Hard News: Awesome
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Yeah, it's not an unequivocal statement, is it? Listening to what she said, I think she was walkng a tightrope, not wanting to criticise HRC (for being a woman that is - I'm sure a republican governor would have plenty of other criticism to make about Clinton), but at the same time trying to say, well, just live it. I think that word 'perceived' is quite important - she emphasises the perceived. I heard that as Palin saying that HRC was perceived as whining, not that she actually was whining.
Interestingly, Nancy Pelosi said much the same sort of thing, apparently, again lifted from Talk Left.
Yes, there was sexism," Pelosi told a group of reporters over breakfast this morning. . . . Pelosi said Clinton had benefited from the excitement that was generated among women by her candidacy. But that was offset by sexism, she added, stopping short of pinning Clinton's defeat on gender bias. Pelosi said she hadn't studied the question in detail but was merely speaking "instinctively."
Pelosi also said that she has been a victim of sexism, "all the time. But I just think it goes with the territory."
That is, yes, it's there [sexism], it's a fact of life, just suck it up and get on with it.
Not something that I endorse. I'm into teaspoons.
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So having diverted momentum off Obama's killer speech this week, next week McCain will regretfully replace Palin with a more conventional selection.
Makes absolutely zero sense. His judgment would be seriously hurt by having chosen a VP that had to be ditched in a matter of days, and VP number two would be saddled with the label of being the second choice to a serious nobody.
The commentariat seems equally divided between brilliance and desperation. After hearing Castellanos (who had run Mittens campaign) say yesterday on CNN that those who missed out on McCain's spot were lucky Republicans, I have a theory of my own: nobody else wanted to do it.
Meanwhile, here's Joe Scarborough, via Kos:
I can't imagine a woman that's been a governor for a year and a half, but to debate Joe Biden on Georgia, a remerging Russia, an emerging China and India, on the Middle East, my God, how does she do that?
Yes, good luck with that one.
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Listening to what she said, I think she was walkng a tightrope, not wanting to criticise HRC (for being a woman that is - I'm sure a republican governor would have plenty of other criticism to make about Clinton), but at the same time trying to say, well, just live it. I think that word 'perceived' is quite important - she emphasises the perceived. I heard that as Palin saying that HRC was perceived as whining, not that she actually was whining.
Perhaps, but sadly I think she is about to find out what it's like to have the gloves removed and the ice-picks sharpened, from both the right (one of the first slaps at her came from the reliably odious Charles Krauthammer) and the left.
I don't think Pelosi is trying to say much more than that but I agree, her statement was a little too much you need to roll with it than it needed to be and I'd thinking that both Hillary and Pelosi maybe learnt a long way back not to do exactly that given the distance both have come.
Either that or they both own bulletproof blinkers.
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sadly I think she is about to find out what it's like to have the gloves removed and the ice-picks sharpened
Shakesville has started up a Sarah Palin Sexism Watch and it's up to three within just a few hours.
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Am I going to be accused of any-thing-ism if I say that Palin's voice really does my head in? That Alaskan whine is a real grimace inducer (regardless of the speaker's sex).
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seems to me after that choice, only thing can save mcCain now is those damn Diebolds.
just saw obama, choking back tears for nigh on 40 minutes. regardless of whether he makes resident or not, guy needs his own tv show.
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Makes absolutely zero sense.
Like I said, I don't think it's true either. However, I've just run across it out there for a third time. Palin is such a bizarre choice that people are straining for explanations: it's a cunning plan!
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resident president that is
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Palin is a great choice as VP. She is very intelligent and articulate, has a great life story and apparently is one tough customer (she took and took down the local political machine in Alaska)
A smart pick as 25% of woman are undecided at this stage, v only 5% of men, but she is no token female. I wont make a prediction as to who will win the election, but I will confidently predict that Palin will make a horses ass out of Joe Biden between now and Nov 4. That VP debate will be fun to watch, she is very quick on her toes and has great recall of facts and detail. "Slow Joe' Biden is going to get creamed. Another prediction, Biden will stick his foot in his mouth trying to go after Palin.
Palin has energized conservatives who were having a hard time getting to like McCain. I just read on line that the McCain campaign raised $4m on line yesterday. They had never raised more than $1m in a day previously. This enthusiam will help the GOTV efforts as well, vital in a close election.
