How The McCain/Palin Ticket May Help California Republicans
Based on the e-mails, phone calls and other discussions I have had with my fellow Republicans throughout California, I can attest to the fact that GOP activists are pumped as never before following last week’s National Convention; at least since 1980.
The reason, as anyone who has watched TV or read a newspaper the last few days knows, is Gov. Sarah Palin.
Now, Palin or no Palin, no one but the must enthusiastic Republican partisan believes that McCain will carry California come November. This remains a “blue” state.
But if you are Tom McClintock running in CD4, or Dean Andal running in CD11, or Jack Sieglock running in AD10, or Bill Berryhill running in AD26, you are very thankful to John McCain’s bold selection of Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate.
This is because the above GOP candidates are running in races currently targeted by Democrats that are located in the “red” portions of California, districts that George Bush handily carried over Kerry in 2004.
About Palin–I Just Don’t Get It
I’m trying so hard to understand the nexus between Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton, which Palin discussed during her speech. She is trying to position herself as the woman who can use Hillary’s 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling to finally bust through. But Sarah Palin isn’t qualified to walk through the same door as Hillary, much less claim the mantle of her legacy fighting for the issues that women care about.
Let’s see. Palin is against abortion, even in the case of rape or incest. The majority of women in this country are pro choice, and even those who waver draw the line much more broadly than Palin does. I hope one of the debate questioners has the temerity to ask her what she would have done if her daughter was involunarily pregnant instead of voluntarily pregnant. Palin is a card carrying member of the NRA, not known for its legions of female members. Palin sued the federal government for trying to protect polar bears – polar bears! – saying they got in the way of oil and gas drilling.
The Republican Convention from a Reporter’s Point of View
Because of extensive reporting at last week’s Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, we know what the politicians and the delegates thought about the proceedings. But I wondered what a reporter might think of all the activity swirling around in the convention hall as he did his job. On one of the many long bus rides the California delegation had to take from its hotel to the convention center, I turned the tables and interviewed reporter John Myers from San Francisco’s National Public Radio station, KQED.
Myers is a respected veteran covering California politics as Sacramento Bureau Chief for KQED. In addition to his radio duties, he also blogs on politics at his Capitol Notes website.
Last week’s convention was the third one Myers covered. Previously, he reported on the Democratic Conventions in New York in 1992 and Los Angeles in 2000.
Who is really Behind Proposition 2?
Sometimes when you look at a ballot proposition it is best to look not at the language of the proposed initiative, but who is behind it. Such is the case with Proposition 2 on the November ballot.
Proposition 2 would mandate new housing standards for egg laying chickens at great cost to California’s egg producers and potential health risks to the rest of us.
It is sponsored by the Humane Society of the United States. But this is not your mother’s or your aunt’s Humane Society. It is now led by seasoned political operatives whose agenda goes far beyond protecting animals.
And according to a UC Davis study, if they are successful, California’s egg industry and the $600 million in economic activity it generates annually as well as thousands of jobs would be wiped out. A whole industry that is a key for California agriculture lost in one fell swoop.