Allstocks.com's Bulletin Board Post New Topic  Post A Reply
my profile login | register | search | faq | forum home

  next oldest topic   next newest topic
» Allstocks.com's Bulletin Board » Off-Topic Post, Non Stock Talk » Sarah Palin for GOP VP? (Page 1)

 - UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!   This topic comprises 21 pages: 1  2  3  4  ...  19  20  21   
Author Topic: Sarah Palin for GOP VP?
glassman
Member


Icon 1 posted      Profile for glassman     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
Editing of this article by new or unregistered users is currently disabled until September 5, 2008.
See the protection policy and protection log for more details. If you cannot edit this article and you wish to make a change, you can discuss changes on the talk page, request unprotection, log in, or create an account.
This article or section contains information about a forthcoming election.
Content may change dramatically as the election approaches.

Sarah Heath Palin (born February 11, 1964) is the current Governor of Alaska, and a member of the Republican Party. She is the youngest and first female governor of Alaska. Brought to statewide attention because of her whistleblowing on ethical violations by state Republican Party leaders,[1] she won election in 2006 by first defeating the incumbent governor in the Republican primary, then a former Democratic Alaskan governor in the general election.

Palin holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Idaho where she also minored in politics. She briefly worked as a sports reporter for local Anchorage television stations while also working as a commercial fisherman with her husband, Todd, her high school sweetheart.[3] One summer when she was working on Todd's fishing boat, the boat collided with a tender while she was holding onto the railing; Palin broke several fingers.[3] Outside the fishing season, Todd works for BP at an oil field on the North Slope[9] and is a champion snowmobiler, winning the 2000-mile "Iron Dog" race four times.[3] The two eloped shortly after Palin graduated college; when they learned they needed witnesses for the civil ceremony, they recruited two residents from the old-age home down the street.[3] Todd is a Native Yup'ik Eskimo.[3] The Palin family lives in Wasilla, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Anchorage.[10]

On September 11, 2007, the Palins' son Track joined the Army. Eighteen years old at the time, he is the eldest of Palin's five children.[10] Track now serves in an infantry brigade and will be deployed to Iraq in September. She also has three daughters: Bristol, 17, Willow, 13, and Piper, 7.[11] On April 18, 2008, Palin gave birth to her second son, Trig Paxson Van Palin, who has Down syndrome.[12] She returned to the office three days after giving birth.[13] Palin refused to let the results of prenatal genetic testing change her decision to have the baby. "I'm looking at him right now, and I see perfection," Palin said. "Yeah, he has an extra chromosome. I keep thinking, in our world, what is normal and what is perfect?"[13]

Palin is strongly pro-life and belongs to Feminists for Life.[8] She opposes same-sex marriage, but she has stated that she has gay friends and is receptive to gay and lesbian concerns about discrimination.[8] While the previous administration did not implement same-sex benefits, Palin complied with a state Supreme Court order and signed them into law. [32]

She supported a democratic advisory vote from the public on whether there should be a constitutional amendment on the matter.[33] Alaska was one of the first U.S. states to pass a constitutional ban on gay marriage, in 1998, along with Hawaii.[34]

Palin's first veto was used to block legislation that would have barred the state from granting benefits to gay state employees and their partners. In effect, her veto granted State of Alaska benefits to same-sex couples. The veto occurred after Palin consulted with Alaska's attorney general on the constitutionality of the legislation.[35]

On July 11, 2008, Governor Palin dismissed Walter Monegan as Commissioner of Public Safety and instead offered him a position as executive director of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, which he subsequently turned down.[44][45] Monegan alleged shortly after his dismissal that it may have been partly due to his reluctance to fire an Alaska State Trooper, Mike Wooten, who had been involved in a divorce and child custody battle with Palin's sister, Molly McCann.[46] In 2006, before Palin was governor, Wooten was briefly suspended for ten days for threatening to kill McCann's (and Palin's) father, tasering his 11-year-old stepson, and violating game laws. After a union protest, the suspension was reduced to five days.[47]

see the rest here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin


it might be interesting to dwonload the whole wiki page and then compare it to what it looks like in the lat weeks of September [Wink]

--------------------
Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.

Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
glassman
Member


Icon 1 posted      Profile for glassman     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
Governor Murkowski appointed Palin Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission[15], where she served from 2003 to 2004 until resigning in protest over what she called the "lack of ethics" of fellow Alaskan Republican leaders, who ignored her whistleblowing complaints of legal violations and conflicts of interest.[3] After she resigned, she exposed the state Republican party's chairman, Randy Ruedrich, one of her fellow Oil & Gas commissioners, who was accused of doing work for the party on public time, and supplying a lobbyist with a sensitive e-mail.[16] Palin filed formal complaints against both Ruedrich and former Alaska Attorney General Gregg Renkes, who both resigned; Ruedrich paid a record $12,000 fine.[3]


hey? you want change? this would be change....

--------------------
Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.

Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Pagan
Member


Member Rated:
4
Icon 1 posted      Profile for Pagan     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
This might provide a little traction to your thoughts Glassman.

Minnesota governor told he isn't McCain's VP pick, sources say
Sources: Sen. John McCain not selectingMinnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty
Plane's arrival in Ohio raises speculation about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin
McCain slated to appear with running mate at rally in Ohio
Tom Ridge, Sen. Joe Lieberman and Mitt Romney are possible picks


(CNN) -- Sen. John McCain's campaign has told Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty he will not be the GOP vice presidential nominee in November, sources told CNN on Friday.

Pawlenty on Friday also told WCCO Radio in Minneapolis-St. Paul that he will not be in Dayton, Ohio, where the presumptive Republican presidential nominee is expected to unveil his choice of a running mate at a rally later Friday.

The McCain campaign said it's hoping to have 15,000 people at the Ohio event, roughly five times the size of his largest crowd to date.

A Republican source said McCain settled on his choice of a running mate at a meeting of his advisers Wednesday.

Thursday night's arrival of a private jet from Alaska at the Middleton, Ohio, airport raised speculation that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would be McCain's pick. Middleton is 25 miles from Dayton.

Rich Bevis, an airport manager at the Middleton airport, said that a woman, two men and two teenagers were onboard. Watch conservative analyst Bill Bennett mull Palin as a VP pick »

"This is the most secretive flight we've ever had," Bevis said.

In June, Palin told CNN that she thought McCain should choose a governor as his running mate and that she would like to serve on a national level, "but I don't think it's going to happen on this go-round though."Watch Palin say she won't be VP this time »

In an interview with a Pennsylvania radio station that was taped Wednesday and aired Thursday, McCain said he had not settled on a nominee. The Associated Press reported that the interview with KDKA radio had occurred Thursday, which created confusion as to whether McCain had finalized his choice for vice president. Watch who is on McCain's shortlist »

Asked whether either former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge or former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was his VP pick, McCain replied to KDKA, "I haven't decided yet, so I can't tell you."

Both men are expected to join McCain at a rally Saturday in Pennsylvania.

Ridge, who is also the former secretary of homeland security, is reportedly on McCain's shortlist of possible running mates.

A Republican insider said this month that McCain campaign manager Rick Davis has called several state party chairmen and indicated that Ridge will be the Republican vice presidential pick this cycle.

During his interview with KDKA, McCain praised Ridge, saying, "He's a great American and a great and dear friend, and I rely on him, and I have for many years."

But the possibility that Ridge could be McCain's running mate sparked a backlash among conservatives because he supports abortion rights.

Another potential VP pick, Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, also raised concerns among conservatives. Lieberman, an independent senator who was the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee, has been a vocal supporter of the war in Iraq, but he, too, backs abortion rights.

If McCain picks either man, it could drive away social conservatives who are already uneasy about his nomination, conservative activists warned.

In an open letter to McCain, conservative activist Richard A. Viguerie wrote, "Your indication that you're willing to put a person who has a clear, unequivocal pro-abortion record within a heartbeat of the presidency is alarming."

"Sen. McCain, you are exceedingly proud of being a political maverick -- you wear it as a badge of honor. Well, poke the base of the Republican Party -- the conservatives -- in the eye one more time by choosing a pro-abortion vice presidential candidate, and conservatives will show you that two can play the maverick game," Viguerie said.

Romney ran against McCain this year for the GOP presidential nomination and was a frequent critic of the senator on the campaign trail.

But Romney endorsed McCain after he captured the Republican nomination and has campaigned for him. He also opposes abortion rights, a position he said he came to in 2004 after studying the stem cell-issue as Massachusetts governor. Before then, Romney was in favor of abortion rights.

