Legal Commentary

Palin, Crist , Jindal And Kaine

By Big Tent Democrat

A thought experiment.

Among the people whose names were bandied about as potential VP picks included Charlie Crist, elected the Governor of Florida in 2006, after 4 years as Florida's Attorney General, Tim Kaine, elected the Governor of Virginia in 2006, after 4 years as Lieutenant Governor, and Bobby Jindal, elected Governor of Louisiana after serving 3 years in Congress.

More . . .

You can argue that that these three men have somewhat more experience than Sarah Palin, but not much more and in the case of Crist and Kaine, none at the national level. But nothing that say 'well, that proves they have the experience necessary.' So here's the question, if McCain had picked Crist or Jindal, or if Obama had picked Kaine, would we be hearing as much about their lack of experience as we are hearing about Sarah Palin? I think the honest answer is no, though with Kaine you may have. Why? Because the VP slot is not viewed with needing experience when the top of the ticket is perceived as having the necessary experience. John McCain is viewed as having the necessary experience.

So why so much scrutiny of Palin's experience? Not that there would be some scrutiny, but the level of scrutiny we have seen. Why?

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on August 29, 2008 (boomark / email).