Dems may have misjudged GOP strategy

   Left wing mouthpieces all around the blogosphere have been laughing and pointing at the Republicans recently. Actually, they've been laughing and pointing at Republicans for years, but they've been even more outspoken recently over what they perceive as a major strategic blunder by the McCain camp.
   I'm speaking, of course, about the appointment, by John McCain, of Sarah Palin as his running mate. The initial response by the lefties was to call out the McCain strategists as fools for actually believing they could steal votes from the Hillary Crusaders. Because that's what this move immediately made people think - that the GOP was hoping to garner votes from those militant feminists who claimed they'd vote for McCain before they voted for Obama, just because he had the temerity to take away the nomination to which their girl was entitled.
   The idea is, of course, patently ridiculous. Hillary's supporters would no more truly vote Republican in '08 than they would move to Canada if the GOP won in '04. I mean, hundreds of prominent bleeding heart liberal celebrities vowed to leave the country if the Dems lost the previous election, but last time I checked Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon haven't moved their shit into the empty townhouse around the corner from me.

   Anyone who really believed that cadre of screeching feminists would vote Red before they'd vote Black is just plain stupid. And while the GOP rank and file might benefit from the use of spell check at times, the high uppity-ups of the Republican strategy machine are not stupid. Not by any stretch of the imagination.
   No, the choice of Sarah Palin as the vice-presidential nominee was not born of any delusional thinking on the part of the GOP team. It may, however, have been born of general delusional thinking on the part of the largest and most powerful voting block in America over the last decade - the Christian Right.
   You see, the evangelical nutcases that put Bush over the top in '04 just didn't seem to be cosying up to John McCain in quite the same way. Johnny's just too damn... reasonable. And God knows, we can't have that. No, the fear that women in the USA might be allowed to make procreative decisions for themselves once in a while; the fear that court decisions upholding the constitution, like the one in Dover, Pennsylvania might continue to happen; the fear that your children might be taught about the real world in school, instead of some fanatasy world based on a three thousand year old novel; the paralysing fear that the annual town Baby Jesus diorama might have to be taken out of city hall, and displayed somewhere inexplicable - like a church - had taken hold of the bible belt, and McCain's people could feel the wackaloon vote slipping through their fingers.

   Enter the white knight of the Republican party. Sarah Palin, riding to the rescue, Bible in one hand, twelve gauge in the other. She can kill, clean and cook dinner, homeschool her children, quote Scripture, govern an entire state, and look hot for her husband all at the same time. Truly, she is the perfect woman.
   Well, the perfect Republican woman. When she starts telling people that the war in Iraq is a holy crusade, the Democrats start whispering behind their hands and snickering. They shouldn't, though. They should beware. Because a whole lot of pick-up driving, rifle-toting, bible thumping, wife beating American voters just got a whole lot more comfortable with the Republican party in 2008.

   Advantage McCain. Obama? Your move.

Tags: politics, obama, mccain, sarah, palin, wackaloons