Obama Campaign: "Very pleased with Palin."

CNN reporting that Obama-Biden campaign is preparing a statement.

Palin Rationale

Quick thoughts from Chris Bowers on why McCain chose Palin:

1. Takes Alaska off the table. In most elections, that might seem unnecessary. However, Obama was leading in the most recent Alaska poll, so this year it actually mattered. Palin's approval rating in Alaska is pretty high (64% in the most recent poll I could find), so this probably moves the state off the table.

2. This is the Sarkozy strategy that Gingrich talked about last year. In this vein, Palin is designed to help McCain on ethics, and in distancing McCain from governing Republicans. The idea here is that she was able to win the Alaska Governorship in 2006, a Democratic year, by making corruption charges in her own party, and defeating an incumbent in a primary. Look for McCain to start trumpeting his role in exposing the Abramoff scandal now, too. It could be an effective message, as it makes McCain look willing to stand up against his own party and take a hard line on ethics. I worried about this message last month.The problem for Palin is that she is now embroiled in a nepotism scandal.

3. Obviously, designed to help McCain with PUMA's and wavering Clinton supporters. The decision was probably made after Clinton was not chosen as VP, and during all the coverage of Clinton supporters during the convention. However, for that purpose, the pick probably came too late. Most of Obama's current bounce is from that exact same group. McCain should have announced on Sunday to peel off more of those supporters.

4. For all of the reasons listed above, it is designed to make McCain look "mavericky." Picking someone from Alaska, picking a woman, picking someone who ran against her own party, picking someone who wasn't talking about that much, picking someone who, at least at one time, fought corruption in her own party--in many ways, it is exactly the right pick for McCain to bolster his image.

The key to fighting Palin is to hit her on the scandal she is in now, to point out McCain hypocrisy on experience and "being ready to lead," and to use a lot of Hillary Clinton.

I admit that Palin and Condoleezza Rice were the only two possible picks that ever actually worried me on the Republican side. Now, however, after Palin has been picked, it just feels kind of lame and obviously political. The only reason that McCain picked Palin is that he thinks she will help him get elected. The pandering electability of it all should appear obvious to just about everyone. Clearly, McCain didn't care about or believe in the attacks he was making on Obama's experience. He just wants to win.

Jerome Armstrong: Palin? Yikes!

Make no mistake, Palin is a gamechanger pick for McCain. She, along with Whitman, was one of the two potential candidates that I thought had this potential for McCain. No one on the Democratic side saw this coming. I saw plenty of support for Palin in the rightwing blogosphere over the past few months. In fact, whenever there was a poll, she would win going away. Is she Quayle-like, or not ready? Its all going to play out here in the next few hours as she speaks, coming up in 15 minutes. That will be the impact, not all the chatter around the pick.

But you know, this is a really good pick for our nation. The Republican party has now opened itself up to having a women on the ticket for the first time in history. Palin is wrong on nearly everything in her policies, but its another powerful breakthrough for the political system.

-MyDD

Mallika, its not the Women vote. Its for rallying the Religious Right.

Kos: Yup, rallying the base

As much as the know-nothing media talked about divided Democrats, Obama felt no need to use his VP pick to rally the base and unite his party. Biden was picked precisely because Obama felt he was the best pick for the ticket, not because he needed to mollify one group or another.

Now we see McCain's pick of Quayle Palin, and it's clear that he was forced to kow-tow to the Huckabee/Dobson wing of the Republican Party. We already know she is virulently anti-choice. But did you know she is a creationist?

_______________
"The volatile issue of teaching creation science in public schools popped up in the Alaska governor's race this week when Republican Sarah Palin said she thinks creationism should be taught alongside evolution in the state's public classrooms. Palin was answering a question from the moderator near the conclusion of Wednesday night's televised debate on KAKM Channel 7 when she said, "Teach both. You know, don't be afraid of information."
_________________________

http://scienceblogs.com/afarensis/2006/10/27/intelligent_design_and_the_ala/

Two years ago, Palin was part-time mayor of a village of 6,000. Today, she's supposedly ready to step in to run this country in the eventuality that Sen. McCentury can no longer perform those duties? Right. This was a sop to the Right, which was unwilling to accept a pro-choice Republican on the ticket, and a pathetic and hilariously desperate effort to grab the 17 holdout PUMAs (who are fake Democrats already willing to vote for McCain anyway).

[Daily Kos]

Trapper John: Worse Than Quayle

So it's official - John McCain has thrown a Hail Mary and tapped Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. The trad med types are ga-ga about what a game-changing choice Palin is. And they're right. It is a game-changer. The Palin pick takes a race already leaning toward Obama and pushes it further into his corner.

Why? Because Sarah Palin is the most unqualified VP nominee in modern history, with the possible exception of Admiral Stockdale.

She's worse than Quayle.

After his selection in 1988, Dan Quayle was rightly lambasted as a dim, inexperienced lightweight with no real pertinent experience who was named by George H. W. Bush as a gimmick - a case of an old, out-of touch candidate trying to appear relevant by teaming up with a much younger pol. Now, Palin's not Quayle - by all accounts, she's quite bright. But she's fantastically inexperienced, far more so than Quayle was when he was tapped. And she possesses an attribute far worse than Quayle's stupidity - she's a big corrupt wheel in Alaska's big corrupt Republican Party, arguably the most corrupt political apparatus in the United States.

We're told that McCain really wanted to pick his old friend Joe Lieberman to run with him, but that Karl Rove and the rest of the elite Republican politburo nixed the idea, and told McCain that he had to take a conservative. And as he has at every step of his campaign, the one-time "maverick" sold out to the venal, icy core of the Republican leadership, and acquiesced by selecting Palin. Palin is really a Republican after Rove's heart - she's a product of the party that produced the indicted Ted Stevens and ethically tarred Don Young, and she's embroiled in a Troopergate scandal of her own, with state investigators looking at serious allegations that Palin abused her office by pressuring the state Public Safety Commissioner to fire "an Alaska state trooper involved in a rough divorce from Palin's sister." Sounds like a woman after Karl Rove's heart.

In addition to further associating McCain with the Republican culture of corruption, the Palin pick undermines one of his main anti-Obama narratives. It's going to be laughable to hear McCain assail Obama's supposed lack of experience after naming the first-term governor -- only one-and-a-half years into her term -- of the 47th largest state to be his running mate. Palin lacks any foreign policy experience, and is bereft of even the two core areas of policy expertise that governors are supposed to bring to a ticket -- ag policy (Alaska doesn't have much in the way of traditional agriculture) and urban affairs (Anchorage is the 65th largest city in the US, behind giants such as Corpus Christi). She's easily the least experienced running mate in recent memory, which is pretty scary, given McCain's age and his history of cancer.

By picking Palin, McCain revealed his desperation to make a splash to rival the genuine excitement generated by the Obama campaign. But desperation leads to poor decisions -- and McCain's Hail Mary, like most last second desperation moves, is destined to fail miserably. He's smeared himself with the pungent mud of Alaska Republican corruption, while cutting the legs out from one of his most reliable attacks against Obama. And he's presented Americans with the prospect of electing a dangerous neophyte to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, behind a man whose life expectancy is less than two presidential terms.

We all expected McCain to pick someone underwhelming to run with him. But we never could have expected a pick worse than Quayle. Yet that's what we got. Thanks, John!

(And for those who are certain to point out that Bush-Quayle won in '88 -- do you really think that Barack Obama is remotely close to Michael Dukakis in political skill? No? Didn't think so.)

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/29/104611/395/220/578471

No, Senator McCain, I am not an idiot.

You think I'm stupid.

You think I'm going to fall for it.

You think that because I loved Hillary Clinton, gave money to Hillary Clinton, stood in the freezing rain for two hours to see her speak, put a sticker on my car, wore my pin around town, and supported Hillary Clinton to the very end, that I will vote for you.

You think I will forget every single one of my personal and political values just because there's a vagina on your pro-war, anti-woman, anti-science ticket.

You, Senator McCain, are wrong.

I'd love to see a woman in the White House. I would have loved to see a woman on Obama's ticket.

But not 'this' woman.

Not a woman who thinks decisions about my body should be made by hateful old men in Washington.

Not a woman who thinks science is a myth.

Not a woman who thinks the Republican party has anything to offer besides more war, higher taxes, oil dependency, and hate.

I am not falling for it, Senator McCain.

Because what you do not understand is that my support for Hillary was not about anatomy. It was about values. Hillary Clinton articulated and represented my dreams.

You do not. Not even with a vagina on your pathetic ticket.

This changes nothing.

No way. No how. No McCain.

Mallika, if you weren't so pretty and sweet, I'd call you a dumbass...I just can't do that to you. If Gotham or your dad had written this, I'd say it, and you'd kick me off again.

Having said that...this is the dumbest thing you've ever written....

No we don't think women will vote purely for a woman...we do think people will vote for the right person....she is a bedrock conservative, and people will vote for this ticket...

It's gonna be funny when they win...and the Repubs, you know...that party of hate, and glass ceilings...will have put the first woman in that position...oh that will be rich...y'all will be so frustrated you'll chew on your own ears!!

Your second paragraph is quite humourous!! your little diatribe about experience....is a giggler! Obama and the gasbag...vs.....beauty and the beast!!

I think your little boy blue is a goner!!

It's gonna be so funny...that Wednesday in November, when y'all get up to headlines reading, "First Woman VP in American History!!"

He he he he he...

I think she's a hunter too....she doesn't have to go put on the dog like John Kerry...that is important in middle America...you know...out here where all of us hicks live....low info voters... that y'all like to think doesn't exist...

have a great day...

ps....isn't it funny that Obama, the candidate of change....picked someone who has been in the Senate since '72. McCain...the old whitehaired dude...picked the fresh faced outsider!!!

Can you imagine how Hillary is gnashing her teeth right now?? Whoa daddy!!!

Obama shoulda picked her!! Gotham is talking about srewups? Little Boy Blue....'done messed up'!!

This is rich....I may not have to hold my nose now when voting for Mac!!

By the way...some yo yo in Newsweek said that if Obama is not elected it proves that America is racist... So now...can we say that if Obama is elected...it proves American is chauvinistic? Huh? does it?

:)

Funny . . .

McCain's audience is a bunch of brunette "white" people, with a few blond/blondes in the crowd but of course they are just confused . . .

Democrats are brown, black, white, red, skin and hair color: I have always firmly believed diversity is the spice of life.

Palin. Red in tooth and claw as she presently screeches for McCain ("there is only one candidate who has truly fought for his country, John Mccain" Uh-o, be scared of Iran and Russia).

The Palin looking type of women so coldly look down at you from their perch, that judge Judy type with haranguing tone and all, on the bench as they sentence you to jail and fines, and they appear so benevolently predatory, as they know a courthouse full of goons are ready to put the smackdown on us little ones . . .

black, brown, and ill-white colored goons at that . . .

funny

Demcoartioc party has many women leaders with excellent record paart from Hillary Clinton; Katleen Sibelius, Janet Napolitano and Claire McCaskill. Sibelius was a strong front-runner for the VP pick. She is a progressive and popular governor in a Red State(Kansas). I would have loved her to be VP.

Democratic party has many women leaders with excellent record apart from Hillary Clinton; Katleen Sibelius, Janet Napolitano and Claire McCaskill. Sibelius was a strong front-runner for the VP pick. She is a progressive and popular governor in a Red State(Kansas). I would have loved her to be VP.

The very fact that you left wing kooks are so bent out of shape...tells me that Mac hit a home run with this one!

Salina ranting, ruth puking, Mallika spazzing, Irivnechrisjohnpreityfreeya cutting, pasting, and whining....awwww.....what a great day!

This lady has executive experience....it could be argued that she is more fit for pres than any of the other three!

She hasn't slept with domestic terrorists, she hasn't been attending a rabidly anti-american church....

God...this is exciting.....

She will clean Biden's clock....he'll look like an old stale gasbag up beside her. McCain already looks like a senior statesman beside little boy blue.....

Oh yeah.... go ahead.... puke, gag, spew venom... Nobama is going down
down
down
down
down
down
down

:)

I like you Skinny, your really funny! My husband said this morning, "I have never seen two people wanna lose so bad" I laughed hard for five minutes! cause its so true! If he would have picked Hillary, this would have been a done deal. But I suppose there entertaining us well this late August! Get ready for the rodeo, fans. Hee Haw!

Cheers

What do you think, Richard....this delightful 'fiction' unfolding? I mean superimposed, all of it, not just America.

Who's the Morph-master?

I can't wait for the final shake-out!

Palin wonders "what is it exactly that the VP does every day?"

Go to 2:50... in the Video below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pak-rH0dCeA

Palin: "As for that V.P. talk all the time, I’ll tell you, I still can’t answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the V.P. does every day? I’m used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration. We want to make sure that that V.P .slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans and for the things that we’re trying to accomplish up here for the rest of the U.S., before I can even start addressing that question."

My favorite part of the video is when Kudlow has to explain that the OVP is indeed, important.

Not to overlook the first part of this video, where Kudlow's question about her ongoing ethics investigation is answered with "it's cool." Like totally, Sara!

nailbender:

the most damaging part of the quote, imo,

is this:

"We want to make sure that that V.P .slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans and for the things that we’re trying to accomplish up here for the rest of the U.S., before I can even start addressing that question."

She needs to read the Constitution. The Vice President is a national position. Telegraphing her intention to use the position to advance the interests of one state is a huge gift, not to the GOP, but to the Dems.

Palin wonders "what is it exactly that the VP does every day?"

Go to 2:50... in the Video below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pak-rH0dCeA

Palin: "As for that V.P. talk all the time, I’ll tell you, I still can’t answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the V.P. does every day? I’m used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration. We want to make sure that that V.P .slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans and for the things that we’re trying to accomplish up here for the rest of the U.S., before I can even start addressing that question."

My favorite part of the video is when Kudlow has to explain that the OVP is indeed, important.

Not to overlook the first part of this video, where Kudlow's question about her ongoing ethics investigation is answered with "it's cool." Like totally, Sara!

nailbender:

the most damaging part of the quote, imo,

is this:

"We want to make sure that that V.P .slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans and for the things that we’re trying to accomplish up here for the rest of the U.S., before I can even start addressing that question."

She needs to read the Constitution. The Vice President is a national position. Telegraphing her intention to use the position to advance the interests of one state is a huge gift, not to the GOP, but to the Dems.

There ya go.

Here ya go.

Hey skinny,

I'm a fan of inappropriate humor, not inappropriate VP choices. :-)

Here ya go.

This isn't the first time McCain has gone for a younger attractive woman.

One wonders if it'll be the last time...

Yo Salina. McCain picked a vagina.

Cuntry First!

Something is wrong with the system isn't there? Usually, after I hit post I hit refresh and it post, no fuss, no muss. Not workin today

Oops, sorry for multi posts, it seems the system is not keeping up. Whats new..I LOVE this shake down!

Make awkward sexual advances, not war. lol.

2 (count em) years experience as governor of the least populated state in the union, before that, mayor of a town of 6500 (Giving her VP acceptance speech to more people than the town she was a mayor two years ago!) And McCain is going to question Obama's fitness to be President???

Yeah, he tends to prefer young attractive and petite women.

Because he's short.

Short men don't like women to be taller than they are. lol.

Babies, Guns, Jesus.....She just wrapped up all the Red states....those ones totttering on the edge...they just fell back in the red...

The media is transfixed with Hurricane Gustav..Cat. 3.....Well...lemme tell you...Hurricane Sara, Cat. 10 Just blew into Dayton, blew the left wings mind, blew Hillary's glory to smithereens, and made Mac look like the Candidate of change....

Those customers I'm calling on this afternoon...they be in trouble....I'm blowing about Cat 5 myself right now....

To parrot Little Boy Blue's wife...."Today, for the first time in years...I'm proud to be a Republican..."

