Vetting Palin: An Easy Guide to What's Smart and What's Not

Well played, well mannered, well spoke. I concur.

At the risk of being too fawning, I think that this is a good moral compass. I've personally thought through all of the various arguments, and everyone around "so tell me more about your family decisions" ends in bad situations. I'll be honest: I don't agree with many of the decisions, much the way that I don't agree with many of Barack Obama's "christian" or "faith-based" decisions. I don't think, though, that I'm going to make much headway on either within this forum.

I *do* think that her pro-oil positions, stridently pro-life positions, and other positions that make her *horribly unprepared* to lead this country are wide open.

after the "should we talk about camo helmets or not?" debate, I should also say that I love that Al is willing to err on the side of laughing a bit, too. I will agree though that the more I think through the former, 'family' oriented debates the more i think you're just not going to get anywhere on them within the next 65 days or whatever.

I love this forum where "effective" action is considered the standard by which various decisions are judged. Let's keep it going and if anything, raise the elevation of political discourse.

In that spirit, remember to register with mybarackobama.com.

Al:

 

This is beyond weird. Can I make fun of her educational background?  A measly journalism degree from the Univ of Idaho.  Her husband, a high school diploma.  What kind of intelligent discourse is at their dinner table.  I am having flashbacks to the movie Idiocracy.

The leader of the democratic party issued a gracious congratulatory press release and he and his VP pick called Palin to wish her luck

we all has to be gracious, and head Al's advice...ignore her...and concentrate the fire on McCain.

Al, do you think this nomination will close the enthusiasm gap between Obama and McCain campaign? the religious Fundis seem just in 7th heaven with her nomination.

RiverRed - I never graduated from college. I think people who make fun of other people for not having degrees (or having them from "lesser" institutions) are elitists, and I think most of the huge number of people that never went to "the right schools" see it pretty much the same.

I also think objecting to people coming from small towns, or small states, is pretty small minded, too. And electorally dumb: they're important voters in this election.

I know that people of privilege - liberal or conservative or whatever, it doesn't make much difference - like to look down on people born with less. But that kind of classism should be what we're against, not for.

Millions of women with several children/disabled children/infants work outside the home. The right wing typically tries to make these women feel like crap (even though most of them have to work), we shouldn't be using that line.

I will say it pisses me off to see the "Focus on the Family" types praising Palin to the skies, when you know that if a Democratic woman with a special needs infant was running, she'd be held up as the worst mother on earth.

 

But rather "what is effective". Yes, we could get into a looong discussion about how many degrees one needs to have to be president, but seriously, is that *really* effective with any particular constituency that we are trying to persuade toward our side?

I may not like the idea that she only has "x" amount of formal education experience. You might not like the idea that she is going on the campaign trail with a 4 month old with a serious condition (I'm saying this as someone who posted like 3 or 4 times that I don't think that it's really "cool" to choose to have a baby with Down's Syndrome and then run for VP.) At the same time, where is that debate going to take us? Do we want to be bogged down with discussions around what is the 'right' among of formal education, or how much time one "ought" to spend with their children?

Ultimately, *any debate about such choices is going to fracture the electorate instead of focusing us on decisions where there are real differences and opportunities to make change*. We can *all* agree that oil companies ought not write our eonomic policies. We all know the other 3 key issues of this election: Iraq, health care, energy / jobs. She, and McCain are on the wrong side of this.

*This* is where we will get the most traction and anything else is playing into the distractions that the system has set up for and counted on us participating in. The Obama campaign has defined the enemy that I care about (enough to volunteer) and let's not distract ourselves from it and deal with other interesting, yet ultimately debatable issues.

Oddly, this all makes much more sense when I imagine myself working on the south side of chicago, thinking through how would i negotiate a bunch of families, some of which have stay at home moms, some of which don't. Seems like this is an *old* set of issues that others have worked through a bunch. The key is to not get distracted and let the sideline show distract us from real social change.

IMHO.

 

 

This seems to be a naked play for her voters.

amk

Palin was described today as a hero for raising a "special child". She's no hero, anymore than my wife and I are for raising a "special" child. We are parents, and raised Steven just as we raised Andrew, a so called normal child. You work with the children you have, and love them and nurture them as best you can. No parents are heroes simply because they have children. Just as she has the absolute right to work while raising young children, she also has to realize that SHE is nothing special in that regard. If she or the McCain campaign make a big deal of the fact, she makes those children political pawns, voluntarily. It's then okay to drill her on stem cell research and neonatal health care. If she keeps her private life private, then clearly it's hands off. McCain is the main target anyway.

This post needs to get out beyond The Field. I hope the Obama campaign itself keeps its troops in line with who needs to be attacked here, and over what.

In light of the Palin pick, the Biden choice is looking all the more wise. Obama is stressing the presidential strength of the Obama/Biden ticket as a whole, which will greatly contrast McCain/Palin, which can be seen by even the most politically lay as desperation and tokenism.

I'm also interested in seeing what happens between McCain and Palin on the road together. They barely know each other, and who knows what sort of drama could come of it.

And although a recent college graduate myself, I have to strongly echo Al's statements on education. Besides that the necessity of post-secondary education is so over-blown in this country that it has essentially become a scam, it's just not a smart political move to attack someone because they have a lesser degree.

My question, with the tiny part of my brain that is unstupefied by this pick and after reading through Ben's Remainders tonight, does McCain show any sign any more that he knows ANY of the meanings of the words "vet" or "vets"?

Thank you thank you thank you from one of your female readers for posting this.

I'm as horrified (and darkly amused) by the Palin choice as the next good liberal/progressive/Dem/non kool aid drinker -- but we should all use Obama's attitude as a model here. He has been beyond decent and respectful toward McCain -- despite having the kitchen sink of ridicule thrown at him. I have no doubt they will do the same toward Palin. It's the smart strategy -- and it's also the decent thing to do.

I could not care less about Palin's personal choices. What I do care about is that she is horribly unqualified and now potentially a heartbeat away from the Presidency, and wants to impose her own personal choices/religious values on the rest of us. ::shudder::

But you know who I really feel horrible for? All the qualified and over-qualified Republican women who've given years and decades to their party and were past over for the honor of the first woman on a GOP ticket. Olympia Snowe, anyone? I may not agree with her on a lot of issues, but that woman has given a lot to this country and actually has a record to be proud of (she co-chaired the Cong Women's Caucus for years and was a leader on family medical leave and other important issues). Kay Bailey Hutchison? Susan Collins? And on and on. They must be PISSED and rightly so.

Honestly, as a woman, this is sad and embarassing, that the first woman on a GOP ticket is someone many in their party don't even know! At least Geraldine Ferraro -- as much as I've come to loathe her this year -- back in the day at least she had some national level experience, some years of service, some perspective beyond her own little corner of the world. And a sense of the importance of her choice, of the symbolism. Sarah Palin seems fairly clueless as to the magnitude of what she represents.

Holy hat that must be a cold slap in the face to experienced Republican female leaders who should have been on his short list and should have been chosen if there really was a desire to make an historic pick. Altho they're all to some degree pro-choice so I've now answered my own question, eh? Also from what I've seen of McCain's attitutde toward women, I doubt he could have handled a female running mate who was a true peer.

Still, sad -- and I predict this choice will have some ugly unintended consequences down the road. I bet a lot of GOP women bolt to Obama even more now. And I will not be surprised if McCain is forced to pick someone else in the face of extreme backlash. Probably not likely as he's so stubborn, but stranger things have happened.

Again, thank you for speaking out against folks making sexist remarks. Much appreciated.

RiverRed:

My dad only has a high school education, and I consider him to be among the smartest, and wisest, people I know — the kind of blue-collar voter that has long been ignored, and frankly, completely misunderstood by the book-educated pundits.

Class-based humor falls flat, almost all the time. Marx-based humor (all about character) is the mark to shoot for, since it resonates with all of us regardless of our position in life.

Groucho Marx: I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members. 

At least that's what I find funny, if one goal is making people like me chuckle in all of this. 

 

Thank you for saying this. Let's face it, if her husband was governor no one would be criticizing him for taking the job with a baby at home. People's personal lives are their personal lives.

