My final thoughts of Palin before her speech tonight

[quade 3]

Ok, so I guess I'm sort of over the shock of this complete unknown being picked by McCain as a running mate. It was the first thing in this election cycle I absolutely was blindsided on.

Vice Presidential running mates are normally (although not always) picked to bring some sort of balance to the ticket. Shoring up some weaknesses, being a sounding board (hopefully someone that can speak truth to power by someone willing to hear it), someone that could step in and take over if something dreadful should happen and the country would still be comfortable with.

Ok . . . forget all of that for a moment.

Here is now my biggest (and trust me I'm going to be unpartisan in this) issue with Palin;

GILF, Troopergate, Babygate, Unwed-pregnant-daughter, Vetted/Unvetted, Anti-abortion & anti-sex education and Evangelical . . .

Uh . . . shouldn't the focus be on the candidate and not the running mate?

Here's the fundamental flaw I see in picking Palin; they forgot that the headline should be McCain.

I don't know what the hell Palin is going to say tonight, but the RNC desperately needs to turn the focus off defending Palin and back on to promoting McCain.

It's just too weird.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[StreetScooby 5]

Rev. Wright died down, didn't it? There is no way Obama can explain away 20 years of associating with a raging racist. But, no one is asking those questions anymore. Yet.

We are all engines of karma

[quade 3]

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Rev. Wright died down, didn't it? There is no way Obama can explain away 20 years of associating with a raging racist. But, no one is asking those questions anymore. Yet.

I think you're missing my point. I'm not even concerned with the individual controversies . . . it was a weird choice because it draws focus away from the Presidential candidate.

It's almost like self-sabotage.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[happythoughts 0]

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Ok, so I guess I'm sort of over the shock of this complete unknown being picked by McCain as a running mate. It was the first thing in this election cycle I absolutely was blindsided on.

Not like Obama. So well known before his candidacy...

I guess it is all those years that year that we got to know about Obamas experience from his previous year.

Come to think of it, I had 2 years as a Senator in the school govt at our Jr. College...

I got the lunch room repainted and new trees put out on the lawn.

[StreetScooby 5]

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...it was a weird choice...

No argument there. I'm still a little stunned by it.

We are all engines of karma

[StreetScooby 5]

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I got the lunch room repainted and new trees put out on the lawn.

At least you have some accomplishments.

We are all engines of karma

[quade 3]

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Not like Obama. So well known before his candidacy...

Obama may or may not have the perfect experience, however, he was the keynote at the DNC in 2004 and, at least the Democrats, knew perfectly well who he was before this cycle AND . . . well, they picked him.

Get off the experience thing and actually listen to what I'm saying about her being a distraction to the McCain candidacy. THAT's what I'm talking about here.

This doesn't even need to be a partisan discussion . . . it's more like strategy.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[FallingOsh 0]

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This doesn't even need to be a partisan discussion . . . it's more like strategy.

Maybe that was the point, to bring the focus more on the Republicans. Young, suave, fresh-face Obama is countered with young, hot, independant Palin. It helped change the stereotypical republican party.

McCain's camp had to have seen all this fodder coming. It didn't take an analyst to see the attacks being planned as soon as the ticket was announced. The back and fourth bullshit between parties about Palin will continue in full force for another few weeks. Then they'll find something else to argue over. Hopefully it's over real issues.

McCain's experience argument has suffered because of Palin. Obama's Change campaign is pretty well invalidated by Biden.

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Stay positive and love your life.

[TrophyHusband 0]

i really doesn't matter who mccain picked, he or she would have been picked apart and villified for at least a week after the announcement.

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[Nightingale 0]

I think they're trying to draw some of the attention away from Obama and pull in some of the swing votes.

Obama is getting attention because:
1. he's young
2. he's not white
3. he's not Bush.

I think Palin was a good choice. She's going to help motivate voters. She's young, she's got children so the family crowd can relate to her, she's female, which is going to confuse some feminists (overheard in the office today: "He picked a woman for VP! I was going to vote for Hillary, but now I'll vote for her." (meaning Palin)).