Now...I really have to get to work...

catch y'all later tonight....

wooooohawww!!!

:)

Hello Everyone,

Palin was most likely picked for the evangelical pro life vote and the most important factor, to the repubs,....Alaskan oil, and people needing jobs in Alaska will want the jobs drilling can bring them, they will not care about the environment.

She will only get the Hillary vote if that vote was just for Hillary being a woman and not for the issues Hillary stood for...The majority of Hillary voters are pro life by being pro choice.

They will make an interesting pair...the ole white haired dude and his gal pal VP...

The Barak Obama has a lot of hard work ahead of them. There is a lot at stake for this Nation and the choice lies in whether we are ready to step into the future and grow or whether we will regress.

With the republican's choice of Palin as McCain's Vice President we as a Nation are a step closer to the denial of Women their right to choose and with this denial goes a very basic individual freedom for women and delivers that power into the hands of those who care not for the one but who through bureaucratic indifference are careless with the many.

Abortion is choice

ruth

Obama and Biden congratulate Palin

A gracious candidate while the staff whacks away -- Barack Obama and Joe Biden congratulate Palin:

"We send our congratulations to Governor Sarah Palin and her family on her designation as the republican nominee for Vice President. It is yet another encouraging sign that old barriers are falling in our politics. While we obviously have differences over how best to lead this country forward Governor Palin is an admirable person and will add a compelling new voice to this campaign."

As an outsider, I wonder about another possibility...

Could it be that this woman is McCain's straight and direct line to the oil fields in Alaska?

And that this has been cooked up already a long time ago?

Politics, a very dirty ego game?

Mieke

Hello Everyone,

Palin was most likely picked for the evangelical pro life vote and the most important factor, to the repubs,....Alaskan oil, and people needing jobs in Alaska will want the jobs drilling can bring them, they will not care about the environment.

She will only get the Hillary vote if that vote was just for Hillary being a woman and not for the issues Hillary stood for...The majority of Hillary voters are pro life by being pro choice.

They will make an interesting pair...the ole white haired dude and his gal pal VP...

The Barak Obama has a lot of hard work ahead of them. There is a lot at stake for this Nation and the choice lies in whether we are ready to step into the future and grow or whether we will regress.

With the republican's choice of Palin as McCain's Vice President we as a Nation are a step closer to the denial of Women their right to choose and with this denial goes a very basic individual freedom for women and delivers that power into the hands of those who care not for the one but who through bureaucratic indifference are careless with the many.

Abortion is choice

ruth

I keep veering between laughing my head off at Lady Quayle and being very, very, VERY insulted. Seriously? SERIOUSLY? Do they think we can't tell the difference between Clinton and Palin just because they both have the same gender? Christ, I was hearing all over the place about how Obama couldn't pick any other woman besides Clinton for the veep slot because her supporters would accept no substitutions. I have some problems with that logic, but I did agree with the underlying sentiment-- that Clinton earned her support because of who she is and what she brings to the table, and that her gender, while important, was far from being the whole picture.

McCain just showed us that he really doesn't see the difference between Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin. He honestly thinks that the ONLY reason Clinton got the votes she did was because she is a woman. In pandering to her supporters, he's showing just how little he understands them and how little he thinks of them.

I wasn't a Clinton supporter, but by God I can see the difference and Clinton is far superior. We need Clinton and Pelosi on CNN to underline the difference, STAT: for Democrats, women are powerful politicians in their own right, who help shape the platform and the debate. For Republicans, women are a prop. Does Palin's inclusion mean that we're going to see the Republicans talking about wage disparity, about discrimination, about universal access to birth control and comprehensive sex ed, about the high cost of child care and the toll that takes on working women, particularly single mothers? I don't see it happening.

I will say this: at the very, very least, we're seeing that the Republicans grasp that having women in power is Somehow Kinda Important. They don't seem to understand WHY it's important, but, oh well, it's a start. Baby steps. Hopefully this won't scare the Republicans off of a REAL female candidate in the future-- provided that they can ever find one.

And finally, I'm really looking forward to seeing how the Republicans react. I mean, a LOT.

Hi Ruth,

As an outsider, I think you are right on as far as the Alaskan oil is concerned. Perhaps this all has been cooked up already a few years ago.

Politics, it is and stays a dirty ego game.

Well, the rest of the world is watching in 'awe' to see how this all will develop.

At this moment I wonder, is this a stalemate or a checkmate position on the chessboard. Or is there some balance to be found in the fact that it is a 50/50 race at the moment?

Mieke

Palin's speech

Michael Clark: A forgettable speech from a forgettable candidate

Well that was a truly forgettable speech. We learned that McCain is still aiming to recast himself as the real agent of change, somehow. But there was little in the speech to explain why a Washington insider who's tied himself as closely as anyone to a deeply unpopular president should be considered an agent of change. I'm reminded of a comment my father made in passing back in the 1970s about the philosophy of Republicans:

"Republicans are always in favor of change, just not now."

The other thing we learned is that McCain still believes he can capture some of Hillary Clinton's voters. But Sarah Palin offered nothing in her banal speech that would be attractive to those voters aside from her own gender.

It was a 4th or 5th drawer speech that would have been more appropriate for the state-level chicken-dinner circuit than for the national stage. No wonder John McCain looked so nervous you thought he might have a seizure right on stage.

What didn't we learn? Why Sarah Palin should be considered ready to take over the presidency. We heard nothing about her foreign policy views - if she has any. We learned practically nothing about domestic issues. She said nothing that spoke directly to the interests of voters of Ohio specifically. It was as if she didn't know how to reach out to people outside her own state.

Heck, we didn't even learn how large the crowd was in Dayton. I wonder if the McCain campaign wanted to keep it that way.

Check out the discussion at Daily Kos:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/29/124810/783/955/578745

McCain shot himself in the foot. I can't wait to see the VP debate now.

Palin Doesn't Know What A Vice-President Does

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pak-rH0dCeA

The money quote coming in at around 2:50:

"[A]s for that V.P. talk all the time, I'll tell you, I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the V.P. does every day?"

She doesn't know, huh? Hopefully, she has read The Constitution since she made that statement.

Conservatives react to Palin...

We're looking at a full-blown meltdown. Let's kick things off with Kathryn Jean Lopez of National Review:

"She Just Is Not Ready to Be Commander-in-Chief" [said] Pat Buchanan on MSNBC just now, about Sarah Palin. I'm liable to agree.

http://corner.nationalreview.com/

Lopez also posted this as a typical email she's gotten:

"As much as I loathe Obama-Biden, I can't in good conscience vote for a McCain-Palin ticket. Palin has absolutely no experience in foreign affairs. Considering both McCain's advanced age and the state of the world today, it is essential that the veep be exceedingly qualified to assume the office of president. I simply don't have any confidence in Palin's ability to deal effectively with Iran, Russia, China, etc. I certainly will not cast a vote for Obama-Biden, but nor will I vote for McCain-Palin. Looks like I'll either sit this one out or vote for Bob Barr. Why, o, why, didn't McCain listen to Rove and just pick Romney?"

***

From the National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru:

"Inexperience. Palin has been governor for about two minutes. Thanks to McCain’s decision, Palin could be commander-in-chief next year. That may strike people as a reckless choice; it strikes me that way. And McCain's age raised the stakes on this issue.

As a political matter, it undercuts the case against Obama. Conservatives are pointing out that it is tricky for the Obama campaign to raise the issue of her inexperience given his own, and note that the presidency matters more than the vice-presidency. But that gets things backward. To the extent the experience, qualifications, and national-security arguments are taken off the table, Obama wins.

And it’s not just foreign policy. Palin has no experience dealing with national domestic issues, either. (On the other hand, as Kate O’Beirne just told me, we know that Palin will be ready for that 3 a.m. phone call: She’ll already be up with her baby.)

Tokenism. Can anyone say with a straight face that Palin would have gotten picked if she were a man?

Compatibility. It doesn’t seem as though McCain knows Palin well. Do we have much reason to think they would work well together?

Debates. Maybe, as Jonah said the other day, Biden will look like a bully going up against her—and maybe she’ll shine. But I can think of a lot of other picks who would have been lower-risk.

I am not even sure that the pick will have quite the galvanizing effect on conservatives that it seems to be having now as it sinks in. The concerns I’ve mentioned here—about her readiness and her credentials—are the kind of thing that many conservative voters take seriously."

***

From the National Review's Jonah Goldberg:

"Downside: She may not be ready for primetime. The heartbeat-from-the-presidency issue is a real one."

***

From the National Review's Jonathon Adler:

"I recognize that were McCain to select Palin as his Veep it disrupts the Obama Lacks Foreign Policy Experience" talking point, but I was never thought that argument was all that powerful."

***

From Town Hall's Ron Fournier:

"If Obama is an empty suit, as McCain has suggested, is Palin suited for the Oval Office herself?

She is younger and less experienced than the first-term Illinois senator, and brings an ethical shadow to the ticket. Just 20 months ago, she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, a town of 6,500 where the biggest issue is controlling growth and the biggest annual worry is whether there will be enough snow for the Iditarod dog-mushing race."

***

From MSNBC's Joe Scarborough:

"It Sounds Like a Harriet Miers Decision. Let's Find a Woman, Whether She's Experienced or Not."

For those that can read..

Ed, I actually wasn’t going to respond, because it’s an ego drama that sucks energy, but because you asked assuming you meant me. This whole “race” is a production and takes our attention off the ego doers and their scheme to maintain a disproportionate advantage and the imbalances, division and conflict they profit from.

This is one of those days I am thinking to God just wipe it all out, and if it all exists in my mind that just might happen; thanks to nature and flawed system design. I had to deal with the deceptive practices of Comcast today which only strengthens my resolve to build a consumer owned communication network so no one can extort more value then they actually create.

It’s a numbers game, divide and conquer. Yet only the ego can be divided, the spirit cannot. Source disconnected ego eventually fails and achieves the opposite of what it intends when that intention is not aligned with the divine or at least harmonious with it’s environment and those others in it.

These are the left and right hands of the same body, both hands are used to maintain and orchestrate the big scheme.

The question that we all need to ask is what brain is controlling the hands of this body? Is the brain dominated by ego intention of spirit intention? Is the brain influenced by the desire for money? In a balanced world the brain controlling these hands would be the collective mind formed by the people. This divided brain is controlled by individuals each acting to protect their own self interests. Working to maintain the current system of things because they benefit from it, success measured by their ability to maintain an ignorant indentured servitude.

The machinations of the ego abound in this game. Just look at all the ego chatter in these threads.

I will just leave it up to the divine, and wait for inspiration, there is none now. Guess I will just watch the movie.

At the moment I would not be able to make a case with the highest court for the preservation of humanity, which seems beyond repair because it gives its attention to the false prophet, the corporate source disconnected managed media.

It would require a miracle to save all from the forces of ego and to bring down the ego empire.

Yet, miracles do happen.

Before they loved Hillary, before Hillary Clinton became GOP-feminist icon of opportunity, Sarah Palin, like a couple other Republicans, wasn't such a fan:

Palin in the Green Room
NEWSWEEK's Karen Breslau shares a personal moment with the Alaska governor.
By Karen Breslau | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Aug 29, 2008 | Updated: 2:11 p.m. ET Aug 29, 2008

http://www.newsweek.com/id/156190

Newsweek reports that she said she felt kind of bad she couldn't support a woman, but she didn't like Clinton's "WHINING."

She apparently said that at a forum last year.

yo flabs...dont laugh so hard...damn!...u might back fire some unpleasant hot air...to make the poor nabes scatter ...fast..for cover...

beachboy the repubs are toast...u'd have to be real dumb or real 'tupid to vote for 4 more yrs of the same...yeah 4 more yrs of

the same

the same

the same in...

macain

macain

macain

go kentucky go!

Dear ladies and gentlemen of the traditional media:

I now expect you -- no, REQUIRE you -- to run 24/7 stories about Republicans being in severe, angry disarray going into their convention next week.

Why? Because John McCain's jilted Vice-Presidential candidates are extremely pissed at being used for cover over the last few weeks:

***********************************************
"Palin Pick Leaves Bruised Feelings

By Anne E. Kornblut

DENVER -- Though it was high in shock value, the Palin pick left bruised feelings among the short-list contenders who were not picked -- and infuriated some Republican officials who privately said McCain had gone out on a limb, unnecessarily, without laying the groundwork for such an unknown. Two senior Republican officials close to Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty said they had both been rudely strung along and now "feel manipulated."

"They now know that they were used as decoys, well after McCain had decided not to pick them," one Republican involved in the process said."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/08/29/palin_pick_leaves_bruised_feel.html
**********************************************

The Republicans are in complete chaos, and former rivals are enraged at the candidate.

Does that storyline sound familiar, ladies and gentlemen of the media?

It should. It's the same exact one you flogged shamelessly for the Democratic convention that just ended, even when it was crystal clear that you were mostly making it up. A ragtag group of fools calling itself "PUMA" was the best you could unearth to justify pumping oxygen into that same story every day, and it turns out that their numbers were so pathetically low that they could meet in one restaurant in Denver.

And then Hillary Clinton herself destroyed their reason for existence with a brilliant speech supporting Barack Obama... and yet you media Heathers STILL tried to keep the story going.

Last night's speech by Barack Obama made it ALL go away, of course: his incredible performance dissolved all your little storylines, once and for all.

But I know that it makes most of you sad, since you love your pet narratives. You love your soap operas, and you love repeating them ad infinitum. Heck, it beats working. Real reporting is hard!

Well, you have my sympathies. I know how difficult it is for you Beltway geniuses to think up new stories.

So I'm going to make it easy on you. Just run the same exact story next week, and substitute the names "Mitt Romney" and "Tim Pawlenty" for "Hillary Clinton." Make that THE big story of the convention: how the Republican party is divided into factions that loathe each other, and how that schism severely endangers John McCain's chances of winning in November.

Easy, right ? And unlike the Clinton story, this one is mostly TRUE.

(But wait, that's not really a factor for you, is it? )

...In any case, I look forward to your 24/7 stories of Hopelessly Divided Republicans next week.

Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com has an excellent analysis:

Palin: It's Not Really About Experience

So why is the Obama campaign going for the jugular and critiquing Sarah Palin's experience?

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/08/obama_campaign_reactions_inexp.php

Shouldn't they be happy enough that the experience argument was essentially taken off the table by this selection?

Because it isn't really an argument about experience "per se". It's an argument about whether she meets the basic threshold test of voters feeling comfortable with having her as President. Experience is a part of that, but so are essentially the aesthetics of it: picturing a young, attractive, kooky, female governor from Alaska who has an accent straight out of "Fargo" in the White House is going to be a "much" bigger leap for many voters than picturing Barack Obama there.

And whereas Obama has had eighteen months to make himself familiar to voters, the McCain campaign has barely any time to roll Palin out. It's not that she's inexperienced so much as that she's "new".

Hi, Mieke,

Yes, McCain is trying to cover oil drilling in Alaska so we can be swimming in oil in 30 years and the evangelical's desire to stack the Supreme Court with the extreme christian right, we will be closer to looking and acting like Saudi Arabia..rich white men laying down the law to us women folk.....yippee...

have a great weekend, Mieke....ruth

Maybe many misjudged McCain and he secretly wants Obama to be president, maybe he saw through all the fictions and really does love his country.

If McCain was going for a skirt with a bit of oil stain on her, he should have picked Sen Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas. At least she has some experience and probably knows a thing or two about what the job entails.

Dearest Preity, I now "expect", no no "Require" you to walk down the beach clothed only in a purple and green toto and proclaim your undieing love for the canidate of your choice, yeah.

Hopelessly divided, and you?

Hunter@Daily Kos writes:

A McCain/Palin pairing? I'm sorry, but that's just... weird. It's a pairing that seems to be drawn not from politics, but from a 1980's network sitcom.