Not to mention that apparently the Alaskan leg is only in session about 90 days a year and that Palin -- from reports -- seems to be the kind of administrator that appoints good people and lets them run the show. Alaska has a population less than that of Austin, Texas. Being governor and a Mom just ain't that hard up there. But even if she was from NY, it would be good advise.

there is no reason to attack sarah at all. the pick was obviously wrong. it opens the door to the age card, the judgement card and lessens the use by McCain to use the experience card. so Palin = the Green Background. it makes McCain look bad.

so there is no need to attack her. Obama should and I hink will ignore her. the traget is McCain and Bush and they will stay on that. they attack McCain and she tries to defend. let's see how she does.

Feel free to delete this (may be the margaritas talking and I know i'ts off topic) but as a new tenured professor (w00t!) at a reasonably good school (wisconsin-madison) formal education has its strengths and weaknesses. formalized education keeps you from participating in the world for some of your best years of your life, and spits you out unengaged and unaffected (usually). At the same time, it (if it works) introduces you to the idea doing work that must live up to a particular community of people and what works in the world for them. I think there's a big gap between what we do in school and what is useful in the world, which I try to overcome via a variety of means. But let's not make degrees a litmus test because the formal education system can (and is designed to) squeeze the soul out of any of us.

 

Another example of this came from Michael Moore on Countdown tonight. I don't have the exact quote but the upshot was he said that Gustav is proof that there is a God.

Moore saying this brings him right down to the level of the religious reactionaries who say earthquakes, hurricanes, acts of violence etc. are visited upon the sinful.

The way I'd deal with Gustav and the Reptilian Nationalist Convention would be to say something like: Republicans are very fearful of hurricanes. They think  huge tropical storms can somehow make people notice how useless they are.

Point made, ony the R's are targeted and no one can accuse you of endorsing a calamity.

Anyway, I was just thinking about it when I read your post, Al.

Barry

Ronald Reagan did okay in politics with "just" a college degree.  I don't think that's a place to criticize Palin.  She should have plenty of opportunities, unless the Repub machine keeps her cloaked, to reveal what she knows and thinks about the world. 

I hope the Alaskans don't take the brunt of late-night humor.

I gather from reading right-wing commentators that the McCain campaign legitimately believes Sarah Palin is more qualified to be commander-in-chief than Barack Obama.  The campaign packages her experience as “executive” as if that designation alone trumped all other considerations.  If they intend to bait Obama into an argument about experience, their incredulity is almost delusional.  Palin is a governor, true, but she’s only held that office about as long as Barack Obama has been running for President.  When McCain, Clinton, and the whole pack were preparing for this long slog to the White House, Palin was the mayor of a town the size of a small liberal arts college.  Barack Obama was elected to represent a district in Illinois 27 times that size.  And that was in 1996.  Not to put too fine a point on it, but Ms. Palin’s pedigree belies any ability to cope with the demands of the nation’s second highest office.  While Senator Obama is a magna cum laude graduate of the most prestigious law school in the nation, she holds a B.S. in communications from a state school in Moscow, Idaho.  If this consideration makes me elitist, so be it, but what in Ms. Palin’s background makes anyone think she has any understanding of the intracacies of domestic and foreign issues, much less the procedural quagmire that must be navigated on capitol hill?  Charlie Black, John McCain’s chief advisor shrugged off these concerns saying, “she's going to learn national security at the foot of the master for the next four years,” but who will teach her if the unthinkable happens and she has to take the helm in a time of crisis? 

         Whatever one thinks about Obama’s experience, he has spent a considerate amount of time under national scrutiny and has articulated well-thought-out positions on every major issue.  He taught at a university with an international reputation for producing policy expertise of the highest order.  He has held national office for four years now, and has stellar executive experience running the most unlikely campaign in modern American history that ultimately defeated the most vaunted political machine in the Democratic party.  Does anyone think Palin could have achieved that?

when I saw that on Countdown.  He tried to dig himself out of it a bit, but it's in terrible taste to hope for political gain out of something that has the potential to adversely affect a great many people.  It also makes all of us look small and petty to boot.

Good to see you here Barry and I hope you're doing well.

 

Thanks, Al!  You are absolutely correct.  It isn't being PC...it is keeping your eyes on the prize.  The Obama campaign has fantastic message discipline, and we in the volunteer community need to follow their example.

And I was ready to strangle Michael Moore on Olbermann this evening.  Talk about playing to the stereotypes.  And did anyone else notice that of all the places in the US they could have chosen to unveil their new right-wing veep choice, they pick the Nutter Center?  The jokes just write themselves....

and his BS slogan of 'Country First'.

 

NOBODY who believes in putting this country first, would choose her.

 

Make it about McCain. Take it to him.

 

We also need to be very clear about her stance on abortion. She's against it - EVEN IN CASES OF RAPE AND INCEST.

 

Two tracks : tearing down McCain's BS ' Country First' and also making sure folks understand her and McCain's stance on Roe.

Like Al said...myself included...

We all knew that McNutter was going to annouce his pick on Friday...he said that last week...we also knew that he had to "bus people in" to fill only 1/2 the available space at his rally.

We also know that the MSM is totally out of it--and yes, Mika and Andrea were totally rude to Kathleen and Wes...talking on the phone and checking their Crackberries while supposedly conducting an interview...

When oh when are we REALLY going to follow the leads of our Leaders O-man and Al?

Remember when I *yelled help* for Al a couple of posts ago?  It was Chicken Little Part Deux that I saw coming...

I just want to say that WE are the ones we have been waiting for, and we have WORK to do.

If I were Kay Bailey Hutchinson or Olympia Snowe, etc., I would be highly pissed.  As a matter of fact, KBH IS highly pissed even though she didn't want to be Veep.

We have to remember that Obama was ELECTED, he ran a superior campaign--even Hillary knows that.  That's why the Superdelegate debate was so hot...would they vote to overturn the WILL OF THE PEOPLE?

Sarah what's-her-name WAS *selected* over many more highly qualified Repub women and she is NOT ready to be president.  It DOES speak to McMansion's judgment and *ambition* to be prez over what is best for the country.

Of course, after Al re-inoculates everyone, we will realize that all of those *non-issues* are just that, and can get everyone in trouble, to boot.

It's not only "the economy, stupid", it's "McCain, stupid", and he's already failed his first major decision.  The O-man knows that.

McCain can't even stand up to his own *advisors*; Lieberman would have been the best pick for McCain--that's who he wanted and needed...Palin can't even whisper the correct answers in his ear!

This IS a gift for us, if WE don't blow it!

Obama is more and more brilliant every day...go back and watch the intro vids...and salute Stanley Ann Dunham...

Now, how many people did you say you were going to register this weekend?

 

waterprise2 AKA Pam

Liberal with a Capital L!

 

This is another Clarence Thomas.

Contrary to certain beliefs, there were numerous QUALIFIED Black REPUBLICAN Intellectual Judges that Bush 41 could have chosen.

We got that clown Thomas.

This is another Clarence Thomas.

There were plenty of QUALIFIED GOP women that got passed over for this lightweight reactionary.

Al, in itself I agree with you, but I'm not surprised to see such attacks because in my opinion it is just the flip side of this endless parading of children and mothers and other family members in front of the cameras I've seen over the last months. I remember some outcry about an attack on Chelsea Clinton which was indeed not very classy, but on the other hand I've seen and heard about her on an almost daily basis during that convention while she, as far as I recall, was neither a delegate nor candidate. Joe Biden's grandchildren - what the hell do they have to do with anything?

I know that this is how these things work in America, but I find such attacks as the ones you describe not much more or less rejectable than the clawing into a former candidate and his wife over some affair he had (where I come from this wouldn't even be news) or pimping out the (grand)children to get a message of "family values" across during the best scripted emo-show I've seen in years. Making private life part of politics to the extend that American politicians do to get elected is practically inviting these kind of attacks, or at least scrutiny. It all leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth.

Al, I haven't found any references to earlier elections, but Chris Hayes at The Nation has Palin wearing a Buchanan button and meeting him in 1999.  Doesn't this mean she was supporting him when he had abandoned the Republican Party altogether and ran as the Reform Party candidate?

Do the Republicans understand what this means?  She wasn't for Bush, or McCain, in 2000?

We should never under-estimate our opponents. The media has been good at dumbing down expectations, so a mediocre performance by her on economic or foreign policy will be viewed as a flying success. Our task got a bit more challenging today. In order for Barack to be elected as our next POTUS we will need to commit ourselves to this task ever more than we felt a day or two ago. On a positive note, Palin's selection undercut the two strongest arguments the Repubicans and undecideds have, (1) He doesn't have enough experience (2) We don't know enough about him. The Obama campaign is savvy enough to deal with this and will be laser focus on the issues. We should too not get caught up in trivial arguments.

he managed to kill completely the post-convention buzz and more importantly, any meaningful discussion about it, all within 12 hours.