The contrast with Obama is striking. While he is a graduate of the nastiest and most corrupt political machine in the US, the Dem Chicago machine with its horrible cast of characters, Palin took on and beat the corrupt Repub state political machine in her state. While Obama has spent about 150 days in the Senate and has no achievements there, in 20 months as Governor Palin has gotten a lot done in Alaska including rigourous ethics reform and negotiating a major gas pipe line with Canada. While based on Illinois Senate transcripts Obama cares more about the legal liability of abortionists and couldn't care less about the welfare of a baby born alive after an abortion gone wrong ("whatever it is"), Palin knew about and gave birth to a baby boy with Down's syndrome.
She is going to impress the hell out of people. She will quickly grow into the role of VP, as a President in waiting, and could definately step up to be President. It is easy to see her as the first woman President sometime in the future.
She will give the Barry campaign a major headache. How to attack another woman without giving the significant number of already pissed off women voters an even better reason to vote McCain Palin?Enough of politics. Time to evacuate for Gustav. We really don't need another big hurricane right now. Looks like the State and City have got ther acts much more together this time in terms of preparation. Jindal is another bright cookie who shines in the spotlight. So much better off with him than Blanco
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How to attack another woman without giving the significant number of already pissed off women voters an even better reason to vote McCain Palin?
Because women are a monolith who follow ladybits from party to party, voting mindlessly with their ovaries? OK...
It says something dodgy about your main candidate when the VP is supposed to win this for you, though. I've been pondering: when was the last time a VP candidate did anything for any presidential candidate? I mean, apart from Eagleton harpooning McGovern with those electric shock therapy revelations...
Anyway (your I-will-not-let-this-talking-point-go shot at the state/local authorities aside), I hope Gustav doesn't hurt too many people or destroy too many homes. Sigh.
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While based on Illinois Senate transcripts Obama cares more about the legal liability of abortionists and couldn't care less about the welfare of a baby born alive after an abortion gone wrong ("whatever it is"), Palin knew about and gave birth to a baby boy with Down's syndrome.
There's two things that have nothing to do with each other.
Absolute respect for anyone who chooses to keep a foetus with a genetic disorder like DS. No respect at all to anyone who uses the difficult decision that parents face to abort a DS foetus for political capital. I cannot think of a harder decision to make for parents.
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She is going to impress the hell out of people. She will quickly grow into the role of VP, as a President in waiting, and could definately step up to be President. It is easy to see her as the first woman President sometime in the future.
Wow, I'm impressed by how quickly you formed so fantastic an impression of this person who nobody knew until yesterday. I imagine the party that used to lambast Obama for his perceived lack of experience as of last week won't find it hard at all to embrace this new face and shining hope for American politics, whose progressive social views could propel the country into the early fifteenth century.
In one fell swoop McCain has neutralised his main weapon against Obama - lack of experience - and has made his own age and health into an even bigger target than it was before. He has veered dramatically to the right, losing most of his capital with the percentage of independents who are not clinically insane (however small it might be). He has tarnished his squaky-clean image by choosing somebody who's tied to soon-to-be-jailbird Ted Stevens and who's under investigation herself. All in the hope that independent and disaffected women (like the three dozen PUMAs who marched in Denver) will vote for an anti-woman politicians just because she happens to be female.
With apologies to H.L. Mencken, I think we've found the first person who will actually go broke for having underestimated the intelligence of the American people.
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OK, folks, I'll say this: Palin's biggest plus is that she's NOT theo-con darling Mitt Romney. Allowing for the fact that my political centre of gravity is somewhat to right of most folks here, she doesn't strike me as some barking hard-right theo-con. It could have been a lot worse.
And as a human being, big snaps up to the Palins for deciding to have a child they knew was going to be born with severe DS. (Though I've got to say the GOP base would have gone to town if Obama had picked a woman who went back to work days after the birth of a severely disabled child, mere months before her selection as nominee for VP. Look me in the eye, James, and tell me otherwise.)
But to put it crudely (sorry, Danielle) this isn't a game of identity politics canasta: My twat trumps your nigger. And I really think it's that cynical on the part of McCain -- which is an insult to Palin, as much as anything else.
Palin has serious questions to answer about her record and experience, and I think we're entitled to cock an eyebrow at the GOP establishment's sudden u-turn on the notion that the West Wing of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave isn't a place where you can afford on the job training.
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OK, folks, I'll say this: Palin's biggest plus is that she's NOT theo-con darling Mitt Romney.
