Hot Chicks Vote Republican

    If you happen to support Sens. Obama and Biden in this election, as I do, this is your wakeup call.

    Just because you and most of the people you talk to are supporting Obama, that has nothing to do with the totality of the picture across the country.  Sen. McCain's choice of Gov. Palin, assuming she does well in the VP debate against Biden, might go down as one of the smartest picks ever.  People are flocking to his campaign right now, and the Obama team had better figure out a way to stem the tide.  She is being greeted like a rock star right now, and, hey, I thought Obama was a rock star... doesn't feel that way right now, does it?

    Whether you want to or not, whether you like what's being said or not, read this from the Washington Post:

The lines to gaze upon Sarah Palin formed early and stretched for more than a mile along Old Lee Highway, as thousands and thousands made their way to the park's grassy hills, and chanted over and over: "Sarah! Sarah! Sarah!" Parents ditched work, and kids skipped school, and the souvenir hawkers did a brisk business working the lines with buttons like: "Hot chicks vote Republican." Many came by foot, many others by shuttle bus from a nearby mall. The size of the crowd was difficult to determine. Police and the McCain campaign estimated it at 23,000.

Celebrity is its own momentum. "It was so cool watching all the people get in line," said Vicki Hoffman, an artist who lives in the neighborhood. "It was like Woodstock."

Those who came were there to take their own measure of the collage of Palin images they had embraced from a distance: hockey mom, field dresser of moose, grandmother-in-waiting, champion of social conservatives, battler of good ol' boy Republicans, historic running mate. Here was a composite version of stardom they could get behind.

"She exemplifies what a genuine feminist is," said Elizabeth Hauris, who owns a company that manufactures cloth diapers. "She's pro-life, pro-family, nurses her son, carries him in a sling, which epitomizes the idea of close attachment." Hauris said she has seen photos of Palin signing bills, baby Trig in tow. "And that thrills me."

    So here's the thing:  Sen. McCain made a bet by choosing Gov. Palin that he'd pick up enough women who would have voted for Hillary to win him a couple of swing states, because that's all he needs to do.

    "Smart" women everywhere said: that's stupid, women aren't that dumb, they won't switch parties just because there's a woman there, they'll see through this pathetic attempt at pandering, etc.

    Let's not forget that these are the same "smart" women who wanted to force a floor vote at the Democratic convention, and who were still protesting that Hillary should be the nominee even while the convention was going on, two months after the last votes were cast.  In other words, women who were willing to do everything they could to lose the election for Obama just because they were angry that a woman wasn't going to win the nomination.

    And now some of those "smart" women are flocking over to Sarah Palin's ticket.

    It makes me wonder how smart those women are if they'll choose a candidate who has significant policy disagreements with them just because she has a womb.  And it makes me think that McCain just might be smarter than we all think he is, if he can do this sort of calculus about the situation and do something that's working this well.

    For now, spare me any talk of the "wisdom" of women in general.  There isn't any... no more than the "wisdom" of men, anyway.