But I'm of the opinion, once again, that this is a good thing. 38 million+ left that speech with a positive vibe and an understanding of Barack Obama, and this announcement more or less short circuited anyone's ability to spend the next day, or two, or five diminshing it.

So we get to spend the holiday weekend comparing and contrasting the DNC with McCain's pick of Palin. I'll take that deal any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Sarah is in no way prepared to be " a heartbeat away" from becoming President of this country. This is no laughing matter. Our country is facing some serious problems at home and abroad. I can't help but feel that McCain is playing games with the lives of American's. Many people are trying to pay for gas, their homes, losing jobs, losing healthcare, and our troops are still dying in an endless war and this is the respect the Republican machine shows to the nation. They are treating the two most important positions in this country-and some would argue in the entire world- as if they are a joke. There are no guarantees that McSame would live through his first term and to line this situation up for the country is devastating on so many levels. I'm insulted beyond party lines. I'm insulted as an American citizen because many, many people have fought for the best of this country and this act is shameful to their great names. Not to mention the extremism of this woman's record. Creationism in schools, Pro-life-even for rape and incest, Pro big oil, and if I can find the link I'll repost it but according to an article I read earlier she questioned a Librarian about how she would feel about censorship. Can you imagine what our lives would become if this somehow happened? By the way, I in no way think this will  happen but the idea that it is even a remote possibility after what we have all been through for the past eight years is nothing less than astounding to me. I do believe that many conservatives jumped for joy today but as the reality sets in, and voters decide that they are putting their lives and their children's lives in the hands of a new Administration, most people who think logically and love this country can not and will not vote for McCain out of their own good conscience. They may stay home....but that's alright by me. This distasteful display, both silly and surreal, must and will end.

 

I'm starting to feel sorry for this gal.   She was so not vetted.  This was done very quickly.  As of two weeks ago, she was still not under consideration.  There has been sooo much that has come out about her in just 12 hours!!!

Vetoed a relief bill to assist those in Juneau pay for a 500% increase in electricity bills after a disaster.  Gave kudos to Obama's energy plan two weeks ago.   Called Hillary a whiner.  Left the town she was mayor of with an enormous debt.  And of course, the ongoing ethics investigation set to be released before the election.  Did they really think this particular hail mary was worth the risk??

 

A week ago, nobody had a bad thing to say about Biden other than that he runs at the mouth.  Chosing the VP  is the first big test of the presidential candidate.  I think it was WJC who mentioned that this week.  So how did our two candidates do??  Man what a difference.

 

I certainly haven't been in any sort of Chicken Little mode.  I'm loving it actually.  I'm not going to get cocky or anything and went to a Neighborood Leader Meeting tonite (check it out guys - all the local offices are having them).  So I will work hard for Obama but I am pretty confident.

So, she has executive experience.

Former Illinois Governor George Ryan had executive experience, lots of it. Ryan is currently in a federal prison, convicted on corruption charges.

Executive experience isn't always a good thing. 

Should be a great weekend for voter registration.  In most states, there's not that much time left.  If you're feeling Chicken-Littleish, registering voters is a good way to feel like things are back in control.

Palin has a lot of flaws (especially for high-information voters) but she's going to draw a lot of attention for the next few weeks.  Don't get worried.  Register.

Apparently, Sarah went on a talk radio program early this year and sat there and laughed repeatedly as the host savaged her longtime rival Lyda Green, calling Lyda "a cancer and a bitch."

Green is a cancer survivor.

How Christian of Sarah.

I do hope, and am confident, that Biden and Obama will keep to the mantra that Momma Biden walked when it comes to her -- "No one is better than you. You are everyone's equal, and everyone is equal to you."  Good on them for taking the high road in personally contacting her, and "welcoming her" into the contest.  That was a hallmark of last night's speech -- in that Obama is daring McCain not to be cynical (not let this election be about "small things").  Well, just because McCain went there doesn't mean Obama or Biden also have to follow him there as well.

 

It's blatantly obvious she doesn't have the gravitas.  And, if they want to compare her to Obama:  Sure.  As soon as she raises 300 million dollars out of nowhere, defeats 7 of her rivals in a 18 month war of attrition primary, and is prescient on at least three foreign policy or domestic (For Barack:  Iraq Withdrawal, Iran Engagement and Afghanistan/Pakistan Al-Qaeda, Gas Tax TomFoolery), then I'll put her and Barack in the same sentence.  However, Obama/Biden will probably leave that to the media (who will feast on her Beauty Queen Background, TrooperGate, and her husband's ties to British Petroleum/Big Oil) and surrogates like the Clintons to "go there."

 

I'll wait to see how this pick plays out after a week, and seeing if McCain can "unify his party" -- word has it that Mitt and Pawlenty are sore.  I don't think he'll do as stellar as a job as Obama did with his.  However, all bets are off if the media will call it that way.

 

This will also be a test of the Obama ground game.  The big part of the DNC for me was seeing the everyday Americans say their piece on why they need a Barack Obama.  Those are the real surrogates, who are going to talk to their friends and neighbors, and logic it out for their peers on what a cynical choice that "putting country first" McCain pulled.  Back in the realm of the concrete -- Team Obama is relentlessly registering new voters and building his base.  If anything, this move will just fire up that process even more.

 

Upon further reflection, McCain taking Palin on the ticket is a bold move.  So is running an onside kick for the first play of the Super Bowl.

peddling, 'aw, shucks, he is so maverick' bullshit ? What about Hillary acolytes like Begala, Carville & Lanny ? How do they like this gal trampling all over her "base" ?

amk

This person (gender irrelevant) makes George Bush look dignified and substantial.  Legacy burnishing, courtesy McCain?

But seriously, much like Quayle this pick if nothing else represents NO regard for the future of the GOP: no investment, no future prospect for the White House.  Maybe McCain is snubbing his nose at the base-cultivators in the GOP who wouldn't let him pick Leiberman?

You may want to breeze through the 12 comments following the announcement of Klondike Sarah as VP running mate.  Some Alaskans aren't welcoming the scrutiny of their fair state:

 

http://www.adn.com/opinion/story/510237.html

Forgot to tell you this:
1. McCain has NO ground game. Obama has been building one for months.
2. Palin is an evangelical crazy- those are who make up their ground game.
3. Dobson was on board.

We need to make this point too- her choice means that JAMES DOBSON AND HIS ILK OWN MCCAIN'S ASS. He has, without a doubt, completely SOLD OUT TO THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT. As much as Dubya ever did.

THIS needs to be pounded about him.

On a slightly related note I made a comment about the criticisms on gender at http://www.liberalwiki.com/policy/platform/feminism/privllege

Don't criticise Pailn as being chosen for her gender.

Carville got stomped all over by one of the female GOP mouthpieces today -- when he expressed incredulity at the pick and said Palin wasn't qualified, he got hit in the face with the "you are sexist for demeaning her achievements and women are tired of it" b.s. defense.  He looked rather stunned, to be honest -- not a good moment for him.

Begala, on the other hand, has been a rock star all day.  Laser-focused on the fact that the decision calls into question the judgement of John McCain, repeating over and over that McCain entrusted the lives of 300 Million Americans to the hands of somebody he had met only once.

Paul was excellent today.

are fighting back. Carville got stomped over feminist bs ? That must be a new experience for him. Begala was absolutely right about this 'instant lottery' selection.

Hope to hear from Hillary.

amk

...as usual, and I'm sure the Obama campaign will know that.

But here are two things that bother me:

• Firstly, Republicans calling this a "game-changer". How on earth exactly? She adds NOTHING to the ticket, besides making the conservative base happy and trying to tap into Hillary's audience. She has no domestic, foreign policy or economy. No issues with immigration either as Canadians aren't exactly flocking to Alaska.
• In a time where the barriers of race and sex are being actually overcome, it will annoy me the fact that the Democrats will have to refrain any sort of attack (Not personal) against Palin, because it will seem either sexist or not polite. Which means Biden will have to hold back in the debates or will be seen as a prick, unfortunately.
  

