McCain picks Sarah Palin

It's nice how the Republicans are being expedient by hiring someone who's already under investigation for corruption. You can save a lot of time that way.

That said, I can see her getting votes from the Hillary campaign, but it might hurt McCain since the Republican base is generally not pro-feminist.

">Is she a lumberjack by any chance?

The political calculation is palpable, to the extent that it might actually backfire. I can't readily conceive of a voter who would pick Palin-for-veep-but-you-also-get-McCain as an alternative to Clinton-for-prez. I can, however, see people concerned about lack of experience skedaddling a little bit towards the dems (though not much... in recent history, experience hasn't been seen as particularly important in the VP slot).

It's a little odd. She's sort of like the Anti-Ferraro.

somewhere in the back of my head i hear a "of course he did". who better to round out an old male republican image than a female for vp. i think it's smart.

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Original post by Chris Reynolds somewhere in the back of my head i hear a "of course he did". who better to round out an old male republican image than a female for vp. i think it's smart.

Or desperate.

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Original post by Chris Reynolds somewhere in the back of my head i hear a "of course he did". who better to round out an old male republican image than a female for vp. i think it's smart.

Perhaps, but it risks that people might see that as the *reason* he picked her - to draw some Hillary supporters and try to catch some of the "change" wave. She has to avoid any mistakes until the public knows her better, and needs to be a match for Biden in a debate to avoid that image.

That said, it means this election will be fairly historic regardless of which party wins.

Here's my comment on Palin from the Obama/Biden thread.



Talk about your political choices... Picking a woman is about the only thing McCain could do to take back the media spotlight after Obama's speech last night. It's obvious that McCain is going after disgruntled Hillary supporters, so this pick keeps that meme living long after it's expiration date. And that she's from Alaska correlates well with McCain's "drill everywhere" energy policy. For all the Republican complaints about Obama's "cult of personality" (setting aside the fact that the Republicans have been operating a "cult of personality" and running on the "leader principle" for the entire 8 years of Bush), that entire article is all about Palin's personality. There's not a word in it describing the job duties of Governor of Alaska. There's no mention of the fact that the population of Alaska is only 700,000. That's less than the population of Fresno County here in California's heartland.

Her wikipedia entry, Sarah Palin, suggests she's going to play the role of culture warrior - Anti-abortion, pro-death penalty, pro-creationism/anti-evolutionism, opposed to gay marriage.

Is she qualified to be President? Is she ready to be President? Given McCain's age, his war injuries and his cancer, there's a real possibility that he could die in office. Good looks and culture war bona fides aren't enough to make the case that she is qualified or ready to be President. McCain should have gone with Romney.

ROFL

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As for the prospect of her being vice president, Palin told Kudlow that she could not answer the question of whether she wanted the job “until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day. I’m used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration. We want to make sure that that VP slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans and for the things that we’re trying to accomplish up here.”

Way to go, McCain, picking a person who doesn't even know what the job is.

And not only that, but as a federal officer, she wants to use the position to directly benefit Alaska.


What a joke.

Should have picked anyone on this forum for VP instead, we're probably more qualified. :(

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Original post by Nypyren Should have picked anyone on this forum for VP instead, we're probably more qualified. :(

Stupid born-citizen requirement!

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Original post by Nypyren Should have picked anyone on this forum for VP instead, we're probably more qualified. :(

McCain/LessBread 08

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Original post by smc Quote: Original post by Nypyren Should have picked anyone on this forum for VP instead, we're probably more qualified. :( McCain/LessBread 08

"Let's moderate America!"

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It's sad she's running for VP, but I don't see how this will sway the Hilary supporters. I can't help but see the image as she's being the good 'side-kick' or 'lacky'-- use her for votes but she's still #2.

Meh

I've been watching Sarah Palin for the last few months and from the moment I heard her on CNBC I said "She would make an awesome VP, too bad she'll never get picked." Even in the last few weeks as she was seen as a possible candidate, I still didn't think there was a chance. When I walked by the boob tube today and saw what happened, I was completely surprised but also elated.

Here's why I like Palin:

A) Understands the energy crisis and has experience in the field
B) True Conservative
C) Big on ethics, has shown that she can come in as the new kid on the block and shake things up
i. The current issue will blow over and she will come out with few problems, McCain's advisors would not allow him to pick a VP that was genuinely in trouble. When it comes to republicans and scandals, you can immediately tell the guilty because their peers will abandon them in a heartbeat.
D) Proven track record of eliminating wasteful spending, which we desperately need in Washington
E) She's not a politician, she worked her way up the line because of her results.
F) Sticks to her beliefs even when out of line of the party.
G) While Pro-Life and against gay marriage, she also has a spirit of tolerance that others in this area are lacking. For instance, she is against state-sanctioned gay marriage but against discrimination of same-sex couples (vetoing a ban on benefits for gay couples).

