I look forward to how the GOP explains that Gov. Palin is ready to be President.
Meanwhile, here is a tiny bit of Palin-bashing, since it is Friday.
- The kindest thing Progressive Alaska can say is that she's Photogenic. Note: the Vogue cover is photoshopped; reality is boring.
- What's the right historical parallel?
- Jonathan Singer, MyDD, Sarah Palin is Spiro Agnew?
- Harriet Miers (pace Scarborough)?
- Dukakis?
- Powerline, a very conservative blog, says, Geraldine Ferraro: “If she really is the nominee, will it come across as a desperation move, a Hail Mary, as Mondale's choice of Ferraro did in 1984? I'm afraid so. Her experience just doesn't justify a place on the ticket.”
- Palin's Foreign Policy Experience — none, basically.
- A little whiff of scandal: Palin staff pushed to have trooper fired:
Gov. Sarah Palin on Wednesday revealed an audio recording that shows an aide pressuring the Public Safety Department to fire a state trooper embroiled in a custody battle with her sister.
God, this is going to be FUN!! A 19-month governor who supposedly has some ethical feelings who tried to fire a state trooper who happened to be estranged from the governor’s sister? I hope Sarah can take the heat, cuz it’s COMING!!
You have GOT to be kidding! You mean to tell me that you Obama-maniacs are so deluded that you can’t see the brilliance of that move and how it will likely cost us another election?
The DNC screwed up royally when it shafted Hillary. Remember, Obama didn’t win, he just got a few more votes, and the DNC, Media, etc. asked Hillary to get out of the way so that it didn’t turn into a big fight. This has RIGHTFULLY pissed off a lot of us who wanted Hillary to be President, still see her as the better candidate, and see her “loss” as yet another shaft-job by the white males who run the DNC and mainstream media.
Lots of women, who would have voted for Hillary, like myself, have already stated they will vote for McCain. Now with a woman on that ticket, a lot more will defect and those that have will be that much more sure.
Say what you will about experience levels, but Palin has more experience than Obama in being an executive and if I were you I’d be more worried about the perceptions of 51% of Americans, than 12%. Especially since almost all of that 12% votes democratic in every election anyway. You are failing to see the bigger picture.
This election will be won by who can sway a small number of votes to the other side. McCain just did that in spades. Obama is now in dire trouble and YOU know it.
BTW, Michael, I noticed that you didn’t even mention it when Biden got picked. Must be because of how proud you are of that “brilliant” choice. So much for change.
You Obama supporters screwed up this election once by picking him, screwed up twice by picking Biden, and now are too blind to see that you’ve just been screwed back big-time. Good luck with your election, I’ll go with the side that isn’t hammering the nails into its own coffin every chance it gets.
I read both major Alaska newspapers every day (hey, where else are you going to find dog mushing and Nordic skiing covered in the sports sections?) and even though I’m a big pinko and even though she’s fundamentally conservative I’m basically pretty impressed with Palin. The first thing is that she’s conservative, not crazy. The main thing, though, is that she’s doing a competent job in her executive function, and there really just aren’t many competent Republicans in office. Alaskans are kind of crazy and there’s been huge problems with corruption up there, and she’s managed to negotiate a pretty good path through some tough times. She’s also probably one of the few GOP politicians in the country who really does understand pocketbook issues and the way the middle class is struggling right now and I think Democrats need to keep an eye on that lest they be blindsided by the GOP ticket finally establishing some actual populist bona fides. Even the firing scandal is the kind of thing most people could probably relate to if they knew the details (the brother-in-law did crap like tasering his own son).
This decision may have been driven by some stupid delusions about appealing to us disaffected Clinton supporters, but I think that on balance it’s a good move by McCain.
Do you *really* want to raise the specter of “experience?” Obama is an empty suit and you know it.
All I hear from the panicking Obamaniacs is the Palin is not ready to be president. They seem to miss the fact that we are voting for president and not veep. McCain is alive and well and kicking. And in the event that changes. Palin is already far ahead of Obama in governing and public serive experience. It is the qualifications ot the PRESIDENT that we will be voting on, not the qualifications of who will succeed him in case he cashes in.
Hillary’s supporters will be drawn to the dark side by this move. Score 1 for the GOP.
Palin is against the biggest issues feminists are concerned about: abortion and discrimination against same sex couples. Not only is Palin ultra conservative but she is also for ruining the precious wildlife in Alaska. I say this nomination is “weak sauce” and I’m glad. Go Obama/Bidan!