 

Finally, I am sure she's a great mother, but the US (and I ain't American) need a great President and VP, not a great mother.

 

Al, although I agree with you that from a political standpoint, her approach to campaigning and her family is not a matter of discussion, the fact remains that individual people can and will question her choice.  But I think the best way to deal with it is to turn it onto McCain.

 

Speaking of misogynistic, did he even think of how this could impact her family?  He is the one who put her in this position.  Does anyone really think a person in her position could say no?  Probably others did and she was a second or third choice.

 

But McCain put her in the position that some people would criticize her for.  And worse, as pointed out over an over, he did this with only meeting her once.  And he did this without proper vetting.  (BTW, I think McCain probably thought the fact that her 4 month old has Down syndrome was a political plus, which makes it even worse.)

 

So his judgement is definitely suspect.  And this also shows him putting country anything but first.

"Hillary left 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America, but it turns out the women of America aren't finished yet, and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all."
- GOV. SARAH PALIN, of Alaska.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/us/politics/30veep.html?th&emc=th

I have been a feminist for 20 years. This is the first time that I have seen so many people claim to be feminists (it's the "f" word and apparently outdated) and talk about sexism. Clearly, this is suspicious.

THIS is Clinton's legacy. By not taking the historic nature of her candidacy seriously, by not truly recognizing those who have made her candidacy possible (her access due to her HUSBAND and his political machine, her being the beneficiary of Affirmative Action, which white women benefit from the most) and claiming to have done it all alone as a fighter/warrior, and by not recognizing her race, class, and heterosexist privilege, Clinton squandered the opportunity to be a leader (where was her speech on gender?).

She played the gender card as a political strategy and cried sexism (as did Ferraro) at every turn when legitimately challenged as a candidate at the expense of genuine sexism that pervades women's lives so thoroughly, women who do not have even a iota of the privileges she has had. 

And now the mockery and perversion of feminism continues in this election (please do not construe my thoughts as saying Palin and Clinton are of the same caliber. This is not the comparison I am making). Any criticism of Palin will be cast as sexism. What Carville got was a taste of his own candidate's medicine. And those of us in the trenches fighting against sexism, racism, etc. have just had our work made even more impossible than it already is.

 

I don't think *we* need to say much. This is such a patently ridiculous pick to have someone one heartbeat away. The media and the comics will do their jobs; reporters are all winging their way to Alaska to check into her background. They smell blood as she overburnished her reformer cred by lying about the bridge to nowhere. The anti-science, anti-polar bear, anti-global warming views will just look even more out of touch.

 

But, perhaps as importantly is this. Did anyone watch that announcement yesterday? McCain looked SO uncomfortable. He looked ill at ease and awkward. That will do as much damage to the ticket as anything.

going by this wsj article.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122002615833483595.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news

Is this why McCain chose her ?

amk

I wake up and turn on the local news...and there is a story about a restaurant in the nearby 'burbs that serves "mooseburgers"!  Won't Governor Palin feel comfortable here?  the reporter says laughing...

BUT...the next story...Barack and Michelle and Joe and Jill will be marching in the Labor Day Parade!!  (A tradition for Dem Presidential Candidates here in Detroit...)  Yippee!! Then they will be speaking at Hart Plaza at the River just before the JazzFest starts!  Maybe Barack will stay to hear Ravi Coltrane!! Yes!!

Today, I'm doing a Neighbor to Neighbor Barack Walk today @ noon...

Meanwhile, I am turning OFF the MSM...

Saturday afternoon: Going to a festival in Republican Oakland County in ALL my Obama gear!!

Sunday afternoon: Going to the Detroit GrandPrix Race on Belle Isle in ALL my Obama gear!! Hope I run into some "NASCAR Dads", although this is an Indy race with THREE women drivers...

Monday monring: Gonna take my 84-year-old Mom to see our next President on Monday in ALL our Obama gear!

Sarah who?

waterprise2 AKA Pam

Liberal with a Capital L!

 

I have to wonder how McCain, who was clearly coming unraveled over the amount of attention showed to Barack Obama, is going to deal with his VP pick totally and completely overshadowing him. She is going to be the "rock star", not him. I dont see him handling it very well.

McCain picking Palin has energized the Fundies base, some of them crazies tink that is actually a game changer , and McCain has won the election( rediculous I know, but since when those people had any sense of relity?).
Things that should be done...
*Obama campaign, ignore her completely...once Joe assumes the position of the Attack dog( after the conventions), she will be thrust into the a lime light so bright which will reveal her without the need of the Obama campaign to say anything.
*DON'T question her cildren, her role as a mom, or anything personl, there was a horrifying diary on dKos that was speculating about who could be the mother of the small infant. I was horrified , not only because the discussion was tasteless and out of bounds, but because there are some liberals that are this clueless( to be fair, a lot of commentators in that diary were demanding forcefully for the auther to delete it).
* Ladies and gentelmen...the hard work is just begining, after all the great feeling of Thursday, McSame poured a cold bucket of water on Friday, to remind us, that we DON'T have this thing in the bag, he reminded us of how dangerous he and his sidekick could be to the future, safety, nd security of this country.

*I am canvanssing today in Provo Utah...let me tell something about Provo, Bush still has approval rating of 70+% , Hitler will win a land slide in this town if he had an (R) by his name....and still..there are 10 people who volunteered to go out and canvass today.....fully knowing that there is no way in hell Obama wil win Utah, but maybe we can identify a supporter or two who will make a phone call or two that will add some votes to Obama in CO or NV.
The time of sitting on our hands and doing nothing is gone...we do that on our own peril.

 

I gather from reading right-wing commentators that the McCain campaign legitimately believes Sarah Palin is more qualified to be commander-in-chief than Barack Obama.

Perhaps.

All we know for sure is that the McCain campaign believes that Palin will help McCain win the presidency.  Of course they will say she's more qualified than Barack Obama. And of course their hardcore supporters will (mostly) believe or at least parrot the line.

But what basis did McCain have for making this choice?

The most important thing for those opposing McCain is to keep the focus on McCain. As a number of people note upthread, the core problem with the Palin pick is what it says about McCain's judgment.  Choosing an inexperienced, untested governor of a small state after two brief meetings is the presidential candidate equivalent of looking into Vladimir Putin's eyes and gettng an instant read on his soul.  We all know how well such decision making has served us for the last eight years. This is more of the same.

I can't figure out *who* picked Palin... If it was mr maverick, why did he look so uncomfortable, especially when she was talking?he looked nervous, not knowing what she would say. Her friends who were interviewed last night clearly had not been vetted or prepped in any way. I don't say that as a criticism-it can play well- but as a sign of how rash this seems. The republican talking heads didn't know how to pronounce her name. It looka like the McCain campaign just didn't lay the groundwork. the Christian right is / was the most organized part of their party. And sorry, most people who fit that description down here do not support working moms. They seem disciplined enough not say it aloud though, and I agree that we should not pander to that crowd (and be total hypocrites) by saying it for them. Mainstream repubs surely see the distinction between being prolife and criminalizing abortion. The last time i heard tjat fro a mainstream politician was from the governor of south carolina in 1994 Was it truly the fringe of their party? Was it that college kid behind draft Sarah Palin? Putting all musing aside, I have voter registration to do. Moveon selected my teams events to email to people in my zipcode, interested to see if that translates into more volunteers... We are registering today at a farmer's market, a housing project (still have those in ATL), and a the Martin Luther king, Jr, center MARTA station. And the fulton county HQ is having Its "grand opening" today That being

if the hurricane does delay the convention, I wouldn't be surprised if palin withdrew. If it's not delayed, I don't see how that could happen.

I hope nobody at the Obama campaign makes this mistake. She's a shark, she's ruthless, highly intelligent, charming, looks good and knows how to use all her traits. Thanks to her positive traits all the negative things about her will be ignored by the media and voters or even seen as positive. She can be a great asset for McCain if the Obama campaign is unable to neutralize her.

Ezzy's comments convey so well how I feel. After almost two years of working/supporting/reading/listening and trying to take everyone's concerns to heart and address them--family, friends, etc--I live in Texas, McCain's choice of a person with no qualifications to be VP or President is an insult to this entire nation. It's as if he flipped a finger at every single one of us and said: well, she's going to be the media's darling, regardless of the facts--so to hell with the rest of you. I am so angry and offended and yes a bit scared since not being educated, not having experience, not believing in science, not believing in women's right to run their own lives never stopped some of the least qualified in this country from being elected to high office. Yes, we have to GOTV and yes, Barack and his campaign have been and will continue to be brilliant. But even the thought that such inexperience might step into either the VP or President's office makes me sick to my stomach for the insult to the nation. Shame on you, John McCain.