The people that were going to vote for McCain already are still going to. The people that were die-hard Obama fans are still voting for him. There weren't a lot of people in this election who were still making up their minds, and were planning on dragging themselves to the polling place to actually vote. Having Sarah Palin as a running mate may actually get some of those people who were going to stay home out to the polls, just for the opportunity to help make history, or just because they like her.

[quade 3]

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The back and fourth bullshit between parties about Palin will continue in full force for another few weeks.

And yet, McCain takes the stage just a couple of nights from now. At a time when the country should be focused on HIM, it's focused on HER.

I think strategically, they've done something horribly, horribly wrong here.

Palin may have made sense if Obama's running mate had ended up being Clinton (which, was never going to happen); it may have provided an interesting counter balance at that point. However, to me it seems like they've attempted to continue to a bizarre strategy of courting a "woman's vote" with a person that is the anthesis of the core beliefs of that voting block. I can not in my wildest imagination believe that a significant portion of the people that would have voted for Hillary would even consider Palin.

And again, were to the point of talking about HER rather than HIM, McCain.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[livendive 8]

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McCain's experience argument has suffered because of Palin. Obama's Change campaign is pretty well invalidated by Biden.

I agree with this in general, just to differing extents. I think both candidates shored up their weak sides to the detriment of their strong sides, and to roughly equal degrees.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[rushmc 18]

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Quote

Rev. Wright died down, didn't it? There is no way Obama can explain away 20 years of associating with a raging racist. But, no one is asking those questions anymore. Yet.

I think you're missing my point. I'm not even concerned with the individual controversies . . . it was a weird choice because it draws focus away from the Presidential candidate.

It's almost like self-sabotage.

This choice has really energized the base. McCain could not get elected. I now beleive this election is about who the next pres is. Maybe the first woman pres.

Look a little more into the so called scandles you list. They, for the most part are hyped up bs.

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[FallingOsh 0]

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And yet, McCain takes the stage just a couple of nights from now. At a time when the country should be focused on HIM, its focused on HER.

Maybe putting McCain on stage and having the country focused on him will stop some of the attacks. What else does the media have to talk about right now? The dem convention is over. Obama/Biden are on the road. The RNC just kicked off. Palin was just announced and it's the newest topic. After McCain talks, dems with throw a fit and republicans will call it a great speech. Exactly what happened after Obama spoke. But... they'll be talking about McCain again. I see Palin as a brand new face and the media is having a field day with fresh material.

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Palin may have made sense if Obama's running mate had ended up being Clinton (which, was never going to happen); it may have provided an interesting counter balance at that point.

However, to me it seems like they've attempted to continue to a bizarre strategy of courting a "woman's vote" with a person that is the anthesis of the core beliefs of that voting block.

You obviously think Palin was only selected because she is a woman. That's fine, I'm sure you're not alone in that stance. But why are they not courting the NRA members or the pro-life groups with Palin? If the core values of that voting block are off, then maybe mccain is not courting that voting block.

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I can not in my wildest imagination believe that a significant portion of the people that would have voted for Hillary would even consider Palin.

Like I said, maybe they're not only going after the woman vote and more specifically the Hillary supporters. NRA, outdoorsman (outdoorswoman, outdoors person, whatever), pro-life, pro-drilling. There's more to her than just being a girl.

If McCain had selected Romney, Ridge, Huckabee, or any other person on the short list then he'd be accused of fullfilling the republican stereotype.

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Stay positive and love your life.

[Gawain 0]

Quote

Ok, so I guess I'm sort of over the shock of this complete unknown being picked by McCain as a running mate. It was the first thing in this election cycle I absolutely was blindsided on.

Not quite politics as usual huh?

Quote

Vice Presidential running mates are normally (although not always) picked to bring some sort of balance to the ticket. Shoring up some weaknesses, being a sounding board (hopefully someone that can speak truth to power by someone willing to hear it), someone that could step in and take over if something dreadful should happen and the country would still be comfortable with.

