Matt Yglesias

22 Responses to “Stevens Hearts Palin”

1. Random Dude Says:
   August 30th, 2008 at 2:15 pm

   Does the disclaimer say “Frugally paid for by Palin/Parnell?” Seriously? WTF?

2. lfv Says:
   August 30th, 2008 at 2:17 pm

   Who cares? So they didn’t need to waste a bunch of money on stupid ads. Bully for them.

   There’s plenty of stuff to rip her for. This ain’t one of them. If anything, you seem to be saying that because she is from Alaska she isn’t qualified to be VP. Nonsense.

3. br Says:
   August 30th, 2008 at 2:19 pm

   The thing to rip on, is that she claims to have “taken on” Ted Stevens when, in fact, he was one of her biggest supporters.

4. lampwick Says:
   August 30th, 2008 at 2:20 pm

   It’s not that she’s from Alaska, it’s that she comes from a rinky-dink political background, which is Alaska but could be e.g. Coney Island.

   The quality of ad reflects how high the stakes were in this particular election (high stakes > more money and talent > better ad).

5. abject funk Says:
   August 30th, 2008 at 2:25 pm

   Agree with lvf, above. If anything, Alaska plays the national politics game as well as anyone, especially with GOP administrations. They get individual checks each year due to their oil resources, incredible federal funding, and maintain the “we’re individualists” popular perception. They are the West writ larger than anything, which is to say, rugged self-determination with a healthy dose of government funding far exceeding their input into the tax revenue stream (much like the South).

   She is unqualified, but the idea that Alaska is far from the big stage of politics is silly, just as a similar claim about Iowa, farm belt states, or any other generally rural state is far off the mark. These states have influence and receive federal assistance in amounts that urban, high-voter states can only dream of. They ain’t fools, the “unsophisticated” schtick works wonders in terms of funding and deference in the face of supposedly sophisticated delegations from NY, CA, and others who watch their milkshakes get consistently drunk by 650,000 citizens in a state with few voters and massive natural resources.

6. Kent Says:
   August 30th, 2008 at 2:43 pm

   Two years ago when this ad was running, Ted Stevens was the popular elder statesman of Alaska and his endorsement was powerful. I lived and worked in Alaska in government and politics for 10 years. Thing to understand about Alaska is that demographically it is an incredibly small state. Yes, the land area is enormous, but 98% of it is empty. The population is clustered around one medium size city (Anchorage) with a population of around 280,000 and a two smaller cities with populations around 30,000 (Fairbanks and Juneau). After that there are no other towns in Alaska larger than 10,000.

   This is the sort of production values people in Alaska are used to seeing from their local TV. It might be amateur hour by national standards but I have no doubt this ad was effective.

7. Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle Says:
   August 30th, 2008 at 2:52 pm

   It got “scrubbed” from her website, but you can’t stop YouTube:

   You can’t stop the way back machine either. If her post supporting Obama’s energy policy was up for any length of time, you’ll be able to get at it, whether she erases it from her official site or not.

8. Chesser Says:
   August 30th, 2008 at 3:13 pm

   Okay, this idea is moderately insane, but I’m going to write it out anyway. Is it possible that, considering her limitations and, more specifically, her looming ethics scandal, the McCain campaign has every intention of dropping her from the ticket before election day? The strength of this pick–the only strength–is that it stomps all over Obama’s post-convention momentum. It very effectively stole the headlines. For a few days, at least, and probably jacking up interest in the GOP convention. In the aftermath of Obama’s nomination, limiting the bounce was truly critical for McCain.

   However, having Palin as your Vice President is nearly untenable for reasons that have been thoroughly, and rapidly, discussed. But why not have her build up some excitement in your lackluster campaign, and then take advantage of her ready-made exit excuses (pick one: ethics scandal, or young children that need more attention) to usher her out the door and bring in someone more suitable (whoever that may be). It’s crazy–but it steals a few different news cycles away from your more popular, more interesting, more historic opponent. And attention has been hard to come by for McCain so far this election (which is why we saw his hysterical grandstanding on Georgia/Russia).

   The other option is that the McCain camp thinks it doesn’t matter who is Vice President, so you might as well get a few days of the media calling you “Maverick” again with a bizarre pick.

9. francie Says:
   August 30th, 2008 at 3:48 pm

   Palin takes the focus off Mrs. McCain’s baggage.

10. Vincent. Says:
    August 30th, 2008 at 4:13 pm

    She is likely to survive the national press corps. for about two weeks.

    And then, the implosion will be a sight to behold.

11. John Says:
    August 30th, 2008 at 4:17 pm

    Okay, this idea is moderately insane, but I’m going to write it out anyway. Is it possible that, considering her limitations and, more specifically, her looming ethics scandal, the McCain campaign has every intention of dropping her from the ticket before election day?

    Indeed, I can think of no political strategy more effective than imitating George McGovern’s brilliant Thomas Eagleton jujitsu. Whatever gains they get out of the pick are more than compensated for by the utter disaster of having your VP pick withdraw and having to find somebody new to take the job. Good God, why does this keep on coming up?

    Imitating George McGovern is not a brilliantly exciting new political strategy. It just isn’t.

12. tomemos Says:
    August 30th, 2008 at 6:22 pm

    I also love how, every time it comes up, someone says, “Okay, guys, bear with me, because here’s an idea you’ve never heard…”

    Thanks for quashing it as best you can, John.

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