It's already started, the crafting of the image. This just ran over AP six hours ago:

Husband of veep choice is snowmobile racer

The father of five, he's also a four-time winner of the world's longest snowmobile race, billed as the most grueling. It's a sport the 43-year-old lifelong Alaskan is so passionate about that he's continued to compete even after his wife took office in December 2006.

In this year's 2,000-mile Tesoro Iron Dog contest, Palin and racing partner Scott Davis were trying to defend their 2007 championship when Palin broke his arm in a crash. It was 400 miles from the finish line, but he refused to quit, coming in fourth, cheered on by the parka-clad governor [Sarah Palin] waving a checkered flag.

But the Field had it first, last evening at 11:01:

Iron Dog McCain

And I should add, from Palin's financial disclosure report filed with the state of Alaska, her husband, Todd, appears to be a big-time snowmobile fanatic.

... This is great political ad material -- Palin breaking the wind over the white landscape with presidential McCain, in full snowmobile garb (not unlike a flight suit, with helmet) hanging on for dear life on the back of that iron dog as it roars over the unspoiled tundra of Alaska.   

Understanding the game is how you defeat the game. I think that was in a Nike ad, or maybe not....

As to who picked Palin, Helen, I see Rove's fingerprints all over this. McCain was floating Lieberman and Rove threw a fit over that, calling Lieberman to ask him to withdraw. Rove probably stopped Meg Whitman, who McCain would have preferred, and Ridge who may have carried Pennsylvania.

Rove's strategy is activated through this pick. Rally the base first and foremost. Also, he's always made a half-baked attempt to use some tactic to win over a constituency. Using the PUMAs to get the women. In the late 90s he drew up papers to get ethnic groups -- win the Latinos by giving back Vieques, the blacks through anti-immigration, Jews through military support for Israel. All of those tactics didn't work, but rallying the base did, and Palin will successfully rally the base but will not get women to cross over in droves. Rove, who's an advisor to McCain and controls the campaign through Steve Schmidt, may have some sort of 'outsider pretty boy' anger towards Obama that manifests itself through bringing Palin in.

Al, I agree. A little light humor is welcome - personal mocking will simply cost votes. As abhorent as her policy views are (and amazingly, she passes for pro-environment among Republicans because she extracted - no pun intended - a better deal from big oil) Palin does seem like a made-for-TV personality. Ignore her, and she may not grow.

As for Hillary Clinton voters, I'm one. This is a laughable, ham-handed "feminist" pick if aimed at left-leaning Democratic women - none, not a single voter that I know would be swayed even slightly by this choice. In terms of historic "firsts," Sarah Palin is as close to Hillary Clinton as Alan Keyes is to Barack Obama.

This pick is only effective if Palin becomes a media darling who appeals to right-leaning women from 30-60 in conservative areas of swing states - women who surely loved Hillary for her gender and toughness, but politically might vote Democratic on economic issues but can be swayed by security/social issues of the Republicans.

We needn't remind them of the hideous sexism in the "liberal" media that was clearly on view over the last year - a matter now for the historians and the HR Department at MSNBC, our party base being quite unified - and which both men on our ticket, and our graceful future First Lady, rightly condemned in rugged public fashion.

And you know, McCain is really far behind, in my view. This thing is not that close, given how the states break down. So it was the long bomb.

and what better way then getting the info from people who are living it

 

here are 2 sites

 

http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/what-is-mccain-thinking-one-ala...

 

http://www.andrewhalcro.com/

 

SPREAD the word and the links Field hands

What an exciting week of politics! It's already been mentioned here, but I think it's worth repeating, since it's a dynamic we'll see again and again in the upcoming weeks: The cries of sexism from the Repubs. Already, the more aggressive repub talking heads are using any critique of Palin to jump in and cry "Sexism!". The hypocrisy and absurdity of this is almost beyond belief, but here we are, with a naked attempt to try and goad the "PUMAs" into thinking that the only way to escape the rampant sexism of the Democratic party is to run into the arms of the Repubs. Ha! Some will fall for this, no doubt, but I would hope not maany -- however, after 2004, I no longer trust my opinion of the American elctorate. That said, I think, as usual, you all here have developed some good wisdom on how to proceed: Mostly ignore Palin, and rather emphasize what this says about McCain. We'll be seeing the phrase "heartbeat away" all the time now, and Palin made that possible. I'm almost inclined to believe McCain was lured into picking Palin, that the "Houses" attack scared him off Romney, that Biden scared him off Pawlenty, and that the amped up hype regarding democratic "disunity" led him to impulsively go with Palin. Final thought: This pick may fire up the Evangelicals; but what will the "dis" of Romney do for the Big Business wing of the party? I have to think this opens more cracks in this front that Obama/Biden are well positioned to take advantage of.

There's a very funny Tim Kaine response to McCain's decision on my building Palin page -- along with a link to this thread. While I am in agreement on focusing on McCain, I believe in close examination of what is out there on this largely unvetted person.

http://stephencrosehome.blogspot.com/2008/08/palin-choice-mccain-disaste...

The entire vetting issue is wide open. As is McCain's statement about wanting a veep who can step right in as C in Chief.

The investigation is based on a bipartisad decision to invest 100K in finding out what she did or did not do.

And WONKETTE says there's a possible John Edwards problem with the First Dude.

We have been invited into Silly Season big time. We should compartmentalize, but keep an open eye.

is a great example of how this pick should be criticized.

Scroll up a bit and click on The Jed Report to watch the video.

As Maher comments, "You're stating facts and getting laughs."

Al, I agree with everything you've written - I'm still too stunned by this Palin thing to think even remotely sensibly about it. It reeks of DESPERATION to me. And desperate people are frightening.

I think we don't know how well the Obama Campaign is really doing on the ground in important places, but I'll bet the Repubs do. McCain doing this, feels like a desperate attempt to change the conversation.

Frightening to me, it seems the Repubs are trying to turn this election into a segment of American Idol. I agreee we have to accept those 'conditons' you discuss in fighting this. Can I at least say I've met a caribou who wants her vote back?

 

I am more relieved, I gotta say, to know that Hillary' base is not what it is made out to be by the media.

amk

I'm wondering if she will be the media darling.  Andrea Mitchell and Campbell Brown, for example, seem to be furious.  I'm wondering if women in the media who have worked hard to be where they are and perhaps identified with Hillary are going to come down hard on what they might perceive as an upstart piece of fluff.  If McCain wanted a woman, there are experienced, serious-minded, intelligent GOP women out there.  Instead we have someone who calls her husband the "First Dude."

The Quayle comparisons should stop.  It's all good fun, but Bush/Quayle won their election.

I didn't watch too much coverage but saw a little of Andrea Mitchell's and Campbell Brown's reporting of it - and you could tell they were offended by the cynicism that drove that choice.

Certainly, it would not be a factor if she had a long list of other accomplishments and demonstrable expertise, but the fact that she's a small-town mayor who got a B.A. without much recognition at some random school just underlines that this person probably isn't well-prepared for handling complex crises.

Obama's relative lack of experience is mitigated by the fact that he's f'n brilliant, and also by the fact that he was a very productive first-term Senator and threw himself into big international issues like nuclear proliferation and the atrocities in the Congo.

Of course, it would be dumb of Obama to taunt Palin about her academic achievements, but it would be dumb of Obama to taunt Palin in general. But I do think being less educated than George W. Bush will be a concern for many.

Now, the desperate right-winger arguments that Palin is more experienced are ridiculous on their face, and I find it absolutely hilarious that they're trying to act like we were making the experience argument this whole time. Obama has more relevant executive experience running his primary campaign than Palin does running the governor's office and virtually all of her genuine accomplishments are just lesser reflections of what Obama has done.

Rove did not have a hand in this, except perhaps stopping a pro-choice nominee. People need to stop acting like this guy is a genius. Everytime a Republican passes gas, I see someone declaring it a brilliant Rovian ploy.