Given how many conservatives and republicans were concerned about Sen. McCain on a number of issues, this does the trick.

Ok . . . forget all of that for a moment.

Here is now my biggest (and trust me I'm going to be unpartisan in this) issue with Palin;

Quote

GILF, Troopergate, Babygate, Unwed-pregnant-daughter, Vetted/Unvetted, Anti-abortion & anti-sex education and Evangelical . . .

Uh . . . shouldn't the focus be on the candidate and not the running mate?

1. It's interesting at all the straws being grasped at on the Governor. If you look a bit more into all that stuff, you'd see there's nothing there. I also don't recall this much scrutiny on Ferraro in '84.

2. Running mates get a fair amount of coverage for the initial few days. Gov. Palin is getting more because she's obviously a woman, conservative, pro-life...everything the democrats aren't...and good looking to boot...so the press has more to report about, and the fact that they're all in the tank for Sen. Obama doesn't help her.

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It's just too weird.

What's even weirder is that everyone on the left is underestimating her, forgetting that her nickname is "Barracuda" and they're attacking her daughter. They aren't going to see her coming, and their goose is cooked when she's done with them tonight.

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[kallend 1,683]

Quote

Quote

Ok, so I guess I'm sort of over the shock of this complete unknown being picked by McCain as a running mate. It was the first thing in this election cycle I absolutely was blindsided on.

Not quite politics as usual huh?

Quote

Vice Presidential running mates are normally (although not always) picked to bring some sort of balance to the ticket. Shoring up some weaknesses, being a sounding board (hopefully someone that can speak truth to power by someone willing to hear it), someone that could step in and take over if something dreadful should happen and the country would still be comfortable with.

Given how many conservatives and republicans were concerned about Sen. McCain on a number of issues, this does the trick.

Ok . . . forget all of that for a moment.

Here is now my biggest (and trust me I'm going to be unpartisan in this) issue with Palin;

Quote

GILF, Troopergate, Babygate, Unwed-pregnant-daughter, Vetted/Unvetted, Anti-abortion & anti-sex education and Evangelical . . .

Uh . . . shouldn't the focus be on the candidate and not the running mate?

1. It's interesting at all the straws being grasped at on the Governor. If you look a bit more into all that stuff, you'd see there's nothing there. I also don't recall this much scrutiny on Ferraro in '84.

How old were you in 1984?

Quote

Around 20% max. of voters are in accordance with her position on (no) abortion for rape victims; I suspect it's even lower for women voters. The GOP already had the single issue pro-lifers anyway.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[rushmc 18]

Is this interesting too?

Posted on the Politico

Clinton aides: Palin treatment sexist
By JOHN F. HARRIS & BETH FRERKING



Sarah Palin pumps her fist as she walks towards the bus at a campaign stop in Washington, Pa., on Saturday.
Photo: AP





ST. PAUL, Minn. — Sarah Palin found some unlikely allies Wednesday as leading academics and even former top aides to Hillary Rodham Clinton endorsed the Republican charge that John McCain’s running mate has been subject to a sexist double standard by the news media and Democrats.

Georgetown University professor Deborah Tannen, who has written best-selling books on gender differences, said she agrees with complaints that Palin skeptics — including prominent voices in the news media — have crossed a line by speculating about whether the Alaska governor is neglecting her family in pursuit of national office.

“What we’re dealing with now, there’s nothing subtle about it,” said Tannen. “We’re dealing with the assumption that child-rearing is the job of women and not men. Is it sexist? Yes.”

“There’s no way those questions would be asked of a male candidate,” said Howard Wolfson a former top strategist for Clinton’s presidential campaign.

The sexism charge was hurled with new intensity Wednesday afternoon by McCain surrogates, all women, at a news conference just hours before she was to make her acceptance speech here.

The tense encounter with reporters showed how McCain’s team has abandoned all pretense that this convention is about anything but Palin, her thin résumé and her wildly unexpected ascension to the GOP ticket.