CNN's Evan Glass, Alexander Mooney, Dana Bash and John King contributed to this report.

--------------------
It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.

Posts: 3311 | From: St. Louis | Registered: Feb 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Pagan
Member


Member Rated:
4
Icon 1 posted      Profile for Pagan     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
Good call glass. CNN just confirmed Sarah Palin as GOP VP.

--------------------
It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.

Posts: 3311 | From: St. Louis | Registered: Feb 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
SeekingFreedom
Member


Icon 1 posted      Profile for SeekingFreedom     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
Choosing a whistleblower will give him a chance to claim he's going to clean up Washington. My only concern is her relative lack of experience. That's one of shots the Repubs fire at Obama. Kind of a bad choice from that point of view.
Posts: 1802 | From: Utah | Registered: Mar 2008  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
glassman
Member


Icon 1 posted      Profile for glassman     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
i think she's absolutely fascinating.

the "west" is a big battleground...

this choice is about the electoral college, not about popular votes...

--------------------
Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.

Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
glassman
Member


Icon 1 posted      Profile for glassman     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Pagan:
Good call glass. CNN just confirmed Sarah Palin as GOP VP.

i heard her plane landed in Ohio, not tea leaves here [Big Grin]

--------------------
Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.

Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
glassman
Member


Icon 1 posted      Profile for glassman     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
i think this changes the whole dialog in the campaign....

we won't be hearing much about inexperience anymore.

this campaign may in fact end up to be the most issues oriented campaign ever. the personalities on either ticket tend to balance each other out...

--------------------
Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.

Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
glassman
Member


Icon 1 posted      Profile for glassman     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
her husband is a Yup'ik...

Yup'ik (plural Yupiit) comes from the Yup'ik word yuk meaning "person" plus the post-base -pik meaning "real" or "genuine." Thus, it means literally "real people."[4] The ethnographic literature sometimes refers to the Yup'ik people or their language as Yuk or Yuit. In the Hooper Bay-Chevak and Nunivak dialects of Yup'ik, both the language and the people are given the name Cup'ik.[1]

The common ancestors of Eskimos and Aleuts (as well as various Paleo-Siberian groups) are believed by archaeologists to have their origin in eastern Siberia and Asia, arriving in the Bering Sea area about 10,000 years ago.[5] Research on blood types suggests that the ancestors of American Indians reached North America before the ancestors of the Eskimos and Aleuts, and that there were several waves of migration from Siberia to the Americas by way of the Bering land bridge.[6] which became exposed between 20,000 and 8,000 years ago during periods of glaciation. By about 3,000 years ago the progenitors of the Yupiit had settled along the coastal areas of what would become western Alaska, with migrations up the coastal rivers—notably the Yukon and Kuskokwim—around 1400 C.E., eventually reaching as far upriver as Paimiut on the Yukon and Crow Village on the Kuskokwim.[4]



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Alaskan_Yup%27ik


note that eskimo is used all over wikipedia... i thought we were trying NOT to use that term anymore?

There are two main groups referred to as Eskimo: Yupik and Inuit. A third group, the Aleut, is related. The Yupik language dialects and cultures in Alaska and eastern Siberia have evolved in place beginning with the original (pre-Dorset) Eskimo culture that developed in Alaska.
The Eskimo-Aleut family of languages includes two cognate branches. The Aleut (Unangam) branch and the Eskimo branch. The Eskimo sub-family consists of the Inuit language and Yupik language sub-groups.[1] The Sirenikski language is sometimes regarded as a third branch of the Eskimo language family, but other sources regard it as a group belonging to the Yupik branch.[1][2] Sirenikski is virtually extinct.[1][2]


--------------------
Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.

Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
glassman
Member


Icon 1 posted      Profile for glassman     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
i dunno, listening to her speak? she sounds Canadian to me, that's not good eh? [Big Grin]

--------------------
Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.

Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
bond006
Member


Member Rated:
4
Icon 1 posted      Profile for bond006     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
Sarah Palin, thank you Dear Lord for this gift
Posts: 6008 | From: phoenix az | Registered: Mar 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Pagan
Member


Member Rated:
4
Icon 1 posted      Profile for Pagan     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by bond006:
Sarah Palin, thank you Dear Lord for this gift

Please splain?

Her nickname after all is "Barracuda".

--------------------
It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.