HE is an ex-POW turned multimillionaire. He has power, wealth, and more houses than most people have ties. But can anything -- or anyone -- calm his savage temper, and teach him to love again?

SHE's a young creationist who knows little about politics and is in 'trouble with the law.'

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/08/29/palin-corruption-investigation/

He'll take her in -- but can he teach her the ways of Washington before she embarrasses him at the big Telecom Ball?

Find out this fall on Dharma and Methuselah...

Groan. This is a presidential pairing? I'm just not sure what McCain's thinking. Like it or not, John McCain is a man who has not always been in the best of health. He's made "experience" the cornerstone of his campaign. So does he really believe -- does he really want 'all of us' to believe -- that Palin is ready to be President of the United States, in the event something were to happen to him? Based on what?

I don't think it's a wrong choice, I think it's an unserious -- even fairly offensive -- choice. McCain isn't even officially his party's nominee yet, and he's already treating his presumptive office with disdain, and making executive decisions that seem like they've been phoned in or made in a panic.

Don't tell me it's his "brave" choice because she's a woman -- the Republican Party has 'many' women more qualified for the Vice Presidency. I don't agree with them on issues, but they'd be more qualified. This choice is indeed akin to choosing Quayle -- it smacks of choosing someone because they won't get in the way, or because all the other potential candidates were too personally threatening. It's just a bad choice, period.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/29/141112/083/746/578954

OR..

Maybe many misjudged Obama and he secretly wants McCain to be president, maybe he saw through all the fictions and really does love his country. Hmmm Richard?

#39 #45
Thanks, the one and only Richard :)

I didn't want you to be depressed about the ego drama. I do see a quickening overall and under all. I quite agree viewed from here a relative 'miracle' is required. Get the other side of that 'miracle' and we'll see it was the inevitable and even, inherent, 'solution.'

Some of us will still need to do some 'triggering' even though we won't have much more than the vaguest certainty of where we are going......
which brings me to your #45 .....

In that same vein
I think John McCain
Is 'trigger-happy' too!

Bring on the Clowns!

john maccain is 72 yrs old today!

his veep just had a baby, her 5th, just 4 months ago! john...what's that all about? hmmnn!

#49 Nice one Tammy, got called away and missed that.
So you are a Clown, too ;)

"The thing is Tara, my six year old daughter, wants the woman to be in the White House."

Mallika Chopra
Jan 9, 2008

Intent Blog titled "The Gender Thing"

I guess Gov Palin is the wrong type of woman right because she is not afraid to wear a skirt in public, or that she simply doesn't share your values? I'm just wondering what is it about this particular woman? Smart and strong just like Hillary.

Btw, she has a ton more executive experience that Barak Obama, aren't you really talking about someone else here?

Cheers,

Steve

This is a VERY easy one.

All Obama has to do is invoke the phrase, "Heck of a job, Brownie" as it relates to hurricanes and government paralysis in times of emergency, her part-time mayoralship of Podunk, AK, maybe Katherine Harris on a cantering horse, and maybe then toss in Elaine Benes from Seinfeld vintage, and everyone's going to get the pic.

This chick is a Face.

Does Palin ride a horse?

amber..

what exact executive experience qualifies one for the presidency? and where in the constitution is that a requirement for the office...ditto...to the farmer from bluegrass country...

amber and hoggie...conveniently, like cowards, quickly go silent when they are called out or when caught in the headlights! tsk!

Chill D. I was driving, is that ok?

I was responding to Mallika assertion about her apparent lack of experience and I wonder why should say that given Obama's tabla rasa. Sorry you have to look that up.

Btw, I'm sure Palin can ride a horse, I know she can shoot and fish, heck she is indeed more of a man than what I see on the other ticket.

Agree Skins?

Gotta run, will comment later D. nice to hear from you.

Final thoughts, Palin will be tough and she won't back down from plug man in a debate, she has tackled a lot tougher in Alaska.

Dems should be very nervous, completely took away from yesterday's togathon.

But to your point D. she doesn't have to have any experience, this hasn't stop BO from running and I give him the right to do so.

Steve

Some things you didn't know about Sarah Palin writes Michael Clark:

Sarah Palin was a small town mayor until less than two years ago. What we don't know about her could fill a book. Here are a few things we're learning about Palin.

Sarah Palin left the finances of her town Wasilla in tatters when she moved on in 2002. She wanted a legacy as mayor, it seems, and pushed hard for the town to build a hyper-expensive sports complex. But Palin screwed the process up badly.

http://dwb.adn.com/news/alaska/matsu/story/9055227p-8971221c.html

Instead of buying the land for the complex when it was offered, her administration allowed a developer named Gary Lundgren to snap it up. Then Wasilla tried to seize the land from Lundgren through eminent domain. In the end, what with court costs Wasilla paid at least $ 1.7 million for land it could have bought for less than one tenth that sum - if the purchase had been handled properly. For this incompetence, Wasilla is still paying a steep price: higher taxes and cutbacks in services. In other words Palin is about as efficient as Michael Brown, onetime head of FEMA.

Diarist loyalson, a resident of Wasilla, has more to say about the damage Palin did to his town while she was mayor.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/29/19534/4063/266/579434

On the single most debated issue of our times, the Iraq war, Sarah Palin similarly was out to lunch until as recently as last spring. Shortly after becoming governor, she was asked her views on the surge:

"Alaska Business Monthly: We've lost a lot of Alaska's military members to the war in Iraq. How do you feel about sending more troops into battle, as President Bush is suggesting?

Palin: I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place; I want assurances that we are doing all we can to keep our troops safe. Every life lost is such a tragedy."

John McCain would have us believe that Iraq is the central battle in the war on terror, and yet he selects as his running mate somebody who was paying almost no attention to the Iraq war for 4 long years after the invasion.

So what was Palin focused on?

"Alaska Business Monthly: It's extremely early to ask this, but when your tenure as governor is over, what would you like to have accomplished? How would you like to be remembered?

Palin: I want people to remember me as having always conducted the state's business in an upright and honest manner. I want them to understand that I put Alaska first in every decision I made."

Try to square that with the troopergate scandal, in which Palin allegedly misused her power as governor by bringing inappropriate pressure for two employees to be fired.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/29/104611/395

What's perhaps most interesting is that Palin appears to have begun misusing power almost as soon as she got any real power.

This lady is a true blue regular Ol' American, but can she be our next VP? Its gettin weirder and weirder around here every moment. And I need MORE choices than these!

Micheal Clark writes that Palin loved Obama Energy plan as recently as a day ago!:

Speaking of inconsistencies, earlier this month Palin PRAISED Barack Obama's energy plan (h/t Excelscior1).

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/29/104049/979/214/578461

Here is the cached version of the press release that had been posted at the Governor's website.

http://tinyurl.com/6gdech

The original document has been scrubbed sometime during the last day (since Aug. 28).

http://gov.state.ak.us/archive.php?id=1384&type=1

I wonder if that could have anything to do with McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate?

Some things you didn't know about Sarah Palin writes Michael Clark:

Sarah Palin was a small town mayor until less than two years ago. What we don't know about her could fill a book. Here are a few things we're learning about Palin.

Sarah Palin left the finances of her town Wasilla in tatters when she moved on in 2002. She wanted a legacy as mayor, it seems, and pushed hard for the town to build a hyper-expensive sports complex. But Palin screwed the process up badly.

http://dwb.adn.com/news/alaska/matsu/story/9055227p-8971221c.html

Instead of buying the land for the complex when it was offered, her administration allowed a developer named Gary Lundgren to snap it up. Then Wasilla tried to seize the land from Lundgren through eminent domain. In the end, what with court costs Wasilla paid at least $ 1.7 million for land it could have bought for less than one tenth that sum - if the purchase had been handled properly. For this incompetence, Wasilla is still paying a steep price: higher taxes and cutbacks in services. In other words Palin is about as efficient as Michael Brown, onetime head of FEMA.

Diarist loyalson, a resident of Wasilla, has more to say about the damage Palin did to his town while she was mayor.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/29/19534/4063/266/579434

On the single most debated issue of our times, the Iraq war, Sarah Palin similarly was out to lunch until as recently as last spring. Shortly after becoming governor, she was asked her views on the surge:

"Alaska Business Monthly: We've lost a lot of Alaska's military members to the war in Iraq. How do you feel about sending more troops into battle, as President Bush is suggesting?

Palin: I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place; I want assurances that we are doing all we can to keep our troops safe. Every life lost is such a tragedy."

John McCain would have us believe that Iraq is the central battle in the war on terror, and yet he selects as his running mate somebody who was paying almost no attention to the Iraq war for 4 long years after the invasion.

So what was Palin focused on?

"Alaska Business Monthly: It's extremely early to ask this, but when your tenure as governor is over, what would you like to have accomplished? How would you like to be remembered?

Palin: I want people to remember me as having always conducted the state's business in an upright and honest manner. I want them to understand that I put Alaska first in every decision I made."

Try to square that with the troopergate scandal, in which Palin allegedly misused her power as governor by bringing inappropriate pressure for two employees to be fired.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/29/104611/395

What's perhaps most interesting is that Palin appears to have begun misusing power almost as soon as she got any real power.

Some things you didn't know about Sarah Palin writes Michael Clark:

Sarah Palin was a small town mayor until less than two years ago. What we don't know about her could fill a book. Here are a few things we're learning about Palin.

Sarah Palin left the finances of her town Wasilla in tatters when she moved on in 2002. She wanted a legacy as mayor, it seems, and pushed hard for the town to build a hyper-expensive sports complex. But Palin screwed the process up badly.

http://dwb.adn.com/news/alaska/matsu/story/9055227p-8971221c.html

Instead of buying the land for the complex when it was offered, her administration allowed a developer named Gary Lundgren to snap it up. Then Wasilla tried to seize the land from Lundgren through eminent domain. In the end, what with court costs Wasilla paid at least $ 1.7 million for land it could have bought for less than one tenth that sum - if the purchase had been handled properly. For this incompetence, Wasilla is still paying a steep price: higher taxes and cutbacks in services. In other words Palin is about as efficient as Michael Brown, onetime head of FEMA.

Diarist loyalson, a resident of Wasilla, has more to say about the damage Palin did to his town while she was mayor.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/29/19534/4063/266/579434

On the single most debated issue of our times, the Iraq war, Sarah Palin similarly was out to lunch until as recently as last spring. Shortly after becoming governor, she was asked her views on the surge:

"Alaska Business Monthly: We've lost a lot of Alaska's military members to the war in Iraq. How do you feel about sending more troops into battle, as President Bush is suggesting?

Palin: I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place; I want assurances that we are doing all we can to keep our troops safe. Every life lost is such a tragedy."

John McCain would have us believe that Iraq is the central battle in the war on terror, and yet he selects as his running mate somebody who was paying almost no attention to the Iraq war for 4 long years after the invasion.

So what was Palin focused on?

"Alaska Business Monthly: It's extremely early to ask this, but when your tenure as governor is over, what would you like to have accomplished? How would you like to be remembered?

Palin: I want people to remember me as having always conducted the state's business in an upright and honest manner. I want them to understand that I put Alaska first in every decision I made."

Try to square that with the troopergate scandal, in which Palin allegedly misused her power as governor by bringing inappropriate pressure for two employees to be fired.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/29/104611/395

What's perhaps most interesting is that Palin appears to have begun misusing power almost as soon as she got any real power.

Some things you didn't know about Sarah Palin writes Michael Clark:

Sarah Palin was a small town mayor until less than two years ago. What we don't know about her could fill a book. Here are a few things we're learning about Palin.

Sarah Palin left the finances of her town Wasilla in tatters when she moved on in 2002. She wanted a legacy as mayor, it seems, and pushed hard for the town to build a hyper-expensive sports complex. But Palin screwed the process up badly.

http://dwb.adn.com/news/alaska/matsu/story/9055227p-8971221c.html

Instead of buying the land for the complex when it was offered, her administration allowed a developer named Gary Lundgren to snap it up. Then Wasilla tried to seize the land from Lundgren through eminent domain. In the end, what with court costs Wasilla paid at least $ 1.7 million for land it could have bought for less than one tenth that sum - if the purchase had been handled properly. For this incompetence, Wasilla is still paying a steep price: higher taxes and cutbacks in services. In other words Palin is about as efficient as Michael Brown, onetime head of FEMA.

Diarist loyalson, a resident of Wasilla, has more to say about the damage Palin did to his town while she was mayor.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/29/19534/4063/266/579434

On the single most debated issue of our times, the Iraq war, Sarah Palin similarly was out to lunch until as recently as last spring. Shortly after becoming governor, she was asked her views on the surge:

"Alaska Business Monthly: We've lost a lot of Alaska's military members to the war in Iraq. How do you feel about sending more troops into battle, as President Bush is suggesting?

Palin: I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place; I want assurances that we are doing all we can to keep our troops safe. Every life lost is such a tragedy."

John McCain would have us believe that Iraq is the central battle in the war on terror, and yet he selects as his running mate somebody who was paying almost no attention to the Iraq war for 4 long years after the invasion.

So what was Palin focused on?

"Alaska Business Monthly: It's extremely early to ask this, but when your tenure as governor is over, what would you like to have accomplished? How would you like to be remembered?

Palin: I want people to remember me as having always conducted the state's business in an upright and honest manner. I want them to understand that I put Alaska first in every decision I made."

Try to square that with the troopergate scandal, in which Palin allegedly misused her power as governor by bringing inappropriate pressure for two employees to be fired.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/29/104611/395

What's perhaps most interesting is that Palin appears to have begun misusing power almost as soon as she got any real power.

Some things you didn't know about Sarah Palin writes Michael Clark:

Sarah Palin was a small town mayor until less than two years ago. What we don't know about her could fill a book. Here are a few things we're learning about Palin.

Sarah Palin left the finances of her town Wasilla in tatters when she moved on in 2002. She wanted a legacy as mayor, it seems, and pushed hard for the town to build a hyper-expensive sports complex. But Palin screwed the process up badly.

http://dwb.adn.com/news/alaska/matsu/story/9055227p-8971221c.html

Instead of buying the land for the complex when it was offered, her administration allowed a developer named Gary Lundgren to snap it up. Then Wasilla tried to seize the land from Lundgren through eminent domain. In the end, what with court costs Wasilla paid at least $ 1.7 million for land it could have bought for less than one tenth that sum - if the purchase had been handled properly. For this incompetence, Wasilla is still paying a steep price: higher taxes and cutbacks in services. In other words Palin is about as efficient as Michael Brown, onetime head of FEMA.

Diarist loyalson, a resident of Wasilla, has more to say about the damage Palin did to his town while she was mayor.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/29/19534/4063/266/579434

On the single most debated issue of our times, the Iraq war, Sarah Palin similarly was out to lunch until as recently as last spring. Shortly after becoming governor, she was asked her views on the surge:

"Alaska Business Monthly: We've lost a lot of Alaska's military members to the war in Iraq. How do you feel about sending more troops into battle, as President Bush is suggesting?

Palin: I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place; I want assurances that we are doing all we can to keep our troops safe. Every life lost is such a tragedy."

John McCain would have us believe that Iraq is the central battle in the war on terror, and yet he selects as his running mate somebody who was paying almost no attention to the Iraq war for 4 long years after the invasion.

So what was Palin focused on?

"Alaska Business Monthly: It's extremely early to ask this, but when your tenure as governor is over, what would you like to have accomplished? How would you like to be remembered?

Palin: I want people to remember me as having always conducted the state's business in an upright and honest manner. I want them to understand that I put Alaska first in every decision I made."

Try to square that with the troopergate scandal, in which Palin allegedly misused her power as governor by bringing inappropriate pressure for two employees to be fired.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/29/104611/395

What's perhaps most interesting is that Palin appears to have begun misusing power almost as soon as she got any real power.

