Saturday, August 30, 2008

Gov. Sarah Palin Get's McCain Veep Nod



The McCain campaign calls her a "tough executive who has demonstrated" readiness to be president.

The Republican National Committee calls her a "conservative star with the talent, energy and family support necessary to carry out common sense policies."

But the Obama campaign calls her a candidate with "the thinnest foreign policy experience in history" who is "currently under investigation in her own state."

On Friday morning, in an attempt to trump the momentum of the very successful Democratic National Convention week, John McCain unveiled his choice to join his ticket. Not the former governor of a large state with a solid economic background, like Mitt Romney. Not the governor of a swing state that is hosting the Republican National Convention next week, like Tim Pawlenty. Not the governor of a large swing state and cabinet-level secretary, like Tom Ridge. Not the independent senator from a northeastern state, like John Lieberman. Not the woman senator from a large southwestern state, like Kay Bailey Hutchinson. Not the woman who was a CEO of a large multi-national corporation, like Carly Fiorina. Not the woman who was a former cabinet-level secretary for George H. W. Bush and current senator from a southern state, like Elizabeth Dole.

John McCain went with a little known woman who is a staunch conservative and a first term governor of the largest state in geography (larger than Texas, California, and Montana combined) and the smallest state in population (only 670,000 people - there are more people in the county where I reside in Georgia than in the entire state): Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

Ms. Palin is a staunch conservative, she is a self-described Pat Buchanan Republican: she supports gun rights (she is an avid hunter and lifelong member of the NRA), she is in support of the right to life (opposes abortion in all cases, even incest and rape), and she's been the governor of Alaska for about 20 months (less than 2 years). Prior to her stint in running the state government in Juneau, she was the mayor of a small town with a population of less than 6,000 people.

John McCain (who met her on only one occasion prior to naming her) brought Palin on to shore up his support among social conservatives and to woe those woman who were disaffected by the Democratic Party when Hillary Clinton did not win the nomination.

NOTE: Gov. Palin is under a legislative investigation which is looking into allegations that she fired Alaska's public safety commissioner because he refused to fire the governor's former brother-in-law, a state trooper.

Read the CNN.com articles about John McCain's choice for vice president here and here and here.

Read the New York Times articles about McCain's veep choice here and here.

Read Sojourner's Place's very interesting article about Gov. Palin having been considered a VP choice of conservative Republicans as much as a year ago (August 2007!)... but then she's introduced by McCain as a fresh-faced person that "no one" knows about... "something ain't right!"


plez sez: there was no way i could see this coming, since i'd never heard of gov. palin before. hailing from the least populous state (less than one person for every two miles) in the 50 state union, with less than two years of executive experience, and zero national presence... john mccain (the former POW who is 72 years old and has had four bouts of cancer in the last 20 years) has picked an unknown to be one heartbeat away from the presidency. this is a supreme failure in judgement!

lack of experience aside, this woman has not been vetted, she has not been tested (the county commission where i live governs more people than she does for an entire state), and the american people are given 8 weeks to get to know her! mccain has been the presumptive republican nominee for almost 6 months now, did he really have to wait until after Barack Obama selected Joe Biden as his running mate to pick someone we've never heard of, a person with little in the way of a public record, and only a pissy investigation into her firing someone for not firing her sister's ex-husband? john mccain's selection is a response to the Obama campaign with little or no analysis as to what his campaign really needed... like a message!

not only does America not know palin, john mccain barely knows her... the first time he met her for a substantial conversation was LAST WEEK! he selected her after their second meeting on thursday of last week! he knows her about as well as i do.

palin has only been out of the united states once, in july 2007, she had to get a passport before she visited members of the Alaska National Guard stationed in Kuwait. so much for foreign experience. so much for, as john mccain said, someone who will be ready to be commander-in-chief on day one day two.

and if she is supposed to be the answer for hillary clinton's pissed off pumas, try again! this must come off as a slap in the face, wanting to substitute an unknown woman from a backwater hick town for the likes of hillary! it would be like mccain picking ward connerly as his running mate for disaffected Blacks had Obama lost the nomination!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~


and what of mitt romney? tim pawlenty? they must feel used and abused by john mccain! he has paraded them around like an organ grinder monkey for the past five months, taunting and tantalizing them with thoughts that they would be his running mate. they smiled when the camera lights came on, said all the right things, and wagged their tails for him on cue... wassup with that?!?

now my decision to vote for someone will not hinge on their choice for vice president: george bush (the first) waltzed into the white house with dan quayle puppy doggin' behind him and richard nixon pulled first term governor spiro agnew out of maryland to win the presidency in 1968. experience is not a defining measure of ones ability to fill the lukewarm seat of the vice presidency, but once again, i have to go back to my mantra that john mccain does not have the judgement and temperament to lead this country.

ms. palin may be a very nice lady, but i don't agree with her politics (right wing wackos who continually spout off about gun rights and the right to life, while condemning folk to the electric chair scare me) ... and i'm sure a majority of the "disaffected" hillary clinton supporters don't agree with her politics either.

this choice doesn't hurt mccain with republicans... but in all honesty, it probably doesn't help much with independents! his pick is a knee jerk reaction to what the democrats have done, which only reinforces the assertion that plezWorld is REALLY SCARED of what a john mccain presidency will do to america... frightening! his lack of judgement will not only doom this nation, but portends horror for the entire world!