You're thinking of Huckabee, by any chance? Romney is much less of a christian hardliner than Palin and was criticised by evangelicals thrhoughout his campaign. For one thing, he used to be pro-choice, before seeing the error of his ways, so he's out of the theo-con club by definition. He's against civil unions for homosexuals, which puts him to the right of Bush, but then so is Palin. Who is against abortion even in cases of rape. Romney won't go there to this day.
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Oh, and here's something else that really screams 'Putting Country Last' to me. According to the report I saw on the news last night, the first time McCain had ever been in the same room with Palin was less than twenty four hours before he announced her selection!
Now every VP you could name since Eisenhower (reluctantly) chose Nixon as his running mate, may not have been the bestest friends of the men they served under, but there was some history there. It's pretty hard to escape the conclusion of Shannen Coffen on that well-known far-left outlet, National Review:
The pick comes with enormous risk, both as a matter of politics, and more importantly, governance. As a political matter, the Obama camp must be breathing a sigh of relief that it can now run ads that say, "Is SHE ready to lead?" It effectively blunts any criticism that Obama is not ready for prime time, which was only the most effective line of attack that Steve Schmidt had developed for McCain. After all, her career in the "city council" and as mayor of a town few outside of Alaska have ever heard of doesn't exactly prepare her to preside over National Security Council meetings in the President's absence, to serve as a close adviser to the President on counterterrorism issues, or to have the nuke "football" at her side 24/7. And I say this as a guy who 1) grew up in a similar sized town in Louisiana that no one outside of Webster Parish has ever heard of, and 2) spent the 2005-07 as Counsel to the sitting Vice President — so I have some perspective on both from whence she came and what the job can involve. That lack of experience is a political liability for the very reason that it is a real liability.
The choice also says a lot about McCain. First, that he is a bit desparate. McCain likely thought it would be difficult to make a splash with a conventional Republican sidekick. Changing the subject from Thursday's Obama-thon would be difficult with Mit Romney or Kay Bailey Hutchinson (who would have been an awful choice anyway) by his side. The choice of Palin certainly gives us all something new to talk about. And she is fresh, smart (as far as I can tell from a brief time studying her), enthusiastic and energetic. But it is a bit of a political Hail Mary pass. Second, that he is one arrogant SOB. McCain is essentially telling the world that he doesn't really need a Vice President. It is hard to imagine Palin playing the same sort of role that modern Vice Presidents like Gore, Bush, Cheney, or Mondale played. Rather, the Office would seem poised to return to the "proverbial warm bucket of p---" category. McCain has thus made a purely political play without regard for the governance concerns. And how could he really have a good idea of how she would govern? My understanding is that he only met with her once before choosing her.
Sarah Palin is a remarkable American success story — the kind of person that most Americans would love to befriend. She also is a huge political gamble, one that blunts the most effective line of attack on Barack Obama. There are substantial questions in the minds of many Americans about Barack's ability and experience to lead the country. But if John McCain has said that a year plus of statewide office (plus some small town politics) is good enough, why isn't state legislature and a couple of visits to the floor of the U.S. Senate? There is tremendous upside to the gamble, given Palin's story and charisma. But it will be hard to fend off the experience attacks when they come in earnest.
[Emphasis added]
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You're thinking of Huckabee, by any chance? Romney is much less of a christian hardliner than Palin and was criticised by evangelicals thrhoughout his campaign.
Well, the one thing you could say for Huckabee (who I wouldn't support for county ratcatcher either) is at least he's an unfront, in your face theo-con. Where Romney was concerned... well, I wasn't being facetious during the Republican primaries when I said the guy couldn't tell the same lie the same way twice in the same day. His record as Governor of Massachusetts was hardly that of either a neo-Marxist, but he'd stand up in front of evangelical audiences and flat out lie about it.
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His record as Governor of Massachusetts was hardly that of either a neo-Marxist, but he'd stand up in front of evangelical audiences and flat out lie about it.
Still struggling with your suggestion that he's more of a hardliner than Palin, who doesn't need to lie about these things.
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Still struggling with your suggestion that he's more of a hardliner than Palin, who doesn't need to lie about these things.
Giovanni: You don't get the enthusiastic endorsement of people like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh by standing on your record as a fairly moderate New England governor. You do it by pandering, lying about said record, and (at least to me) leaving anyone who isn't on the flaming fringe right scratching their heads about where you really stand on anything.
