Second Running Mate revealed

Surprise! This is going to worry every single Democrat seeing former Hillary-supporters say openly that they are considering voting for McCain. Nice move, old man!

"Ms. Palin, a former mayor of the small town of Wasilla, an Anchorage suburb, and one-time beauty pageant queen, first rose to prominence as a whistle-blower uncovering ethical misconduct in state government.
The selection amounted to a gamble that an infusion of new leadership — and the novelty of the Republican Party’s first female candidate for vice president — would more than compensate for the risk that Ms. Palin could undercut one of the McCain campaign’s central arguments, its claim that Mr. Obama is too inexperienced to be president.
The choice of Ms. Palin stands in sharp contrast to the selection of the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, a veteran lawmaker and chairman of Foreign Relations Committee. "

NY Times, 29. August 2008

"Selbstverständlich war dieses Bündel an Vorzügen das beste Argument für Palin, wie gleich nach ihrer Nominierung bewiesen wurde. Liebevollen Wortes erinnert sie an die große Leistung der Hillary C., die mit ihren Wählerinnen 18 Millionen Mal die "Glasdecke" nach oben durchstoßen hätte. "Schließt euch uns an", rief Sarah Palin, und der stumme Teil der Botschaft lautete: Ihr Frauen seid bei uns Republikanern besser aufgehoben als bei diesem Obama, der eure Heldin erniedrigt hat."

Die Zeit, 29. August 2008

"Palin may turn out to be a smart choice—buzz-generating and bolstering McCain's claim to change—but the first hurdle is getting over the fact that she's not very well-known. This opens up the possibility for distracting and potentially damning mischief as her biography is filled out. The one thing people do know about her is her gender.[...]
Palin is famously pro-life and will only solidify McCain's hold on his base. But Palin also helps McCain make a run at those moderate voters for whom McCain's conservatism (and particularly his pro-life views) is not a deal breaker. As one McCain aide put it: "We either get Hillary's voters and we win, or we don't. It's not a mystery." Said another: "This campaign is all about the middle." The presence of Palin on the ticket also gives the GOP a claim on the historic nature of this election: Barriers will be broken no matter who wins. "You want change," says a McCain aide. "Here we come."

Slate, 29. August 2008

Aber, wie der Zeitartikel richtig feststellt, sind VizepräsidentschaftskandidatInnen nicht wahlentscheidend.