more decades of life in him if his still active mother's DNA has anything to say about it, let's play out the fear that President McCain dies early in his term in office.

Obviously, one of the first things that must be done upon a President's passing is the installation of the Constitutionally-designated successor, the Vice President, in this case, Sarah Palin.

Sure, watching a first-term governor better known for a love of big game hunting and having enough kids to field a basketball team get unexpectedly catapulted into the White House when the elected Republican President unexpectedly dies is going to be nerve-wracking, but you know what?


Last time, it turned out pretty damn well
.

And it is also very much worth noting we're also at a point in history where there is simply too much going on for a President to be a master of any particular field, anyway. Presidents are the elected figureheads, but presidencies are a group effort.

There is simply too much knowledge being generated in astounding amounts on a daily basis, and Presidents, instead of being expected to know it all, have teams of extremely specialized advisers to help make important decisions on any and all subjects. Barack Obama isn't President, and yet he's had to build a staff of 300 or more advisers just to run a half-convincing campaign that he even now "um," ah," "uhs" his way through as he forgets what they try to impart (and the teleprompter isn't working).

If Palin becomes President, on of the very first thing she's going to do as a young, untested leader is select a wise and experienced political pro as her Vice President, someone who knows and excels in policy matters and had good judgment— the wonkish policy genius of a Newt Gingrich, or the reassuring baritone and rock-solid first principles of a Fred Thompson.

On the other hand we've got a untested Barack Obama running for President, being backed by Joe Biden, the gaffe-tastic, Zaphod-Beeblebrox-with-hair-plugs career politician that no one in either party takes seriously, who even the Democrats won't let chair anything important that mere seniority doesn't force them to give him.

So seriously... which is the scarier prospect?

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 04:38 PM | Comments (22) | Add Comment
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1 By this logic, McCain could've picked a monkey, or he could actually *be* a monkey. We don't vote for teams, we vote for people: two, a President and a VP. Palin's performance during the Couric interview was embarrassing, pathetic, and frightening. Don't try to distract us with something shiny; *we're* not the monkeys.

Posted by: Dan at September 26, 2008 05:24 PM (ExyBd)

2 was this a poor performance before or after the editing?

Posted by: redc1c4 at September 26, 2008 05:45 PM (vLw7K)

3 "was this a poor performance before or after the editing?" A shrewd point. Just before her answer on the bailout, Palin said, "Let me give you my impression of Adam Sandler's Excitable Southerner." MSM don't want you to know that!

Posted by: Kyle at September 26, 2008 06:08 PM (6s1Eg)

4 OT: CY, have you seen this? http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/

Posted by: Grey Fox at September 26, 2008 06:17 PM (HbWEL)

5 Palin's performance during the Couric interview was embarrassing, pathetic, and frightening. Compared to what? When Dan's overwhelmed with the brilliance and intelligence of his Vice Presidential candidate, who thinks President FDR was going on TV in 1929 to talk to the nation about the stock market crash, what we can see is that the standard of grading here is roughly the inverse of what anyone else in the real world would think. Palin did just fine with a hostile hatemongering Obamabot who kept trying to disqualify her answers. Couric made it clear she was going to do anything she could to try to sabotage Palin, and came off looking totally and completely biased and petty.

Posted by: North Dallas Thirty at September 26, 2008 06:19 PM (E3Yxq)

6 OK, try again... http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZmZmZDg3NjkzMTk3OGZiMjc0YjVhOWUyY2I5YjY1ZTE=

Posted by: Grey Fox at September 26, 2008 06:20 PM (HbWEL)

7 Yes, Biden often misspeaks, but there's no fine line between educated misstatements and general flailing. It's a chasm. Did you see Palin respond to a question about the bailout? Can you explain it to me? Really. No kidding. What the heck was she talking about? What did all that mean? One more little tidbit regarding the original post. If a hypothetical President Palin chooses a wise Vice President to right the ship of state, why couldn't John McCain do that in the first place? Why not choose someone qualified, so Palin won't have to do it for him?

Posted by: Dan at September 26, 2008 06:47 PM (ExyBd)

8 Grey Fox, Yes, I'm well aware of Obama using local law enforcement authorities to try to intimidate opponents. You consider this news?

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at September 26, 2008 07:11 PM (HcgFD)

9 You assclowns on the right keep on believing that Palin is anything more than a hot-lookin' mess. We'll continue to laugh our asses off as we coast to victory this November.

Posted by: Hank Heartland at September 27, 2008 07:41 AM (2SLMP)

10 And a haberdasher from Kansas was a BETTER V-P choice exactly how? I'm partial to normal human beings who are NOT BeltwayLoungers, myself.

Posted by: dad29 at September 27, 2008 10:10 AM (ddQiK)

11 By the way, BeebleBrox added another one, per RedState, to the effect that Petraeus is implementing a plan that Biden and Obama proposed...

