about the Palin pick is summed up in this entry from the American Conservative:
So think Dan Quayle, not Thomas Eagleton. Whichever way the election goes, socons, the rubes, are given thin air in exchange for their money and their votes. The GOP's "base" needs to realize there are more important things in the world than anti-abortion ideology. Or to paraphrase one columnist at NRO, if this is what it takes to energize the base, "maybe the GOP needs a new base".
"... the choice of Palin will likely mean that, in the event that he wins, McCain believes that he has already bought off conservatives and need do nothing else for them. Palin will become merely a figurehead, dispatched to quell restless conservatives whenever McCain tries to get some foolish immigration legislation passed or when he calls for a deployment to guard the Mongolian frontier against the Russians. Having appeased social conservatives with a symbolic VP nod, he can ignore them even more than he already does. Should the ticket lose, social conservatives are then left holding the bag and legions of East Coast Republican pundits will stream forth to explain that the ticket failed because Palin’s pro-life views were “too extreme” and why the GOP needs to get over talking about abortion." (emphasis mine)
So think Dan Quayle, not Thomas Eagleton. Whichever way the election goes, socons, the rubes, are given thin air in exchange for their money and their votes. The GOP's "base" needs to realize there are more important things in the world than anti-abortion ideology. Or to paraphrase one columnist at NRO, if this is what it takes to energize the base, "maybe the GOP needs a new base".
(via andrew sullivan)
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