Micheal Clark writes that Palin loved Obama Energy plan as recently as a day ago!:

Speaking of inconsistencies, earlier this month Palin PRAISED Barack Obama's energy plan (h/t Excelscior1).

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/29/104049/979/214/578461

Here is the cached version of the press release that had been posted at the Governor's website.

http://tinyurl.com/6gdech

The original document has been scrubbed sometime during the last day (since Aug. 28).

http://gov.state.ak.us/archive.php?id=1384&type=1

I wonder if that could have anything to do with McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate?

Can we please stop hearing from the media about how brilliant Karl Rove and Steve Schmidt are?
Plain is a VP pick made from desperation. John McCain is forced by the brilliantly-staged and historic Democratic convention:

>"His TV audience nearly doubled the amount of people who watched John Kerry accept the Democratic nomination to run against President Bush four years ago. Kerry's speech was seen by just over 20 million people.">

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i2jxRdoi5AN3SjYwU0ErKRVWPKHwD92S3HOG1

to pick an obscure, untested and unknown woman when we all know McCain wanted Lieberman and was willing to settle for Pawlenty. Instead:

>“No one knows anything about her,” complained one GOP strategist, who spoke on the condition that he not be identified. “I don’t know anyone who has even met her.”

McCain succeeded in keeping his pick a secret until this morning, but the secrecy came at a cost: Surrogates who might have been counted on to sing Palin’s praises were caught flat-footed and unprepared instead.

“I don’t know much about her,” Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison told CNN this morning. “I don't know Sarah Palin.">

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12978.html

Palin will win a news cycle, quickly be obscured by Gustav, and be a long term failure as a pick. Not that that's entirely McCain's fault; the rest of his weak GOP bench would have been failures of different sorts. What we wound up with was the grumpy old guy and the charming creationist cheerleader. But let's be clear about what happened and why: McCain sensed he was going to lose and therefore threw the Hail Mary pass to try and win.

Is he entitled? Surely he is. But this was a move out of desperation, not out of genius.

Not every conservative commentator fell in line and hailed the choice (see #37 posted by Welsh.) And not every party official was thrilled:

"Though it was high in shock value, the Palin pick left bruised feelings among the short-list contenders who were not picked -- and infuriated some Republican officials who privately said McCain had gone out on a limb, unnecessarily, without laying the groundwork for such an unknown. Two senior Republican officials close to Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty said they had both been rudely strung along and now "feel manipulated.""

This was a tactical win and a strategic disaster. And all the pre-confirmation chatter was true. For all the 24-hour distraction, this is an unserious and lightweight choice which will not address any of the major and multiple problems this country faces. She has neither economic nor foreign policy chops, and is not ready to step up and be President (I haven't seen anyone who agrees she is, except only a few here or there.) And given that that's the most important and vital role of a VP, and given McCain's 72 years of age, that's a game breaker.

She has strengths, certainly. She's new, unknown, charming, and from the West, and can talk credibly about Big Oil energy. Most importantly, it's a historic thing for the GOP to put a woman on the ticket. But she is not a qualified woman. She simply doesn't measure up where it counts.

More background from Gregg Erickson, Columnist and Reporter, Anchorage Daily News and Editor at Large, Alaska Budget Report :

>"About her strengths and weaknesses: “She is smart, vivacious and energetic; she tends to oversimplify complex issues, has had difficulty delegating authority, and clearly has difficulty distinguishing the line between her public responsibilities and private wishes. She is under legislative investigation on this, the so-called “troopergate” issue, in which she is said to have used improper influence to try to get her sister’s ex-husband fired from the state troopers."

About her approval ratings: “Her approval ratings are high–65 percent, or so–but down from 80 percent earlier in her term. Most Alaskan’s haven’t watched her as closely as most reporters or legislators. If you took a poll of reporters and legislators I expect her approval rating would be down in the teens or twenties.">
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/08/29/DI2008082902052.html

3 a.m.? I don't think so. And using her to go after the Clinton voters? Not if you know the record:

>"She said she felt kind of bad she couldn't support a woman, but she didn't like Clinton's "whining."> (see #40 posted by Welsh)

No doubt, voters will note those comments come the fall, along with her abuse of power issues, 2000 Pat Buchanan support and her hard-right creationism.

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/jstreet/350730/sarah_palin_buchananite

Those characteristics will not play well in the suburbs. Debbie Wasserman Schultz called this "colossally bad judgment" on McCain's part. She's absolutely right.

This was a weak and embarrassing pick, and McCain has failed his first executive decision. But for now, don't lose sight of the fact that this happened because McCain was losing.

Obama meets Palin, spokesman Robert Gibbs:

"Senator Obama talked with Governor Palin for several minutes at 4:50 PM today from the campaign bus. He told her she would be a terrific candidate and that he looked forward to seeing her on the campaign trail.

He also wished her good luck but not too much luck."

Biden also called Palin, his spokesman, David Wade, tells reporters:

"At 5:00 Sen. Biden called Gov. Palin to congratulate her. They had a very friendly conversation, talked about the shared experience of being announced as veep picks, and Sen. Biden said he looked forward to meeting her and getting to know her."

Previously, Barack Obama and Joe Biden congratulate Palin:

"We send our congratulations to Governor Sarah Palin and her family on her designation as the republican nominee for Vice President. It is yet another encouraging sign that old barriers are falling in our politics. While we obviously have differences over how best to lead this country forward Governor Palin is an admirable person and will add a compelling new voice to this campaign."

Here's Clinton's statement on McCain's VP selection:

"We should all be proud of Governor Sarah Palin's historic nomination, and I congratulate her and Senator McCain. While their policies would take America in the wrong direction, Governor Palin will add an important new voice to the debate."

Clinton's public opposition to Palin will be a key factor here, as will her willingness to reiterate and detail it. In particular, Palin opposes abortion even in the cases of rape and incest, which puts her to McCain's right.

Hilary's policies on women's rights are exactly same that of Obama.

Sure, as you can see from many reactions, the idea that John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate would boost his support among hordes of Clinton's disaffected female supporters is a miscalculation at best. CNN ran a piece that featured a very funny montage of woman after woman, all former Clinton supporters, answering the question of whether they're likely to support McCain now that Palin is on the ticket by just saying "No" "No" "No" "No" "No"...

CNN also interviewed one woman who was incredulous:

"Well, first we were just laughing. Does he really think that's going to work?"

The piece went on to contrast Palin and Clinton even further, citing the fact that Palin is anti-abortion rights, a member of the NRA and, well, is a Republican. As Van Jones puts it:

"Someone should stand up and say: 'I know Senator Clinton. Senator Clinton is a friend of mine. And Sarah Palin is no Hillary Rodham Clinton.'"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/van-jones/palin-youre-no-hillary-cl_b_122479.html

But the larger damage done to McCain's candidacy by his pick of Palin may not be among Hillary Clinton supporters at all, but instead among moderate Republican women turned off by Hillary, inspired by Barack but leaning toward McCain. Could the condescension and the pandering inherent in the Palin pick tip them ever so slightly toward Barack Obama? I think, come November, the resounding answer is yes.

For those of us who care, how does Palin weigh in on climate change and sustainability?

Not too well, it turns out:
The Island of Doubt
Sarah Palin?
http://tinyurl.com/65k9dp

money quotes:

"Thanks to Grist's rapid rundown on Palin's record, we know that she:

* Believes intelligent design should be taught along with evolution in science classes
* Does not attribute global warming human forces
* Sued the Interior Department over its decision to list the polar bear as a threatened species
* Has pushed to open Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling
* Opposed a statewide ballot initiative to prohibit or restrict new mining operations that could affect salmon in the state's streams and rivers
* Believes we can "drill our way out of our problem"

and

"...given that her husband's job is "an oil production operator for BP on Alaska's North Slope" and that just last week she said:

"When I look every day, the big oil company's building is right out there next to me, and it's quite a reminder that we should have mutually beneficial relationships with the oil industry."

McCain did what he had to do, perhaps advised by smart political analysts. He made a gamble. That's his only chance to victory. The race is on.

To add to #43, Nate and Sean at FiveThirtyEight weigh with their excellent analysis on what Plain's pick holds for the election outcome:

Nate: Sarah Palin Thoughts, Revised and Extended

Wow. Judging by the amount of traffic and commentary on the couple of Sarah Palin threads I posted earlier, people are absolutely fascinated by this story. I don't think we can pass this off with the usual excuse about a VP choice not mattering. This is another fascinating element in a fascinating election -- I just don't think we have any real idea of how it's going to play out.

One thing we do have to give McCain credit for is taking a risk. Being behind in the election -- and I think McCain probably will wind up being a couple of points behind once the respective convention bumps play out -- necessitates taking a risk. Suppose, for instance, that McCain is 2 points down in the election. Suppose furthermore than there is a 50 percent chance that Palin boosts his standing by 3 points, and a 50 percent chance that she makes a major gaffe that costs McCain 10 points. That's actually a pretty good gamble for McCain to take, since he'd wind up winning the election 50 percent of the time (by one point) and getting blown out the other 50 percent of the time (by 12 points) -- better than losing the election by 2 points 100 percent of the time.

Obviously, that is an idealized rendering of an exceptionally complicated dynamic, but the whole reason to make a game-changing pick is because you're losing the game. And that McCain apparently made this pick on Thursday, after having seen that Bill and Hillary Clinton had exceeded all possible expectations in rallying their supporters behind Barack Obama, showed a certain awareness of the political landscape.

Then again, I think there was a better risk for McCain to take, which would have been picking a pro-choice candidate and calling out the religious right's bluff. You want a really terrific pick? How about Olympia Snowe, who has held down a senate seat in a blue state for 14 years, and who has a formidable resume.

***

But ultimately, we are in completely uncharted territory here. Palin is the most manifestly ordinary person ever to be nominated for a major party ticket. In this year of bittergate and Britney-gate and McCain-has-seven-houses-gate, that could conceivably be a virtue; it's certainly less tone-deaf than a selection like Mitt Romney would have been.

But Palin isn't merely playing at being ordinary, the way that Bill Clinton (Rhodes Scholar) or George W. Bush (son of a president) or Hillary Clinton (wife of a president) might. She really, really comes across that way -- like someone who had won a sweepstakes or an essay contest. Her authenticity factor is off-the-charts good; her biography sings. But do Americans really want their next-door-neighbor running for Vice President, or rather someone who seems like one?

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/08/sarah-palin-thoughts-revised-and.html#comments
____________________________________

Sean: Palin: More Follow Up Comments

To follow up on what Nate was saying earlier, there is a lot of gamble in the pick. What about the gamble of Palin v. Biden? One reason I've been arguing to Nate all week that McCain might need to pick a woman once Biden was picked is that while Biden has the ability to hit hard, would he hit a woman hard? And with specifically Palin, who is young and attractive, does it bait Biden into some kind of stray condescending comment about her youth and looks that would make many people furious, particularly women?

Call it the "gorgeous broad" mentality. Biden's got a bit of that Sinatra-ism, where he refers to his wife as "drop dead gorgeous" and it sounds like that's the way Biden most naturally expresses himself. But that's his wife. Biden can get away with that. With Palin, he might find himself giving a comment that in his mind sounds like a compliment, but comes out all wrong.

And that gets back to the heart of the gamble this pick represents. If McCain and Obama each consolidate their bases at the same percentages, Obama wins. There are now numerically more Democrats, and independents favor Obama. Before the conventions, McCain had moved past Obama, mostly because many women in Hillary Clinton's coalition had failed to warm to the Democratic nominee. Obama was stuck at 83% of his base and McCain had moved from a tie into 87% consolidation. Had this week's Denver convention not been as successful from a unity standpoint, McCain might not have needed as much to go for broke. If Obama secures his base, wins indies (as he's easily doing) and dominates in the ground game, game over for McCain. Demographically, the mountain is too steep to climb.

So what does McCain do? He picks a woman specifically to aim a wedge at the Obama base. It's a demographic pick - all about gaming the vote and little about governing. This is not the resume of a male candidate that would be acceptable. There is a small but legitimate chance Joe Biden will say something that can be used to call the Obama ticket a sexist one. Biden, of course, will and should be coached to restrain any such "stray comment" impulse in which he is wont to indulge.

But even if Biden (or anyone else) doesn't take the bait by dismissing her in a condescendingly sexist way, putting a woman on the ticket may give other Democratic women who don't want to vote for Obama a real reason to cross over. People aren't as undecided when it comes to politics as they claim, a recent study argues. They just haven't found an articulable reason to capture their decision. If some Democratic women don't really want to vote for Obama, identity politics may provide them with an affirmative, articulable reason to do so. McCain is old, and Palin could very easily become the next president by default.

It's probably not going to work, but we'll see some number soon. I think it's a gamble that McCain will lose. But I do respect the gamble. He looked into the numbers, saw the need to freeze Obama's base or be swamped on the numbers alone, and he took a big risk. Will a pro-life candidate sell those reluctant Democratic women? Again, unlikely. But kick in a few sexist dismissals - particularly any by Joe Sinatra Biden - and the outrage machine might get itself going.

I can tell you this - I suddenly became a lot more excited to be in St. Paul next week.

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/08/palin-more-follow-up-comments.html

Palin Is The Perfect Conservative / Republican Pick --Chris Bowers

Sarah Palin is a total wingnut:

"Pat Buchanan brought his conservative message of a smaller government and an America First foreign policy to Fairbanks and Wasilla on Friday as he continued a campaign swing through Alaska. Buchanan's strong message championing states rights resonated with the roughly 85 people gathered for an Interior Republican luncheon in Fairbanks. ... Among those sporting Buchanan buttons were Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin and state Sen. Jerry Ward, R-Anchorage."

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/jstreet/350730/sarah_palin_buchananite

Palin is a total wingnut Buchannite, (check out what that means in practice), but ran today on feminist themes. She is running as a reformer, but she is under investigation for ethics violations. She favored the bridge to nowhere, but is now running on opposing it. She called Clinton a whiner only a few months ago, but is now invoking her name to cheers. She is the least experienced Vice-Presidential pick in decades, but was chosen by a man who is arguing that his opponent is too inexperienced. And that's not all:

_______________________
"The daughter of a science teacher who supports teaching creationism in schools. Someone from a state being hit hard by climate disruption who doesn't believe that humans cause global warming. Someone who claims to stand up to oil companies, but is instead a wholly-owned subsidiary of Big Oil. Someone who claims to fight corruption today but conveniently forgets McCain's membership in the Keating Five. The mother of a special needs child that supports a presidential who voted against funding special education."
http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/8/29/182233/307
__________________

At first I thought Palin was a bizarre pick. However, the more I think about it, she was clearly the perfect Republican pick. It is incredibly cynical (women will vote for any woman), based on several layers of hypocrisy, and for good measure displays a cartoonish view of progressivism (in this case, affirmative action as unqualified tokenism). That is basically the entire conservative philosophy right there: a cynical view of people combined with a message that is hypocritical to its core, and topped off with a cartoonish view of the other side.

This pick isn't bizarre at all. It is conservatism and Republicanism in a nutshell.

Yo Skinny,

You better lay of the Crown Royal son, it seems to have done gone and addled up your brain.
All this laughin and cackling, and jumpin around for joy, about grandpa’s choice for veep, of a young beauty queen
who shoots wolves from helicopters, and is sleeping with the oil companies. Ranting on about how you aren’t going
to have to hold your nose in the voting booth anymore, because that the smell of George’s ass, on John’s lips,
has now been covered up by some new perfume and a pretty face.
My guess is you will have to stay drunker than a lord to believe that you and the rest of the country will be safe
If that dame becomes President, because she knows how to shoot an AK47 (or at least has some pictures to that effect)and was the Mayor of some hick town in bumfuck Alaska.
Have you been into the hog wash again? Or getting high from smelling the gas tank of your hummer?

I do agree however that you are blowin a Cat 5, bad news son, “it’s all hot air”. Hopefully you will wake up later.

