PALIN AS VICE PRESIDENT

I first learned that Sarah Palin received McCain’s nod to be Vice President from Rush Limbaugh and listened to her speech. She’s good. And the Conservative base is ecstatic over the choice.

Here is the point: Palin is the long ball. But at the same time, she brings everything to the ticket that McCain needs.

McCain needs the Conservative base. He has now sewn that up. Palin is pro-life, she’s pro-gun, she’s pro-family (5 children), she’s small town, her son’s in the Army, she’s small government, she’s throw-the –rascals-out, she’s lower taxes, she’s giving money back to the people, she’s against the bridge to nowhere.

As one feminist said:

My impression is that her reputation as a reformer and an honest-government type is solid. People will love her.

THAT is what the Republicans need to return from the political wilderness.

And here’s what she brings to the election. McCain’s problem has been his impulse to burnish his “maverick” image by sticking his thumb in the eye of the Right. But for any Republican, that’s his base. He can’t win without it. And it’s not just the base turning out on Election Day. It’s the base going door-to-door before the election. It’s the thousands of women in hundreds of Republican Women’s Clubs who were going to give pro-forma lip service to McCain but will now work their hearts out for Palin’s election. In one stroke, McCain created an army of volunteers that rivals in numbers, overwhelms in ability and surpasses in wealth the “youth” that Hussein has drafted.

You don’t have to take my word for it; just ask my wife and her friends.

The second thing I would note is that the Palin pick kicked Hussein off the front pages and the 24/7 news right after the Democrat’s convention. He is practically invisible. So was the discussion of his speech. That is going to hurt because there was no after-glow from that little episode. Right now Hussein is riding around on a bus in the hinterlands unable to get attention. The events in Denver are a poorly remembered dream; something to do with Hussein and Bill and Hillary and what’s-his-name the Senator who rides the train.

On the other hand, the Republicans can hardly wait to get to Minneapolis to cheer on their “Dream Team.”

And finally, Hussein’s troops have all the discipline of the drunken Russian army. Attacking Palin for lack of experience when that is the last issue they should be raising. Attacking her for her good looks, a tactic that will assure that undecided women either vote for McCain or don’t vote at all.

Don’t believe me? Check out the feminist blogs. They hate Hussein with a bright burning passion, and the bile thrown at his partisans is beyond belief.

I have to admire McCain. He seems to have put together an able, vigorous campaign team that is technology savvy, proactive and very smart. And he is showing a mastery of generalship that I thought was beyond him. I underestimated him. But I’m not alone; so did the rest of the punditocracy.