Voters Agree: Palin is a Gimmick

By Zamboni

It's only been a couple of weeks, but the Zeitgeist has caught up to Sarah Palin — and passed her.

Not only is John McCain's running mate the butt of instantly recognizable "SNL" jokes — "I can see Russia from my house!" — but according to a new New York Times/CBS poll, 75 percent of respondents said that Senator McCain picked the unknown Alaska governor as his Vice Presidential nominee as a political stunt — and not because he thought she was qualified to succeed him.

Seventy-five percent! To us cats, that's the polling equivalent of a giant buffet of fresh tuna.

Why do we think that last week's Charlie "Muffin Face" Gibson interview on ABC didn't go over so well in the end?

Why does the Gibson encounter remind us of the first Bush-Gore debate in 2000 — after which initial reviews for President Gore's performance were cautiously good, only to have the narrative change 48 hours later to one claiming that Gore was "too orange" and "sighed too much"?

Sarah Palin might not have been orange, but "In what respect, Charlie?" is surely being printed on Obama-Biden T-shirts as we speak. Not a good sign.

But we digress. The bottom line? Voters know a sales job when they see it. Which is one explanation why the alleged "white female stampede" to McCain was an illusion from the start. And which brings us to our next question.

If the bloom is off Governor Palin's rose after only two weeks, how do the Republicans explain the fact that Senator Obama has managed to sustain his appeal over 20-plus months? Heck, if you count his breakout speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention, he's sustained it over four years — pretty amazing in this round-the-clock media environment.

We cats think we know how he's managed it. It's because there's substance behind the attraction.

Jeez. Anyone in love will tell you that — in a heartbeat.