Home » The Watercooler for 08/29/08 9:00 AM
The Watercooler for 08/29/08 9:00 AM
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I just read a news report that Gov Palin from AK may possibly be McCain's veep choice. She is a yes person and will do whatever the repugs tell her to do. I hear tell one of the bargaining chips to her being his veep was that he would flip flop and agree to support drilling in ANWR. Palin is horrible on environmentalist issues, horrible. She supports aerial wolf hunting, and is trying to get the polar bear endangered species status overturned.
She is attractive however, and will bring in those women voters. I can hear them now McCain is old, if something happens to him, we will have a woman president.
I'm distraught.
Isn't the McCain campaign in the midst of a tediously protracted ad campaign to portray Obama as, like Abraham Lincoln before him, having too little relevant experience to be entrusted with the presidency? Is this Palin person therefore going to be who McCain selects to be next in line for the office of the President upon his demise?
It seems like McCain's walker keeps causing him to trip over his own message.
Tom I was thinking the exact same thing. I posted it before reading your post.
Sadly I don't think the repugs care. I think they are going after the Clinton supporters.
Whoever the choice is I hope people will ask themselves, is this person ready to be Pres. Palin certainly is not.
Haven't the geniuses running McCain's campaign instantly drained every drop of credibility from their long-running smear campaign to paint Obama as too inexperienced? This is like Dan Quayle redux.
I'm distraught too - Palin is very pretty and most of the time that's all America seems to care about...I've been thinking if he doesn't choose Clueless Condi we are out of the woods but I forgot about Palin...
Palin would be a heartbeat away from the Presidency and she's been a Governor for one year plus she's under ethics investigations. Pandering to try for Hillary voters. She is ANTI CHOICE for gawd sakes.
This has been reported by John Harwood. No one else is reporting it though.
She's been a popular governor and governors have actually been chief executives.
She's going to grab headlines and "mo" for awhile. But what has to be put to the McCain campaign and to voters -- particularly women voters -- is will she make McCain's choice of future Supreme Court judges any less conservative (no) or will she be able to influence a speedy decision on equal pay (no).
I'd like to look at her record. It's important to get the right woman and that will not be a woman from the right. HRC was too far right for me; I won't be swayed to change my vote just because McC has picked a woman VP.
Also, from the other side, even if she's pretty conservative, this will cost him all the votes of ultra-conservatives who believe a woman's place is in the home, and there still are a lot of these, both men and women.
He should have made nice to Susan Eisenhower before she dumped her party registration. And BTW I hope Barack offers her the ambassadorship to Russia. She'd be phenomenal.
-- volney
She is not ready to be a heartbeat away from the oval office, no way, no how.
I'm trying to calm down, as there goes AK, a state we could have won.
Yes she is under ethics investigation.
That's right. I forgot you were there. Can she give a speech or anything? I can see the conservative Catholic women vote angle but otherwise, this choice seems like an outright joke. McCain will literally look like her grandfather standing next to her on the platform.
Personally she comes across to me as phoney. Maybe I'm biased though since she was running against Tony Knowles, who I like (except for his ANWR stance). She did win by a substantial margin though.
Here is an article about the ethics charge.
http://www.adn.com/legislature/story/471366.html
I called and let my husband know, he is LHAO. Saids McCain has made a big mistake. He said there is no way she can pull it off, saids he can't wait til she debates Joe.
Obama lacks experience, and McFool's choice for vice president has been a city councilperson and mayor, before her two years as a governor?
Obama is a celebrity candidate and McSnooze's vice president won Miss Congeniality in the Miss Alaska beauty pageant? At least she admits smoking dope before. I guess she may be qualified to be leader of the free world after all.
She was a runner up in the Miss Alaska pageant. She claimed the title of Ms. Congeniality in the Ms. Wasilla contest. I didn't want to overinflate her accomplishments.
Maybe Biden will decide not to exploit his opponent's youth and inexperience for political purposes.
I just picked up my voice mail messages from last evening. Anyway one of my messages was from a small business owner in my town (whom I met months earlier) who had just watched Barack's speech and she wanted to sign up for the Obama campaign. The exciting thing about this woman is she is a LIFE LONG REPUBLICAN. She went on and on in her message about how impressive Obama is. I'm stunned.