A choice that was intended to shake up the race did so with more ferocity than McCain ever intended. The mother of five — with one pregnant teenage daughter and an infant son with Down syndrome — has joined a parade of personalities from Anita Hill to O.J. Simpson to Monica Lewinsky to become a cultural flash point.

As the controversy over her qualifications and McCain’s vetting process overwhelmed events here, hypocritical rhetoric was flowing at full tide on all sides of the debate.

Many conservatives, who spent a generation ridiculing the politics of victimhood and group identity, are now zealously invoking both in the Twin Cities. A common GOP talking point here is that Palin’s gender and experiences as a mother should be counted as an asset among her qualifications. At the news conference, former Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift condemned “an outrageous smear campaign” against Palin, and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina said, “The Republican Party will not stand by while Gov. Palin is subjected to sexist attacks.”

Just last spring, Palin herself scoffed when Hillary Clinton’s campaign complained about a double standard in coverage.

“When I hear a statement like that coming from a woman candidate with any kind of perceived whine about that excess criticism, or maybe a sharper microscope put on her, I think, 'Man, that doesn't do us any good, women in politics, or women in general, trying to progress this country,' ” Palin said.

Now, McCain’s team is urgently recruiting female surrogates and loudly crying sexism to deflect legitimate inquiries into Palin’s experience, her record, and the last-minute, improvisational process by which McCain chose a small-state governor who was elected in 2006 after serving of mayor of small-town Wasilla, a far suburb of Anchorage.

It was a process dominated by a small handful of male aides to McCain, consulting no woman other than the candidate’s wife, Cindy McCain.

Even so, many media and liberal voices have made the job easy for McCain’s spin squadrons. Among the eyebrow-raising comments in recent days:

• Democrat Joe Biden, in what he intended as self-deprecating remark, observed, “There's a gigantic difference between John McCain and Barack Obama and between me and I suspect my vice presidential opponent. ... She's good looking."

• A spokeswoman for the National Organization for Women, noting Palin’s opposition to abortion rights and support of other parts of the social conservative agenda, told Politico, “She's more a conservative man than she is a woman on women's issues. Very disappointing."



Page 2

• Liberal radio host Ed Schultz used the words “bimbo alert” to refer to Palin, and the Huffington Post featured a photo montage of Palin with the headline, “Former Beauty Queen, Future VP?”

• CNN’s John Roberts recently pondered on air: “Children with Down’s syndrome require an awful lot of attention. The role of vice president, it seems to me, would take up an awful lot of her time, and it raises the issue of how much time will she have to dedicate to her newborn child?”

This line of inquiry was echoed by writer Sally Quinn, who in her “On Faith” column for washingtonpost.com agreed that Palin is a “bright, attractive, impressive person,” but also asked, “is she prepared for the all-consuming nature of the job?”

“Her first priority has to be her children,” Quinn wrote. “When the phone rings at 3 in the morning and one of her children is really sick what choice will she make?”

There is little question that these questions are being asked around kitchen tables. But there are recent examples of a double standard.

Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) was more frequently praised for his perseverance than hazed for misplaced priorities when he continued his presidential campaign even after wife Elizabeth Edwards was diagnosed with an incurable form of cancer. The couple has two children still at home, ages 10 and 8.

Edwards was himself a close finalist for a vice presidential nod in 2000, when Al Gore nearly tapped him at a time when he had served the same amount of time in the U.S. Senate that Palin has as Alaska governor, and about the same amount of time that Barack Obama had served when he began his presidential quest two years ago.

Phil Singer, who worked with Wolfson on Clinton’s campaign, said the news media tend to focus on different sets of subjects when covering women candidates. He noted articles on Clinton’s cleavage, and whether she had the personality of a “bitch.”

“There’s no question that the issues a woman has to deal with are different,” Singer said, adding that, “The real indictment that needs to be prosecuted is about her views, not her personal life.”

Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a Politico interview Wednesday that a double standard was being applied against Palin, in part because she is unknown to Washington reporters. “It’s always a dangerous thing to surprise the press,” he said. “When you’re unorthodox and unpredictable, you pay a price.”

