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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Palin Pick Confirms McCain's Judgment is crap. Sarah Palin is as far as one can be form being qualified for Vice-President. A year and a half ago, her greatest political achievement was being the mayor of a town of about 6,500 people. One year into being Governor of Alaska she is under investigation for abuse of power for personal reasons.
Her position on abortion is to the right of the Popes, believing that is wrong in every case, including rape, incest and the life of the mother. She believes global warming, evolution and sexual orientation are all part of a vast left wing conspiracy. No one could be less tolerant of those different form themselves than this woman.
But the biggest problem with the Palin pick is not that most Americans would consider her to be a nut job - it is that given all the choices McCain could have made, he made this one. He barely knows her, and it is clear he knows very little about her other than she is a former beauty queen and the not very attentive mother of five. This mirrors the greatest flaw of George W. Bush. Bush's shoot from the hip, ask questions later attitude has gotten this country into the worst position it has been in since the great depression. McCain promises no improvement in policy or judgment.
Mike Madden's article and the posts I read were very disappointing. I saw few that really got the point.
McCain had to go a long way to find a candidate to appease the fundies, and take a considerable risk that they aren't a full scale nut job in order to do so.
As one poster did say, it's a matter of ideology, but that ideology is getting short on heroes. So far, it looks like they have a genuine one with Palin, her qualifications are her Down Syndrome child and her unwed pregnant daughter who gets to have a very special headline: "Bristol Never Thought Of Getting an Abortion." (Whether it's true or not hardly matters.)
If this is the substance of Palin's speech, and let's face it, there ain't much else, her mission is "accomplished." If the "left wing" press, like I saw yesterday, can be said to ridicule her for irrelevant items like her husband's DUI, that's them delivering McCain's message for him.
It's not just that the parties and the electorate are deeply divided any longer, it's that the sides haven't got a clue any longer how they think. Otherwise, I wouldn't be the only one writing this, and maybe a half dozen others in the thread by the time it's done.
The fact for the true believers, that bodes badly for the future of their movement, is that so few experienced, high profile pols can adopt the fundies position on abortion and stay in office locally.
The conscience of the national majority is subtly shifting. More are understanding and trust that whether or not one can choose to have an abortion legally is not the same as the decision to have one--and it gives responsibility to the individual rather than the state. This is the historical shift that they can't manipulate.
The question now is how many of the fundies are still with the program, and whether in the years to come, as this spectacle unfolds, and the question of abortion is addressed again on the national stage, if it's going to be even harder next time to find a new hero.
"If Obama were ever to undergo the kind of colonoscopy of his political and personal past that Palin is now getting, he'd be cooling his heels in Chicago watching the progress of the Hillary candidacy. There is no way that his rotten associations and total lack of meaningful experience would survive this kind of media attack. Of course, since most of the media are totally in his corner, that will never happen."
Obama was running for office for 2 years and went through 25 debates and collected 18 mm votes. He's written two books about his life story. He has been vetted quite well.
Fact:
Obama is smarter that Palin (Harvard Law, Columbia > U of Idaho
Obama has better judgment: opposed the war. Palin does not believe in global warming! (she also thinks the world is flat)
Obama has better experience: lawyer, constitutional law professor, State Senator 8 years, Congress 2 years. > beauty contestant, sports reporter, mayor of tiny town, 2 year Governor of a vacant state.
All the hand-wringing here is just Dems doing what they always do when handed a golden opportunity on a silver platter: they sit around and worry how it might backfire if they dare to use it--and by backfire I mean that somebody somewhere might complain, in which case they would instantly back down and apologize. Reps just say "f*** you (sometimes literally) and the horse you rode in on" and never back down.
There are many ways to spin this to make Palin and McCain look bad (I saw an article yesterday that showed Palin's actual hand-written line-item veto to cut funding for pregnant teens in Alaska--tell me that can't be spun) but the Dems are probably going to let the Reps control the narrative as usual and allow them to turn this into the positive that the hand-wringers here are all moaning about. So people here are right to worry about how this could end up helping the Reps, but if they do, it will only be because the Dems let them get away with it. Again.
I don't know which I like better, that McCain picked Palin without checking out her background first ... or ... THAT HE DID!!
Yes, yes!! Barack Obama is the least experienced candidate ever and flat out dangerous during these unsettling times, but a former TV news hack (liberal media, anyone?) who six years ago was mayor of Nowheresville, Alaska, is ABSOLUTELY READY TO LEAD the free world if she has to. Can't wait to hear the MSM spinners handle that one.
Please, please, Sarah. Don't drop out!! I'm already planning to watch her go head-to-head against Joe Biden over foreign policy. That ought to be some outstanding TV.
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219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Salon headlines in your mailbox