19 comments:

Unknown said...

The choice of Palin shows you that you just have to have to be a "hockey mom" in order to be qualified to be one heart beat away from the highest office in the land - according to the GOP. I thought it would be Romney because of the lack of economic abilities from Mccain, but this choice of Palin makes me solifify my independant stance to support Obama. I cannot believe how light heartedly Mccain took this choice, as if to be a slap in the face to Americans. He chose her thinking with the wrong head after one look and is trying to win over votes from masculin rednecks who think she is "hot" and Hillary voters who think she is "hot." SERIOUSLY! - that is all I heard on conservative talk radio shows explain why they thought she was a great pick! - because she is "hot." I'm sorry, but no one is going to be able to have sex with her, so I do NOT want this Palin chick in a position to be president.

GO OBAMA/BIDEN!
I can't wait until Biden tears her up at the VP debates!!

Unknown said...

BREAK THE GLASS CEILING !!!
WOW ... What a great pick!!! America should elect
McCain & Palin for the Whitehouse in November,
for a return to wholesome American values.
An experienced Governor for V.P. vs. a
community organizer for President ... I pick Palin.
No Wright, no Farrakahn, no Ayers, no Rezko,
no mean Michelle, NOBAMA

Unknown said...

What a stupid choice McCain made for a VP. WAs he thinking with his head in palce or something else. Is she going to put family first (with five children one of whom has a genetic disorder) or country first. She cannot call herself a hockey mom if she has to good job as VP. Is'nt there anyone else in the party that he could have picked. Did she have at least an undergraduate degree.

BeeVee

Stella said...

This is an outstanding selection! As a women who retired from the Air Force and raised a family and had a great husband and marriage during it all, Sarah reminds me of myself. Today's women are very tough. She'll be able to do battle with the men during the day, be an awesome Mom to her children, and be silk, lace and perfume for her husband besides. Then get up and do it again the next day. She's a very quick study and will be twice as good as any man just to be consider equal - thanks to the way men think. So don't be condescending, just stand back and watch her rise. She's already a better hunter and marksman than most men in our country. She has commanded the Alaska National Guard. There's no doubt she'll do circles around the men in politics - and get things done right the first time! Now that she's been given the opportunity, she'll excel at serving the people of America with the same commitment that she gave each of her children when they were born. Let not your heart be troubled!

plez... said...

dan & burra,
another nail in mccain's judgement coffin! over and over he has shown that his impetuous nature and "fly off the handle" temper are ill-suited for an occupant of the Oval Office.

once again, we see how easily he is smitten by a woman's "so called" beauty AND how he makes superficial decisions that have no basis in reason (dumped his first wife for Cindy and now dumped his other VP candidates for Sarah)!

howard & stella,
"experienced governor"? she's been in Juneau for less than two years and governs a state with more moose than people!

she has not been fully vetted AND we only have a few weeks to uncover how "messy" her life is: firing the public service commissioner for not firing her sister's ex-husband AND the Internet is abuzz with rumors that her baby (the one she waited to announce until after she was SEVEN MONTHS PREGNANT) may not be her's but that of her teenage daughter (see the story at SIX MONTHS here and here!

um, she commands the Alaska National Guard as the governor of the state... she doesn't wear a saber on her waist!

the BIT QUESTION is who knows what else we DON'T KNOW about gov. palin?!? this is bad... real bad!

epikles said...

What bothers me is her stance on creationism and global warming - she's an ignorant person with backwards, reactionary ideas. Her gender doesn't interest me, nor does her record of experiences. I just want a rational and intelligent person. We don't need more fundamentalist, anti-science medieval minds in charge of our government, any more than the people of Iran need that in theirs.

Unknown said...

This is first time I have ever been influenced in my choice of presidential candidate by the running mate. I voted Obama in the primary. But Biden is more of the same tired politics, so that choice gave me pause. Palin clinched the deal for me. I'll trade her inexperience for Obama's. But, more than anything, I have some mild hope that McCain and Palin could actually effectuate change in Washington. Obama/Biden seem to only talk change, and have never actually done it.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm. Lacks experience to be commander-in-chief? Where have I heard that before? Oh yeah -- BARACK OBAMA! It's not likely that Palin will be called to the task, but if Obama gets voted in, HE WILL -- and he's got LESS EXECUTIVE EXPERIENCE than Palin.

