Monday, September 1, 2008

Garrett on Palin

Update: It was pointed out to me that, although not the first female for Vice President, it is the first from the Republican party, so therefore should count as being historic. I still think that's a stretch, but if the Congressman meant that it's the first VP nominee from Alaska, I agree that it is historic.

I was away for a couple days, so for those like me who missed it, Representative Scott Garrett not only received a nice bio piece from the Express-Times on Sunday; he shared his thoughts on John McCain's selection of Governor Sarah Palin as his runningmate on Saturday:
"Today, America witnessed a historic event," said U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Warren/Hunterdon. "In making this selection, John McCain has once again demonstrated his desire to change the dynamic in Washington."

Garrett's sense of political history is a little off, as Geraldine Ferraro was the first woman nominated for Vice President in 1984. While Gov. Palin was a good pick for McCain in terms of appeasing the right wing of the party, Ferraro's run was the historic one. However, after listening to a fair amount of conservative talk radio this weekend, it became clear that those on the right seem to have forgotten that.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not that I'm too concerned about you misleading all eight of your readers, but get your head out of your ass. Gov. Palin's pick is certainly historical, Ferraro not withstanding. This is the first time in its 150+ year history that the GOP has nominated a woman for national office.

Scott Garrett wasn't the only one to describe Ferraro's nomination as historic. There was not a single press release, news show, or editorial on Friday that omitted the word "historical." Hillary Clinton told her supporters, “We should all be proud of Governor Sarah Palin's historic nomination." Oh, and here's the kicker: Geraldine Ferraro called McCain's pick an "historic" occasion.

No one on the Right has forgotten Ferraro's run in 1984 - Palin, in fact, paid homage to that historic event in her own speech on Friday. Even counting Ferraro, Palin is just the second woman ever nominated for the Vice Presidency. Two women in 219 years. Unless you'd say WWII was non-historic because there was a World War right before it, even you must agree that this was an historic pick.

Admin said...

As I mentioned, some of this was brought to my attention. I call them like I see them. It's going to do a tremendous amount on a lot of levels for women, there's no disputing that.

However, the "no one" comment wasn't apparent at all over the weekend among the chattering class and their callers.

Unknown said...

Just because it's "historic" doesn't mean she's a good pick to be one melanoma away from the presidency. I have a real problem with someone who thinks the Iraq invasion was "answering God's call" possibly having access to the world's largest military.