By every report I've read, Rove really wanted Romney, and there is no love between Rove and McCain. Palin may very well be more acceptable to Rove while being an FU to him at the same time. McCain has clearly picked a protege that he intends to insulate from the GOP machine and shape according to his own vision. While the base may very well like Palin, McCain is building a bubble around himself and trying to consolidate power. This, of course, is wildly hypocritical after he attacked Obama for not selecting a critic as VP (after attacking him for selecting a critic as VP).

McCain's pick of Palin, hockey mom of five, undermines arguments that the campaign is out of touch w/the lives of normal Americans and they will respond to questions regarding Palin's qualifications as criticisms based upon elitism and sexism. And while the choice of Palin seems to diminish McCain's ability to attack Obama on grounds of lack of experience, it also will implicitly present an undecided voter with this question: who do you prefer as the more unexperienced partner, the president or vice-president? In any case, the whole celebrity/unqualified strategy was maybe not as effective as required to win this election and my guess is that the McCain folks and their surrogates will now pivot to attacks against Obama using, or fabricating, associations with Wright, Ayers & Rezko.

The Palin choice gives the lie to any notion that McCain is a moderate. Attacking this pairing on the issues is what will sink them. Palin is an outspoken extremist on a whole range of issues, from the environment to abortion/birth control, to education, equal pay and human rights. And on foreign policy she has no clue about anything, a person who isn't informed, doesn't read, has no fund of knowledge, except to back the Bush/McCain policies.

 

Palin advocates criminalizing abortion and even the use of birth control like IUDs or Plan B, taking the line that they are murder. Palin is opposed to government policies of environmental protection, including an opposition to any protection for polar bears, and would gut the Endangered Species Protection Act. She is opposed to any gay rights protection, considering homosexuality a grievous sin and unworthy of legal protections. She doesn't believe in science and believes Creationism should be taught in the schools, and doesn't accept the science on global warming, believing it is not a human caused phenomenon. Palin and her partner, McCain, are extremists, outside the American mainstream and have no claim to popular support and governance.

This line of attack is sugested in this post by the president of the polling organization Research 2000.

 

it's been tried. At best, it makes Obama look like a tough politician who dealt with tough power players and came out clean, which will only leave the impression that he has the guts to deal with the Putins of the world.

Wright, similarly, is common knowledge. It has been mined to death, and obsessing over it will make McCain look like a racist.

Ultimately, Palin just can't serve as a human shield for McCain. Obama and Biden are not going to take the bait and McCain can't claim working class cred through proximity.

For all the Palin parallels that have been floated in the last day, I haven't heard her sufficiently compared to George W. Bush. I think that's a comparison worth making.

Like Dubya, Palin has been promoted to a sphere far beyond her competence. Like Dubya, she got there not because of her accomplishments, but because the GOP calculated that they could use her superficial assets -- in spite of a lack of substance -- to influence an election. (For Bush, it was his name.) Like Dubya, she champions a politics that prizes a rigidly ideological, know-nothing
approach to policy.

George W. Bush proved that a lack of aptitude is no bar to winning the highest office in the land. His strategy was based entirely on an ideological and personal appeal. Palin is just a re-packaged version of the same. If voters want another president like George W., they need look no further.

'Just the facts, Ma'm'

Because the Political facts are enough to show that Ms Palin, was not the best choice. McCain made a booboo, I really think he just handed us a lovely gift.

 My comment on the "Celebrity" thread about Palin and her infant was my knee jerk reaction after reading her bio on wikipedia. As a mother and grandmother, I was more than a little shocked at her choice to do this 'now' (I would not have felt that way if the child were a little older). I will not criticize her again regarding her personal life choice, but if it was my first thought, it must be a lot of other womens too.

It came to me yesterday that the election has really been defined now. The nation has a choice to make. They can decide to go Pro War, Pro Oil & Pro Life  OR  Pro Diplomacy, Pro Choice & Pro Environment.  It is up to us to help them understand the what they are voting for.

I suggest saying Obama/Biden are Pro-Diplomacy, Pro-Choice, and Pro-Environment while McCain/Palin are Anti-Peace, Anti-Woman, and Anti-Environment.

Klaus, it is a fact that Rove is an trusted advisor to McCain and that Rove brought Steve Schmidt into the White House.  The Rove-Lieberman story came from a newspaper report.  How this pick reflects Rove's tactics on the past comes from solid journalistic sources.  I don't think Rove is a great genius, but he has advised the last three Republican candidates and McCain has chosen to keep Rove and Schmidt close.

 Good Point! Thank you, that is exactly it.

Let's step back and see this VP selection for what it really means to the country, because when we do that, we'll see that we have a powerful new reason to make sure we elect the Obama-Biden ticket. When the Republicans nominate Sarah Palin for vice president, it will cease to be a serious political party contending for professional leadership of the most prominent democratic nation on earth. By selecting, as the would-be second-in-command of this nation, a person who believes that creationism should be taught in schools, that men and women should be prevented from using any form of contraception, that human beings have played no role in global warming, and that it's appropriate for elected officials to intimidate police officers, they will have exhibited to everyone watching this election that they have contempt for science, the rule of law, and individual rights. Ms. Palin is the symbol of the death of rationality in American public life that would be the logical end of continued Republican rule. The election of Obama has now become an existential necessity for this country, if Americans wish to have any hope not just of continuing to lead the secular democratic West, but of remaining in any position to compete in the open global technological society of the 21st century.

In 2000, Republican Sarah Palin abandoned the Republican Party and supported the third-party candidacy of Pat Buchanan.  Apparently neither George W Bush nor John McCain were sufficiently right-wing to meet her requirements for a President.

Now in 2008, Sarah Palin is John McCain's pick for the Vice Presidency.

Has Sarah Palin changed in the last 8 years, or has John McCain?

If the Sarah Palin choice says anything about John McCain, outside of his utter contempt for the American people, it is that he has become a WHOLLY OWNED SUBSIDIARY OF THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT.

This choice means that he has become ' their boy' without hesitation.

If this were about choosing a Republican WOMAN, there were plenty other choices of GOP women.

But, this wasn't about that.

This was about selling out to the Religious Right, because Palin is THEIR GIRL.

Intro
You must enter an Intro for your Diary Entry between 300 and 1150 characters long.
  
If the Sarah Palin choice says anything about John McCain, outside of his utter contempt for the American people, it is that he has become a WHOLLY OWNED SUBSIDIARY OF THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT.

This choice means that he has become ' their boy' without hesitation.

If this were about choosing a Republican WOMAN, there were plenty other choices of GOP women.

But, this wasn't about that.

This was about selling out to the Religious Right, because Palin is THEIR GIRL.

John McCain does not have the money of Barack Obama.

Barack Obama has been out organizing McCain in every state that will be fought over in this election. It was announced only a couple of weeks ago that the McCain Campaign was BEGINNING to form a ground game. But, ground games take money. Money McCain doesn't have.

The ground game for the GOP, in the last 2 election cycles, has been done through The Religious Right. He had no way of getting them to come out and work for him.

UNLESS HE CHOSE ONE OF THEIR FOOT SOLDIERS.

In choosing Palin, he is once again, giving into the GOP base.

In choosing Palin, he is in bed, up to his neck, with the Dobsons, the Pat Robertsons, and all the rest of them.

Maverick my ass.

He's even more of a pawn of the Religious Right than Dubya, and I didn't think that was possible.

The way to attack Palin is to attack MCCAIN.

This is about:
a) HIS Judgement. THIS was his first decision as a Presidential Nominee.
b) The crock of his slogan - Country First
c) His COMPLETE SELLOUT to the Religious Right

Don't let the media spin this as some 'John McCain the Maverick is Back'.

HELL NO.

 

The McCain Palin ticket is the status quo. The policies of both of them are carbon copies of the exploitive policies of the Bush era. That's all I really need to know other than the details others are posting here.

I think for the most part Palin can safely be ignored and the attack can continue on McCain.  Because she is nobody and a new story, the press will be falling all over themselves trying to get the scoop that ruins her.  But the one line of attack that can be successful will focus directly on McCain - how did they vet this candidate?

We heard for months about Obama's VP committee (Holder and Kennedy), the fact that he hired Solis-Doyle way before the VP was picked, and the careful deliberation of his decision.