Anonymous said...

What is beautiful about this pick is that it exposes the hypocrisy of all politicians regardless of party. McCain has been emphasizing experience needed to win the election but picks a relatively unexperienced person for VP candidate. However, the Dems can't stop whining about her lack of experience but if you look at the record she has more experience than their own presidential candidate who is a first time senator who has been absent from votes for the majority of the last two years because he has been compaigning for the president during the majority of his senate term. In fact the Democratic party showed experience doesn't matter to them when they kicked Hillary to the curb. So as an independent voter what I see is that the Republican ticket is the only one with a "real" person on it in Palin while the other three (Obama, Biden, and McCain) are more of the same....professional politicians. It doesn't change the fact however that their still is no good choice for President this November.

plez... said...

tom, bfleming, alan, and joseph,

very interesting analysis from all. if nothing else, mccain has spiced up the presidential campaign as we close out these lazy, hazy dog days of summer!

(1) i cannot make a presidential choice based on running mate, but i would look at the presidential nominee's judgement in making that choice... this is the problem that i have with mccain, his judgement and the way his mind works. it's not palin's inexperience, it's the way mccain chose her.

(2) the "experience" card is non-factor this go-round... look at ALL of the experience that the Bush Administration supposedly had going in (bush a 2 term governor, cheney with over 30 years in federal executive experience, rumsfeld with his service dating back to nixon, powell with over 25 years of military & executive branch experience, rice with experience dating back to the first bush) AND see what a mess they made of things. contrast that with JFK's relative youth and inexperience or Lincoln's inexperience.

(3) the choices for president have been fully vetted and their records have been fully examined. these two are CLEAR CHOICES based on the evidence of the last 18 months. neither are PERFECT, but hypocrisy aside, to my way of thinking, OBAMA is easiest the most thoughtful, analytical, and rational choice of the TWO.

rikyrah said...

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.

a.eye said...

"right wing wackos who continually spout off about gun rights and the right to life, while condemning folk to the electric chair scare me"

So true. And many of them have very contradictory opinions about everything. Pro-life - supporting the unborn - yet don't take care of many of the children who ARE born in so many ways.

This choice is shocking and at the same time not shocking. And as you can see in the comments here, it will make some people who are on the fence lean toward McCain. Mainly because it gives them another reason to choose McCain without saying they don't want to vote for a black man.

I wrote today about a blog I came across that identifies how she has been under consideration for over a year.

I have heard some conspiracy rumors that she was forced as the choice by party officials, including the president, so that McCain will lose and they can really attack Barack and the democrats in four years.

Who knows?

Unknown said...

When a presidential candidate is over 70 years old, you can't help but take the VP candidate choice into account when choosing a Pres -because I DO NOT WANT A SELF-PROCLAIMED "HOCKEY MOM" RUNNING THE COUNTRY if Mccain keels over!!!
Republicans have lost their minds!!!! We are being overrun by stupidity in this country!!! IT'S PERVASIVE, PROLIFIC!!! Being a creationsist IS NOT AN ALTERNATE VIEWPOINT!! IT'S IRRATIONALITY!! It means things like truth and reality do not exist - it's post-modern thinking - These people argue things like there are little devils inside my watch turning the hands around - and then argue they want you to prove them wrong! They're NUTS! Palin is nuts! She will twist logic to argue that we are somehow misogynist or anti-feminist if we call her out on her lack of foreign relations experience! WATCH - I guarantee it! And I am not being judgmental or prejudice in any way - it's simply a true statement! Watch! I hope she looks stupid in the VP debates - Biden's going to chew her up.

Jo's Goodwill Blog said...

Fabulous choice!!! A gun-totin',moose huntin', PTA-Hockey mom who took her city and state by storm and brought in true ethics reform that put more $$$ in the citizens' pockets. Now THAT is change we can believe in!!! Bye, bye NoBama.

Kudos to McCain for taking this monumentally fantastic step.

Yours truly,
a former Hillary gal!

Unknown said...

"A gun-totin',moose huntin', PTA-Hockey mom" - sounds like great qualifying credentials to lead the country to me!

This nation trully is divided, between the intelligent and unintelligent.

Lori said...

As I've said elsewhere, this tell us everything we need to know about McCain's ability to make important decisions. You hit it dead in the you know what Plez (smile), we should all be scared. Very, very scared.

a.eye said...

Article on Yahoo covers the 6 things this pick tells about this man running for president:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/12997

Address some of the same things people here have touched on as well as a few more.

Hathor said...

stella,
You were not picked as VP.

epikles said...

really really looking forward to your future post about the emerging story that Palin's baby is actually her teenage daughter's baby!