Cheers,
Stan

The seriousness of this situation is such that the Republicans should find another nominee for President. John McCain has proved he is not fit to even run for the office. This is the worst example of a man incomepetent and irresponsible.

Shame on YOU, John MCCain!

"The seriousness of this situation is such that the Republicans should find another nominee for President. John McCain has proved he is not fit to even run for the office. This is the worst example of a man incomepetent and irresponsible.

Shame on YOU, John MCCain"

I read this and other similar comments and I know that John McCain is on the right track.

People are really running scared here.

Let's see what the voters say in November, this is not the Soviet Union, at least not yet.

You can take comfort in BO's pick of Joe Biden I'm sure.

"I read this and other similar comments and I know that John McCain is on the right track."

ha ha ha!

That's the thing, Mr. Moron!

Those comments are coming from former Hillary supporters, and in case of Arizonasunset, a Ron Paul supporters, a libertarian and a conservative who prefers the Republican party.

Of course Palin will bring a lot of wingnut votes, and we are happy to have our say in America, although the Bush administration abuses power like the Putin regime.

Enjoy your false comforts.

Since neither candidate picked my choice for veep, I don't have a horse in this race, so will just sit back and enjoy the fun.

While most everyone here is tearing Palin apart, there are some folks on this web site I just discovered tearing Biden apart.

For a different perspective:
http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=756&Itemid=34

Hi, all

Last nite I watched and listened as the political comments came in from all across the airwaves, and I must say I am shocked that this nomination is even taken seriously, discussed as though Palin is someone who should even jokenly be considered.

John McCain and the Republican political straegists have so devalued the Office of the President and Vice President with their choice of Palin that it is a slap in the face to every man and woman who has died while serving their Nation,and these Offices in Iraq.

It is beyond shame, it is pure unadulterated disrespect.

And for those fellow Americans who cannot see or feel this slap in the face that has been given our electorial system,.......shame on you for allowing your intelligence to be played and dulled into obliviousness.

This is not a political race anymore, it is an insult and it is sad and it is, simply put, disrespectful to each and every young service man and woman who died in Iraq and Afganistan and to those who continue to serve today.

There is no political race anymore or could there be any "real and sincere" comparison between these to Presidential tickets.

Barak Obama and Joe Biden and the Democrats are a World Trade Center in height above the sad, disrespectful and conniving John McCain and Palin and the Republicans.

There is no race, it is over, and I in good conscious cannot be flippant about this circumstance anymore because I am too aware that any minute, any second, another young American will die or be seriously wounded while I sit comfortably in my home playing the game of dirty and shameful politics that the Republicans have served up with their nomination of the most unqualified Vice Prsidential Candidate in the 21st century...

The fact is that just because the Republicans and the news and the media serve this Nation this utter abomination of political back and forth does not me we as Americans have to sit back and shovel this sheet in...we have a choice to play along, open our big fat mouths and eat huge shovel fulls or we can say enough....

I am saying enough.

Come November if one want to honor our Nation and this Nations history and honor the lives given in sacrifice by respecting and honoring this great electorial process then there is only one choice available and that is Barak Obam and Joe Biden as our Leaders........

if you want to play the dirty and disrespectful game the Republican strategists continue to serve up....you have only one choice...John McCain and Palin....

it is simple and it is clear....there can no longer be a seriious discussion about this...Palin's nomination turned this race from the serious to the absurd......end of story.

good luck...with your conscious...come November.

ruth

correction re#78....should read

good luck with your conscience come November...

haven't even had my coffee yet....

oh, just want to add..

Barak Obama and Joe Biden must be tactful in their response to this nomination because of how the game is played but as American voters we do not have to be tactful nor should we be.....this is a situation where one must be absolutely frank, and honest, because of the seriousness of the situation. To be tactful would be cowardly.

ruth

oh, and it is certainly not a time to sit on the sidelines if you care one iota about this Nation and the lives that are put in harms way each and every day..

the fun time has ended with the nomination of Palin.

As an American it is my duty to speak up about this.

"Barak Obama and Joe Biden must be tactful in their response to this nomination..." ~Ruth

Yo

Late night haiku: She's a decoy.
by 8ackgr0und N015e

Sarah Palin is
the darling of such Right Wing
nutjobs as Limbaugh.

That is all I need
to know that she is not right
for the rest of us.

Palin is such an
easy target her role is
clear: she's a decoy.

Throwing out decoys.
That's what pilots do when they
can't outmaneuver.

I think Obama
and his staff are much too smart
to fall for that trick.

WOW. Simply WOW.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKkydrUnBZE

Sarah Palin laughs at cancer surviving Republican senator being called a "bitch."

_________________________________________________
"Early on in the conversation before Palin started to crack up, Lester referred to Sen. Green as a jealous woman and a cancer. Palin, who knows full well Lyda Green is a cancer survivor, didn't do what any decent person would do, say, "Bob, that's going too far."

But as the conversation moved on, Lester intensified his attack on Green.

Lester questioned Green's motherhood, asking Palin if the senator cares about her own kids. Palin laughs.

Then Lester clearly sets the stage for what he is about to say by warning his large audience and Palin. He says, "Governor you can't say this but I will, Lyda Green is a cancer and a b----." Palin laughs for the second time."

http://www.adn.com/opinion/comment/story/295464.html
__________________________________________________

Lyda Green is the State Senate President in Alaska, a Republican cancer-survivor from Palin's own town of Wasilla.

A normal person would avoid this radio show like the plague after this interview kicked up some controversy in Alaska. Gov. Palin just joined John McCain on the same radio show yesterday!

http://www.bobandmark.com/palin_mccain_interview

BTW, State Senate President Green has some very revealing comments on Gov. Palin...

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/president/27679049.html

"She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president? Look at what she's done to this state. What would she do to the nation?"

And this b**** is not even qualified to polish Hillary Rodham Clitnon's toe nails, and she has the nerve to call her a "whiner"?!

Republican Vice-Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska for about 18 months, and former mayor of Wasilla, population. 6000, when asked on her opinion about Iraq war:

"I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq."

Democratic Vice-Presidental Candidate Senator Joe Biden:

"As we gather here tonight, our country is less secure and more isolated than at any time in recent history. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has dug us into a very deep hole with very few friends to help us climb out. For the last seven years, this administration has failed to face the biggest forces shaping this century: the emergence of Russia, China and India as great powers; the spread of lethal weapons; the shortage of secure supplies of energy, food and water; the challenge of climate change; and the resurgence of fundamentalism in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the real central front against terrorism.

In recent days, we've once again seen the consequences of this neglect with Russia's challenge to the free and democratic country of Georgia. Barack Obama and I will end this neglect. We will hold Russia accountable for its actions, and we'll help the people of Georgia rebuild.

I've been on the ground in Georgia, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and I can tell you in no uncertain terms: this Administration's policy has been an abject failure. America cannot afford four more years of this."

I woke up this morning and realized it all wasn't a nightmare... yikes! So it's true. John McCain has made a campaign decision when he should have made a governing decision. People are defending his choice and knocking Obamama's. I agree with ruth (#80).

John McCain does not have the judgment to be president.

There's a most interesting reaction to the Sarah Palin choice this morning from the LA Times:

*********
"Though John McCain clearly concluded that Palin could attract female voters and grab his campaign some Barack Obama-style media buzz, he also is taking a risk that in elevating a largely unknown figure, he undermines the central theme of his candidacy that he puts "country first," above political calculations."

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-mccainassess30-2008aug30,0,7090723.story
**************

Having swallowed the insult (it's my country) of watching McCain fail the "a heartbeat away" test with someone who thinks drilling in Alaska will make Saudi Arabia obsolete (US -- a country with 3% of the world's oil reserves and 25% of world's oil usage -- can't drill our way out of the problem... even T. Boone Pickens knows that), the country really needs to focus on the person who picked the creationist cheerleader in the first place.

McCain's decision-making style is scary:

**************
"For a candidate known to possess a quick temper and an unpredictable political streak, the decision raises questions about how McCain would lead -- whether his decisions would flow from careful deliberations or gut checks in which short-term considerations or feelings outweigh the long view."

"Americans like risk-takers, but they also want to know that in times of crisis, you're going to be calm," said Matthew Dowd, who was a senior campaign strategist for President Bush but is neutral in the McCain-Obama race."

"Americans don't necessarily want somebody in a time of crisis to be overly emotional," Dowd said. "That's the balance that John McCain's going to have to show the public."
***************

This particularly BALANCED article notes some of Palin's proven and unproven strengths. The proven ones are the "cool" factor of having a working mom juggle life to do a job. That is a wonderful thing. The unproven parts are the delving into her history by the working press, her ability to prove that living closer to Russia makes her a foreign policy expert and that she is ready for the job of Vice President to a 72 year old candidate. That's not just an insult to Joe Biden, it's an insult to Pawlenty and Romney, and they've taken it as such. And it's not Palin's insult (by all accounts she's engaging and likeable), it's McCain's. I get the impression Pawlenty thought the job was his.

But the other proven "strength" is the one to watch. Sarah Palin is a right-wing creationist in the mold of Rick Santorum. She is as anti-choice, anti-science and anti-stem-cell research as anyone who thinks it's okay to teach creationism in the school system. That's why the religious right adores her.

What kind of President picks that kind of candidate? One who is no moderate, one who wants to run a base election on the advice of a Karl Rove surrogate. The purpose of this pick is to try and recreate the 2004 ground game and turnout in places like Ohio. But it's the moderates and centrists and independents who should do what the McCain camp wants... give a good hard look at this ticket and move past the image of the old John McCain and look at the reality of the "sell my soul to win" politician who once told Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell where to get off and who now jumps when the fundie wing tells him to.

One thing I will say for McCain - if he wanted to make people give his campaign a good second look, he will succeed:

*************************************************
"In trying to reclaim your maverick brand, you appear to have pushed an unknown, unformed and under-vetted politician onto the world's biggest political stage.

Reporters like new faces because the status quo is tiresome to write about. They also like new faces like a lion likes a baby wildebeest -- fresh meat on the hoof, not much energy to make the kill."

http://www.latimes.com/la-na-onthemedia30-2008aug30,0,1390984.story
*************************************************

But the emotional decision process? The putting winning over country? Not reassuring. As for the quality of the candidate, the media dogs have been let out:

********
"You have to wonder how deeply McCain's team delved into any of these issues, though, given that even political hands in her own state say they had no inkling she would be the vice presidential designee."
********

McCain's judgment is very much deserving of a second look. Not just this week in St. Paul, but for the next two months, the country will do exactly that. I don't think that's a net positive for McCain.

Obama Should Come Clean
On Ayers, Rezko
And the Iraqi Billionaire
By JOHN FUND
August 30, 2008;

Denver

Even as Barack Obama gave his soaring speech Thursday night, his campaign was playing hardball with its critics.

Team Obama has launched an offensive against WGN, the Chicago Tribune's radio station, for interviewing Stanley Kurtz. Mr. Kurtz is a conservative writer who this week forced the University of Illinois to finally open its records on Sen. Obama's association with William Ayers, the unrepentant 1970s Weather Underground terrorist.

An Obama campaign email to supporters called Mr. Kurtz a "slimy character assassin" whose "divisive, destructive ranting" should be confronted. WGN producer Zack Christenson says the outpouring of negative calls and emails is "unprecedented." He also notes that it is curious -- because "we wanted the Obama campaign's take" on Mr. Kurtz's findings, but the campaign declined to put anyone on air.

Separately, Mr. Obama's lawyers have also demanded that the Justice Department prosecute an organization called the American Issues Project for running an ad about ties between their candidate and Mr. Ayers.

Obama aides believe John Kerry lost in 2004 because he failed to respond to the "Swift Boat" ads attacking him, and they are lashing out. Sometimes the Obama objections have merit, as when they exposed errors in Jerome Corsi's sensationalized Obama biography. But sometimes they are designed to shut down legitimate questions. "They're terrified of people poking around Obama's life," one reporter told Gabriel Sherman at the New Republic. "The whole Obama narrative is built around the narrative that Obama and [campaign strategist] David Axelrod built, and, like all stories, it's not entirely true." The stakes are high. If the full story of Mr. Obama's relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright had been revealed before the Iowa caucus, he wouldn't have won.

Aides claim Mr. Obama "has taken voluntary transparency steps" that allow "his constituents, the media and his political opponents to fully examine him." In reality, anyone questioning the approved story line is liable to be ignored, misled or even bullied. This isn't what reporters expected when Mr. Obama began campaigning for a "new politics" that would bring honesty and openness to government.

Walking the rows of media outlets at the Denver convention, I had no trouble finding reporters who complained the campaign was secretive and evasive. Ben Smith of Politico.com1 has written about Team Obama's "pattern of rarely volunteering information or documents, even when relatively innocuous." Politico asked months ago if Mr. Obama had ever written anything for the Harvard Law Review as a student. The Obama campaign responded narrowly, with a Clintonesque statement that "as the president of the Law Review, Obama didn't write articles, he edited and reviewed them." This month it turned out Mr. Obama had written an article -- but it was published a month before he became president.

Chasing the rest of Mr. Obama's paper trail is often an exercise in frustration. Mr. Obama says his state senate records "could have been thrown out" and he didn't keep a schedule in office. No one appears to have kept a copy of his application for the Illinois Bar. He has released only a single page of medical records, versus 1,000 pages for John McCain.

Then there's the house that Mr. Obama bought in 2005 in cooperation with Tony Rezko, his friend and campaign fund-raiser -- a move the candidate concedes was "boneheaded." Rezko was convicted in June of 16 counts of corruption. (Mr. Obama was not implicated in Rezko's crimes.)

Rezko's trial raised a host of questions. Was Mr. Obama able to save $300,000 on the asking price of his house because Rezko's wife paid full price for the adjoining lot? How did Mrs. Rezko make a $125,000 down payment and obtain a $500,000 mortgage when financial records shown at the Rezko trial indicate she had a salary of only $37,000 and assets of $35,000? Records show her husband also had few assets at the time.

Last April, the London Times revealed that Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi-born billionaire living in London, had loaned Mr. Rezko $3.5 million three weeks before the day the sale of the house and lot closed in June 2005. Mr. Auchi's office notes he was a business partner of Rezko but says he had "no involvement in or knowledge of" the property sale. But in April 2004 he did attend a dinner party in his honor at Rezko's Chicago home. Mr. Obama also attended, and according to one guest, toasted Mr. Auchi. Later that year, Mr. Auchi came under criminal investigation as part of a U.S. probe of the corrupt issuance of cell-phone licenses in Iraq.

In May 2004, the Pentagon's inspector general's office cited "significant and credible evidence" of involvement by Mr. Auchi's companies in the Oil for Food scandal, and in illicit smuggling of weapons to Saddam Hussein's regime. Because of the criminal probe, Mr. Auchi's travel visa to the U.S. was revoked in August 2004, even as Mr. Auchi denied all the allegations. According to prosecutors, in November 2005 Rezko was able to get two government officials from Illinois to appeal to the State Department to get the visa restored. Asked if anyone in his office was involved in such an appeal, Mr. Obama told the Chicago Sun-Times last March, "not that I know of." FOIA requests to the State Department for any documents haven't been responded to for months.

After long delays, Mr. Obama sat with the editorial boards of the Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune in March to answer their questions about his connection to Rezko. He had no recollection of ever meeting Mr. Auchi. He also said he didn't understand a lot about house buying, and gave vague answers to other questions. Since then, he has avoided any further discussion of the Rezko matter.

Some inquiries could be cleared up if the Obama campaign were forthcoming with key documents. Mr. Obama claims that in buying his house in 2005 he got a low mortgage rate from Northern Trust bank because another bank made a competitive bid for his business, but his campaign won't reveal from which bank. While he has released 94 pages of documents relating to the Rezko sale, they don't include the single most important one -- the settlement statement that shows the complete flow of funds that were part of the house sale. When asked why that last key document isn't being released, the Obama campaign issued a boilerplate statement saying, "we have released documents that reflect every one of the final terms of the senator's purchase of the home." But key data are still being withheld.

