Hard News: Go Us
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a comment from Russel's link above:
Her views that abstinence only education are supported by about 10% of our society.
She's even more out of touch than McCain.
Nevermind McCain, she's clearly out of touch with her own daughter. If Palin want's to flip-flop on this issue of Abstinence Education then I'd happily give her a free pass. (Since flip flopping = political death)
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for interest's sake:
this is someone to watch for info on the US election (if you don't watch them already)
his analysis of the last aussie election was spot on.
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CBS poll with a comparison of before convention vs. after both VP announcements.
Difficult to disentangle the effects of the convention and of the VP announcements, of course. But here's the bottom line: Obama gains five points (now 48-40) and his lead among women is now 50/36 (up eight points).
It's only one poll, etc. Taken during a weekend, too, which is not great.
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More data from the same poll:
SELECTION OF BIDEN AFFECT VOTE?
(Among registered voters)
More likely Obama 15%
Less likely Obama 4
No difference 78SELECTION OF PALIN AFFECT VOTE?
(Among registered voters)
All Men Women
More likely McCain 13%
Less likely McCain 11
No difference 72(The last one is 17-12-67 among men and 10-10-77 among women)
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We swear, that woman would make a stew out of the hind legs of the Lamb of God.
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Haha!
I'm pretty sure* she's planning to run again, although her perceived age may be a problem
Or then again, after this weekend's palaver, the electorate might be inclined to prefer a post-menopausal woman. Sadly. But good news for older women. (Searching mental file cabinet for whomever it was that said the world really should be run by grannies -- Gerda Lerner? Ursula K. Le Guin? -- Shall we give it a try once young Barack has had his turn?)
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And if he does become President then she'll just have to wait until 2016
At which point she'll be the same age as McCain is now, with the same concerns about being a geriatric in a stressful job.
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And I don't want to join in any nasty cracks about McCain having one foot -- and three toes of the other -- in the grave. That's cheap, ageist shit that's frankly unworthy of the people who make them. But here's some cold hard stats: Out of forty three Presidents, nine of them (twenty percent, folks) were succeeded by their Vice Presidents. Four died in office. Another four were assassinated. One resigned.
And, demographically speaking, a 72 year old man stands a much higher chance of croaking sometime in the next four years than a 50 year old.
When a presidential candidate chooses their running mate they SHOULD be telling us, "Look, I think I am the best person for the job. But if I can't do it, [INSERT NAME HERE] is the second best." No-one can say that about Palin with a straight face -- even if you wanted a token woman who was also a rock-ribbed Republican you could have done better than her.
And it reflects no credit on Palin that she accepted McCain's offer. If she was smart she would know she was unqualified, and might have said "Well, I'm honored to be asked, and in ten years, I might be ready to do the job, so let's wait until then." But she didn't.
This is the crassest sort of tokenism, and one that reflects poorly on everyone concerned -- and makes it abundantly clear that McCain (while he is certainly the least-worst of the republican candidates) is not fit for the office he seeks. -
From the "Christian right" blogosphere, showing the double-edged nature of McCain's gamble on Palin:
Unfortunately, Christians appear to be headed toward a hairpin turn at breakneck speed without the slightest clue as to the danger ahead. I don’t see this as a pro-family pick at all! Moreover, I believe the conservative fervor over this pick shows how politicized Christians have become at the expense of maintaining a prophetic voice. I believe that Mr. McCain has proven with his VP pick that he is pro-victory, not pro-family. In fact, I believe this was the anti-family pick. I say that for at least two reasons. [...]
Perhaps the most disturbing revelation in the article is Mrs. Palin’s recent decision to travel for work (against her doctor’s orders) in the final days of her pregnancy. [...]
She put her child at risk, not for an official, necessary, or emergency duty as the Governor of Alaska, but because she simply "was not going to miss out on that speech." A speech! The more I learn about the choices this woman has made, the less inclined I am to see Mr. McCain’s choice as pro-family. [...]
Not only do I believe that a pro-family candidate would prefer to see Mrs. Palin at home taking care of her children, I believe a pro-family candidate would also avoid validating and advancing our culture’s desire to completely erase gender roles. [...]
In an effort to win the pro-family political argument, we are sacrificing the pro-family biblical argument. In essence, the message being sent to women by conservative Christians backing McCain/Palin is, "It’s ok to sacrifice your family on the altar of your career; just don’t have an abortion." How pro-family is that?
and
The main concern is that it will send a mixed message that undermines their understanding of family values. They like her political positions, especially on abortion, but are concerned that the prominence of her position would undermine their witness concerning subordinate roles for women and their conviction that mothers should remain in the home and nurture their husbands and children.
Ironically, James Dobson, Richard Land and other vocal advocates for "family values" are also the most enthusiastic supporters of Sarah Palin.
Land's support for Palin is fairly strong evidence that the fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention -- a takeover that was fueled by conservative opposition to the equal rights amendment [...] -- was more about politics than theology.
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When a presidential candidate chooses their running mate they SHOULD be telling us, "Look, I think I am the best person for the job. But if I can't do it, [INSERT NAME HERE] is the second best."