Posts: 3311 | From: St. Louis | Registered: Feb 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
R1 Man
Member


Icon 1 posted      Profile for R1 Man     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
I think they are playing games with the election. You have Clinton and Obama. Never had a black person or woman in office. Obama gets the nod. Clinton supporters are pissed because they want a woman in office. So McCain picks a woman. Hmmmm....sounds like a battle here. Minority vs America, and Male vs Female.
Posts: 2367 | From: Detroit | Registered: Mar 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
glassman
Member


Icon 1 posted      Profile for glassman     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by R1 Man:
I think they are playing games with the election. You have Clinton and Obama. Never had a black person or woman in office. Obama gets the nod. Clinton supporters are pissed because they want a woman in office. So McCain picks a woman. Hmmmm....sounds like a battle here. Minority vs America, and Male vs Female.

does this mean you don't support having a Yup'ik for first vice dude? [Big Grin]

--------------------
Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.

Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
glassman
Member


Icon 1 posted      Profile for glassman     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
seriously? no matter how you slice it? change is here...

Biden will have to be very careful when he debates with her or she'll spank him with her lifetime NRA mabership card [Big Grin]

--------------------
Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.

Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
R1 Man
Member


Icon 1 posted      Profile for R1 Man     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
Absolutely....now if Obama would of picked Clinton for VP....what would we have then?

I always vote Democrat.

Posts: 2367 | From: Detroit | Registered: Mar 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
glassman
Member


Icon 1 posted      Profile for glassman     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
uh-oh, this is purported to be her:

 -

--------------------
Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.

Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
glassman
Member


Icon 1 posted      Profile for glassman     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
here's her weapon of choice [Big Grin]

 -

--------------------
Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.

Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
glassman
Member


Icon 1 posted      Profile for glassman     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by R1 Man:
Absolutely....now if Obama would of picked Clinton for VP....what would we have then?

I always vote Democrat.

i would never have voted for any ticket with a clinton...

i am just happy that we have real choices...

and neither candidate will make the problems we face go away... they will make them (a little) different after 4 years...

--------------------
Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.

Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Highwaychild
Member


Icon 1 posted      Profile for Highwaychild     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
what ever political vulture gets in has got one hell of a sloppy mess to clean up.
Posts: 2634 | From: The highway | Registered: Feb 2004  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
R1 Man
Member


Icon 1 posted      Profile for R1 Man     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by glassman:
uh-oh, this is purported to be her:

 -

I'd hit it!! [BadOne] [Big Grin]
Posts: 2367 | From: Detroit | Registered: Mar 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
CashCowMoo
Member


Rate Member
Icon 1 posted      Profile for CashCowMoo     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
She is so hot, and she is a member of the NRA! Her son is in the Army...another plus with me. She likes fishing too!

Photobucket

--------------------
It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so.

Posts: 6949 | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
glassman
Member


Icon 1 posted      Profile for glassman     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
gettin' spanked with a lifetime NRA card might not be too bad....

i'm gonna get into trouble on this i just know it [Big Grin]

--------------------
Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.

Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
bond006
Member


Member Rated:
4
Icon 1 posted      Profile for bond006     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
Thank you McCain lets talk about qualifed people for the job now.

You know McCain and women they hve to be good looking he loves a hot arm decoration.

Posts: 6008 | From: phoenix az | Registered: Mar 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
bond006
Member


Member Rated:
4
Icon 1 posted      Profile for bond006     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
I wonder what joint she used to be a stripper in on 4th ave in anchorage.

Embers used to be a hot one in my day

Posts: 6008 | From: phoenix az | Registered: Mar 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
glassman
Member


Icon 1 posted      Profile for glassman     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by bond006:
I wonder what joint she used to be a stripper in on 4th ave in anchorage.

Embers used to be a hot one in my day

comeon, now, that's just as bad as the rumors that Obama is Muslim, maybe worse.

--------------------
Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.

Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
CashCowMoo
Member


Rate Member
Icon 1 posted      Profile for CashCowMoo     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
my post got deleted!

--------------------
It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so.