The Obama campaign didn't hesitate to criticize Hillary Clinton for not revealing the names of donors to the Clinton Library, or John McCain for releasing only two years of tax returns as opposed to Mr. Obama's 10 years. Those were proper questions. But so too are requests for information from Mr. Obama, a man whose sudden rise and incompletely reported past makes him among the least-vetted of presidential nominees.

Reporters who decline to press Mr. Obama for more information now, whether it be on William Ayers or the Rezko-Auchi partnership, may be repeating an old mistake. Most reporters failed to dig deep enough into the Nixon White House's handling of Watergate before the 1972 election. The country was soon consumed with that scandal. Most reporters pooh-poohed questionable Whitewater real-estate dealings of the Clintons before Bill Clinton's 1992 election. Within months of his inauguration a tangled controversy led to the appointment of a special prosecutor and an endless source of distraction for the Clinton White House.

All presidential candidates resist full examination of their records. But it should be the job of reporters not to accept noncooperation, stonewalling or intimidation when it comes to questions about fitness for the nation's highest office.

#87

Conservative columnist Andrew Sullivan agrees:

"Think about how the key factor in this decision was not who could defend this country were something dreadful happen to McCain in office but how to tread as much on Obama's convention bounce and use women's equality as a wedge issue among Democrats because it might secure a few points here or there. Oh, and everyone would be surprised. And even Rove would be annoyed.

This is his sense of honor and judgment. This is his sense of responsibility and service.

Here's the real slogan the McCain campaign should now adopt:

Putting. Country. Last."

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/08/three-words.html

Hmmm.

does skeptsch and all his shenanigans really believe anyone cares to read his freakin' endless, mindless cut and paste crap, cluttereing the damn place like a pig pen! this dude really doesn't get it! he's having a field day...doing what makes him feel important!

From Mark Steyn and why she is right for the rest of us and why Obama/Biden seem so weak in comparison:

First, Governor Palin is not merely, as Jay describes her, "all-American", but hyper-American. What other country in the developed world produces beauty queens who hunt caribou and serve up a terrific moose stew? As an immigrant, I'm not saying I came to the United States purely to meet chicks like that, but it was certainly high on my list of priorities. And for the gun-totin' Miss Wasilla then to go on to become Governor while having five kids makes it an even more uniquely American story. Next to her resume, a guy who's done nothing but serve in the phony-baloney job of "community organizer" and write multiple autobiographies looks like just another creepily self-absorbed lifelong member of the full-time political class that infests every advanced democracy....

Third, real people don't define "experience" as appearing on unwatched Sunday-morning talk shows every week for 35 years and having been around long enough to have got both the War on Terror and the Cold War wrong. (On the first point, at the Gun Owners of New Hampshire dinner in the 2000 campaign, I remember Orrin Hatch telling me sadly that he was stunned to discover how few Granite State voters knew who he was.) Sarah Palin and Barack Obama are more or less the same age, but Governor Palin has run a state and a town and a commercial fishing operation, whereas (to reprise a famous line on the Rev Jackson) Senator Obama ain't run nothin' but his mouth. She's done the stuff he's merely a poseur about. Post-partisan? She took on her own party's corrupt political culture directly while Obama was sucking up to Wright and Ayers and being just another get-along Chicago machine pol (see his campaign's thuggish attempt to throttle Stanley Kurtz and Milt Rosenberg on WGN the other night).

"does skeptsch and all his shenanigans really believe anyone cares to read his freakin' endless, mindless cut and paste crap, cluttereing the damn place like a pig pen! this dude really doesn't get it! he's having a field day...doing what makes him feel important!"

Leave Skeptisch out.

Especially out of your morning turds, I mean rants.

EEEEEHHEEEEHEEEEHHEEEE!!!

Mac hit it out of the park with this one!!

I'm more excited this a.m. than I was yesterday. The boost to my confidence comes from the Dems. Anytime the liberals scream bloody murder about something, i think to myself, Wow...this must be something good for the country! The libs are foaming at the mouth about this one!!

It was so amusing watching Paul Bagala, look all sad and concerned for the country last night. Yet, he feels it's OK for the Chicago shyster to be at the top of the dems...hilarious...

Moose stew is on the menu......

Nobama is going down.....

We're safer with Mac and Palin....she be da kind of woman that 'won't take no shit off anybody'...The VP debate will be fun...watching the old dem gasbag stand beside a fresh faced, intelligent, beautiful woman....I think she'll tear him a new one!!

Yeeehawwww...the sun is brighter, the grass is greener.....

Roe v. Wade....History? Man wouldn't that be something? Send it to the states where it belongs!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood....I feel like mr. Rodgers!!!

luv y'all....you bunch of crabbie patties!!

Hehehe....Nobama's goin down....Did I mention that Mac hit a home run with this one??

hmmmmmm, I do not think many but the supreme wackos of the repubican party are happy about McCains gun toting, pro-creating Barbie Doll nor happy about the twisted turn their political strategists have taken them in...

As Barak Obama voiced in his acceptance speech....America is better than this.

ruth.

Who are you Skinny I must know!? that shit you write, gives me chills! and I'm not a dem or a rep.
Do tell..

Ruth Baby...and it's the left wing wackos that are so excited about Nobama.....

you'll see...after the repub convention, Mac will take off like a rocket is tied to his ass....

Mid America will fall in love with this idea...

amazing, that y'all want a woman so badly, then you get one and immediately set to tear her down, not on policy....but on her very womanhood...

And now...the funniest thing....Once again, Hillary has to stand aside for the 'other woman'!!

I guarantee you Hillary's blood pressure is approaching the 'stroke' level....

did I say before that mac hit a homer? :)

Tammy...good chills or bad chills? :)

I'm just a big redneck dude from KY. A lot of what you see on here is in fun, with seriousness behind it.

The only other thing I'll say is this: One night I was typing away on here, my little boy standing behind me watching, and he asked, "Dad, why are talking so 'country'?"

The beauty of the anonymous web.... :)

I can't really tell you who I am...cause someday i'd like to go to Deepaks spa in Ca. I think he's a genius on mind body health stuff...but he's an idiot in politics. If I tell you who I am,they'll never let me in!!

So...until then...chill... :)

Norm farts out:

"I'm more excited this a.m. than I was yesterday. The boost to my confidence comes from the Dems. Anytime the liberals scream bloody murder about something, i think to myself, Wow...this must be something good for the country! The libs are foaming at the mouth about this one!!"

Paul Bagala?

The news will soon be about Gustav, but in the meantime, let's see what some of the CONSERVATIVE pundits are saying about the next-door-neighbor who got tapped for VP so McCain could be change-lite...

Jonathan Capehart:

"But this is one mystifying Hail Mary pass by the senator from Arizona...

Palin is a darling of the Republican conservative base. That McCain is still trying to get a deeply skeptical base to love him on the eve of his nominating convention spells trouble."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2008/08/sarah_who.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

***

Charles Krauthammer: I am bat-shit insane, and even I don't get it.

"The McCain campaign is reveling in the fact that Palin is a game changer. But why a game changer when you’ve been gaining? To gratuitously undercut the remarkably successful "Is he ready to lead" line of attack seems near suicidal.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2008/08/the_palin_puzzle.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

***

Dan Gerstein:

"In picking an unknown, untested, half-a-term woman governor from Alaska to be his running mate, John McCain is following in a long line of reckless men who have rolled the dice for a beauty queen. Except in this case, McCain is taking one of the biggest, boldest gambles in modern American political history.

He's betting his presidency on a naked political play for holdout Hillary supporters and other female swing voters - and hoping that a large share of these predominantly pro-choice women will ignore or overlook Palin's staunch pro-life, anti-stem cell views."

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/08/29/2008-08-29_john_mccains_dangerous_gamble_on_sarah_p.html

***

Marc Ambinder:

"I cannot overestimate the degree to which Republican political strategists were stunned by the pick.

A few I spoke with or e-mailed were optimistic, using phrases like "brilliant" and "game-changing." One GOP strategist who has worked with Palin says she's coated with Teflon -- "attack at your peril." She "renews McCain's maverick credentials." One person close to Romney said she "looks like a real reformer. She's done what Obama's talked about."

A few are cautiously optimistic that it'll turn out OK, but most of the strategists and consultants I've spoken to, e-mailed with, or read/watched are struggling with it. They expect her to have a good week... and then to crash and burn when she hits the campaign trail as scrutiny catches up with her.

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/08/gop_strategists_mixed_reviews.php

***

Jimmy Orr/Geo Beach: Alaskans like the Palin choice. Of course, we have no idea about what the hell the rest of the country is up to. But we like our morning in the sun."

http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2008/08/29/tougher-in-alaska-host-geo-beach-discusses-sarah-palin/

***

Anne Sutton:

"Alaska Democratic Party Executive Director Mike Coumbe called it an "odd pick," given the fact that Palin is under investigation by the state Legislature.

Lawmakers this month hired an investigator to look into recent allegations that Palin fired the state's public safety commissioner after members of her family and staff unsuccessfully tried to pressure him into dismissing a trooper involved in a messy divorce with Palin's sister."

http://www.fortmilltimes.com/124/story/272952.html

Amen Skinny,

Hey when you come out to sunny San Diego area, let me know and we can both enjoy a big steak and some fine Ky Bourbon, afterwards we can mosey on in to the center for a little mind/body/spa treatment and perhaps have a cigar with Deep himself and chew the cosmic fat. Whadda say?

Meanwhile just come clear on Ayers and Rezko and then we will really get to know you.

Cheers,

Steve

If you are watching this historic moment on CNN, MSNBC or FOX then you are not watching this historic moment.

If you are judging who Mrs. Palin is by listening to the media then you will never know.
If you are comparing the candidates by what you here through the biased talking heads then your information has been spun beyond comprehension.

While all the 'news' people were blabbing on the media, behind them was a general speaking, standing in front of at least 20 other generals and admirals, who has worked with 6 commanders in chief. He also worked personally with Obama in Kenya.

Watching on CSPAN you get the whole story. Not the BS story you get from the media.

if you had seen the convention on CSPAN there would be no comparison between Palin and Obama's experience.

Be sure to watch the Republican convention on CSAPN. If you missed watching the Democratic convention on CSPAN the you missed watching the convention and I can understand why there is a question about Palin's experience compared to Obama.

derek

Adam Bink has excellent thoughts On Female Hillary Supporters and Sarah Palin:

I just had two interesting discussions with my mom and my sister, both of whom were Hillary supporters in the primary, that really got my thoughts going on what McCain is trying to do with this pick, and why it's set up to fail.

I've seen the polling that says only 66% of Hillary supporters are supporting Obama, and 27% are backing McCain, and I think that's the biggest reason for this pick. McCain and his advisers obviously see an opening there. Palin brings nothing else to her table, since her age doesn't matter because she has zero qualification in terms of experience. So let me tell you what I think he's attempting with former female Clinton supporters, and the likelihood of pulling it off.

It seems to me there are are a few kinds of female supporters of Hillary Clinton in the primary. These are without respect to party.

1. Women who are for Hillary Clinton because she is Hillary Clinton, no more, no less. These women trust Clinton, think she is an experienced leader who has worked on serious issues for a long time and has a record of accomplishment, including her efforts on health care in the White House. They supported Clinton in part because they believe Barack Obama is too inexperienced.

2. Women who are for Hillary Clinton because she is a strong, tough woman. They are more likely to be self-dubbed feminists, and very progressive on women's issues. They believe it's time for a woman in the White House, and that is high on their list in terms of choosing a candidate to support. These women are also very likely to agree that the media was very sexist in the primary, and be outspoken about it.

3. Women who are for Hillary Clinton because they want a woman in the White House, but aren't necessarily die-hard feminists who march for Roe. They are less oriented in terms of women's issues. These women think it's time for a woman, but aren't impassioned die-hards for that cause. A female candidate would impact their decision, but not in the way it would a #2 supporter.

McCain likely sees an opening among #1 types. There are some who think experience is extremely important, and if Obama doesn't have it and McCain does, irrespectively of party, some women will go for him. But I don't know where Palin comes in to help with those types of women. If they were taking a close look at McCain because of his experience, Palin certainly made them gag. There's no way these kinds of Hillary supporters are going to nod approvingly at former mayor of a town with a population of a small liberal arts college, with no real record of accomplishment as governor.

As for #2 and #3 types, Palin isn't going to help much. First, #2 types are for Clinton because she is strong and tough, and they emphathize with her battles with the media and conservatives throughout the years, and what she took during the Lewinsky ordeal. Palin doesn't bring any of that, and is a beauty queen, to boot. Not exactly a shining beacon of tough women standing up for themselves. On top of that, these women aren't exactly idiots. They do, you know, actually care about her positions on choice and equal pay and workplace discrimination. To some, the pick of Palin is an insult to them. My mom put it best:

"I take it as a slap to women everywhere, it's saying you want a woman on the tix, here's one. They're all interchangeable. Never mind her measly BA degree and her 1.5 years, she's female and that'll sell the tix, especially to Hillary fans. Bull, isn't it, it's warped white conservative male thinking I swear."

There are probably also a lot of #2s and #3s who are mothers. Some could be single mothers, balancing work and home, and some with partners or husbands. The McCain campaign may try and trumpet all of her balancing work and home, but I think it will backfire. My sister, who I would classify as a mix of #1 and #2, really said what makes me think this:

"Her 4 month old has Down's Syndrome?? Are you kidding me? Talk about family values, she's basically dumping her kids to become VP? her husband works, he's not home with them! Unbelievable. one of the mommies in my WNY mommies group says, I only have 3 and I can't find time to take a shower! She's LOSING mom's votes right there in my opinion."

As for #3s, I think Palin is most appealing to them. Perhaps some of them are thinking, if not President, ok Vice President. And Palin's record on women's issues won't turn them off. Sure. But of the women in the polling I cited above, I happen to think this number is the smallest, as well as the least enthusiastic for McCain or Obama. I think these are the types who weren't very active in the primary, weren't raising money and attending house parties like the ones who were because they were excited Hillary was running.

In other words, there are more women who were excited for Hillary as a candidate, or excited for a strong, progressive, tough woman, than there were women who just wanted a woman in the White House, and as long as there's a woman on the ticket, that will help with them. I just get the feeling the any-will-do women (of which, following my mother's wisdom, there aren't very many at all) aren't the kind of get up and get seriously active for Palin, or really anyone.

Lastly, with #2s and #3s, I happen to think 90% of people don't think of a Vice President in the voting booth. They are focused on the two candidates, with a few exceptions, such as when my sister and some of my friends told me "I like Hillary in part because she's got Bill, and he's great." But Sarah Palin is no Bill Clinton. Sarah Palin is going to have to spend some time just introducing herself to people before they'll be interested in taking the time to go to an event with her. That also goes for Republican activists, a lot of whom are wondering who the hell this person is. She isn't exactly a Rick Santorum who has built a national profile. But even after all that, she's going to raise money, attack Obama, and do town hall meetings. That's mostly what Vice Presidential nominees do.

The 10% of people who do stop and think about the whole picture are likely to factor in that McCain could buy the farm any day. Sure, then they'd think of Palin. They'd also think of her complete lack of qualification to be President. My first thought when I heard about Palin today was "seriously?" My second thought was "you know, speaking as a private citizen, Sarah Palin is not qualified to be my President. She's not ready to run this country." I think a lot of people are going to think that as the second thought after "McCain is pretty freaking old."

