McCain's Big Surprise

I'm embarrassed to say I was very angry last Friday.  I heard on the radio that Mitt Romney was out and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was in and started talking out loud, to no one in particular. 

I said Sarah Palin may be a great conservative but, unlike Romney, she obviously did not feel ready and confident in herself enough this year to compete in the GOP primary and that it was “madness” to pick someone who has very little experience - neutering our criticism of Obama’s inexperience.

As you may know, I am a big Romney fan, like millions of others, and I’ve written a lot of articles why Romney would have been a great V.P.  In addition, I felt that Romney put himself out there, in JFK’s arena, endured national press scrutiny, raised millions from California to Texas, engaged in 20 Presidential Debates and McCain passes him over for Palin??

I was very disappointed and threatened, no one in particular, not to vote for McCain this fall.  I was going to take down my McCain signs and peel the bumper stickers off my car.

Then I heard McCain and Palin speak at his rally in Ohio.

It became clearer with every word that McCain, with one decision, advanced conservatism and, most importantly, our country.

Once again, McCain put “Country First”:

• Surely, Obama-Biden can't claim McCain-Palin is more of the same :-).
• I agree with the first female V.P, Geraldine Ferraro, that, if elected, Vice-President Palin will help validate every parent’s promise to their little girls that they can be anything they want to be when they grow up.
• Nominating a woman who became pregnant with a down-syndrome baby, and kept the baby anyway, advances the pro-life movement like nothing else. Palin’s story will inspire millions to keep their babies.
• Voting for the GOP in 2008 will elect the first female Vice-President in history and discredit, once again, the popular folklore that the GOP is an all white-male club (most on the left overlook the fact Bush chose Dr. Rice, a black woman, to represent America to the world).
• Obama’s nomination threatened to put a Marxist/Socialist in the Oval Office. Americans in general, and conservatives in particular, needed McCain to win this one. Picking Palin is a stroke of genius that makes the GOP ticket attractive to women, especially disaffected Hillary voters, and McCain-Palin should be as successful as the surge in Iraq.
• Choosing Palin says, loud and clear, that a vote for the GOP is a vote to send two lifetime reformers to Washington to change the status quo.
• Palin’s nomination puts Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less on the ballot.

This Romney fan is still hurting but, strangely, very hopeful about the future.

I will keep my McCain signs in front of my house and my McCain bumper stickers on my car. I will work hard to elect McCain over the next two months, the task being made easier, especially in Vermont, with a strong woman on the ticket. I have a hunch the Palin selection will inspire my teenage daughter to help too.

Well done Senator McCain.  Congratulations Governor Palin.

McCain introduces Sarah Palin to the 2008 Presidential Campaign

- Photo by Mark Lyons-EPA