[BRIGADE] PJB: Johnny's Got a New Girl
Published: Wed, 09/03/08
by Patrick J. Buchanan
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
The risk John McCain took last Friday is comparable to the
72-year-old ex-fighter pilot knocking back two shots and flying his
F-16 under the Golden Gate Bridge.
McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his co-pilot was
the biggest gamble in presidential history. As of now, it is paying
off, big-time.
The sensational selection in Dayton, Ohio, stepped all over the big
story from Denver -- Barack Obama's powerful address to 85,000
cheering folks in Mile High Stadium, and 35 million nationally, a
speech that vaulted him from a 2-point deficit early in the week to
an 8-point margin. Barack had never before reached 49 percent
against McCain.
As the Democrats were being rudely stepped on, however, Palin
ignited an explosion of enthusiasm among conservatives,
Evangelicals, traditional Catholics, gun owners and Right to Lifers
not seen in decades.
By passing over his friends Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge, and
picking Palin, McCain has given himself a fighting chance of
winning the White House that, before Friday morning, seemed to be
slipping away. Indeed, the bristling reaction on the left testifies
to Democratic fears that the choice of Palin could indeed be a
game-changer in 2008.
Liberals howl that Palin has no experience, no qualifications to be
president of the United States. But the lady has more executive
experience than McCain, Joe Biden and Obama put together.
None of them has ever started or run a business as Palin did. None
of them has run a giant state like Alaska, which is larger than
California and Texas put together. And though Alaska is not
populous, Gov. Palin has as many constituents as Nancy Pelosi or
Biden.
She has no foreign policy experience, we are told. And though
Alaska's neighbors are Canada and Russia, the point is valid. But
from the day she takes office, Palin will get daily briefings and
sit on the National Security Council with the president and
secretaries of state, treasury and defense.
She will be up to speed in her first year.
And her experience as governor of Alaska, dealing with the oil
industry and pipeline agreements with Canada, certainly compares
favorably with that of Barack Obama, a community organizer who
dealt in the mommy issues of food stamps and rent subsidies.
Where Obama has poodled along with the Daley Machine, Palin routed
the Republican establishment, challenging and ousting a sitting GOP
governor before defeating a former Democratic governor to become
the first female and youngest governor in state history.
For his boldness in choosing Palin, McCain deserves enormous
credit. He has made an extraordinary gesture to conservatives and
the party base, offering his old antagonists a partner's share in
his presidency. And his decision is likely to be rewarded with a
massive and enthusiastic turnout for the McCain-Palin ticket.
Rarely has this writer encountered such an outburst of enthusiasm
on the right.
In choosing Palin, McCain may also have changed the course of
history as much as Ike did with his choice of Richard Nixon and
Ronald Reagan did with his choice of George H.W. Bush. For should
this ticket win, Palin will eclipse every other Republican as heir
apparent to the presidency and will have her own power base among
Lifers, Evangelicals, gun folks and conservatives -- wholly
independent of President McCain.
A traditional conservative on social issues, Palin has become,
overnight, the most priceless political asset the movement has.
Look for the neocons to move with all deliberate speed to take her
into their camp by pressing upon her advisers and staff, and
steering her into the AEI-Weekly Standard-War Party orbit.
Indeed, if McCain defeats Barack, 2012 could see women on both
national tickets, and given McCain's age and the possibility he
intends to serve a single term, women at the top of both -- Sarah
vs. Hillary.
The arrival of Palin on the national scene, with her youth,
charisma and vitality, probably also portends a changing of the
guard in Washington.
With Republicans having zero chance of capturing either House, and
but a slim chance of avoiding losses in both, a Vice President
Palin, with her reputation as a rebel and reformer, would surely
inspire similar revolts in the Republican caucuses.
As Thomas Jefferson said, from time to time, a little rebellion in
the political world is as necessary as storms in the physical.
The Palin nomination could backfire, but it is hard to see how. She
has passed her first test, her introduction to the nation, with wit
and grace. And the Obama-Biden ticket, having already alienated
millions of women with the disrespecting of Hillary, is unlikely to
start attacking another woman whose sole offense is that she had
just been given the chance to break the glass ceiling at the
national level.
Her nomination, which will bring the Republican right home, also
frees up McCain to appeal to moderates and liberals, which has long
been his stock in trade.
With his selection of Sarah Palin, John McCain has not only shaken
up this election, he may have helped shape the future of the United
States -- and much for the better.
SOURCE: http://buchanan.org/blog/2008/09/pjb-johnnys-got-a-new-girl/