Posts: 6949 | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
bond006
Member


Member Rated:
4
Icon 1 posted      Profile for bond006     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
don't forget that shinning gem on her resume she was head of the PTA in her local town of 9000 up in AK.
Posts: 6008 | From: phoenix az | Registered: Mar 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
bond006
Member


Member Rated:
4
Icon 1 posted      Profile for bond006     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
sorry to hear about your post cash you uausally come up with a real good one that makes me laugh
Posts: 6008 | From: phoenix az | Registered: Mar 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Relentless.
Member


Icon 1 posted      Profile for Relentless.     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by glassman:
uh-oh, this is purported to be her:

 -

I don't think it will matter.
Judging from her eyes alone, she is quite bright and she knows it.
She will have little trouble with any past photos of herself with or without clothing.
I'm seeing what might actually be a bright side.
Rather shocking considering the day I've had, but none the less.
I don't think she is "connected".
I'm watching a little more closely now.

Posts: 2965 | Registered: Aug 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
CashCowMoo
Member


Rate Member
Icon 1 posted      Profile for CashCowMoo     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
I dont see why running a small town from the past is a bad thing. Is it really some big issue? Small towns in my experience seem to have much more friendly people, and more values. Every time I go through a big city its all about materialism.

--------------------
It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so.

Posts: 6949 | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
bdgee
Member


Icon 1 posted      Profile for bdgee     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by bond006:


You know McCain and women they hve to be good looking he loves a hot arm decoration.

Yep, me too.

Even an old wrinkled up well used copy of dubya will have a good idea given enough time, like the monkey with the typewriter and infinite time to dabble. When dubya gets to be ancient, like McBush, maybe he will have had one too.

Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
bdgee
Member


Icon 1 posted      Profile for bdgee     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
Along with just showing more, I've always suspected that strippers showed more brains than beauty contest participants. I'm not so convinced about broadcast majors, though.
Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
bond006
Member


Member Rated:
4
Icon 1 posted      Profile for bond006     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
Back to Story - Help
6 things the Palin pick says about McCain Jim VandeHei, John F. Harris
2 hours, 59 minutes ago



The selection of a running mate is among the most consequential, most defining decisions a presidential nominee can make. John McCain’s pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says a lot about his decison-making — and some of it is downright breathtaking.

We knew McCain is a politician who relishes improvisation, and likes to go with his gut. But it is remarkable that someone who has repeatedly emphasized experience in this campaign named an inexperienced governor he barely knew to be his No. 2. Whatever you think of the pick, here are six things it tells us about McCain:

1. He’s desperate. Let’s stop pretending this race is as close as national polling suggests. The truth is McCain is essentially tied or trailing in every swing state that matters — and too close for comfort in several states like Indiana and Montana the GOP usually wins pretty easily in presidential races. On top of that, voters seem very inclined to elect Democrats in general this election — and very sick of the Bush years.

McCain could easily lose in an electoral landslide. That is the private view of Democrats and Republicans alike.

McCain’s pick shows he is not pretending. Politicians, even “mavericks” like McCain, play it safe when they think they are winning — or see an easy path to winning. They roll the dice only when they know that the risks of conventionality are greater than the risks of boldness.

The Republican brand is a mess. McCain is reasonably concluding that it won’t work to replicate George W. Bush and Karl Rove’s electoral formula, based around national security and a big advantage among Y chromosomes, from 2004.

“She’s a fresh new face in a party that’s dying for one — the antidote to boring white men,” a campaign official said.

Palin, the logic goes, will prompt voters to give him a second look — especially women who have watched Democrats reject Hillary Rodham Clinton for Barack Obama.

The risks of a backlash from choosing someone so unknown and so untested are obvious. In one swift stroke, McCain demolished what had been one of his main arguments against Obama.

“I think we’re going to have to examine our tag line, ‘dangerously inexperienced,’” a top McCain official said wryly.

2. He’s willing to gamble — bigtime. Let’s face it: This is not the pick of a self-confident candidate. It is the political equivalent of a trick play or, as some Democrats called it, a Hail Mary pass in football. McCain talks incessantly about experience, and then goes and selects a woman he hardly knows, who hardly knows foreign policy and who can hardly be seen as instantly ready for the presidency.

He is smart enough to know it could work, at least politically. Many Republicans see this pick as a brilliant stroke because it will be difficult for Democrats to run hard against a woman in the wake of the Hillary Clinton drama. Will this push those disgruntled Hillary voters McCain’s way? Perhaps. But this is hardly aimed at them: It is directed at the huge bloc of independent women — especially those who do not see abortion as a make-or-break issue — who could decide this election.

McCain has a history of taking dares. Palin represents his biggest one yet.

