Sarah Palin (Alaska Gov) McCain's VP

[KarmaContestant]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/...rss_topstories

By Hilary Rosen
CNN Contributor

(CNN) -- Warning! This pundit isn't feeling the same way as many of my colleagues about Sarah Palin. She is being attacked for her lack of experience for the job and for whether she should be putting her family first instead of her career.

This just isn't that unusual in my book. And the more it goes on, the more uncomfortable I feel with that message.

Let's reflect. In her acceptance speech, we saw a woman who was compelling, charming and aggressively partisan. She succeeded in demonstrating that she is a regular mom who came to government to make a difference.

And she had that crowd in the convention hall eating out of her hands. Celebrity? It will be hard for the Republicans to attack Sen. Barack Obama for his celebrity now that they have one of their own.

A superstar of the radical right was made Wednesday night. And she may also have made some headway with those who buy her folksiness without knowing the extreme nature of her actual policy views. Read the transcript of Palin's speech

So where does this leave us as Democrats in making the case against Sarah Palin and her running mate for president? What is the choice now for the American people? There is a really strong case to be made against the McCain/Palin ticket and Democrats need to make it the right way, right away.

I am a woman who someone took a chance on several years ago when they gave me a job that had only previously been done by old white guys. Experience? How do you get any if no one takes a chance on you? And the decision to take a chance can be instinctive, as John McCain said.

And what about the argument that she is a negligent mother who will be distracted from her important role? I am a mother who constantly feels the pressure from others about whether I am fit to be a parent, whether I put my kids first often enough and whether my children get enough of my attention. Who has the right to judge my family?

My grandmother always said, "You can't tell time on someone else's clock." Judgments about people's personal lives are better left unsaid and unrealized.

So why then do I think that Sarah Palin would be a terrible vice president? Because I also think that John McCain would be a terrible president.

I don't care about how Sarah Palin or John McCain take care of their families. I care about how their policy choices affect my family and millions of other Americans.

McCain and Palin get their health insurance paid for by the government (hers in Alaska and his in Washington). Yet they oppose giving the nearly 46 million uninsured Americans the same access to affordable health care.

John McCain's kids don't have to worry about paying for college. Yet he has opposed every single education support program to help others.

McCain and Palin say they will stand up to oil companies. Yet the only energy policy they support gives millions of dollars in tax breaks to oil companies to do more drilling and he has opposed every piece of federal legislation to explore alternative fuel sources.

McCain and Palin say they will revamp how Washington does business. Yet his campaign is filled with lobbyists and she has cooperated with Sen. Ted Stevens in funneling federal money for useless projects in Alaska for years. And McCain and Palin have no solutions for Americans worrying about their jobs in a fragile economy.

McCain and Palin want us to leave their families alone. Yet they want to make rules for our families by eliminating our right to make our own choices over abortion, eliminate our access to family planning education or domestic partner benefits, and our freedom from discrimination.

They want to control what our kids learn in school about sex and about science. In short, through the policies they promote and the judges they support, they want the government to have more control over our private lives than at any time in history.

McCain and Palin now say their campaign is about change, too. Yet the only real change they have proposed is a change from a suit to a skirt in the vice president's office and one man fighting a misplaced war for another in the Oval Office.

That seems to me to be the right reason to oppose them in November. It's not the process or the people, it's what they represent. This unconventional choice of a vice presidential nominee by John McCain won't result in a win in November, because McCain and Palin are the wrong choice for the country.

[BombaySapphire3]

Thsi woman is scarily far to the right..If by some chance they happen to win I will be praying for McCain's health every day and I am not religious at all.She is essentially Dick Cheney in drag ..just much more inexperienced and farther to the right.

[Tango]

Originally Posted by BombaySapphire3

If by some chance they happen to win I will be praying for McCain's health every day and I am not religious at all.

I saw this article in the LA Times on the subject of McCain's health:

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedi...0,383059.story

His mother is clearly alive. Anyone know off hand what his father died from?

[Tango]

Nevermind-- he died in a plane at age 70:

Admiral McCain retired in 1972 in Washington D.C. He died on a military aircraft en route from Europe 22 March 1981. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. According to the Arlington National Cemetery site information (WEB link below) he died in Washington D.C.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_S._McCain,_Jr.

[ashton]

Originally Posted by Tango

I saw this article in the LA Times on the subject of McCain's health:

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedi...0,383059.story

His mother is clearly alive. Anyone know off hand what his father died from?

I think he died of a heart attack at age 70.

[Tango]

Originally Posted by ashton

I think he died of a heart attack at age 70.

You are correct!~ This would be a big hereditary issue, then!

[Sorceress]

Originally Posted by BombaySapphire3

She is essentially Dick Cheney in drag ..just much more inexperienced and farther to the right.

