Anyone Can Become President
When my five-year-old kept talking about what he would do when he became president I always ended the conversation saying, "all you have to do is study hard and if you want it, anyone can become president." Of course I never believed that. I knew a week later he would want to be an actor or a scientist so I thought that was the easiest way to go on to another conversation. But Sarah Palin proved me wrong. ANYONE can now be president.
I like Sarah Palin's public speaking ability. I think she is fun to look at, certainly the hottest vice presidential candidate in history. But I looked up some facts. The United States has 10,000 nuclear weapons, 100 aircraft carriers, 3,000,000 people in the armed forces, and ten trillion dollars of debt.
I am now hearing from the Karl Roves of the world that having a 17-year-old daughter pregnant out of wedlock will make Palin sympathetic to millions of Americans who know the pain of that situation. But my question is WHERE WAS THE ADVICE? Do we want a president who cannot communicate to their own child that possibly having a baby a year after you get your driver's license is not the smartest thing to do? Is this the new way for women to break the glass ceiling? To have their daughters throw their babies at it? I want my president to control their children, then they can tell the Navy what to do.
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PART I
It seems to me that GW has already proved this... twice !
But back to Governor Palin. While I agree that candidate's children should be off limits, what isn't off limits is anything relevant to the candidate's judgement, whether this relates to their family or not.
It's fair to use an extra marital affair as an indication of poor judgement, as is drug use, or a DUI charge.
So in Governor Palin's case, public discourse should include a critical assessment of the facts.
Not long ago, the candidate herself became pregnant, at a point in her life well past the age where it is safe for a woman to do so (from a medical perspective, primarily in terms of the child's health). While the decision to carry to term is certainly her decision (and one she would take away from other women), the fact that she herself managed to get knocked up (while governor of the "largest" state in the US no less) demonstrates a complete lack of judgement, and indicates to me that she is irresponsible. It should tell any sensible observer that she is unable to follow her own "abstinence only" dogma. Note that I'm implying that the abstinence approach applies to anyone, not just teens, because if that's all you learn in school, then apparently, that's all you've got to go on for the rest of your life, since contraception seems to be a non-starter in her "culture".
...continu
Is this the one running for senator in Minnesota? I get them confused.
Sarah Palin is not going to do any interviews because the McCain camp knows that she is not ready. She is currently in "boot camp" trying to catch up on what has been happening in mainstream America while she was slaying mooses, making mooseburgers and chasing after state troopers.
I am not impressed with her performance at the RNC, some of the dumbest people I know can throw a punch when the other guy is not looking, but they come up short in a head-to-head when all is fair and balanced. She is a light-weight pretending to go against heavy-weights.
Sarah needs to stop the trash talking and play hardball!
I am so glad I am not the only one to notice this.
This woman scares me. In the past I have heard all the rhetoric about Dems loving big govt and the Repubs supporting small govt. Well, if you want to legislate what I can do in my home, in my bed and with my body, I personally consider that to be very big, very invasive government. No thanks to that. If McCain and Palin are elected I predict they'll set back progress in this country by at least 50 years. Vote for your future. Vote to move this country forward, not backward. Vote Obama/Biden.
She doesn't just scare you; she scares Obama. It's hilarious.
Our compass has been replaced by a crucifix. Common since has been replaced by prayer. Truth has been replaced by exaggeration. People have been replaced by gadgets.
Not only did Palin not discuss the down side of getting pregnant at such a young age. What about her stressing the importance of using condoms to prevent sexually transmited diseases??? I pray that this woman does not make it to the white house!
Sarah Palin can't even govern her family -- how can she govern as President if John McCain dies in office?
How anyone can be taken in by the BS John Bush/ Palin crap is beyond me. Think what a continuation of
these village idiots would bring. Especially if these neo-con's get to appoint maybe three more supreme court judges. Women's rights, union members, and all truly American Patriots better think hard before voting for another Mc Bush/Cheny/Rove four years. Petty wedge issue an detractions is what you voted for the last eight years, do you want to make it 12?
This is a nice summary of Sarah Palin's resume:
Most of the rest of the biography supplied by her and the McCain camp is fiction.
She didn’t say “no thanks” to the “Bridge to Nowhere” until after Congress had already abandoned it but given Alaska a blank check for $223 million in taxpayers’ money anyway. Far from rejecting federal pork, she hired lobbyists to secure her town a disproportionate share of earmarks ($1,000 per resident in 2002, 20 times the per capita average in other states). Though McCain claimed “she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities,” she has never issued a single command as head of the Alaska National Guard. As for her “executive experience” as mayor, she told her hometown paper in Wasilla, Alaska, in 1996, the year of her election: “It’s not rocket science. It’s $6 million and 53 employees.
How long before we learn she never shot a moose?
http://www
Even the best well intentioned parents can not completely control their children's actions. I am most certain that Ms. Palin DID in fact attempt to teach her young daughter that having sex early on AND becoming pregnant was a BAD idea. The child just failed to listen to her parents. So even thought I have not been won over by the McCain/Palin ticket because of her, I can not blame her for her child's foolish actually stupid indiscretion. Just because millions of parents of daughters have actually raised their girls to not become pregnant should not reflect on her specific ability to prevent this pregnancy in her daughter, or should it? Personally if our daughter became pregnant at 17 we would have felt shame and failure in our ability to parent. Should Sarah and company feel the same? And why is this not an issue open to discussion on the debate trail? Moral values and family are central themes in the Republican AND Democratic platform. This would open the debate on a level more personal than ever before. I say open it up for discussion and see what she has to say about having all the same problems as every other American family.
Sarah Palin's refusal to engage in an honest dialogue with the American people betrays her lack of preparation and qualifications for the job John "Country First" McCain wishes to hand her for nothing more substantial than his own ambitions. And that remains the central issue in the story -- as much as McCain wishes to distance himself from the corrupt and incompetent Bush administration, he has shown in the selection of Palin that he cannot ever be counted on to do what is best for the nation. At this late stage in his life, he has sacrificed his principles, his reputation and -- yes -- even his country for personal gain. Someday after his loss at the polls he may confront his shame.
Sarah Palin graduated with a degree in journalism, worked as a tv sportscaster, but refuses to dive press conf. or do interviews.
Does she think she's above answering questions from the media
Or
Does she think we Americans have do not have a right to know anything about her policies?
She got her degree after bouncing around 5 or 6 colleges in 6 years. Wow, there's focus and responsibility.
She has answers but McCain doesn't wnat us to hear them. She's as much of a loose cannon as he is.
Let's face it: She is acting upon the advice of her handlers.
She's doing what she's told to do....for now anyway.
Both of those things.
Yes, I do think in HER mind, she is above the media and the rest of America.
She comes off as extremely self-centered, conceited, thinks she is intellegent (which I seriously doubt) and the only one who knows anything.
She is an insult to all women, no, all AMERICANS!
I shudder to think what more could happen to all of the world if they should get elected.
I shudder to thing of all the irregularities in our voting system!
Yes, anyone can be President. It doesn't matter if you're a failed community organizer, people will excuse your lack of experience as long as you're good looking.
Go Barack!
Dear Al Brooks...
So glad to have you here on HP. I've always been a big fan of your work.
the right loved to bash hillary as this power hungry, aggressive, overly ambitious woman.
how does palin play in terms of those adjectives, especially as someone willing to go back to work 3 days following birth of a special needs child, now to run for VP when that child is 4 months old, and not devote herself to a special needs child?
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