He also noted a subject that “I probably shouldn’t get into” on the record, before deciding to plunge in: Historically, Cole, said “to be a leader in the women’s movement, you have to be a liberal. This is clearly a very liberated woman who is not a liberal. And I think there is some tension with that because again, she breaks a lot of stereotypes and molds.”

Some commentators said the McCain campaign has no grounds for complaint about sexism because it stressed her family background in her public unveiling last week in Dayton, Ohio, with her children on stage.

“The first image here [of Palin] was: This is a woman who is a wife and a mother, and let us tell you about her family,” said Ruth B. Mandel, a founder of and senior scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. “If they want the country to see her in a different way, and if they want the children and the family to be off-limits, they have to reframe it. You can’t have it both ways.”

Barbara Risman, a leader of the Council on Contemporary Families and a sociology professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, walked a middle ground on the emergence of gender identity politics in the presidential race.

“It makes absolutely no sense for me to vote for a woman just because I have a vagina and so does she,” said Risman. “But it does make sense for me … I believe that someone who has lived a life like mine just might understand my struggles more than others.”

And she hoped that Palin and the uproar over her coverage would prove itself to be a cultural milestone: “I think it’s really important, from this day forward, that we all ask about every candidate’s work life and home life. It’s sexism otherwise. ... We have to be careful not to ask her questions that we wouldn’t ask a male candidate.”

Cecile Dehesdin, Ryan Grim, David Paul Kuhn contributed to this story.

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[lawrocket 3]

Frankly, I'd love to see Palin say, "Got a problem with my being a mother and a veep candidate? Bring it on."

I think it'd be refreshing if she didn't complain and just moved forward. She should address it, and perhaps say something of the effect that, "To whine doesn't do any good. If that's all they've got, we're in pretty good shape."

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[rushmc 18]

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Frankly, I'd love to see Palin say, "Got a problem with my being a mother and a veep candidate? Bring it on."

I think it'd be refreshing if she didn't complain and just moved forward. She should address it, and perhaps say something of the effect that, "To whine doesn't do any good. If that's all they've got, we're in pretty good shape."

There a parts (supposedly) leaking out about her upcoming speach. Can be found on Drudge. It appears you are going to get your wish (to some extent)

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[happythoughts 0]

Personally, I don't see McCain running in 2012.
I would think that he wouldn't be interested.

However, his VP might. That would be historically interesting.

[rushmc 18]

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Personally, I don't see McCain running in 2012.
I would think that he wouldn't be interested.

However, his VP might. That would be historically interesting.

Yes, I agree
That is why I think the left sees her as dangerous to their cause

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[rushmc 18]

I dont think she will fall to the pressure

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[Gawain 0]

Quote

How old were you in 1984?

Old enough. My beard grows mostly gray now...

Quote

Around 20% max. of voters are in accordance with her position on (no) abortion for rape victims; I suspect it's even lower for women voters. The GOP already had the single issue pro-lifers anyway.

Fine with me, but that's not the only "single" issue she'll attract.

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[livendive 8]

Supper's almost ready, so I don't have much time to post my impressions, other than these.

One - Wow...I now have a better understanding of some of the people who post to this forum.

Two - her husband is a commercial fisherman, works with drillers, and participates in an "extreme sport." Having been a commercial fisherman for a few years, having worked with drillers for the last five, and having ben a skydiver for 13 years, I can guaran-fucking-tee you it's only a matter of time before dirt on him comes out.

Three - I can now understand the attraction to Mrs. Palin...she has two extra vaginas!

"Drill baby drill!" "Drill baby drill!" . . . are you kidding me? Even if one supports additional drilling, shouldn't it be as an unfortunate necessity rather than a goal worthy of celebration? Talk about short-sighted.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[downwardspiral 0]

Is that all you have? You're hoping for dirt on her husband? Other than under his fingernails?




Obama's in trouble and he knows it. These next couple months should be very interesting.

www.FourWheelerHB.com