McCain Shatters the Mold in Picking Palin as his Vice Presidential Nominee

John McCain introduced America to his choice for vice president in Dayton, Ohio on Friday. Laughing spontaneously, as the crowd sang ‘Happy Birthday’, McCain uttered the words no red-blooded republican ever thought they would hear. “My friends and fellow Americans’ I am proud and pleased to introduce to your the next vice president of the Untied States, Governor Sarah Palin of the great state of Alaska,” he said.


McCain continued to describe Palin, a former Ms. Alaska runner-up, as “someone who will shake up Washington and make it work for all Americans; someone with executive experience and who has shown great tenacity and skill; someone who has reached across the isle; someone with a fighting spirit and great compassion; someone whose father was an elementary school teacher and whose mother was a school secretary.”

In an attempt to appeal to conservative working class voters, the republican nominee described Palin as a “a union member, who was married to a union member…..a woman who knows what it’s like to pay for gas and groceries.”

Emphasizing the historic moment, this week marks the time when women received the right to vote, the Senator from Arizona said he was, “especially proud in a week we celebrate women’s suffrage" that he chose "a devoted wife and a mother of five – she is not from these parts and she is not from Washington. She has girt and integrity …that is exactly what we need in Washington today. She stands up for what is right and she does not let anyone tell her to sit down.”


For he part Palin, accompanied by her husband, Todd and her family and wearing a black pant suit, reminiscent of Hillary Clinton’s dress code, thanked McCain and said she was honored to be chosen as the Senators running mate.

On her 25th wedding anniversary, Palin described herself as “an average hockey mom, who ran for mayor of her local town.” There she said she stood up to “politics as usual” and the “good old boy network,”

In an attempt to paint herself as a maverick, Palin said sometimes “it is safer to avoid taking risks in politics. People of America expect us to seek public office for the right reason. The right reason is to challenge the status quo and challenge the common good.”

Pumping up McCain’s supporters, the young Governor stressed McCain’s war record and his foreign policy experience. “In a dangerous world it is John McCain who will prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons,” she said.

In the most revealing moment in an otherwise flat speech, the Alaskan Governor thanked Hillary Clinton for “her determination and grace in her presidential campaign. She left 18 million cracks and the women of America aren’t finished yet and we can shatter that ceiling once and for all."