This was the best laugh I had all day.

ps: I really resent that Conservative Republicans are all of a sudden telling Liberal women that we shouldn't care how Palin conducts her family life, as if they haven't been judging and opposing and inducing guilt in working women for ages. But, I can leave it alone if it's going to distract from the more important issues.

Thanks Suze and Karma for posting the articles that give us the ammunition to fight on the issues that would DIRECTLY impact the way she and McCain would govern. That's what we have to focus on--what her ideology and policies would really mean for everyone, not what her parenting choices mean for her kids. Apparently that only gives the Repubs more ammunition for their misguided defense of her.

[omigodstevie]

It has nothing to do with her politics, but maaan did she give her babies some celebrity-esque names!

[Sorceress]

Originally Posted by omigodstevie

It has nothing to do with her politics, but maaan did she give her babies some celebrity-esque names!

And that's one MORE reason to question her judgement! Track and Trig? Give me a break. (I just can't stay on message)

[BombaySapphire3]

I have to say McCain is one of the lamest public speakers imaginable ..he is so bad I actually feel a bit sorry for the old boy.The only excitement during his interminable speech has been the anti- war protesters .One group is Vets against the war that were holding banners that said" McCain voted against vets" and "You can't win an occupation" while the Repub delegates robotically chanted USA ! USA! to drown out the protesters I could not help thinking why are they doing that when the protesters are the true patriots?

[BombaySapphire3]

Good evening, lots of friends and relatives have been asking me (as an Alaskan) what I think of Sarah Palin, our Governor, and new choice for McCain as a VP candidate.

Here it goes:

This pick floored me. Sarah Palin is a nice person. I've met her, I've even talked to her for a few minutes at a principal's conference a couple of years ago. She has lots going for her superficially. She speaks from the heart, like a spitfire mother; she can even be sort of funny sometimes. She is quite beautiful; athletic, and has that radiant glow of someone who actually spends time doing things outside. Unlike many politicians, she has lived a "real life" and done things that few living and working in DC could ever do....like dipnettin' fish, shootin' stuff and eating it out on the tundra, and havin' 5 kids.

Personally, I'd never vote for her. She has an extremely simple view of the world. I don't even think she has ever been abroad. As governor she has repeatedly shown us that she is unable to grasp the demands of leadership. She is very prone to cronyism of the worst kind. Every cabinet level political appointment she has made she has over-ridden suggestions of our state advisory boards, and instead promoted those who had granted her direct political favors. Not that other politicians don't do this, they do, but most of them are able to balance their appointments to ensure that at least a few people with real skill and experience are running big state agencies.

She also has been unable to pay attention to her Alaskan constituency. Personally, I've written several of our previous gov's and been asked to comment publicly on education policy. All the previous gov's have always acknowledged that contribution, criticism or comment; sometimes by direct reply, or at least by that of a staff member. Palin's office has been a zone of silence. Not I, nor one person I know commenting has ever gotten any sort of reply. Her claim of running an open or transparent government is totally false; the public simply has no role in her administration.

Her previous claim to fame was being mayor of Wasilla, a growing town about 40 minutes from Anchorage of about 15,000 people. Wasilla is a hellhole, even by Alaskan standards, where there are plenty of hellhole towns and villages. Wasilla is an ugly place that shows a complete absence of planning, design, or sense of public vision. Gov't agencies and services are completely overrun in this town; things are so bad that they can't even track their population or build schools in the right place, because most parts of the town don't require building permits, so the only clue about where people are settling are utility receipts. Imagine trying to be an emergency responder in this kind of place: Houses don't just catch on fire in Wasilla, they burn to the ground, because by the time the fire department has figured out which road to take (no signs) or whose house it is (no directory), the place is done for. Palin was mayor this town for at least 2 terms before being elected gov. a year and a half ago.

Her moral sense is simplistic and not inclusive. She is the sort of person who is used to using their "faith" to divide and isolate minority groups of human beings instead of uniting them. To her credit as Gov. she has kept out of this arena pretty well, but when in comfortable company (i. e the Matanuska Valley Republican Women's Club), she lets her moral cat out of the bag.

I will do what I can to ensure her defeat and that of her running mate as well. Please share this information with those who can use it well.

Cheers, Pete Hauschka

[SuzeQuze]

Some Rs do not agree with appointment and were caught on tape saying so.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/0..._n_123647.html

[chiliD]

I just think it's too bad that Tina Fey left SNL, she'd be the perfect person to portray Ms. Palin.

[BTFLCHLD]

Originally Posted by chiliD

I just think it's too bad that Tina Fey left SNL, she'd be the perfect person to portray Ms. Palin.

[chiliD]

Originally Posted by chiliD

I just think it's too bad that Tina Fey left SNL, she'd be the perfect person to portray Ms. Palin.

Somebody else thinks so, too.