The John & Sarah Road Show

Until I read about it in the Washington Post, I didn't realize that John McCain and Sarah Palin held a rally about two miles from my home this past Wednesday. Here's a glimpse of what transpired:

Eight working mothers from the Virginia Run development in Centreville went together to the Palin-McCain rally yesterday because Sarah Palin is "just like us." This is something new. Nobody ever accused Franklin Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan of being just like us.

Uh, no, the "just like us" motif isn't new at all. People voted for Bush because they thought he'd be a good beer buddy. In my book, that equates to being "just like us." Something I find interesting is that the WaPo reporter called this event a Palin-McCain rally. I thought the usual convention was to give the presidential nominee top billing? Did the Republicans bill the event in this manner, or has the reporter fallen into the Palin trap?

The crowd, which I counted at 8,000 but which police estimated at 23,000, gathered at Van Dyck Park in Fairfax City represented votes for John McCain but passion for Palin. McCain knew it; he led the audience in a chant of "Sar-ah! Sar-ah!" Still, did the man who might be the next president know that hundreds would start streaming out of the park as soon as Palin finished speaking, leaving a noticeably sparser audience to hear from the top of the ticket?

I'm surprised (and disappointed) that thousands of people showed up to hear these two speak. Perhaps I can take comfort in the thought that the population of Fairfax County is just under a million. Therefore, a relatively small portion of the county was represented at the rally. Is this sound reasoning or wishful thinking? (Be gentle in your responses, dear readers.)

...the governor of Alaska is winning people over with empathy... "She's just as flawed as we are," Tweddle said. "It's not the fact that she's a woman but the way she does it all. And let me tell you: There're more American parents with unwed pregnant teenaged children than American parents with Harvard grads. She's real."

This speaker is clearly an idiot and, in a perfect world, she would be prohibited from voting. I don't want to vote for someone who is just as flawed as I am. If I did, I'd just vote for myself! I want to vote for someone who is more qualified to govern than I am. There's nothing to gain, and an awful lot to lose, by voting for someone who is, at best, as qualified to govern as I am and, at worst, even less qualified to do so than I.

Palin is connecting because, like a reality TV show's most sympathetic contestant, she puts front and center the inexperience, imperfection and pain that most professional politicians work so hard to hide. McCain can't quite tell the story of the pain and sacrifice he experienced as a prisoner of war? No problem. Palin will express the emotions that he can't. That's what mothers do.

I don't want to vote for my mother, either. I love her dearly and respect her immensely, but I don't want her running my country.

Like many at the rally, Victoria Robinson-Worst sees Palin's lack of experience as an asset. "I know people who have experience who are totally incompetent," said Robinson-Worst.... And I know people who have no experience who step in and get it right. I mean, women can do amazing things."

Lack of experience is now an asset. I'll remember that when I apply to be someone's brain surgeon next month. And what is this "women can do amazing things" stuff? Sure, it's true, but isn't it equally true that men can do amazing things? Moreover, Sarah Palin is not running for concertmaster, she's running for second fiddle. Her ability to do amazing things will only matter if the concertmaster dies in an untimely manner. Is Victoria voting for a president or a vice-president? Is Victoria going to allow the Republicans to pull a bait and switch on her? And is John McCain going to stand by quietly while Sarah Palin upstages him? It's supposed to be his campaign. Doesn't the man have any pride at all? Oh, silly me - I forgot - he sold his pride when he sold his soul to the Republican hacks and wackos last year; it was a package deal.

I used to think that the past eight years have been humiliating. Now, I'm terrified that, if McCain and Palin win this election, the world will discover that Bush and Cheney were merely the warm-up act.