Alternatively, he fell right into the Uck & Mier. (terrible puns: 1; McCain: 0)
Sarah Palin is the nominee for Vice President of the United States on the Republican ticket. And that got me thinking.
I was taking a look around the old internet this afternoon, and ran across a piece by Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi on Boston.com.
http://www.boston.com/...
An interesting read, but the lightbulb moment for me was the linking title (The actual title seems to be "A Question of Judgment") on the main Boston.com webpage: "A Gimmicky Insult to Women."
(next)
And that's what got me thinking, and it occurred to me: This is McCain's Harriet Miers moments.
And the country--conservatives, liberals, and everything in between--hated Bush's REAL Harriet Miers moment.
Why? Because it's an insult. It's a gimmick. It's a joke. It's an insult to the intelligence of all people, even more so to committed feminists and those who would like to see highly qualified women in the highest offices.
Because this is NOT a highly qualified person. She isn't.
When George W. Bush Harriet Mier'ed us for awhile, it was as a potential replacement for Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
Say what you will for her decisions--and their are many mixed opinions, from highly negative, to great praise, to lukewarm--Sandra Day O'Connor was incredibly accomplished. She graduated from Stanford Law School near the very top of her class, in the--how shall I put it--"unfriendly" environment towards a woman of the 1950s legal world. She was on Law Review. She overcame great adversity in finding a legal career and succeeding during a period where it was enormously difficult for a woman to find success in this arena.
Then, it was time for her to retire. And George Bush decided the best course of action was to find somebody dumb and loyal, who happened to be a woman. The biographical detail of gender was meant to be a little red meat--"See? Here's another one of those things!"
With respect to law schools that are not Harvard, Stanford, or Yale, Ms. Miers went to law school at Southern Methodist University. Her legal career was certainly respectible but also unexceptional. She had never shown, in her entire career, any particular gifts (or even interest) in interpreting the Constitution of the United States in the Supreme Court, or anywhere else.
It was an insult. It was an insult to everyone, but perhaps especially to those who felt all 3 branches of our government have been dominated for far too long by men. This wasn't one of the accomplished women being boxed out. This was someone's whose qualifications for the job was her devotion to her boss, and the fact she was born with the same chromosomes as the person leaving the job. There were--quite literally--likely thousands of female jurists in the country more qualified for the position than her. That made the pick more insulting, not less.
And now we have Sarah Palin.
The "replacement" is not nearly as direct or as clear, but I believe it's happened nonetheless.
John McCain actually believes he has a real shot to pick up a large number of Hillary Clinton voters. I don't happen to believe this actually true, and is entirely overblown. But with this pick, I think he may have actually made the chance even LESS likely, for the same reason Harriet Miers was so unpopular WITH EVERYBODY (including the likes of Michelle Malkin and that sort).
BECAUSE PALIN IS NOT QUALIFIED FOR THIS POSITION. AND HER SELECTION IS AN INSULT.
In the mind of McCain and his strategists...wait for it...Palin is meant to "replace" her far more qualified, far more brilliant, far more accomplished predecessor in this race. Who happened to be running on the other party's platform. This unqualified nobody is meant to replace Hillary Clinton.
Hillary Clinton is a brilliant and accomplished woman. She attended Yale Law School. She is an important and influential Senator from an important state. She is widely regarded as brilliant in terms of policy and understanding of the issues. Metaphorically, she's the Sandra Day O'Connor, and McCain--in his sexist idiocy--thought offering up a Harriet Miers would do the trick.
And he's wrong. It's insulting and infuriating. You don't just slot in "one woman for another." You allow the most brilliant women a chance to shine. Sarah Palin--former mayor of Wasilla, Alaska--is no Hillary Clinton.
And nobody--not Republicans who loathe Clinton, not her voters who desperately miss her--thinks so.
I hope to find that this blows up as badly in McCain's face as did the Miers fiasco to John McCain, Sr. (er, Jr.?) (George W. Bush).