I think without a doubt, Palin was an absolute last minute choice and was NOT vetted at all.  I posted a diary on daily kos about evidence that their website was thrown together at the last minute

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/29/132512/087/860/578848

and also there were no signs at her rally with "Palin" on them.  On Wednesday morning the AP was saying that McCain had made his choice, and then in the evening, McCain himself said he had not made the decision.  She was flown to Sedona on Thursday morning and that is when McCain asked her.  So it seems very likely that the scenario was, after Bill Clinton's speech (and Kerry and Biden) and seeing how well the Democratic convention was going, McCain panicked and decided Pawlenty was not going to be interesting enough.  So he thought "woman" and "pro-life" and the only one of those was Palin.  There was no time to vet her.

KD

Happy birthday, Johnny Mac! You're 72 now, a cancer survivor, and a presidential candidate who has said on many occasions that the most important criteria for picking a vice president is whether he or she could immediately step in if something happened to the president. Your campaign against Barack Obama is based on the simple idea that he is unready to be president. So you've picked a running mate who a year and a half ago was the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, a town of 8,500 people. You've selected a potential leader of the free world who knows little or nothing about the major issues of the day beyond energy. Oh, and she's being probed in her state for lying and abuse of power.

- Jonathan Alter, Newsweek 8/30/08

Mindlessly picked Post Comment instead of Preview Comment.

Stephen C Rose linked to this on his blog, so I'll try and embed it here, it's a great clip.

(I'm also betting that Kaine is happy now that he was not the pick, and understands the Biden pick even more now)

KD

is voting machine fraud. Very few states have fixed the problem. Even a cursory ride through Bev Harris' BlackBoxVoting.org site will alert you to the fact that central tabulators can reverse vote totals and there's nothing that can be done about it unless someone stands there and monitors: with cameras and binoculars (in some cases).

I remember in 2004 going into a restaurant at 11:45 PM with Kerry ahead in the state at 53.x% and coming out 45 minutes later and Bush had won by 2.x%.

Experts say that vote fraud on these machines is possible when the race is close. Landslides, or extraordinary turnout, throws the power of fear into those doing it.

Palin aide Frank Bailey attempts to get Trooper Rodney Dial to influence Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan:Excerpts from conversation between Frank Bailey and trooper Rodney Dial: Walt Monegan | adn.com

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/2-top-alaska-newspapers-q_b_...

My repeating reflections are these:

1. I do almost feel sorry for her. Granted, she's got some charming spunk and obvious talent for the public arena. But it sure seems that she was grossly under-vetted. Bad - cynical, insulting, desperate - judgment from McCain and I have to wonder about her judgment as well: "Heck, yeah! I'm ready to step into the presidency if this old guy dies. Sure, I can see myself one-on-one with Putin."

2. While I don't think people should hammer her for the mother-of-infant-jumping-into-VP-marathon decision, I am certain there are millions and millions of wise women are feeling unsettled by it. I say this as a fervent feminist and women's studies prof. It's not purely sexist to wonder about this, though some sexists will. It can also come from a deeply feminist (whole thinking) way of knowing the world of infant needs, the critical importance of each week, let alone month, in an infant's development. I don't doubt that she will be asked about this particular example of judgment, not because folks are Neanderthals, but because they are curious and concerned. So let's be careful about snap-judging the questioners as well.

3. I'm interested in learning more about Alaska's civic culture. I understand that there is a heaby inclination to libertarianism. Minimalist government. A legislature that only meets 90 days per year. (I can understand how this would actually lend itself to gross corruption by power players.) If this is her frame, then how can she be equipped to deal with the complexities of a federal government in need of realignment?

...seems to do with regard to Democrats is bring out their ugliest elitism. I've seen her state sneered at (weren't we mocking Cokie Roberts for not allowing that Hawaii is American a few weeks ago?), the ruralness sneered at, her college sneered at just upthread, her beauty pageants sneered at, her experience derided....We want to win the mountain west, people. That means we want to attract voters who went to western state colleges, who have only a high school education (look at the rust belt, too), who like to hunt and fish and race snowmobiles, who are comfortable being outnumbered by moose or elk, who have held jobs unrelated to a law degree, who work full time while raising a bunch of kids, who gave their kids quirky names. If this nomination continues to bring out the coastal elitist smarminess, it could be McCain's best move yet.

I have a degree in a tough major from an Ivy League school and am a few years younger than Obama and Palin; no one gives a damn where I went to school or what my gpa was. They care that I can do my job. Grownups running for the presidency (including veephood--the pres could be shot 2 minutes after the oath of office, for heaven's sake) should be judged on the past 20 years or so of their work experience, and to a lesser extent on their life experience. (e.g. Formative experiences in one's 20s may count, but how you voted or wrote at 25 can conceivably not reflect your views at 55--the idea this cycle to release everyone's term papers is horrifying.)

One thing with Palin as blank slate: she wasn't running for president or visible in national affairs. As far as anyone knows she hasn't thought much about the direction she would take the country if she should lead it. But maybe she has. At least let her make a fool of herself on this front on her own--predismissing her because she's from Alaska and went to school in Idaho and has 5 kids is going to lose a hell of a lot of voters.

Oh, and let's not set expectations for her too low, okay? She's the governor of Alaska and could be the president 5 months from now, our expectations should be high.

On working moms--I can't believe it's news that there are full-time working mothers of many who are religious conservatives. Even among those religious conservatives who don't work outside the home and home school their kids, they know, through church, women who work full-time. For the Dems to be playing the "women can't work and raise kids" card is horribly stupid.

As I have said before, I think that this is the best pick that McLame could make at this juncture.

What I learned from US politics is to never underestimate the utter ignorance of the voting population.

If we had voters that actually thought about the ideology, the contradictions, had some rudimentary knowledge of history, etc.--then I'd think that Obama would be a shoe-in.

Regrettably, this is not the case.

The US voting public is just stupid enough to think that Palin has what it takes.  Remember 'W'?  Never thought that the guy would win.  What I didn't anticipate is that average US folks would identify with Bush's deep ignorance, his black-and-white ideological predispositions, his 'cow-boy', tough-guy image.

So, while I think that Barack and Joe can win--the steep hill to climb is to demarcate a significant difference with McLame/Palin.  The voting public has to be made to remember that corporations and tax-cuts for the weatlhy don't make our country stronger, that the Iraq war was a tragic mistake, and that government does have role in functioning as a saftey-net when the corporations put profit over people.

If Obama tries to play it safe like Gore and Kerry did, we may well lose this election.

However, I am heartened by Obama's preformance at Invesco.   They need to wake the US public up and remind them that Exxon and WalMart need to be responsbile, and that they are not the friends of the people of the US.

These are my views of the matter.  Go on, bring on the red-baiting and the other assorted attacks.

Ignore Palin.   Make this about McCain, about his ambition and bad judgement.

(I posted this at Kos, but thought it might get a better audience in the comments here.)

Regarding Palin as a working mom, the only question worth asking if whether she supports public policies that enable women with children to combine work and family, including ones that require that they receive pay for time off after giving birth to or adopting a child.

I know that the Democratic party supports such policies and that Michelle Obama has said that this is her priority as First Lady. What does Palin think?

May seem on the surface to be a good one for some keyboard strategists but even people I talked to today, like my dump guy, who like her as a person, think she's not vp material.

So far the consensus on the street seems to be that this reinforces how out of touch McCain really is.

The Republicans just don't get it.

Al,

This is a great article that goes along with your writing.  We should all be cautious!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-shrake/palin-08-bush-00_b_122512.html

Keep up the great work!

It can also come from a deeply feminist (whole thinking) way of knowing the world of infant needs, the critical importance of each week, let alone month, in an infant's development.

I freelance so I can be home with my kids. But I don't question Palin on this. If her husband had a 60-hour a week job, sure--that's my one work judgment on other parents, is that you can't have two super-demanding jobs. If Todd Palin, governor of Alaska and father of 5, was tapped a few months after becoming father to a child with special needs, I don't think we'd be fussing. I assume Mr. Palin will do the majority of childcare for the family. I also assure everyone who seems stunned by it that Christian conservative families in which the father does more of the childcare or the mother works full time are not bizarre to other Christian conservatives--it's a life they see people like themselves leading.

Here's the digg link for the video to digg up:

 

http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/John_McCain_s_Wandering_Eyes_What_s_he...

I took my oldest child off to college this past Thursday.  I was pleased to see that right outside of the campus bookstore (that pretty much every student needed to go to), there was a voter registration booth, manned by several volunteers.  So she was able to register to vote right there and we found out where she'd be voting in Nov (right on campus, so that's convenient).

