Sunday Roundup
Picking Sarah Palin was clearly a Hail Mary pass. But the McCain campaign is tapping into an archetype that resonates deep in the human psyche. That of the unknown innocent plucked from obscurity and magnificently rising to the challenge. Hollywood has long recognized the appeal of this fantasy. Think Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, A Face in the Crowd, Dave, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. So in questioning Palin, it's not enough for Democrats to mock the smallness of Wasilla, Alaska or shout, "it's insulting," "it's ridiculous," "it's pathetic." They must make the case that given the gulf between the crises we face and her capacity to handle them, this is a truly dangerous choice. Forget Dan Quayle. Palin is more Harriet Miers -- chosen for all the wrong reasons, and glaringly not up to the task. Maybe an anxious nation can offer John McCain a do-over.
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The press needs to vet her NOW! like they did HC, not sit on their pens until after the elections.
Where is the fair play that the media is suppose to have.
Everyone please ask of this in every post and maybe the press might be forced to do their job.
We can all write letters to our local newspapers about this bungle.
you sound like a Hillary supporter.... too funny when the tables turn.... yeah.. the press really "vetted" BO right? fair play all the way right?? WRONG. too funny now the the shoe is on the other foot. what's wrong... you nervous? having buyers remorse? too late for that....
The American press? Ha ha. They'll be comparing her "star" quality to Jackie O.
I've been on vacation deep in the Sierra and just got back to civilization.
If the Democrats lose this election it proves our "Democracy" is finished.
trace--Give them time. If it's one thing our national press and -- increasingly-- our bloggers do is to dig for dirt. For example, this latest excrement on Daily Kos:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/30/121350/137/486/580223
Difference between mud slinging Rethugicans (McCain's black child in SC in 2000) and this? Not much.
More serious look are needed at the independent investigator (hired by the Republican controlled Alaskan Senate) and his findings about Troopergate.
Rove does it again.
Is that "man" a genius or what?
Can't the democrats make the simple case that Palin, though a fiscal and social conservative, is effectively the governor of a kind of welfare state? I don't know the numbers, but it is more than probable that Alaska gets far more federal dollars than it pays out, and each resident is paid by the state each year for doing nothing more than living there. Seems like a state full of people wanting a government handout, no?
Second, Alaska's economy is based on harvesting natural resources - timber, fish, oil, gas. This is effectively a third-world economy. Nigeria has the same economic model, as do Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Its hardly the economy that the lower 48 are trying to develop. So exactly what would Palin know about creating 21st century jobs?
I'm not so hung up on the duration of her experience as much as on the quality of her experience.
I will be voting democrat, but you need to do your homework about Alaska.
Alaska has (for the moment, until the Pebble MIne goes in) the largest sustainable salmon fishery in the world. Residents get paid from the permenant fund which is from the oil company profits.
As for a welfare state, I would love for you to say that in front of a group of Alaskan commercial fishermen. They have worked harder in one day than you have your entire life.
Those are excellent points.
can't the repubs make a simple case that the dems have nominated a community organizer, for someone who won't be a heartbeat away but WILL be the president... it's sad to watch the realization slowly sink in to my dem brethren who are now realizing what they've done... good luck with that.
you would certainly agree that there is a large divide between being elected to a position and being appointed to a position. We are a democracy, no?
I just wonder how people would have reacted if McCain appointed her to be secretary of state (assuming he was the president) or attorney general, or any cabinet post.
What is the mouse count in Wasilla? We all know how the Republicans like to change to goal posts. This year, the most qualified to be President will be based on hunting skills and the amount of mouse in the candidate's district.
Moose?
Moose, mouse, same difference - Alaskans still shoot them with a rifle!
Mousse?
The questioning of Palin is far from getting started. Its human nature to make fun at first, of a person you know nothing about. The problem is that we only have two months to get to know a person, that might succeed a man that is 72 years old and has suffered multiple bouts with deadly cancer for the highest office in the land. McCain is 72 years old and not in the best of health. It would be comforting if all we can make fun of was that "she was mayor of a small town" or "her husband is snowmobile champion." But questioning the extent of her executive abilities, ability to deal with high level pressure, convince leaders around the world, and to show the curiousity necessary to deal with dangerous decisions and really bad people, is on the table.
I also was struck by her lack of curiousity especially regarding Iraq. She said she didn't know anything about Iraq and yet her son is being deployed there soon. My son is not going to Iraq but I keep up with the subject because Iraq and Afganistan affect my friends whose children are in the military. Sounds as though she has the same level of curiousity as Bush. McCain just seems befuddled.
"something else going on here" not her
I, for one, don't want McCain to have a "do-over." I am very happy with his pick. I see it as a gift to the Democrats that just keeps on giving. She has been the presumptive nominee for a little more than 24 hours and she has already been caught in a lie about the "bridge to nowhere".