I'd be very interested to hear thoughts, and please go easy on any chauvinist accusations. I obviously haven't done focus groups, and these are gut and personal observations not meant to characterize all women.

http://openleft.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=8175F8C5FA14A2D3069ED09289BB1EF9?diaryId=7833

Good And bad chills! and thats GOOD! How could they not let You in over there? You have a great sense of humor, your passion is in your words. I like it's entertaining. yup. I will find out who you are mista! HeeHeeHee
: )

I think that John McCain embarassed Obama Inc. choosing someone not very well known, from a far away place and still has more executive experience than both Obama and Biden.

The Obama resume is thin indeed and it's pissing the left off.

Steve

Mr. Moron thinks McCain has exceutive experience. Like Biden and Obama he has Zero executive experience.

CNN) – Hillary Clinton praised the historic nature of John McCain's vice presidential selection in a brief statement released Friday that was eagerly anticipated by both presidential campaigns.

“We should all be proud of Governor Sarah Palin's historic nomination, and I congratulate her and Senator McCain," Clinton, the first woman to win a presidential primary, said in the statement. "While their policies would take America in the wrong direction, Governor Palin will add an important new voice to the debate.”

-What Hillary is really saying is this: Please win John and Sarah, then screw up and I will run against you in 2012 and win!

And perhaps John is looking to the future, hmmmmm

"CNN) – Hillary Clinton praised the historic nature of John McCain's vice presidential ..."

Even Obama praised the historic nature of Palin's nomination...

Keep cherry picking, moron.

When the indoctrinated repubs have no new ideas and have no real arguments, you get the same old shit like from norm and Shmuel.

sorry, skinny, and, amba,...can't play this political back and forth game with this particular presidential race any longer....it is simply no laughing matter...too much is at stake and the race has take too twisted a turn.

America is better than this.
America is better than this.
America is better than this....I totally agree with Barak Obama on this.

ruth

gotta get busy now...

Does Gender Matter in Evaluating Palin?

Here's a theme that is evident in the comments on all the Palin posts today: We should keep our criticism of Palin on issues not on personal characteristics and certainly not on gender.

This seems clearly right at first but then there's this from conservative pundit Ramesh Ponnuru:

"Tokenism. Can anyone say with a straight face that Palin would have gotten picked if she were a man?"

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MWY0YmM3N2JhMTVkYmI0ZjU0OTBiYTY3NmUyMjgxNTc

No, I can't say that with a straight face. Even Dan Quayle had 12 years in Congress and nearly 2 as a Senator before his selection. And the first woman selected (24 years ago!), Geraldine Ferraro, had 6 years in Congress. Both Quayle and Ferraro held law degrees.

Imagine if McCain had selected a man in his 40s, Governor of a state with a smallish population who.....oh wait we don't have to imagine this, McCain had someone just like this on his short list and he was rejected as being too much of a lightweight: Tim Pawlenty. Let's compare Pawlenty to Palin and see if gender played a role in this selection.

Sarah Palin --- Tim Pawlenty

Alaska --- Minnesota

Pop: <1 million --- More than 5 million

Gov. for 1.6 yrs --- Gov. for 5.6 years

Prior: mayor --- 10 yrs State leg. including Majority Leader

Pro-Life ---- Pro-Life

In addition to this, while Palin has no foreign policy experience and has admitted (recently) to not having thought much about the Iraq war, Pawlenty has travelled extensively throughout the world and met with foreign leaders as part of trade missions for Minnesota.

But the main knock on Pawlenty was that he would eliminate the criticism of Obama being too young and inexperienced. There was also some concern that Joe Biden would make him look bad in debates.

So, you think gender was a factor? Gender was the main factor. If it was just one factor then it would be defensible. Heck, as Adam Bink points out in the post below there are many Democrats who favored Hillary Clinton in part because of the importance, both symbolicly and substantively, of having a woman in that role. And there are many Democrats who factor in Barack Obama's race as another reason for supporting him. And earlier today Will pointed out that progressives have helped move the goalposts to make such a pick even possible for the GOP. But if gender is your primary reason for selecting someone, shouldn't you be asked to defend that? Especially if the person seems an otherwise dubious choice for the job and there are many other women who would be reasonable choices?

Now I agree that attacking Palin directly on this is tricky business. But it seems a fair question to ask McCain, especially in light of his earlier comments about Obama's inexperience and the need for a VP who is ready on day one. This is another McCain flip-flop and he should be called on it.

by: tremayne
[Open Left blog]

Amen Ruth

Our world is on the threshold of what 'the people' have been working on for thousands of years.

It is too important for spinning the bullshit.

CNN, MSNBC, FOX or any other news media are too biased to their ratings and DRUG COMMERCIALS to give any kind of accurate information.

The twisting and spinning they do is completely counter productive.

It is also about more than America, it is also the rest of the world. We MUST listen to our neighbors in our global community.

It's also not about Obama. It is about you and me.

If you can not see past the absolute bias on both side of the media then you will continue to not see the whole picture. You are uninformed.

If you can not look into the eyes of Obama and McCain and tune the out the spin, then you are uninformed! When I look in the eyes of

Obama I see humble confidence.
When I look in the eyes of McCain I see fear and insecurity.
Look at his countenance when announcing Palin. Don't look at Palin, look at McCain. Look in his eyes.

I as an american global citizen I expect HUMILITY and CONFIDENCE in my government REPRESENTATIVES.

The media will twist and spin the issue of Mrs. Palin until know one knows what the truth is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They will just confuse.

The times are too important for this old worn out game!!!!

Obama knows this
McCain knows this

Change IS coming and it is our responsibility to create it and sustain it.

derek

I strongly encourage all Obama supporters to read this excellent and thorough artcile by Paul Rosenberg on the Palin VP pick:

http://openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7838

Mr.Welsh
Did you watch the Democratic Convention?

#112

Here's the introduction of the artcile:

"John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate can only be successful if the Democrats mistakenly focus on 'her', rather than using her selection to highlight what it says about John McCain. We need to look carefully at her, of course--something McCain apparently didn't do--but we need to do so as a reflecting mirror in which to study McCain's deeply flawed character.

McCain's selection of Palin is widely seen as a gamble that just might pay off. Not if the Obama campaign handles it properly, though. If they do, it has 'zero' chance of success. "

More
http://openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7838

Derek,

I followed about 10% of the convention live.

Some of the C-SPAN recorded coverage can be found on the net. And I browsed through some of the stuff I missed.

Derek, about the Palin announcement, McCain's body language was real bad, he was clearly uncomfortable standing beside her (she was a class act though; "cool" and "confident.") I noticed him twirling his wedding ring a lot; showing signs of uneasiness or nervousness. He couldn't even make proper eye contact with Palin whenever she looked at him during her speech. Its as if a lot of thoughts and doubts were going on in his mind about his decision and its unpredictable consequences.

Obama, Biden & Co are looking at a much bigger, broader and more complex view of things than we can see. If we're going to trust in Obama as ready to be our next prez, we're going to trust that he can handle M, P & Co.

Obama and his advisors showed brilliant mastery of strategy in their handling of the Dem convention's touchiest issues. I have no worries that O, B & Co can do the job.

Remember that Obama fought his way to the top for the nomination. He's proven himself by doing so. He's no dummy. He plays political chess very very well.

Irv, it's my guess that McCain is:

(a) not the primary selector of Palin;
(b) fully cognizant of, and essentially in disagreement with, the b-s reasons she was chosen;
(c) physically attracted to her.

...thus his obvious discomfort.

Next to her, he looks twenty years older than he did last week -- by contrast. Not a good side-by-side public image. My thought upon seeing them together, and I'm sure I'm not the only one with this reaction, is that Palin has a high probability of becoming a prez by succession, if the Rep's are elected.

No way will we allow that.

"Obama, Biden & Co are looking at a much bigger, broader and more complex view of things than we can see."

Indeed. Certainly a lot more than what I am seeing and getting, right now.

this welsh dude (aka) spoonbender...really shud be banned for polluting and cluttering the site with his endless, mindless cut and paste trash...i am tempted to say "get a freakin' life" but then this is his life...say...why don't u go to huffington p. and do the same!

"Irv, it's my guess that McCain is:
"(a) not the primary selector of Palin;"

My guess is Joe Lieberman was his primary choice since a long time. Karl Rove and the fundie gang cut his legs. And perhaps he was relay insecure with rewarding Romney(some very real personal animosity here) or Pawlenty who could easily steal his show, but are the safest bets. He might have chosen Palin--which would keep the base happy unlike the Lieberman pick which wouldn't accomplish that--to look "mavericky"

"(b) fully cognizant of, and essentially in disagreement with, the b-s reasons she was chosen;"

I think he is, but he and his campaign may have made a mistake of not properly vetting her.

"(c) physically attracted to her."

McCain Palin video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKByFPy7-RU

McCain spends almost as much time perving on Palin's butt, as he does listening to her speech. Starting at 11:40, right when she starts talking. He looks up suddenly each time she turns back to look at him. Watch him carefully as he tries to look away, and then slowly his eyes are drawn back to her bottom. At times he seems transfixed, then, realizing what he's doing, he nervously looks away. Soon though, like a moth to a flame, he is compelled once again to eye Palin's rear end.

I guess that John thinks it's all good since his wife Cindy is behind him and can't see where his eyes are aimed.

He is also trying to remove his wedding ring.

Look at his hands while he stares.

How about that creepy kiss at the end?

She looks like she has had plenty of experience avoiding the gropings of old men.

CSPAN Video #121

Holy hell.

McCain really is checking her out. She'll spend the whole campaign saying "my eyes are up here, John."

What a perv.

And fiddling with his ring like he's scheming to take it off and make a move in a dive bar....But cursing that damn tan line........

Hey, Irish, my darling -- Irv's a thinker. What he pastes is good material. If you bother to read him, you'll know he has his own views, too. Not to mention he has as much right to be here as you and me. And you guys are on pretty much the same age politically. Hugs.

"And fiddling with his ring like he's scheming to take it off and make a move in a dive bar...."122

I noticed that too.

I consider fiddling with a wedding ring to be very tell-tale about one's sexual ideas. There was a woman I used to work with who I'm pretty sure found me attractive, and I caught her fiddling with her ring on a couple of occasions when she was also stealing glances at me in meetings and such.

I hope CNN does a body-Language analysis of that.

This is one time where the fact that John McCain spent more than 5 years as a POW might be an acceptable excuse for his otherwise completely unacceptable behavior.

That's crazy talk!

That CSPAN(Post #121) YouTube clip doesn't look at all like McCain keeps looking at Sarah Palin's bottom.

It looks like he's repeatedly CHECKING OUT HER ASS WHILE FIDDLING WITH HIS WEDDING RING.

Now please, can we get back to discussing serious--not ass, derriere, back, hiney--issues?

MG, I hadn't seen the announcement speech -- McCain is telegraphing his insincerity in almost every second that he speaks. He's so far away from his real self, that's going to pose a serious health risk in someone of his age.

His most sincere line was, "...a mother of five..."

I'd vote for the possibility that he's keeping her legs in sight.

Y'know? If I came on here and said "I won't vote for a goddamn nigger....y'all would scream racist, and rightly so. Mallika would ban me, and rightly so.

Yet, you clowns, have nothing but personal bashing, you have no substantive reasons for your hate...you've come completely unhinged.

There is nothing in the world nastier than a loving liberal who is either scared, or has a road block thrown in their way.

I would love to have the opportunity to vote for a black man or woman. But I won't vote for BO, not because of his race, but because of his policies.

I'd much rather have an inexperienced Sara Palin, who would govern conservatively, than to have an inexperienced Obama, who is THE MOST LIBERAL member of the senate....it's ideology guys, nothing more, nothing less.

I do have to admit though, it will be cool to see Joe Biden stand up and debate her....i have a feeling he will be condescending, and she will unscrew his head and shit down his neck!!he

Y'all are scared spitless....you know this will energize Republicans...and that scares the hell out of you. The talking heads are all wailing why not Lieberman? That would have been political suicide for Mac...

Nobama is going down....

down
down
down...

yeeeehaaawwww!!!

Hey, skinny, where do you see hate here? Your 129 is kinda vicious, Sid. Are you projecting?

mmmm, wanna wager something on the outcome of the race, skinny?

Heather...I guess it's all projection, Huh? If you can't see the hate...I won't point it out to you...

As for vicious....read all my bullshit...and then read Irvines, Ruths, yours, chris, freeya, pretty, and you'll see vicious hateful rhetoric...no substance just rhetoric..

pulleeze! you are absolutely projecting.

we that you've listed write with more or less ebullient attitudes, and with some sarcasm and humor. we write nothing hateful. if your candidates do silly things, and we name the things they do, that's not hate, it's honesty.

personally, I don't want to see a man who doesn't say or stand up and do what he really believes in, who's grown lax over the years through association with power and money, nor a truly inexperienced woman picked just for her gender, relative youth and looks, running this country.

I'll take a guy who wasn't a hockey mom or a two-year mayor, one who had a tough life when he was a kid, and who devoted himself to service when he started to work, over that combo. ah, why am I putting Palin into the competition against Obama instead of against Biden? because that's the political reality.

so, wanna bet? or not?

Dear Ruth,

You say "gotta get busy now..."

What does that mean to you? Watching more talking heads on TV lamenting this choice?

Or are you voluneering at your local Obama storefront?

If McCain made a bad choice and America is better than this, then America will see right through Palin's choice and will vote Obama, do you don't have to worry right? Or are you worried that McCain is onto something here. I sense you feel threatened or very nervous now.

Do you have faith in the American voter or do you feel like Deepak and the electorate can't be trusted or easily duped?

If that is the case you do have your work cut out for you.

My perscription: stop watching the news on TV, you will feel a whole lot better Ruth.

Perhaps a read an inspiring book by Robert Service on Alaska.

Better read up, I'm reading about Caibou hunting myself :)

Cheers,

Steve

Well, the last couple of threads here are full of opinions, opinions and opinions but none of them really lead to more insight into what really matters:

Can You be the change that you wish to see in the world?

Meaning: to personally transform yourself into that what You want the world to be like and live it?

It is the only way you see, step by step, one person at a time.

I know these are Deepak's words but long before he had written them down I already lived them!

Improving the world can only begin with oneself.

As long as we keep judging the outside world we are really only judging ourselves.

Same happens in my country. And now that we have chosen a government in the middle it still is not good and we keep complaining, because it will never be good as long as we do not change ourselves.

But we all know this already and we just don't give a damn about it.

Starry starry night, paint your palets blue and gray, look out for a sunny day...

But I could have told you Vincent, they will not listen, they are not listing still, perhaps they never will...

Starry starry night....

why are u referring to the huge lardass 350 lbs beach 'beauty' hoggie as skinny? yo! darn!

Skinny,

I’m thinkin your plenty scared being a republican. First, you have had to turn a blind eye to the last eight years while
you tried not to watch Bush squandering the resources and reputation of the country you love. Then enter tired old John McCain, and you are thinking oh shit this guy doesn’t have a prayer, and his breath smells like Bush’s ass. So you’re out there mopin around the farm,there are clouds everywhere, the corn look like it’s dying, and you’re muttering, and hoping they still have curtains at the voting booth so no one will see you holding your nose when you go to vote.

Then suddenly the old fart up and nominates a conservative woman who knows how to shoot a gun, and looks good to boot,and suddenly the sun starts shining again, and the corn looks greener, and even the pigs smell better, and you start dancing around jumping up and down shouting “Nobama you’re going Down”, chanting like a high school cheer leader. Get a grip Norm! This isn’t about “executive” experience,which Mrs. Palin has damn little of to begin with, this is about world experience, and the direction the Country needs to take. You have to be dumber than dirt if you think that this woman can jump from being the mayor of nowheresville to running the most powerful country on earth in two short years!
God forbid McCain and her win and she ever becomes President, rest assured that it will be the same behind the scenes cabal of the last eight years, who will really be running things, and then we can all bend over and permanently kiss our asses goodbye.

This ain’t gonna happen!

