Comparing Kaine, Palin
In the weeks leading up to Sen. Barack Obama's announcement on who his running mate would be, some Virginia Republicans blasted Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) as being too inexperienced for the job.
"Tim Kaine's only virtue as a potential running mate is that he would not have overshadowed Senator Obama - as he is one politician in America less prepared to lead America than Obama himself," Del. Jeffrey M. Frederick of Prince William, the chairman of the Virginia Republican Party, said in a statement after Obama passed over Kaine in favor of Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.).
Now that McCain has tapped Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) as his running mate, Virginia GOP leaders are praising his choice. Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling (R) said today Palin has "a record of effective service in state and local government."
But Kaine has more experience than Palin does. Palin has been governor for only one and half years. She represents 670,000 people, compared to the 7.7 million Kaine has represented over the past two and half years. Before becoming governor of Alaska, Palin was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, which has 9,000 residents. Kaine had been mayor of Richmond, population 193,000. Kaine also served four years as Virginia's lietenant governor. Palin lost her bid in 2002 to become Alaska's lietenant governor.
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Tim Craig
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August 29, 2008; 5:29 PM ET
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Tim Craig
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Posted by: Not Gordon Hickey | August 29, 2008 6:22 PM | Report abuse
Palin may be more effective, but the point is that the degree of difficulty in being Governor of Alaska is a pretty low bar.
To continue the Olympic analogy: It's like a middle school diver getting a perfect 10 on a very basic dive. Sure Kaine may be scoring around 7 or 8, but at least he's competing at the Olympic level.
Posted by: Anonymous | August 29, 2008 6:52 PM | Report abuse
Shouldn't you have written "Comparing Kaine WITH Palin?" Where are editorial standards at the Washington Post?
Posted by: Ron | August 29, 2008 8:46 PM | Report abuse
Tim Kaine's appearance on the Bill Maher show last night was an embarrassment to the Commonwealth and showed he has no business on a national ticket. The fact that he continued to do his interview after Maher referred to Gov. Palin as a "MILF" and a stewardess was not only insulting to all women but also shows that both he and his buddy Barack are only in this to grow their own celebrity status and that neither is suited for the type of change we need; but then again maybe he is getting his demeaning view from Barack and his longtime relationship with Rev. Wright. As Barack "The One" Obama said ENOUGH.
We could only be so lucky to have Sarah Palin as our Cheif Executive
Posted by: Giff | August 30, 2008 9:39 AM | Report abuse
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The key word in the Bolling quote is "effective". How many commentators used that word when Kaine was competing on Obama's short list?