Exactly, and that (apart from the role of President of the Senate - which nowadays is little more than being the tie-breaker in hung votes) is the only constitutionally defined role the Vice President has.
The rest is where it gets interesting. You may not think much of either George H. Bush and Al Gore, but there was method in the madness of their selection. A big criticism of Clinton and Reagan was a practical governance one -- did they have the institutional knowledge and relationships to get a legislative agenda through Capitol Hill when they'd never served in the federal legislature or inside the Beltway in other ways? They chose their veeps, in large part, to make that possible. Or easier. :)
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This is worth a look. CNN's Campbell Brown pressing one of McCain's aides on Palin's foreign policy experience.
"Can you just tell me one decision she made as Commander-in-Chief of the Alaska National Guard?"
"Tell me, give me an example of just one of those decisions."
"I just want one example."
(Spoiler: he can't come up with one)
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(Spoiler: he can't come up with one)
It gets better: the Republicans have started referring to her as the "Commander in Chief" of the Alaska National Guard.
It turns out that not only does she not make any decisions, she's not even due briefings. All the command is federal. The governor is as much in command as my cat (although he does rule).
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The governor is as much in command as my cat (although he does rule).
That'd be so awesome. "Invade Wisconsin. Bringz me cheezburger."
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That'd be so awesome. "Invade Wisconsin. Bringz me cheezburger."
I made one. Clearly I have too much time on my hands.
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Awaiting the launch of DraftColinforVP.com
He's only a couple of letters off Palin, too, so they wouldn't have to reprint all the signs, just hand out a bunch of magic markers.
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It gets better: the Republicans have started referring to her as the "Commander in Chief" of the Alaska National Guard.
It turns out that not only does she not make any decisions, she's not even due briefings. All the command is federal. The governor is as much in command as my cat
You obviously don't understand how the system works, Russell. No she doesn't have any control over the Guard once they're deployed through the Federal Government, but that doesn't make her any less their CiC for local matters.
The Air National Guard/National Guard are controlled by their respective states unless seconded to federal duty. At that point the governor is as entitled to briefings on their activities as they are to briefings on any other federal national security matter. For civil emergency deployments, the governor used to have the last word, until a law passed last year (against the objections of every state governor) allowed POTUS power to take control of an intra-state deployed Guard even if the governor of the state was capable of exerting control. -
The governor is as much in command as my cat (although he does rule).
Yay! At last Colin makes a comeback :)
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I'm with Mathew on this. Anyone who can bend a Librarian to her will is qualified to run the National Guard. Them Librarians is tuff, so the National Guard should be easy.
But seriously. Palin's behaviour as a small town mayor is no different to how the Neo Cons ran the Whitehouse. If you're not for me you're against me so get out and I'll replace you with someone who will do what I want.
Ergo, she is qualified to be VP/President.
(As the role has been redefined by the Republicans.) -
John, I didn't say she was qualified. I didn't say it made her suitable to be VP. But saying that she's not CiC of the Alaskan NG just because she doesn't control them when they've been mobilised for federal service shows a total lack of understanding of how the whole system works.
Clinton actively avoided military service. Dubbyah's record was pretty questionable. But nobody suggested that they weren't qualified to be CiC of the entire US military establishment simply because they only had experience commanding their respective states' National Guard units as governors. -
No attack on you intended, Mathew, but I guess I'm carrying a bit of baggage about how the Right made sooo much of Clinton (Bill) being unsuitable as CiC because he'd avoided military service, as if Dubya hadn't either. Up until recently Obama was also unsuited to the role of CiC (because of his inexperience) and yet now we're supposed to be impressed with Palin's credentials?
But anyway, I'm over this Palin thing. The VP choice does not decide elections. American voters reap what they sow. 2x2=4.
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@ George
ROFLMAO! FTW!! -
@Matthew
I don't disagree, but the chap on the video was touting her experience as CiC of the Alaskan National Guard as proof of foreign affairs experience as much as command. Deploying the National Guard in emergency situations is what we call "civil defence" in New Zealand - she's not sending them off to be shot (at least, I've never heard of an armed uprising in Alaska that the NG had to quell) -
From page 1 of comments.
Well it seems obvious she hasn't even been vetted properly.
New York Times reporters at the convention are starting to piece together the hasty timeline.
Aides to Mr. McCain said they had a team on the ground in Alaska now to look more thoroughly into Ms. Palin’s background. A Republican with ties to the campaign said the team assigned to vet Ms. Palin in Alaska had not arrived there until Thursday, a day before Mr. McCain stunned the political world with his vice-presidential choice. The campaign was still calling Republican operatives as late as Sunday night asking them to go to Alaska to deal with the unexpected candidacy of Ms. Palin.
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Todd Palin Quit 17-year BP oil job when BP became involved in natural gas pipeline negotiations with wife's administration
Michelle Obama Promoted and given 160% pay raise by UofC hospitals within months of husband's election to U.S. Senate;
Employer received $1,000,000.00 federal earmark, requested by husband, after her promotion
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Its called integrity. Based on what is happening in NZ politics right now it would appear there are different standards operating for different sides of the political spectrum
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