E!! The True Conservative Story™

All the news outlets were reporting it as I walked out the door at 7:30 a.m.  Personally, I like the pick and think this is good news for the GOP.  Here are some pros:

She’s a principled fiscal conservative who beat an incumbent by promising to cut government waste in Alaska – and did it.  She slashed pork spending, cancelled hundreds of millions of dollars of unnecessary construction projects, and sold the gubernatorial private jet on eBay (for $2.7M).

She’s for responsible drilling.  I heard a clip from a speech she gave on “the small sliver of coastal terrain” that is ANWR and how/why drilling could/should be done there and elsewhere.  It was good. 

She’s a social conservative and pro-life (but not rabid about it) which will energize the GOP base.  She’s happily married and has five children, the most recent born in April (a Down Syndrome baby she gladly and willingly chose to have).

Any attacks on her lack of experience – she’s been governor for only two years – can be turned around:  she has more senior executive experience than Obama, or Biden (or McCain, for that matter).  Plus, she’s the #2  and not running for POTUS.  Yet.

She’s plain spoken “regular folks” so should connect well with the middle class.  And she’s got a fairly compelling personal story and family life:  athlete, beauty queen, hunter, former professional fisher person (LOL), married her high school sweetheart, son about to deploy to Iraq.

On a more personal note, I like that she’s a Hockey Mom.  (My brother played hockey for years, so we spent many winter weekends hanging around in Michigan and Canadian hockey arenas.)  Not that it has anything to do with politics.  Then again, someone who enjoys a fast-moving, hard-hitting, sometimes down-and-dirty sport like hockey must have a tough streak, right?

I’ll do some Cons later after I think more about it.

James Poulos has an interesting piece re: Veep picks up on Culture11 today.  As a result of his column, and a few others I’ve read, I’ve revised my opinion about the Biden pick.

To say Biden is either a Terrible or Genius pick implies that the choice mattered, which – in this unique election year – it really did not.

Obama’s candidacy is so historic, his political chronicle so polarizing, and his persona so massive, that Biden is quite beside the point. Obama could have chosen just about anyone; November’s result will turn on other realities.

Fox/Hannity is reporting that the Obama camp has said they will not text the VP pick until at/after 10 a.m. tomorrow.

They’ve got the cameras on Biden’s house “Live” and Dick Morris is saying he thinks it IS Biden. Which surprises me if true. I didn’t think Obama would go with a white-haired guy especially one with such a strong personality and who supported the intial action in Iraq as well as The Surge. Plus Biden pointed out Obama’s lack of experience earlier in the year, which is a sound byte the Obama camp could live without in a race that’s getting tighter with each passing day.

I thought it would be Bayh because his personality wouldn’t eclipse Obama, he’s a moderate, he’s a fiscal conserative, and he’s generally likeable especially with/by women – a demographic that Obama is struggling with right now.

I guess we won’t know until tomorrow…and some people are still saying “it’s Hillary” so the speculation continues.

The Corner is speculating that Chet Edwards (not John) might be the pick.  Not a good idea due to the possible name confusion; don’t think it’s gonna happen. 

I think Obama should pick Hillary if he wants to have any chance of winning, but I’m not sure she would agree to take it or that he would be willing to tolerate her on the ticket – or in the White House on a daily basis. 

Geraldine Ferraro was on Hannity last night and said there is “no way” Hillary will accept the VP spot under Obama.  Others have said they think she would, if it were properly offered.

If I were a Hillary staffer, I would advise her to Just Say No to Obama and stick with the roll call vote at the convention, which even if she loses will remind people that she still has strong support in the Demcoratic base, and then in 2012 she can come back and say (to the Dems), “OK Dummies, your Golden Boy got stomped in ’08, so stop messing around and nominate me.”