There is the whole, "babygate" issue.
There is the fact that she is on record saying she was happy O'bama was gaining in Alaska.
There is "troopergate" for which she is going to be deposed before the general election.
My only concern with this pick is that it is so completely ridiculous that I can't help thinking that there is something else going on her. I seriously don't see her becoming the nominee. Whatever her positives are, they are more than outweighed by her negatives. And if McCain picked her to get the disgruntled Hillary supporters, he has made a serious error in judgement.
Just look at the electoral map and it clearly shows that having the in-play swing states are definitely one that can be helped by the choice of Palin, if things go as planned for McCain.
http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/whos-ahead/key-states/map.html
That's why Democrat turnout has to be stronger than EVER in history. We need every Roosevelt era veteran who is scared by Palin's lack of experience, every minority scared by her lack of diversity of opinion (in her views or in her own life), and every young, educated voter who normally wouldn't vote.
But we need this turnout in the swing states. Winning California or Oregon is not the issue, we need Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Michigan and North Carolina. And damn it, let's go after Florida really hard.
My sentiments exactly.
So far she has given the same devoid-of-content speech twice. With the same untruth about her having killed the bridge to nowhere, but otherwise no policy at all. I think that one merely needs to question her. Maybe the press will do this. If they keep her away from the press, we'll have to start publishing the questions.
She can not say anything else because she does not know about the issues.
Good grief. Never has the expression 'from the sublime to the ridiculous' seemed more apt, or the contrast between the two (Obama-Biden v McCain-Palin respectively) seemed more stark. I appreciate that after 8 years of Bush the fear that the US may again elect the dud is real, and that many must be feeling genuine (poke-out-your-own-eyes-at-the-complete hopelessness-of-the-human-condition) despair as they wade through the inanities of the newly emboldened wingnut cheersquad. But chin up. These really are extraordinary times for the US (collapsing infrastructures, collapsing housing market, rising foreclosures and homelessness, rising unemployment, stagnant wages, illegal, immoral and expensive war etc) and I'm sure the majority realise that the team that have all but destroyed the Empire and made the US an international pariah is not the team to sort this shambles out.
And really, if the oustanding speeches from Hillary and Bill Clinton were not enough to pesuade the PUMAs and others to make their vote count by voting Obama - then the fear of God that the spectre of the ultra wingnut Palin (and her scary sidekick) being let anywhere near the levers of power must be striking into their hearts should well and truly seal the deal. There's nothing more motivating than a reminder of how truly hellish the alternative could actually be (and it seems to me to go without saying that Hillary and Palin supporters are not substitutable). Obama-Biden 08. Yes you can!
well.. honestly.. Barack didn't have the courage that JFK had in picking LBJ, nor Reagan had to pick Bush.. if he had the courage to Pick Hillary.. this election would now be in the bag.. .but since he didn't.. (maybe due to lack of experience?? what else would his inexperience cause) now we may be stuck with another 4 yrs. of Repub.s I am one unhappy dem..
Barack has no one else to blame but himself.. when we all have our heads in our hands in Nov... we have no one else to blame but ourselves... for forgetting history so soon... oh yeah.. many of the supporters have n ever voted before... sheesh.
Has anyone stopped to think that maybe Hillary told him from the beginning that she didn't WANT the VP position? Everyone behaves as if they were there in the room every time they spoke to each other. What egotism! JFK didn't have courage picking LBJ, he was told that it would be the best choice to capture the southern votes. He did it because he was forced to. And how many times a person has voted, what has that got to do with anything?
Right, whatever happened to choosing the best and brightest? Look at what W did - he just hired his friends, cronies and anyone walking past him in the hallway. Come on, we're talking about the USA here! Nothing less than the best is not acceptable.
We've become a simple minded "American Idol" kind of country. That movie "Idiocracy" comes to mind as well.
Biden and Palin debating should be entertaining.
But it is dangerous waters for Biden. He must be careful not to seem condescending or sexist or he could lose that debate for us!
If he holds his punches won''t he seem patronizing? I think he needs to treat her the way he treated HRC in the debates, as candidate not a shrinking violet. If Palin can't handle the stress of a Vice-Presidential debate how on earth can we expect her to handle the stress of office?
Note to Putin: Be nice to her, she's a woman.
Biden should focus directly on the issues and that will reveal her INEXPERIENCE.
I agree these are dangerous waters to tread in. Let's hope Obama can reign in his surrogates and stay on message.
Obama is starting to lose in the polls. I wonder why?
That'a a lie.
The polls you don't source, you mean ?
( You 'people' haven't improved at all ... )
WHAT polls is he losing in?
Every poll out there shows him leading. NONE show him losing.
Or is this typical rightwing tactics to go some sites and then make up things?
Yeah it's the typical rightwing tactic. Lie. Lie some more, LIE A LOT.
The latest just before the convention had him up 6-9 points.
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