Why I think she's a good VP Candidate:

A) She counters McCain's age
B) She can rally the true conservatives who were disenfranchised at the primaries
C) She can rally the "evangelical christian" base who will only vote for fundamentalist christians into office. (Note: I don't particulary like this demographic but they are a huge voting block and with McCain and a VP choice like Romney, I fully expected them to sit this one out along with the true conservatives)
D) She's very likeable, which McCain needs when going against Obama
E) She's got a great life story and family
And last but not least, E) She reminds me of Tina Fey and that totally turns me on.

Possible Cons:
A) People will see it as picking a woman VP only because she was a woman. Which may or may not have been the case but is a complete disservice to an intelligent and hard-working governor.
B) Lack of political experience mocks McCain's earlier ads. I never liked that argument anyway but now it makes him look like a hypocrite.
C) The current ethics investigation has pretty crappy timing. McCain and Palin will need this to blow over very quickly so people can start focusing on the issues.

If nothing else I think she will be the future face of the republican party, a sort of republican answer to the Democratic Obama Generation.

Also:

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but it might hurt McCain since the Republican base is generally not pro-feminist.

I have a real problem with this. The republican party is the party that championed women's suffrage. They have also had a number of influential female senators and representatives elected and in high esteem. On top of that, the party was practically begging a black woman to run for president for 2 of the last 4 years. Republicans are anti-feminist only in the bra-burning, man-hating, pro-abortion sense, they are not anti-woman.

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Original post by Silvermyst Quote: Original post by Nypyren Should have picked anyone on this forum for VP instead, we're probably more qualified. :( Stupid born-citizen requirement!

That hasn't stopped me making my bid for the presidency (a.k.a. "Trapper Zoid Needs A Place To Crash In Washington '08"). I'll run again in 2012, but probably not in 2016 as then I'll be over thirty five and meet one of the constitutional requirements.

Anyway, the topic. I don't know much about Sarah Palin other than the talking points heard on the radio this morning, but as a pick it just seems a bit... blatant. After spending a week tearing into Obama for making the "political choice" of Biden, to pick a young woman VP candidate appears like McCain is desperate to court the Hilary Clinton camp.

But I don't know much about how shrewd a politician Sarah Palin is, so I could be doing her a disservice. It could be a good choice if she's skilled enough to go against the Obama/Biden ticket. But if she was mainly chosen to court female voters or disgruntled Hilary fans and not for her political nous I think the choice could backfire in the next couple of months.

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Original post by JSoftware

I don't get this [sad] What's the inside joke of this?

regardless of where you personally stand on issues at least you can know where she stands with no flip-flopping, especially regarding free-market capitalism(the reagan kind), abortion(pro-life, had her child at age 44 even though she knew he would have down syndrome), and pro-choice as far as education.

We dont know what Obama stands for except that he for the most socialist policy that i have ever read...coming just shy to that of marxism. She is also a member of NRA and supports the use of guns as she is an avid hunter too.(that must scare the far-left). She is blue-collar and doesn't have to prove it because she has lived it and lives it. Of course all the "sophisticated" people in the northeast will try to strike her down because she isn't part of the "club"(shes a hunter, from a small town, has 5 kids, didnt go to brown, yale or harvard).

America needs someone outside of CEO corporate washington to represent us. whatever else i have said in this post i think most of you will agree with this. When the state construed a budget reserve she took that money and put it into an Alaskan state savings account, instead of spending it just to spend it like wildfire and of course certain legislative bodies didn't like that. She also wants to drill USA oil, not get oil from places where people want to wipe us off the face of the earth. She has tried but our friendly government has said no way. Hmm wonder why??

she is "one of us". what i mean is she isn't from the CEO private fundy school with nothing but money and power on her mind. This is why she will bring votes in by normal americans and this is why the far left and the north-easterners will hate her guts.

She has the highest approval rating of ANY Governer in the US. She was the key note speaker last year at the US Department of Energy summit. She is a reform candidate the cleaned up corruption in the Alaskan state government, actually selling the previous Governors two jets on EBAY...kinda funny...

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Original post by smc Quote: Original post by Nypyren Should have picked anyone on this forum for VP instead, we're probably more qualified. :( McCain/LessBread 08

Hahahaha. No thank you. [smile]

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Original post by OpenGL_Guru We dont know what Obama stands for except that he for the most socialist policy that i have ever read...coming just shy to that of marxism.

It's quotes like this that show that most of the US doesn't know what a proper left-wing party is like.

From my perspective, the Democrats are centre right. Obama is slightly to the left of the Democrat core, but still right of centre. He isn't nearly as left wing as Scandinavian politics for example, and the Swedes are still nowhere near Marxism on the left-right scale.

If you want to see a real far left policy platform, hunt around for the policy sheets of one of the fringe parties. You might need to look at other countries, as I don't know if the US really has a far left platform. Until a US politician starts banding around political ideas like a 100% tax margin for people earning above $100K (an actual policy of the Australian Social Democrats), you can't accurately label them as "far left".