Yes We Can.
President and Commander in Chief Sarah Palin! She can also play the flute!
I have to say, here is someone whose choice is at least authentic. She chose to carry to term and bear a Downs child. So unlike all the men who like to blather on about being pro-life when it really doesn't have any effect on their lives, here's a woman who faced the ultimate nightmare scenario and chose to bear the damaged child.
Doesn't alter my stance on choice but does make her much less of a hypocrite than, say, the Libertarian candidate, Bob "no abortions for anyone except my own ex-wives" Barr.
Palin's married to an Inuit. Gives that ol' McCain campaign something of a post-racial flair.
-- volney
Not being a hypocrite could hurt her prospects for climbing the ranks in the Republican Party, but being investigated on ethics charges in Alaska will put her in good company and should catch the attention of bigwig Party insiders.
... yeah, that really helped Mondale, NOT !
Mondale won his home state of Minnesota, Geraldine didn't win her home state of New York.
Rinse and repeat in 2008 !
I don't think Sarah Palin will deliver many, if any, Dem crossover votes. Even Dem women who are not pro-choice, and I know more than a few, have other substantial disagreements with the GOP, mostly along bedrock issues like tax breaks for the rich.
What Sarah Palin does is add luster and draw interest from young GOPs like my friend Shauna, who would have voted for McCain anyhow but will now work for him too, and give money.
It will energize the young voters and women voters of the GOP. But the party has been on the wrong side of so many issues for so long that I doubt Palin moves any votes over that weren't there already. And yeah, I want to see her debate Joe.
-- volney
She is embedded with big oil. Her husband works for BP. At one time she was criticized for conflicts of interest.
Exxon John and Exxon Sarah.
Looks like once again the repugs will steal the headlines.
They are also trying to make us forget that today is McCain's 72nd birthday.
"They are also trying to make us forget that today is McCain's 72nd birthday."
I'm tying the bow on this bed pan I got him right now.
Their internal polls must show them losing big time to throw a hail mary like that.
Has it actually happened or just a rumor?
All the networks are reporting.
Joe Scarborough asks how the hell will she debate Biden on Russia, Georgia, China, et al.? Good question.
A big fat 0
http://www.ontheissues.org/Governor/Sarah_Palin_Foreign_Policy.htm
She has no stance.
I really feel safe.
... during the Governor's conference. She is very well spoken and not stupid. And did I mention very pretty.
Hmm.......pandering to the women eh? To the suv drivers that want to drill so they can fill their gas tanks and belt along the hiways at 80mph?
I still say Mccain will win in Novemeber, however, the channels have been narrowed to the point now that..............its the Democrats election to lose...................and they are rather good at that.............
Side note.........debates will be they key to this all..........advice for BO..study JFK from 1960 debates and mannerisms........forget Reagan............he was an embecile
Last thoughts on BO speech......... very nice....(watch the kissing of Bidens wife tho)should have tossed in "the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself"...........(many are still scared after 911)
Cheers
Always a bucket of cheers you are [sic].
well, cherrio(s) to you Mickey ("he hates everything...")
You sound very overconfident............there is NO justification for that........this aint europe and these arent europeans voting come November...........incidentally, thats a quote froma well known and educated American scholar who has been watching these eelctions since 1960...............
.... (no, not the gambling problem) but rather ...
... the beauty queen infactuation:
first it was Carol;
then Cindy;
now Sarah.
This news helps explain the barrage of spots with Clinton's comments that McCain ran during the Democratic convention, questioning Obama's experience. They had a very limited shelf life at that point. They'd be toxic for consumption now.
...as Clarence Thomas is to African Americans. There may be a small number of Hillary supporters who will giver her a look, but I can't see her swinging many at all.
Palin's husband is only an Inuit in flesh and bones, in spirit, no.
No Inuit would support aerial wolf hunting. True Inuit's want to save the polar bear. True Inuit's do not want drilling in ANWR. I have talked with Inuit Native Americans, to them he is a traitor.
raehart -
Sounds like McCain is trying to get the Native American vote too -- too bad, it's already in Obama's column, just like the woman vote.