Posted by: dad29 at September 27, 2008 10:13 AM (ddQiK)

12 "And a haberdasher from Kansas was a BETTER V-P choice exactly how?" Perhaps because said haberdasher had not merely a haberdasher before becoming the VP choice. He had been an army captain in WWI (saw much combat), a judge and a senator. As Senator, he headed the "Truman Committee" which exposed fraud and waste in the military procurement process, and went after war profiteers. But this was back in the day when war profiteering was considered a BAD thing.............."BH" (before Halliburton)

Posted by: dr. luba at September 27, 2008 12:18 PM (Q096i)

13 "And a haberdasher from Kansas was a BETTER V-P choice exactly how?" Perhaps because said haberdasher had not merely a haberdasher before becoming the VP choice. He had been an army captain in WWI (saw much combat), a judge and a senator. As Senator, he headed the "Truman Committee" which exposed fraud and waste in the military procurement process, and went after war profiteers. But this was back in the day when war profiteering was considered a BAD thing.............."BH" (before Halliburton)

Posted by: dr luba at September 27, 2008 12:19 PM (Q096i)

14 I hate Biden. I think he's a buffoon. But Palin is in another league altogether. Every politician makes gaffes; Biden certainly at a ridiculous rate. Palin doesn't make gaffes, because nobody can figure out what she's saying. All of the apologia for her is pathetic. She not only lacks the experience for high public office (I'd include her present job in that statement), she has significantly less knowledge and is less articulate than dozens of people I know who would never presume themselves to be qualified for vice president. McCain and Palin have taken the Peter Principle and beaten it to death with a club.

Posted by: Simon W. at September 27, 2008 12:35 PM (h3KhM)

15 So seriously... which is the scarier prospect? Palin scares her own party, brother. And some of us remember that McCain used to scare a lot of Republicans. He still scares some hardier souls. Did you forget Condoleezza Rice's praise of Joe Biden as a good leader and great patriot? He's cartoonish in some ways, sure but he's not a national joke. And hanging on the prospect of Slow Fred Thompson or Newt Gingrich..Jesus, could you be any more desperate?

Posted by: Miss O at September 27, 2008 01:30 PM (XFaEa)

16 "The left hates Sarah Palin because she may very likely be able to run as an incumbent. This represents another denial of Hillary's entitlement status." JonFLob Jon, you must be smoking some of Bill Clinton's dope if you think Palin could run as an incumbent. Palin is a real mistake on McCain's part (although I still like him a lot). Even conservative women are starting to turn on her. She is drowning right now and I am afraid she is going to start pulling McCain down with her.

Posted by: Brian Q. at September 27, 2008 01:56 PM (dtm+h)

17 And whoever mcCain picked would never be good enough. Let us be honest here , if McCain picked Romney , the charge would be that he's a Mormon , a rich fat cat and oh yeah ,the BIG DIG . How about Eric Cantor , one problem he's a Jew and we all know how the MSM loves Jews who are Republican and who will defend Israel . How about Tim Pawlenty , a competent governor that will be attacked by the Democrats for funding the the Twins baseball stadium and would be partially blamed for the collapse of the I-35W Mississipi Bridge . How about Governor Jindal , besides being an Uncle Tom for leaving Hinduism for Catholicism , a Republican from Louisiana and less experience than Obama . It does not matter who McCain picked , it will be never good enough . What would be good enough is that McCain just roll over and die so Obama would not work hard in becoming the President of the United States .

Posted by: Will at September 27, 2008 07:41 PM (4sHuN)

18 Obama should scare the crap out of the Dems every time he flips on anything he's previously said (NAFTA, FISA, Iraq, Pakistan, gun control, etc, etc), but they honestly don't care because they know he'll do the "right thing" once in office. Sort of a super sleeper Manchurian candidate, they hope. If not, they're in for some serious buyer remorse. At least Repubs are honest enough to openly criticize our own party without being banished to the dust bin of history, as so many Dems have been for "wrong thinking" over the past few months. Plus National Review sadly lost it's rudder and has been floundering ever since with no clear editorial vision. So Sarah Palin's not ready to be VP? Big deal, Obama's not ready to be President and no one really seems to care about that at all.

Posted by: joh at September 27, 2008 11:39 PM (1DPb/)

19 Palin is a bit rough around the edges. So what? It was never plausible that a second Reagan or TR would spring fully formed from the glaciers of Alaska. Reagan had thought and written about politics for decades. Of course, he was painted as a dunce anyway - by the same smart people who prefer politics to be a closed shop. As governor of Alaska, Palin was decisive, incorruptible and pragmatic. She knew what she needed to know. It´s called gumption. You either want such people in the White House or you want to elect lifers. Or whomever the media chooses. Yes, she´s a newcomer, she did not need to know much about national or foreign policy issues a couple of weeks ago. And she is facing an unprecedented wave of hatred and hostile scrutiny. Even after two years of campaigning Obama wouldn´t survive an hour of that. Anyone can be destroyed at will if such methods are accepted as part of the game. Or we can elect Senators for the rest of our lives. After all, they can go on for hours about things they know nothing about. If that is what matters.

Posted by: el gordo at September 28, 2008 09:29 AM (Ca7pt)

20 Don't you know that CBS edited the interview with Governor Palin and Katie Couric? They used the same tactics that Michael Moore uses to make anyone appear to say anything he wants them to say.

Posted by: Opeck at September 28, 2008 04:24 PM (d920R)

21 Confederate, You say: "it was CBS News that used fake documents to try to influence the last Presidential election." Again as I stated in my last post, I think we as Republicans should be very careful with their words. Everything I have read on the subject says that CBS failed to properly authenticate the documents. Though despicable, this is substantially different than knowing the documents are fake and using them (despite this knowledge) to influence the election. We need to be the party of moral authority and truth. We can't fall into the democrat's modernist trap of fudging the truth and we are beginning to do this all the time.

Posted by: Brian at September 30, 2008 03:20 PM (Jx32+)

22 Get it straight folks. Poor little Sarah is not poor - heard on NPR that she is a millionaire. Is the down home stuff an act or what because I hope she is acting at playing stupid....

Posted by: pessimist at October 02, 2008 06:42 PM (FxX4E)

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