“What’s Worse” Syndrome
I find that more and more, when I discuss the McCain/Palin ticket, I’m using the phrase “I don’t know what’s worse,” followed typically by the form, ”[situation a] or [situation b].”
For instance: I don’t know what’s worse, the idea that McCain may have only used a Google search to vet Palin or the idea that the staffer who told this to the LA Times might have been bragging about it to dispel the talk that John McCain doesn’t know technology.
One Republican strategist with close ties to the campaign described the candidate’s closest supporters as “keeping their fingers crossed” in hopes that additional information does not force McCain to revisit the decision. According to this Republican, who would discuss internal campaign strategizing only on condition of anonymity, the McCain team used little more than a Google Internet search as part of a rushed effort to review Palin’s potential pitfalls. Just over a week ago, Palin was not on McCain’s short list of potential running mates, the Republican said.
Example Two: I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that Sarah Palin tried to use political muscle to get books banned from public libraries or the fact that she was so clueless as to the politics behind such a move that she actually asked a librarian how to do it. (link via librarian.net) Apparently, she’s missed the fact that National Banned Book Week is sponsored by the American Library Association, and that librarians tend to be the most fervent supporters of the First Amendment in the entire country.
Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. “She asked the library how she could go about banning books,” he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. “The librarian was aghast.” The librarian, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn’t be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire her for not giving “full support” to the mayor.
September 4th, 2008 at 6:30 am
What’s worse: that an inexperienced politician wholly unqualified to hold the office picked an inexperienced one in a cynical move (presumably) to appeal to young and female voters…or that it might actually work with some of those voters?
September 4th, 2008 at 6:32 am
Sorry, that should be “an experienced politician wholly unqualified.” McCain definitely has the experience in Washington; it’s just mostly of the wrong kind.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:47 am
Um, no. It won’t work. Sure, NRA members and Evangelicals, male and female will support her, but they would have voted for McCain anyway, in the end. She is preaching to the choir and they are singing Halleluia! Let’s see how they sing in November (if she is even still on the ticket then).