 

On the Palin front, I spoke with my Republican mom today and asked what she thought.  She said that she had never heard of her and didn't know anything so she didn't have an opinion yet, but dad had read an article about her in the WSJ and thought she sounded 'wonderful'.  She definitely strikes me as someone that would appeal to him, spunky, pretty, a runner, etc.  He is pro-choice, but it's not something that affects his vote, there are other issues that he cares about more.

 

Personally, I can't see it taking any votes away from Obama that were already solidly in his corner.  I do think Palin will appeal more to men than women.

 

I heard her intro speech from Friday on the radio while I was driving around.  Her voice sounds (to me), to be much younger than her age.  My head was practically exploding imagining her and Putin in negotiations.

 

And on another front, I was blazing through some of the recorded The Daily Show's that I had missed this past week and there was a really funny bit with Howard Dean where they had an awkward time communicating, kind of stepping over each other a bit, and Howard eventually said something like 'I think there's a delay.  It's like we're in John McCain's head.'  *cackle*

Though I know not to get either too worried or too encouraged by polls I was interested to see some first-reaction statistics on the Palin pick.

Nate at FiveThirtyEight had an interesting entry on new polls indicating that the majority of responders did not believe that Palin was ready to lead and noting that more women than men felt this way.

Andrew Sullivan (whom I don't always agree with but find a bellwether worth reading) notes that the recent polls on the Palin pick indicate that 31% of undecideds are less likely to vote for McCain than before while only 6% are more likely.  (note: Sullivan has been on fire today about the pick and wrote: "Here's the real slogan the McCain campaign should now adopt: Putting. Country. Last" which I think is a very snappy way to highlight the  staggering arrogance, cynicism and lack of judgment shown by this pick)

The NYT had a recent article on a research study (caveat: they had a very small sample group)  which indicated that 'undecideds' may in fact have made a choice but are just unable to give their reasons.  If undecided were wary of McCain but couldn't pinpoint why, the Palin pick may have given the the push they needed.

 

The wisdom and savvy of the Obama campaign (and Al, of course) in choosing to frame the Palin issue not about her as a person (which would only be a distraction and cloud the issue) but rather to make it about McCain's lack of judgment and his risky temperament shows just how they understand what is important and that they have their eyes on the prize.

The more I read comments trying to discredit Palin, the more I continue to think the best thing to do is ignore her, ignore her, ignore her.  She is such an easy target on so many levels, people are bound to defend her if attacked, like they would a puppy.  Her negatives are apparent to all.  McCain is reading the numbers and knows people aren't that attracted to him, so he is diffusing the attention here.  I think that the Obama campaign is going to maintain their famous discipline and stay on message in going after McCain and promoting their vision and talking points.  I share some others' nervousness about Biden's ability to avoid falling into foot in mouth traps with his Republican counterpart...but I'm betting he's already getting some serious coaching from Mrs. Biden and Obama and, of course, Solis.  Remember, this is a campaign that has already tread through this minefield once in the Primaries.  I'm sure Biden was taking notes.

you said: "This IS a gift for us, if WE don't blow it!

Obama is more and more brilliant every day...go back and watch the intro vids...and salute Stanley Ann Dunham...

Now, how many people did you say you were going to register this weekend?"

You need to say it loud and often... I haven't succumbed to an attack of chicken littlism since finding The Field... but this really threw me. I, and it appears other, also, need to be reminded. I did a voter registration training and phonebanking this morning and will be working at the Obama booth at Oakland's Art and Soul Festival this weekend. Coming home, I thought how great I felt and how much better and productive it felt to work instead of stew!! 

At "The Kitchen Table" Melissa Harris-Lacewell wrote: Either we will choose a Obama-Biden or McCain-Palin. In making that choice we will test whether or not we are a better nation.  We will move toward the light or descend deeper into the darkness.  

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/republican_race/galleries/sarah...

 

Palin's education is a factor because she has so few other accomplishments. And it's not simply a question of where she went but what she did while she was there. Did she get a law degree? Economics? Agriculture? Did she excel?

Given how little we have to make our judgment, this is important, not elitist. It's not a question of her worth as a human being, it's a matter of her qualifications for the job, and her academic record suggests someone who is not particularly curious about the world or well rounded. If she had gone to the University of Idaho and graduated with a degree in economics at the top of her class then went on to work in finance, that would be one thing. Grabbing a degree in communications then running off to be a local sports reporter is quite another.

I think it is important.  It may sound elitist when someone says they went to an ivy league school.  But, I want the president to be one of the smartest people in the world.  I want him or her to have gotten the best and most education possible. 

...and more often harmful than not.

Ivy League schools and "good colleges" and graduate degrees don't prepare anybody to be a leader or a president.

In fact, they are dedicated to over-socializing the brightest young minds to be obedient soldiers to the various systems (law, medicine, etcetera) into which they are indoctrinated. With the exception of the rich, most who go through that "coco-wash" also end up in massive debt at a very young age, forcing them to pursue money in their career paths rather than anything that will help them unlearn all the garbage poured into them during four or more years of their education.

It was precisely that Obama went from grad school into the streets (instead of accepting the big Wall Street and law firm offers that entice an editor of the Harvard Law Review) that saved him from the brainwash. It gave him enough years outside of the wage-slave treadmill to unlearn what needed to be unlearned.

Count me among those that find it grossly elitist to question anybody's fitness to lead a nation simply because they haven't gone to the "finest" schools. 1928 Democratic Presidential nominee Al Smith didn't fit your "qualifications." He put on his resume "the school of hard knocks," and he was certainly more qualified than Herbert Hoover, his rival, who then with his fancy degrees led the nation into the Great Depression.

George W. Bush went to Yale, for heaven's sake. I rest my case!

Al, I totally concur with your opinions on 'higher' education, and was hearted that you rebuked such nonesense in the last few days.

University education is geared toward developing obedient soldiers to function as the managerial class for US capitalism.  When you engage 'educated' people on myriad issues their general ignorance shines through.

These folks are differentiated from 'organic intellectuals' (Gramsci's term), people that have passion and curiosity.  The latter group engage in self education on issues that they deem pertinent and necessary toward their goals.

About Palin.  I see this as the best choice for McCain--in as much as the Republican powers that be are so desparate in the face of the superior Obama that they felt they needed a 'game changer'.   She definately is an intellectual light-weight--but, remember, so was Bush.  The Republican, low-information voters identify with the level of ingorance that McLame, and especially Palin, projects.

In sum, I don't see this as a 'game-changer'--and if Obama continues engaging the superior level of politics he has so far, the wind is at his back.

Suffice it to say, that I am going to continue registering voters, and this week I will be doing some phone bank work.

Obama is definatley the most compelling and unique politico that I have seen in my lifetime, and I believe that he will become one of the most forceful and dynamic politicians in US history.  Of this I have no doubt.

McLame et al are desparate--and the choice of Palin is a move made out of weakness, not strenght.  They have no ideas that can help the US regain her footing, and I think that this fact will bode well in Obama's and the Democrat's favor in November.

Lastly, I will be sending another donation your way tonight--and I will accompany that with another donation for Obama.

Good work, keep it up.

PS: it was so prescient and insightful of you to warn Feilder's off making Palin's role as a mother an issue, or attacks on her being a 'bimbo'.  The ethics cloud will hover over her well into October.  What we don't need is for the low-information, undecided folk to become sympathetic in the face of petty attacks on the pretty little Alaska beauty queen qua 'super-mom'.

I have the feeling that the more she opines on significant issues, the more she will be shown to be lacking compared to Joe Biden.

Katie--having leaders that are among 'the smartest people in the world', given our current context of lived experience here in the US--well, I would say that I value more people whose deep instincts and proclivities are in keeping with the necessary work that has to be engaged to get the nation on better footing.

Some of the 'smartest' people are the folks that got us into our current mess. They are smart enought to cozy up to centers of economic and political power--and then to make themselves a nice nest constructed out of vanity, greed, and serving the goals of the opulent and plutocratic.

Wise are the folks that help a nation to heal, advance basic human rights, and can do so in a way that doesn't destroy our earth and get us blown up.

Hilter was a smart man--as were Stalin, Nixon, and Joe McCarthy.

Smart, in the context of a pathological, non-sustainable policies that get reproduced like a bad sit-com,  isn't a very compelling element of praise.

Obama is plenty smart--it is his general wisdom that impresses me the most, however.