Personally, I'd prefer an upfront bastard like Mike Huckabee than Romney or (sad to say) McCain. And while you may know a thing or two I don't, I don't really get the characterisation of Palin as some "Christian hardliner". I really think there's enough to criticise Palin on -- the experience questions -- without over egging the pudding. Just as I'm bemused at Republican attempts to tar Joe Biden and Obama as a pair of extreme left-wingers.
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Palin has serious questions to answer about her record and experience, and I think we're entitled to cock an eyebrow at the GOP establishment's sudden u-turn on the notion that the West Wing of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave isn't a place where you can afford on the job training.
McCain has been running for president longer than Sarah Palin has been governing.McCain announced his exploratory committee on Nov 13th 2006,Sarah Palin took office three weeks later.She never got a passport until 2007,I wonder what the top military personnel are thinking right now with regard to foreign affairs etc.
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But to put it crudely (sorry, Danielle)
This pernicious assumption that I am agin crudity must end! Fucking hell. I am the least likely blushing flower of all time.
Some of the blogosphere has nicknamed Palin 'Punky Brewster'. I am amused.
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I don't really get the characterisation of Palin as some "Christian hardliner"
Thus quoth Wikipedia (and it's all a matter of public record):
Palin is against human abortion, pro-contraception, and a prominent member of Feminists for Life... She opposes the use of abortion even in cases of rape or incestand supports the death penalty... She supported a non-binding referendum for a constitutional amendment to deny benefits to gay couples. Alone among the candidates in the 2006 gubernatorial election, Palin said she supported teaching Creationism alongside evolution in public schools, but the next day modified her position to simply allowing the debate of alternative views.
I don't know what your definition of a hardliner is, but I chose the word with some care: to me this is an actual radical, as opposed to Romney, Obama or Biden on the respective sides of the aisle.
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Personally, I'd prefer an upfront bastard like Mike Huckabee than Romney or (sad to say) McCain
That's a really interesting point. And, as anybody who's seen Huckabee on Colbert would attest, it's actually hard not to like the guy. It may have something to do with the fact that he doesn't need to keep his butt constantly clenched for fear that his actual thoughts might noisily escape thence. Upfront bastard is a perfect characterisation.
I think that there was a perception briefly in June that McCain would also be able to run an upfront campaign. But at the same time as Obama was criticised on the left for appeasing and appealing to the right wing as soon as he got the nomination, so too McCain made a dash to his right. I think it tells us not so much where the political centre is in American politics, but where it is in the swing states.
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I think it tells us not so much where the political centre is in American politics, but where it is in the swing states.
Well, it certainly says way too much about what kind of people dominate the GOP -- and they're sure not 'conservative' -- either fiscally or socially -- in any sense that I'd feel comfortable aligning myself with. Which is why I really believe the GOP must spend at least the next decade in the wilderness - and moderates get their spines back and go to war to get back the party of Lincoln, Reagan and Goldwater from the theo-cons -- before they're fit to sit at the big table again. It's not going to be fast or pretty - just look at the road back for the Tories in Britain. But it's a fight worth having if you actually think 'conservatism' is more than big-government Nanny-state meddling in Jesus drag.
And its actually pretty ironic that, while I have enormous policy differences with Obama, he actually seems to be more of a small-c conservative than McCain or anyone else in the Republican leadership. Realism and modesty about what government can and cannot do -- both at home and abroad; that the world that is, and the people who live in it, cannot be reduced to a simple bumper sticker.
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James' freshly-acquired enthusiasm for Palin makes me smile, but it's an utter hail mary pass. It makes me wonder what kind of deep research the McCain camp had that made them go this way.
The woman who'd be sitting in on national security briefings in the president's stead got her US passport last year, at the age of 43, in order to go on an organised visit to Alaskan National Guard troops in Kuwait.
And HuffPo is noting her quote from her second day ever in McCain's company, in exotic Pittsburgh: ''It's great to see another part of the country."
Wow.
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@Deborah:
What Danielle said
It seems like you and Danielle aren't the only women saying that:
NEW YORK The first national polls on John McCain's pick of Sarah Palin yesterday came out today from Rasmussen and Gallup -- and contrary to what the GOP probably hoped, she scored less well with women than men.
Here's a finding from Gallup: Among Democratic women -- including those who may be disappointed that Hillary Clinton did not win the Democratic nomination -- 9% say Palin makes them more likely to support McCain, 15% less likely.
From Rasmussen: Some 38% of men said they were more likely to vote for McCain now, but only 32% of women. By a narrow 41% to 35% margin, men said she was not ready to be president -- but women soundly rejected her, 48% to 25%.
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