John McCain’s choice of a running mate may have finally won him the full support of the Republican Party’s conservative base.
But in choosing 44-year-old, first-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain has opened himself to the sharpest criticism yet that at 72, he may be too old to be president — especially with a number two who went from small-town mayor to governor only 19 months ago.
Palin, an abortion foe who cut taxes, assailed corruption in her own party, knows how to handle a high-powered rifle and went to college on a beauty pageant scholarship has been drawing rave reviews from many of the same folks who were skeptical of McCain’s conservative credentials.
James Dobson, head of the Colorado-based ministry Focus on the Family, had once said he could not vote for McCain over concerns about the Arizona senator’s stance on stem-cell research and other conservative hot buttons.
But after the Palin pick, Dobson was gushing with praise.
“I’ve not been so excited about a political candidate since Ronald Reagan,” Dobson said of Palin in his announcement of his endorsement of the new Republican ticket.
One of the things that has social conservatives convinced is that Palin, whose fifth child was born with Down syndrome, opted to have the baby after she was informed of her unborn son’s condition. A recent study said nine of 10 women in the same situation opt for abortions.
Palin also said in a 2006 debate that she backed teaching both evolution and creationism in schools. But she later clarified that statement in an interview with the Anchorage Daily News, saying she did not think it was a good idea to push the state Board of Education to add creationism to the required curriculum.
Fiscal conservatives were also lauding Palin for rejecting federal earmarks — including for the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere” won by her state’s Republican congressional delegation, including Sen. Ted Stevens, now under indictment, and Rep. Don Young, now under investigation.
Tax-bashing former Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes, talking on Fox News Saturday, said the selection was “brilliant.”
“She’s got a proven record on fighting spending and cutting taxes,” Forbes said, “She sends all the right messages.”
Palin also has a guardsman son headed to Iraq in a few weeks and a commercial fisherman husband who is a longtime member of the United Steelworkers of America.
“This is an unconventional pick, but it’s quintessential John McCain,” said Kevin Madden, who served as communications director to the man widely expected to be McCain’s choice for a running mate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. “He’s a reformer, looking to pick a reformer. This is John McCain sending a message to the status quo of Washington.”
But while he may have delighted conservatives with his pick of the self-described “hockey mom,” McCain has exposed himself on a topic which, to this point, Democrats had been uncertain of how to attack: McCain’s age.
“For a man who is 72 years old and has had four bouts with cancer to have chosen someone so completely unqualified to become president is shockingly irresponsible,” Clinton White House advisor Paul Begala wrote in a CNN commentary. “Suddenly, McCain’s age and health become central issues in the campaign, as does his judgment.”
For Democrats looking for a way to highlight McCain’s age and health without turning off older voters, Palin’s youth and inexperience has opened a door.
“John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin raises serious questions about his judgment,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, of California, said.
“Why, when the country is fighting two wars, facing an uncertain economy and an energy crisis, did Senator McCain make the choice that he did.”
