Veep Shorts

Did you know that Reagan almost beat out Ford for the Republican Nomination in 1976? I wonder how different the world would be if the Reagan era had started 4 years earlier. Did you know that Reagan almost picked Gerald Ford as his running mate in 1980? Everyone thought he was going to make history and pick the former president as his VP. Oh, imagine how different the world would be today if he had done that, if George Herbert Walker Bush had never been Vice President…

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Palin’s sparking some interesting controversy. I’ll admit when I saw this in an article on Yahoo chronicling “smears” against Palin I thought it was horribly sexist:

• CNN's John Roberts Questioned Whether Governor Palin Would Be Able To Care For A Child With Down Syndrome As Vice President.
• On MSNBC, Headlines Beneath The Live Coverage Included "SOME WORKING MOTHERS WORRY THAT PALIN IS TAKING ON TOO MUCH" And "SOME VOTERS CONCERNED IF PALIN, A MOTHER OF FIVE, HAS TIME TO BE VP."

Would this really be an issue if she were a man? Did anyone question how Edwards would take care of his kids while he was VP? Sure he has fewer and none with Down Syhdrome, but still.

Then I read this article from the NY Times that shows (as the first MSNBC headline indicates) that a lot of the criticism is coming form women. Wait, I still think it's a sexist argument.

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From the same article, pro-lifers are championing her as the poster-child of the anti-abortion movement. Have Republicans finally come around to the idea of supporting working mothers? Whatever happened to Dan Quayle criticizing a TV character for being a single working mother of one?

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At first I thought the choice of Palin was genius. Then I thought it was crazy. Now I think it’s genius again. Obama can’t attack her, but because the press is she’s building sympathy in the electorate.

Of course Biden can go toe-to-toe with anyone on a parenting-while-in-office debate.

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However, it's worth noting that studies have shown that people don't give the VP nominee much weight in choosing who to vote for. So most of this is a lot of hot air over nothing. Maybe that will change in the post Gore/Cheney era where Veeps do more actual governing, but that remains to be seen. Lets not forget that Lloyd Bentsen delivered one of the top ten smack downs of all time on Dan Quayle in the 1988 VP debate and it didn't matter at all come election day.