Hey, Bob, as a Clinton supporter I really don’t appreciate you guys making those kinds of (incorrect) assertions or continuing to engage in what I see as really very divisive behavior. Please let it rest.
As for the content of that assertion, I’d be very surprised if he didn’t lose more support among conservatives who either won’t vote for a woman or who won’t vote for a woman with a young baby than he gained among alienated Clinton supporters.
Hey, Bob, as a Clinton supporter I really don’t appreciate you guys making those kinds of (incorrect) assertions or continuing to engage in what I see as really very divisive behavior. Please let it rest.
As for the content of that assertion, I’d be very surprised if he didn’t lose more support among conservatives who either won’t vote for a woman or who won’t vote for a woman with a young baby than he gained among alienated Clinton supporters.
“Good luck with your election, I’ll go with the side that isn’t hammering the nails into its own coffin every chance it gets.”
Painfully ironic…
Melinda,
But you also can’t ignore the traditional democratic voters who will be reluctant to vote for an African-American. Contrary to the party line, there are plenty of rascists in the Democratic party. Again, with only a small percentage of defections or abstentions, this thing could swing wildly. Remember how the polls have so often been such poor predictors of Obama’s success in some of the individual primaries? Perhaps some of this was because people unwilling to admit to racist views when asked, where equally unwilling to vote for Obama in private. I would suspect that being black is more of an issue for certain democrats, than being a woman is for certain Republicans.
I think most people with any sense aren’t so worried about a candidates conservative views on abortion. Nobody really beieves in the ned that a conservative president is going to appoint justices that will overturn Roe v Wade. As even the last two Justices asserted, it’s too engrained in the culture at this point. A Court would have to be really, REALLY activist to overturn it, and that just isn’t going to happen. It’s just a scare tactic I think.
I’m not sure what having a young baby has to do with anything. If anything, a lot of moms/families might be inspired by the fact that she chose to keep a Downs syndrome baby, even though she was alerted to the condition. That’s a huge resposibility and a choice that shows more character than a lot of choices politicians usually make. Certainly it will be a death-card for anyone to bring it up against her.
In the end, we can’t ignore the fact that Women are a swing vote group, African-Americans mostly are not. 10% of Democratic women switching to the GOP will swing the election their way. 10% of African-American GOPers coming our way won’t do anything. Elections are about getting elected. From a getting elected point of view, the DNC is chopping off its own fingers, one-by-one.
I’m not ignoring the racists (to the contrary) but I am regarding them as out-of-scope for the purpose of the discussion of whether or not the Palin announcement increased the likelihood that Clinton supporters will vote for McCain. As for the “young baby” reference, there’s been quite a bit of discussion of that, including considerable condemnation, in the comments sections of the Alaska papers already.
Also – I believe that a conservative president will attempt to appoint SC justices who will overturn Roe v. Wade and nearly every liberal and feminist I know believes that, too. The Democrats are using that very argument, in fact, to try to persuade alienated Clinton supporters not to support McCain. It’s a big issue, and it seems to me that the best way that the Republicans could defuse it and make themselves more attractive to pro-choice voters would be to stop nominating anti-choice candidates, stop putting anti-choice planks in their platforms, and stop appointing anti-choice judges every time they’ve got an opening.
I am absolutely disgusted that Mc Same would exploit what Hillary has worked soo hard for. She has paved the way for women to break that glass ceiling and now he is using this young woman just to win him this Presidency. We all know that if he hypothetically wins (which he won’t) ,her duties would be soo frivolous that I would be amazed that we wouldn’t see her just attending funerals. Mc Same is going Mc Nuts.
But there is a big difference between appointing pro-choice justices, and those justices actually overturning Roe. Even Roberts and Alito, if their confirmation hearings are to be believed, said that it’s the law of the land with enough precedent to sustain it. I really don’t think it’s an issue without Congress being the ones to do it with an Amendment. Besides that, an overturning would have to be sustainable against a Congress that could then make it statutory.
It’s really not as simple as just appointing the right justices. Not that we shouldn’t care, but there are shakier issues to worry about in the short term.
If you are saying that people are condemning her for carrying a Downs baby to term, that is truely reprehensible behavior (the people criticising her, not you). I assure you, if anyone gets on national TV and speaks out against her for carrying her baby to term, knowing that it had Downs, there will be a backlash like you can’t even imagine. A lot of liberal women have Downs children and regardless of their views on abortion, they won’t take kindly to someone saying that her character is flawed because of that decision. (remember: that won’t insult the GOP women, who are already doing just that.)