As for the few holdout Hillary supporters (clear majority have now moved their support to Obama) who are stuck back in 1984 like Geraldine Ferraro is, well good news for them, Sarah Palin is Miss Wissila of 1984.
Now isn't that a coincidence ? Life is full of surprises.
on his VP choice.
Obama can't say the "exper...." word, because it comes right back to his lack of. Besides, he looks like a hypocritical whiner, and it doesn't work on a person who actually served 2 succesful terms as a MAYOR and went on to win a competetive election from Repubs and Dems for the Governorship.
lol
looks like ego got in the way of good judgment on Obama.
For what reason would Obama ever mention experience? He's already called McCain out on that canard because of its irrelevancy. The relevant issue is judgment, the type that leads a candidate to promote perpetual war through the rogue state roll back doctrine, the type that suggests using dynamite to kill a fly when Russia quells disturbances in a former Soviet satellite, the type that prompted a campaign to invade Iraq since Operation Desert Storm.
You call it good judgement choosing a VP that has no foreign policy experience. Yeah right. McCain who loves his country above all else, has chosen to pander rather than pick a viable candidate. He has put his unending desire to be Pres above the safety of his country.
Obama and Biden do have foreign experience.
Your comment on ego is laughable.
McDesperate sure can't after this VP pick. And for someone who's had 4 bouts with cancer, that's dangerous for America were he to become prez.
was to ask for the cliff notes version of McCain's medical dossier.
Upon further consideration. . .of worst case scenario GOP renewing lease at 1600 PA Ave, I would rather it be the unknown Palin than the exposed Romney or talented Huckebea.
Dems wish the abortion debate would just simmer along. This VP pick might signal that GOP wants it front and center for 67 days.
No one's told her what it is a vice president does, yet, but at least Larry Kudlow let her know it's a pretty big job.
Maybe this is a joke. When Gov. Palin turned to thank Sen. McCain, I thought for a second that it was for the new bike he bought her.
By "new Bike" do you mean a Harley like the ones driven by bikers at this year's Sturgis Festival in South Dakota, where ole Johnie bragged he might just enter his wife Cindy (a former beauty contestant herself) into the festival's topless contest ?
How embarrassing. I must say, however, she seems very congenial.
- Republicans are on the edge of a cliff and have nothing to lose
By Phil Specht on Aug 29, 2008 12:56 PM EDTThey had to energize the Evangelical pro-life crowd and this will do it. They can't talk about anything else but abortion since they picked the only unfinished Bush business control of the Supreme Court.
so there it is the only topic left for 67 days
smarter choice than others he might have made
As most of my fellow Rochester DFAers know, I work in an office with about 97% Republicans. Since the Dean campaign, I've been trying to bring some new thinking into the office breakroom--watercooler talk.
I was happy to have two coworkers who were leaning towards thinking about Obama as a valid choice for them. So with a great deal of anticipation, I arrived at work this morning and eagerly awaiting their arrival. I mean they had to be nearly as impressed with Obama's speech as I was, right?
WRONG!!!!! Both told me today they were so turned off by how Obama attacked McCain that the idea of voting for Obama was totally off the table.
What is wrong with people???
I'm happy to report, Friday Sept. 5 is my last day at this job!
They're not smart.
But, there were some problems, or potential problems with the speech last night.
In total, I think it the speech did not dissappoint the Convention and did reach out to the swingers.
It was OK to draw some issue blood at McCain's expense but whoever put that line in about McCain not going into a cave after Bin Laden needs to be left out of the loop for the next 67 days. It was over the top and not at all believable.
I must admit that another shortcoming got by me. I had to hear it from Cornel West and Ms. Malveaux on Tavis Smiley last night. He didn't call Martin Luther King Jr. by his name - he was just a ''black preacher from Georgia" in the speech.
Tavis' panelists were livid at this. I think with good cause.
Obama better dig into that humility he claimed last night and watch out for missteps like these on the way to the White House.
- By Unanimous Acclamation
By Tom Bearse on Aug 29, 2008 9:18 AM EDTDean is first.