3. He’s worried about the political implications of his age. Like a driver overcorrecting out of a swerve, he chooses someone who is two years younger than the youthful Obama, and 28 years younger than he is. (He turned 72 Friday.) The father-daughter comparison was inevitable when they appeared next to each other.

4. He’s not worried about the actuarial implications of the age issue. He thinks he’s in fine fettle, and Palin wouldn’t be performing the only constitutional duty of a vice president, which is standing by in case a president dies or becomes incapacitated. If he was really concerned about an inexperienced person sitting in the Oval Office we would be writing about vice presidential nominee Mitt Romney or Tom Ridge or Condoleezza Rice.

There is no plausible way that McCain could say that he picked Palin, who was only elected governor in 2006 and whose most extended public service was as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska (population 8,471), because she was ready to be president on Day One.

Nor can McCain argue that he was looking for someone he could trust as a close adviser. Most people know the staff at the local Starbucks better than McCain knows Palin. They met for the first time last February at a National Governors Association meeting in Washington. Then, they spoke again — by phone — on Sunday while she was at the Alaska state fair and he was at home in Arizona.

McCain has made a mockery out of his campaign's longtime contention that Barack Obama is too dangerously inexperienced to be commander in chief. Now, the Democratic ticket boasts 40 years of national experience (four years for Obama and 36 years for Joseph Biden of Delaware), while the Republican ticket has 26 (McCain’s four yeasr in the House and 22 in the Senate.)

The McCain campaign has made a calculation that most voters don’t really care about the national experience or credentials of a vice president, and that Palin’s ebullient personality and reputation as a refomer who took on cesspool politics in Alaska matters more.

5. He’s worried about his conservative base. If he had room to maneuver, there were lots of people McCain could have selected who would have represented a break from Washington politics as usual. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman comes to mind (and it certainly came to McCain’s throughout the process). He had no such room. GOP stalwarts were furious over trial balloons about the possibility of choosing a supporter of abortion rights, including the possibility that he would reach out to his friend.

Palin is an ardent opponent of abortion who was previously scheduled to keynote the Republican National Coalition for Life's "Life of the Party" event in the Twin Cities this week.

“She’s really a perfect selection,” said Darla St. Martin, the Co-Director of the National Right to Life Committee. It is no secret McCain wanted to shake things up in this race — and he realized he was limited to a shake-up conservatives could stomach.

6. At the end of the day, McCain is still McCain. People may find him a refreshing maverick, or an erratic egotist. In either event, he marches to his own beat.

On the upside, his team did manage to play to the media’s love of drama, fanning speculation about his possible choices and maximizing coverage of the decision.

On the potential downside, the drama was evidently entirely genuine. The fact that McCain only spoke with Palin about the vice presidency for the first time on Sunday, and that he was seriously considering Lieberman until days ago, suggests just how hectic and improvisational his process was.

In the end, this selection gives him a chance to reclaim the mantle of a different kind of politician intent on changing Washington. He once had a legitimate claim to this: after all, he took on his own party over campaign finance reform and immigration. He jeopardized this claim in recent months by embracing ideas he once opposed (Bush tax cuts) and ideas that appeared politically motivated (gas tax holiday).

Spontaneity, with a touch of impulsiveness, is one of the traits that attract some of McCain’s admirers. Whether it’s a good calling card for a potential president will depend on the reaction in coming days to what looks for the moment like the most daring vice presidential selection in generations.

Mike Allen contributed to this report.


Copyright © 2008 Capitol News Company, LLC.


Copyright © 2008 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.

Posts: 6008 | From: phoenix az | Registered: Mar 2005  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
SeekingFreedom
Member


Icon 1 posted      Profile for SeekingFreedom     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote 
Some general info on Gov. Palin.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/29/palin.bio/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

The more I read on her, the more I like the choice.

McCain\Palin '08!

Posts: 1802 | From: Utah | Registered: Mar 2008  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
  This topic comprises 21 pages: 1  2  3  4  ...  19  20  21   

Quick Reply
Message:

HTML is enabled.
UBB Code™ is enabled.

Instant Graemlins
   


Post New Topic  Post A Reply Close Topic   Feature Topic   Move Topic   Delete Topic next oldest topic   next newest topic
 - Printer-friendly view of this topic
Hop To:


Contact Us | Allstocks.com Message Board Home

© 1997 - 2021 Allstocks.com. All rights reserved.

Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classic™ 6.7.2

Share