Big Picture = Getting Elected. Not having the most acceptable viewpoint on life. If we keep dwelling on being more enlightened, we can kiss another four years goodbye.
You know Melinda, there are lots of pro-life women who are Dems. You might not know any, but I assure you, churches are full of them. A lot of these women may quite easily cross the aisle on election day. (Remember how Pauline Kael was shocked that Nixon was elected, since she didn’t know anyone who voted for him?)
dahlia, what’s disgusting is that you find it so easy to belittle a woman who has just as much right to a career as Hillary. She faces the same glass ceilings as Hillary. It will be just as much a triumph for women, in the abstract, if she’s elected, as if Hillary is. We might not agree with her views, but she’s still a woman attempting to break a new barrier. Or do only Democratic women matter? This kind of thinking is why we keep loosing elections.
McCane just fired a real warning shot across Obama’s bow. Obama, backed by his maniacal short-sighted friends, is in a real fight, that would have been unnecessary if Hillary hadn’t been disposed of by the white males who control things. I’m afraid you Obama people have really screwed us. Thanks a lot.
I do not understand why you people feel so pressured to vote for either Mcshame or Obama the lama.
You can still vote a write in, I mean, if you are all not a bunch of blind sheep. I can not comprehend how you feel you must choose one or the other.
Julia-
Iam by no means belittling Palin, yes, she does have a right as much as Hillary to have a career. What Iam saying is that how dare McCain use Palin and the fact that the glass ceiling has been cracked to gain his Presidency becauses otherwise he would of never thought of putting a woman on his ticket if Obama never had the chance to. The only reason is, is because he saw the uproar and drama unfold after Obama declined to put Hillary on the ticket. McCain is picking up Obama’s crumbs in the hopes that it would work for him and he is soon to find out all it’s going to do is cost him. He is desperate!!!
Where have you guys been for the last eight years? We have a typical moron as a president, who has squandered our money on an unprovoked war in Iraq (Where are the Weapons of Mass Destruction?), and you people still think the Republicans can get it right this time around. This election is not about Obama, it about every single American and their choices over the last election that got us in the position we are in today. High gas prices, mortgage meltdown, lack of trust in Washington; you name it. Come on America get it right this time. Bill Clinton was chided about not having experience, but the country was safe, the economy was good. Under George Bush we had 9-11 and the Iraq war, which end is nowhere insight. Aren’t you guys listening. George Bush is taking our billions and using it on Iraq, while Iraq has billions in surpluses. That your money and the Republicans want another four years. WAKE UP America. Sarah Palin is John McCain’s way of pandering to Hilary Clinton’s Voters. This woman is being used. They do not actually think she is suited to replace McCain if, God forbid, something happens to him, if he becomes president. This is desperate and John McCain and all in his camp know it. It is a big gamble and you America need to reward this kind of political gimmick with a vote where it hurts. Do not let them take us for granted for another four years. Eight have been wasted already. Vote the Republicans out.
This was the smartest move that McCain has made yet. By choosing a woman, he taps into the “minority” vote as well. He also softens his campaign’s appearance, and it’s just tough to attack a woman and be seen as anything but a bully. Very wise move McCain.
Anything but a bully? She could possibly be the leader of the free world if our 72 year old president, with a history of Malinoma died? I’m a Republican. A supporter of McCain. There is NO WAY I will vote for this ticket now. My God, she’s been a Governor for 15 minutes in ALASKA!
People are saying it’s hard to debate her because they’ll come off as a bully? Really? We should let this woman into the White House. The WHITE HOUSE because we the alternative would be hurting her feelings in a debate? As I write this, I’m sitting in a community internet tent at Camp Liberty, Baghdad International Airport. If something happens to McCain, I do not want this woman Commander in Chief. Sorry. All these people saying “yeah, but she’s a vice president” make me sick. You have to be at least CAPABLE of filling in if something happens.
McCain has shown he cares more about winning this election by making this ridiculous hail mary pass than he does about the country’s welfare. Even if he doesn’t realize it himself.
Palin is going to be a pretty puppet and nothing more. Nothing against her personally, she certainly seems accomplished and I respect her. But she has no business being our vice president. NONE.
I’ll always love McCain for his military service and prior service in government to this point. I really will. But he showed me yesterday that he should not be the President of the United States, and almost every other member of my unit over here feels the exact same way.
SSgt Holden
424 MTD, Iraq
How do you know that she is NOT capable Sgt. Holden? Please share.