Cheers
Stan

Indeed Stan, even the locals a blasting Palin pick:

An editorial in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner:

"She has never publicly demonstrated the kind of interest, much less expertise, in federal issues and foreign affairs that should mark a candidate for the second-highest office in the land. Republicans rightfully have criticized the Democratic nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, for his lack of experience, but Palin is a neophyte in comparison; how will Republicans reconcile the criticism of Obama with the obligatory cheering for Palin?...Most people would acknowledge that, regardless of her charm and good intentions, Palin is not ready for the top job. McCain seems to have put his political interests ahead of the nation's when he created the possibility that she might fill it. It's clear that McCain picked Palin for reasons of image, not substance. "

http://www.newsminer.com/news/2008/aug/29/palin-has-much-prove/?opinion

*

The Anchorage Daily News samples some state politician reaction:

"She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president? said [State Senate President Lyda Green, a Republican from Palin's hometown of Wasilla]. "Look at what she's done to this state. What would she do to the nation?"

http://www.adn.com/politics/story/510249.html

*

And the News-Miner again, in round-up local reaction story:

"Lately her reputation within the state has been bit by allegations of mixing political and family business, and by mistreating one of the state's premier marine mammals. Palin's catch-phrase of "openness and transparency" has been tarnished by revelations that staff members tried to have Palin's former brother-in-law fired from his job as an Alaska state trooper. Also, the governor of the only state with polar bears has adamantly opposed listing the animals as a threatened species, despite strong evidence that global warming has devastated their sea ice environment off Alaska's coast. Dermot Cole, a longtime columnist for Alaska's second largest newspaper, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, called McCain's choice of Palin "reckless" and questioned her credentials. "Sarah Palin's chief qualification for being elected governor was that she was not Frank Murkowski," Cole said of her enormously unpopular predecessor, who lost favor with Alaskans in part because of unpopular budget cuts. "She was not elected because she was a conservative. She was not elected because of her grasp of issues or because of her track record as the mayor of Wasilla."

http://www.newsminer.com/news/2008/aug/29/palin-vice-presidential-candidacy-raises-eyebrows-/

And let's see what the heartland is saying. Denver, Detroit, Kansas City ... The editorial boards aren't loving Sarah Palin:

The Denver Post weighs in, with an editorial titled "Palin an odd choice for VP; Alaska guv's inexperience is glaring — and a probe into the firing of her public safety chief is due just before Election Day":

: "I served with Hillary Clinton. I know Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton is a friend of mine. You, Sarah Palin, are no Hillary Clinton." Sorry to steal Joe Biden's thunder, but we didn't want to wait for the vice presidential candidates' debate to say the obvious. Yes, John McCain, who argues with a straight face that Barack Obama's 12 years in the Illinois legislature and U.S. Senate aren't enough to qualify him to run for president, has picked a running mate who just two years ago was serving as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, population 5,470. In short, the presumptive Republican nominee, an Old Soldier in all senses of that term, drafted the political equivalent of the Unknown Soldier as his co-pilot. McCain's pick of Palin jettisons his attack that Obama isn't ready to lead and looks more like a desperate "Hail Mary" campaign tactic aimed at female voters. "

*

The Detroit News:

"Palin, 44, with less than two years as governor and no foreign policy experience, can't be sold as ready to step into the presidency if called upon. Arizona Sen. McCain, if he wins, will be 72 when he takes office, and the question of succession is likely to be a concern for voters."

*

The Kansas City Star:

"But as this newspaper noted earlier this week, the most important question in evaluating a vice-presidential pick is whether that person is prepared to step into the Oval Office. Palin, with no national political experience and only a couple years in the Alaska governor's office, is a very tough sell for the Republicans on that score. McCain's age — he turned 72 on Friday — certainly doesn't help. The Republican presidential candidate has emphasized the importance of military and national security issues, and taken shots at Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama the Democratic presidential nominee for having only four years of experience in the U.S. Senate. Yet McCain now suggests that someone halfway through her first term as governor is "exactly who this country needs" only one step away from the presidency."

Congratulations, Senator McCain! Your wise exercise of judgment in picking Sarah Palin as your running mate will go down in the history books!

"John McCain was aiming to make history with his pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and historians say he succeeded.

Presidential scholars say she appears to be the least experienced, least credentialed person to join a major-party ticket in the modern era.

So unconventional was McCain's choice that it left students of the presidency literally "stunned," in the words of Joel Goldstein, a St. Louis University law professor and scholar of the vice presidency. "Being governor of a small state for less than two years is not consistent with the normal criteria for determining who's of presidential caliber," said Goldstein.

"I think she is the most inexperienced person on a major party ticket in modern history," said presidential historian Matthew Dallek. [...]

"It would be one thing if she had only been governor for a year and a half, but prior to that she had not had major experience in public life," said Dallek of Palin. "The fact that he would have to go to somebody who is clearly unqualified to be president makes Obama look like an elder statesman."

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/13001.html

McCain's first real exercise of leadership and judgment, and he hits it out of the ballpark and into the history books. Job well done, Senator! Job well done!

Skinny,

I am reminded of Dan Quayle another brilliant Republican choice for Vice President.

Stan, as Rove himself said about a different -- ironically, more qualified candidate:

"So if he were to pick Governor Kaine, it would be an intensely political choice where he said, `You know what? I'm really not, first and foremost, concerned with, is this person capable of being president of the United States? What I'm concerned about is, can he bring me the electoral votes of the state of Virginia, the 13 electoral votes in Virginia?' "

So is the Palin choice just about picking up Alaska? It couldn't be for her hardcore social conservative stances -- plenty of Republicans have that. It's not because she's one of the few Republicans who's scandal-free, because she's got scandals dogging her as we speak. It sure as heck ain't because McCain looked around the room and thought she was the Republican best qualified to become the possible "leader of the free world." Did everyone else turn him down?

Given that Bush Sr. picked Quayle, and Bush Jr. picked the guy who was deciding who he should pick, modern Republicans definitely have some odd choices for the second slot. But this one?

This is Brillinat. Excellent work.

For Links to the points made below, and supporting material, see the original post for the reliable sources. (Link at the bottom, or click my name)

PALIN-tology - 45+ Problems for McCain's VP in just 35 hours
by BoBo2020
Sat Aug 30, 2008 at 06:28:59 PM PDT
(Daily Kos)

What do we know about Sarah Palin?

She's a popular governor with some mixed history of standing up to Alaskan Republicans and big oil. In the next few days we will hear a lot about her "soccer mom" lifestyle and "Miss Congeniality" awards. We'll hear about her DRILL DRILL DRILL mentality to solving gas prices and her staunch anti-choice beliefs.

We all know that she is under investigation for abuse of power and there are audio recordings to back it up. What you won't hear on the news is this list of other things you didn't know about the woman they call "Miss Baracuda."

1) Sarah Palin has an Abramoff problem - a Pro-Palin illegal mailer was sent during her gubernatorial campaign on behalf of Palin by the RGA, the DC group that got money from Abramoff, Reed, etc.

2) She advocated AGAINST mine safety / pollution control

3) She has an ANTI-ENVIRONMENT RECORD and is on the wrong side of global warming and doesn't think polar bears should be listed as endangered because it interferes with her drilling plans.

4) She's against sex education - abstinence only.

5) She appears to oppose windfall taxes on oil companies at the national level but supported them to benefit her state and she wants to drill ANWR.

6)Believes Creationism should be taught in science classes

7) Don't believe the whispers that she supportive of the GLBT community. She's opposed to state health benefits for same-sex partners and only vetoed a resolution that would have ended state benefits because the Supreme Court had already declared it unconstitutional.

8)She's opposed to universal health care and stem cell research

9)No foreign policy experience? According to the folks at FOX think she has foreign policy experience because "Alaska is near Russia."
She doesn't know what the Vice President really does.

10)his choice is NOT helping McCain's polling numbers, especially with women.

11)McCain only met Sarah Palin ONCE and talked to her TWICE making this a purely cynical and desperate political appointment by HIS CAMPAIGN not by him! She's not really HIS VP choice.

12)She's deeply connected to the Bridge to Nowhere.

13)She stated that she would force her own daughter to have a rapist's child.

14)She has 3 houses

15)She's connected to VECO - the company at the heart of Ted Stevens' troubles.

16)She also received an endorsement from Ted that has suddenly disappeared from her webpage.

17)She called candidate Clinton a whiner. Why does everyone in the McCain campaign think others are whiners?

18)She apparently hasn't taken a stand on most major political issues

19)Her selection has created a major rift among the Republicans, especially Romney & Pawlenty.

20)Past quotes by Rove make Palin's selection look like desperation.

21)Palin may have been scrubbing her own wikipedia page

22)Sarah Palin, Buchanite - Palin supported Pat Buchanan in 2000, a fact which may alienate certain Florida voters.

23)She was vetted too quickly and McCain only picked her the night before making the announcement.

24)She's still focused on Alaska not the fact the she would be Vice President for the whole nation.

25) She participated in a profane on-air attack againt the Alaskan State Senate President and giggled at the word b*tch..

26) Like Bush and McCain, she can't admit when she's wrong.

27) She's linked to the Dominionist movement and Joel's Army.

28) The United Steelworkers have already spoken out against her.

29) She was a bad mayor who left her town's economy in tatters.

30) She supported Obama's energy plan, but suddenly these references are disappearing.

31)Some of the PUMA's believe that John McCain is patronizing them.

32)Additionally, this choice eliminates the "He's not ready" attack on Obama.

33)This choice raises the issue of McCain's age (Is Palin ready to take over if he keels over).

34) It also raises the issue of McCain's past unfavorable statements against women.

35) Additionally, this choice reminds us that McCain is an adulterer and raises the spectre that he is just a dirty old man with wandering eyes.

36)Palin's husband is on BP's payroll creating a possible conflict of interest.

37) She made extremely poor use of Eminent Domain during her time as mayor.

38) She favors censoring library books (Alert your local librarian!)

39) Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young (both under investigation) campaigned for her in 2006.

40)She didn't support McCain in the primaries.

41) The top 2 ALASKAN newspapers question her fitness for the job.

42) She supports aerial hunting of wolves even though it was outlawed by Congress. She's using a loophole..

43) She's part of Feminists for Life and is AGAINST BIRTH CONTROL. It would be awesome if someone asked her McCain's now famous "should insurance companies cover viagra/birth control" question.

44) Undecideds apparently don't like the Palin pick. Thanks marabout40!

45) More environmental problems - She fighting to prevent Belugas from being listed as endangered.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/30/201818/606/27/580690

Hi Steve,

You ask,.....,

You say "gotta get busy now..."

What does that mean to you? Watching more talking heads on TV lamenting this choice?

Or are you voluneering at your local Obama storefront?

hmmmmm, when I wrote that this morning it meant that I gotta get busy now....I have things to do this weekend...picnic...gathering...needed to shop and cook....in fact it is now almost midnight and I am just getting home and getting ready for tomorrow's busy day....had nothing to do with TV or politics....

oh, and I have plenty of inspirational reading close at hand.....never without it...

I think the republican strategists who have helped John McCain choose Palin have totally belittled our electiorial process by their "antics" I feel they have shown great disrespect for the Office of the Presidency and Vice Presidency and even more important in doing so have completely dishonored all the young men and women who serve in our Armed Forces and those who have died in Iraq and Afganistan. Bottom line right now....I am feeling they are pig sheet. That is how bad I think this move is for them, for our Nation, for our Democracy...it is so bad, to me, I can not joke about it because then I would be playing with them.....and I wouldn't and I can't....it is called having a sense of value for a Nation that is better than THIS(McCain and Palin & Co.)

While John McCain, Rove, Bush and Cheney heeeee and play political craps against the Democrats with their oh, so, secret shocker of a pick for the VP job.....young men and women die....but these guys are yukin it up....ho-ha-ing.....their sick brilliance.....

Obviously we see this differently.

Time will tell

America is better than this.

have a great weekend everyone....ruth

and frankly I do not care how upity that comes off..I'm thinking pig sheet.

Hi Stan...You say, "I am reminded of Dan Quayle another brilliant Republican choice for Vice President."

That's music to my ears....Dan Quayle became VP!! May Ms. Palin follow in his footsteps!

Hope you're doing well in the Phillipines. (I can never remember if it's 2 l's and 1 p, or vice versa) It's a beautiful Labor Day morning here in KY...I tried last night to convince my kids that since it's Labor day, that means they are supposed to 'labor' all day! It didnt' fly...my daughter thought it meant 'sleep till noon!'

y'all have a great day!

:)

And yet no outrage from NOW over this (in your honor Deepak) Sexist comment from Slow Joe Biden. Of course nothing will be ever said in defense of Sarah Palin, how hypocritical:

From CNN:
Joe Biden says there are obvious differences between himself and fellow vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, but they’re not just on policy. She’s good-looking.

“There’s a gigantic difference between John McCain and Barack Obama and between me and I suspect my vice presidential opponent,” Biden said at an outdoor rally Sunday, getting ready to hit the GOP ticket for their economic policies.

“She’s good-looking,” he quipped.

"And yet no outrage from NOW over this (in your honor Deepak) Sexist comment from Slow Joe Biden. Of course nothing will be ever said in defense of Sarah Palin, how hypocritical:"

#146, please cut down your fake outrage crap.

The cnn.com has a title "Biden: Palin's Good Looking". Needless to say, I first thought that this was some sort of pseudo-gaffe on Biden's part, tantamount to his infamous description of Barack as "clean". When I actually read the article, written by Producer Alexander Marquardt, the actual event was hardly that:

-----------------
“There’s a gigantic difference between John McCain and Barack Obama and between me and I suspect my vice presidential opponent,” Biden said at an outdoor rally Sunday, getting ready to hit the GOP ticket for their economic policies.

“She’s good-looking,” he quipped.

“You are gorgeous!” a female supporter in the audience shouted out. Biden asked her to repeat it into the microphone so his wife at home would hear.
-------------------------------

So, while the headline gives the negative connotation that the only thing Biden had to say about Palin was that "she's good looking", the reality is that he made a self-deprecating quip that was actually quite funny, and which said nothing negative about Palin (although there are quite the assortment of possibilities to choose from: take your pick). I find this pathetic and unnecessary on CNN's and Mr. Marquardt's part, and frankly I think that both need to know that these sort of inflammatory headlines, without basis or cause, serve absolutely NO purpose and in no way further discussion on the issues...not to mention that it sucked all the funny right out of it!

Preity,

If people get in a huff over a self-depreciating statement because the headline was skewed to make it seem derogatory, then those folks were predisposed to find fault no matter the comment.

So he says she's better looking than him?
How offensive. Cue faux outrage.

This is one of the big reasons she's there. See, Biden is a sexist. See that? Republicans aren't racists.

The media wants ratings and they feel the best way to get it is conflict. They want outrage. And it really fricking pisses me off how much they try to fuel soap opera style drama instead of doing what they're supposed to be doing. Reporting the news responsibly.

No doubt republicnas want this to go down as a 'gaffe' and they will undoubtedly feign outrage. And of course they will try to capitalize and gain Clinton supporters.

Actually, this might play in Dem's favor if blue coller folks start getting pissed if GOPers make a big deal out of this. She is good looking, for God's sake.

It's also worth noting that in his first gaffe involving the clean comment he also said Obama is a "nice-looking guy"

OMG! He said Obama is nice looking! What a sexist!

Sexism charges can easily be manufactured.

They will be manufactured against Obama/Biden early and often.

Is it okay that Rush Limbaugh called her a babe? Yeah, he is not running for VP. I get it.

I want to leave a message for John McCain in case he knows someone who knows someone who reads this:

RUNNING mate, John, RUNNING mate.

if the repubs put a donkey to run, rush limpbag, sean henutty, bill o-rile-me, amber and skinny will defend it to the death...now that's what u call blind loyalty or delusion as multiple wud say...yikes!