Sarah Palin!

Tsukasa Buddha said:
It is going to be hard to get me to believe she was chosen as anything other than a pander attempt to Hillary supporters.
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I'm sure that may have factored into it. However, let's give seasoned politicians more credit than just to assume their reasoning was, "a bunch of voters like one woman, so I'm sure they'd like another."
 
Skeptic Guy said:
No, I don't think so. It wasn't intended to be so. I would have said the same thing if they had chosen Jerry Mathers to run as VP, but I just watched her on TV and she was being a little to ra-ra to me.

I hope I'm wrong.
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Perhaps it's just a regional language thing, or maybe I'm just wrong, but I don't think I've ever heard of a male being called "perky".
 
Cicero said:
Carter: nearly ruined it for all governors to be considered for the Executive Office

Reagan: the touchstone for ex-governor as successful president

Clinton: another Southern Gov in the mold of Carter but with lust not just in his heart. He did reform welfare though.

Bush 43: ensured no future President will ever have that name whether they be a former senator, congressman, governor, VP, or cabinet member.
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Although I differ with you on the particulars, you must admit that even you do not consider governorship to be any sort of guarantee of competence in national office. So why is it a plus to have such experience?

ETA: Bush was a terrible governor too. I was here. Having no governor would have been better.
 
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If I may make a relatively safe prediction: the biggest effect of this is that the timing and novelty may serve to blunt some of Obama's bounce/momentum. However, both sides have to be aware that it will continue to be tough slogging to November.
 
Lisa Simpson said:
According to an informal poll amongst my friends, yes. I live in a highly Republican area. I asked about 15 friends of mine, aged mid-30's to mid-40's only one of whom is a Dem. All of them were disgusted and I didn't even bring up the fact that the kid was disabled. I posted this on a knitting forum I belong to and they have been disgusted too.
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Asking 15 people does not extrapolate out to all soccer moms.
 
It has switched the discussion from Obama's speech to McCain. That thread is only 2 pages, this is 3. Worth the long term down sides? doubt it.
 
mortimer said:
Perhaps it's just a regional language thing, or maybe I'm just wrong, but I don't think I've ever heard of a male being called "perky".
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I was trying to think of a male politico that I would consider "perky" but couldn't pick one out. I have a male friend that I always refer to as perky, but in general I think you're right. It is overused when referring to a female personality. I will refrain from using it when referencing Ms. Palin.
 
Thanks, Brainster. I didn't spell it out, but Palin's small experience is a part of my argument that it demolishes the experience argument. Even with her small amount of executive experience, she's got more than all three of the others. It reduces the argument to absurdity, and shores up Obama's "judgment" argument.

If the Obama camp can successfully frame this as stunt casting, then that questions McCain's judgment as well, and there's going to be a lot of barely concealed simpering from establishment Republicans to grease that wheel.

ETA: Also, John McCain has just declared war on ANWR.
 
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SDC said:
I won't know who to vote for till the Europeans, Canadians, and Oliver instruct me. What a quandary.

ps Is it true she has a lifetime membership in NRA?
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Well, as a Canadian, I have to say that I have no advice for you what-so-ever. I have enough trouble giving myself advice on Canadian politics. :o

I watch CNN in November to see what you decided. ;)
 
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Here comes the scandal:

http://www.adn.com/monegan/story/478090.html

I wonder whether the Republicans' veep choice, a woman younger than Obama, will seem so appealing to undecided voters when national media pick up on the central feature of her brief career as Alaska's governor: her alleged scheming to get her ex-brother-in-law fired from his job as a state trooper. Palin pressured one of her officials to sack the guy, who was involved in a messy custody battle with her sister; when the commissioner refused, she booted him from office. Now Palin won't be around Juneau while an independent investigator looks into the affair and her seeming abuse of power. Instead she'll be on the campaign trail, asking Americans to believe, seriously, that she has the wisdom and rectitude to stand first in line to succeed to the presidency
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Lisa Simpson said:
According to an informal poll amongst my friends, yes. I live in a highly Republican area. I asked about 15 friends of mine, aged mid-30's to mid-40's only one of whom is a Dem. All of them were disgusted and I didn't even bring up the fact that the kid was disabled. I posted this on a knitting forum I belong to and they have been disgusted too.
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This only confirms that your neighborhood is a haven for over-protective, and seemingly, jealous mothers.

Palin does not knit 1, pearl 2; she shoots 3 pointers.
 
More to the Monegan story - the Wooten brother-in-law character is a frickin creep, no. 1. He threatened to kill Palin's father and tased his 11-year-old stepson. That got him a suspension from his trooper's job of 10 whole days, whittled down to 5 by the union.

No. 2, Palin has been bending over backwards to help the investigation. She suspended the guy who made the phone call. With the kind of powerful enemies she's been making in Alaska (to popular acclaim), I wouldn't be surprised to find out this was a setup.

No. 3, she had valid reasons to fire Monegan and full authority to do so. There's no evidence that she even knew about the Wooten phone call when she fired Monegan. And did Monegan say a single thing about it until he got the ax?

I don't think this dog will hunt.
 
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boloboffin said:
Thanks, Brainster. I didn't spell it out, but Palin's small experience is a part of my argument that it demolishes the experience argument. Even with her small amount of executive experience, she's got more than all three of the others. It reduces the argument to absurdity, and shores up Obama's "judgment" argument.
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Well, there is the argument about that fighter wing that McCain led in Jacksonville, but I certainly agree that the pick does diminish the experience argument.

If the Obama camp can successfully frame this as stunt casting, then that questions McCain's judgment as well, and there's going to be a lot of barely concealed simpering from establishment Republicans to grease that wheel.
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I don't think Obama's going to be foolish enough to go there, do you? If he says McCain picked her solely because she's a woman, it will backfire on him. He needs to congratulate McCain (and Palin) and leave it at that. Palin isn't whom he should be concerned with.
 
chipmunk stew said:
edit: She opens herself up for a stinging version of the classic "I know Clinton and have worked closely with her. Ms. Palin, you are no Hillary Clinton."
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I wouldn't have Biden be the one to say it. "Borrowing" someone else's quote and making them his own is a can of worms best left unopened. :p
 
boloboffin said:
Thanks, Brainster. I didn't spell it out, but Palin's small experience is a part of my argument that it demolishes the experience argument. Even with her small amount of executive experience, she's got more than all three of the others. It reduces the argument to absurdity, and shores up Obama's "judgment" argument.
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How so? If I accept your argument as valid, this situation hurts Obama. If she has more executive experience than all three of them and Biden and McCain obviously have much more experience than Obama, that puts Obama in last place for the experience race.

This all ends up with what we are and aren't defining as experience. Are we counting experience as number of years in politics/foreign policy/executive positions/etc? If so Palin has been in politics since 1992, but expect Democrats to argue that those were as a city council member and mayor and so aren't relevant because they're too local. But then what about Obama's "community organizer" line that was so played up? We might be better to judge the quality of that experience. What have these individuals accomplished? What campaign promises did they fill? What laws have they passed? Do they take tough stands or do they mostly just show up and go through the motions?
 
Darth Rotor said:
Wake up call:

How is her being a governor of a state inexperience at the executive level?

Bill Clinton was a governor of a low rent state, did that make him unable to be a president?

DR
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Have to agree. The inexperience angle, IMHO, is now moot for both sides. Time to get down to issues and policy.

Let the games begin.
 
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