So John McCain picks Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice-Presidential nominee. I know nothing about her, so will suspend judgment. But she is a woman, which is fantastic. The U.S. will either have an African-American President or a female Vice-President, which is the kind of history that should have been made long ago; so kudos to McCain for his courage in making that choice.
Beyond that, there are just a few tidbits that seem to be trotted out in all the stories about Palin. She is very firmly pro-life. Unless you are a polar bear. She is in favor of domestic partnerships, although against gay marriage (which puts her in the official Democratic position). She’s been embroiled in some sort of scandal, although it’s always hard to tell at first glance how serious those things should be taken. Perhaps her signature issue, as far as national politics is concerned, is drilling for oil all over the place — she’s in favor.
One might wonder whether McCain undermines his message of the importance of experience by picking a 44-year old governor with no national experience at all. But one might wonder whether Obama undermined his message of bringing change to Washington by choosing a white male Washington lifer from the Northeast; so clearly the McCain camp thought this was worth the risk. We might learn terrible or wonderful things about her in the next few months, but for the moment this seems superficially like a more palatable pick than any of the bigger Republican names that had been floating around — clearly it was in McCain’s eyes. (Brad DeLong wonders whether a similar line of reasoning didn’t leave us with Dan Quayle twenty years ago.)
Update: I originally included a link to this YouTube video of Palin making Craig Ferguson an honorary citizen of Alaska, which I think speaks to her sense of humor. But it also involves Ferguson making jokes about her giving off a sexy librarian vibe, which is fine in the context of a late-night comedy show, but isn’t a fair first impression for a female candidate for a major national office. All sorts of jokes will doubtless be on their way, we might as well make some meager effort to start things off with more substantive considerations.
Update again: Because I don’t know anything about Palin, I’ve tried to be open-minded about the pick. But 24 hours later, the obvious first conclusion to which one is tempted to jump appears increasingly correct: this is a person who has no business being anywhere near a national ticket. Sufficient evidence for this conclusion comes from the words of her supporters, along the lines of: Sure, she’s woefully underqualified, but in all probability John McCain will live for at least another four years! And if he doesn’t, we’re sure she will have the good sense to resign.
I wonder how many times she has visited Iraq to get the facts on the ground?
I’m surprised there are so many supporters of the Republican party on a physical science blog. I work with physical scientists and I have met some conservatives but they are few and far between, and they have all been moderates who don’t believe in ideas such as creationism.
these people seem a little too invested in Palin to be
casual readers, so i googled a random sample from Dennis
above
“an outside the box pick that will give independents and disgruntled Democrats a reason ”
also turns up on the Dallas Morning News blog,
i think these guys are pro trolls.
If McCain and Palin get elected, she would also be the first Pentecostal Christian on a major ticket… they are members of an Assembly of God associated Church, she is very Spiritual, and I think she will rally the Chrisitan base and right of the GOP.
The Left of America should be a little worried. All the put downs, excuses, and logic can be hefted against her, but the same could be said of Bush in 2004. It doesn’t matter.
1/5 of all GOP votes are right wing conservative Christians, and she will motivate and energize that grass roots group.
As to what the SEXIST & BIGOTS will do now? Well, sexism only goes so far, racisim is like a disease. Everyone has had a mother at one time or another so I think these types of voters, not secluded to southerners, but more of ignorant voters, will vote for the War Hero Pow and the Conservative oil drilling, gun toting mom of 5 outdoorswoman who’s husband is a commerical fisherman.
anon — Well done!
Looking forward to a Biden/Palin debate. Maybe they’re both lightweights, but Palin will have more gravitas simply by showing up and not being Flapjaw Joe. Biden’s people will think they’re really clever by bringing up Jeopardy!-style trivia, like the capital of Burundi. “How can you be Vice President if you don’t know the capital of Burundi?” He’ll do this over and over, and lose a hundred thousand votes each time.
Sallie Parker,
Do you read palms too?
I agree with the “pro troll” comment above – they are really out in force!
I also agree w/ the pro trolls observation … one thing is for certain, they know how to stay on message!
Did someone actually cite WorldNetDaily above? Yikes.
Who cares about McCain’s VP pick when we can’t even support McCain himself? If actions speak louder than words (or lofty speeches), let’s take a closer look at the Real McCains:
Like Bush’s popularity because of 9-11, and chance rather than merit, John McCain’s constant reliance on his POW background to gain political power is a mistake for many reasons. But what people may not know is McCain’s flip-flop in regard to torture was a bigger mistake.
“In all the discussion of John McCain’s recently recovered memory of a religious epiphany in Vietnam, one thing has been missing. The torture that was deployed against McCain emerges in all the various accounts. It involved sleep deprivation, the withholding of medical treatment, stress positions, long-time standing, and beating. Sound familiar?
According to the Bush administration’s definition of torture, McCain was therefore not tortured.”
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/08/was-mccain-tort.html
JOHN MCCAIN this week had a choice between his principles and propping up a failed president. He chose the latter – McCain drops the torture ball -http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/02/16/mccain_drops_the_torture_ball/
And what of McCain’s first wife Carol? Many don’t know the history of “The wife U.S. Republican John McCain callously left behind” His infidelities put strain on his first marriage, and he was divorced from Carol McCain, his wife of 15 years, in 1980. He married Cindy a month later.
Ted Sampley, who fought with US Special Forces in Vietnam and is now a leading campaigner for veterans’ rights, said: ‘I have been following John McCain’s career for nearly 20 years. I know him personally. There is something wrong with this guy and let me tell you what it is – deceit.’
Ross Perot: ‘McCain is the classic opportunist. He’s always reaching for attention and glory,’ he said. ‘After he came home, Carol walked with a limp. So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona. And the rest is history.’ –
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1024927/The-wife-John-McCain-callously-left-behind.html
And we continue with the rest of the history. John McCain is no more moral than John Edwards, and Cindy makes a $300 hair cut look like nothing. Who is Cindy McCain? Aside from their 7, or is it 11 properties, Cindy is known to spend as much as $7,000 in one month on just one American Express card. So they are rich, out-of-touch Republicans. What’s new? The real story of interest goes a little farther back.
“In 1989, following two back surgeries, Cindy McCain became addicted to the painkillers Vicodin and Percocet. To keep up with her daily need of 10 to 15 pills, she used other people’s names for prescriptions and stole drugs from the American Voluntary Medical Team, a mobile surgical unit she’d begun in 1988 to provide emergency medical services around the world. A 1993 DEA audit of the amount of painkillers her charity had obtained quickly uncovered her thefts.” –
http://www.snopes.com/politics/mccain/cindy.asp
Her addiction isn’t the big story, but rather how John McCain tried to cover-up the illegal activity with his political power. And if that’s not enough skeletons in the closet to worry about, in trying to link Obama with Rezko, McCain has re-opened the door to yet another scandal in his past.
“The problem with this attack? Aside from being thoroughly misleading — Obama has not been seriously alleged to have done anything unethical in his interactions with Rezko — this ad is a serious strategic blunder by the McCain campaign. Why? It blows wide open the door to talk about McCain’s all-too-close relationship with Charles Keating and well reported on though somewhat forgotten charter membership in the so-called “Keating Five.”
…In the end, the crash of Keating’s savings and loan — which had been shielded by some of his best friends in the United States Senate — cost billions to the American taxpayer, as mentioned above, and all told the federal government ended up on the hook for close to $125 billion in the fallout of the crisis that befell the underregulated industry in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Does McCain really want to have to talk about all of this? About the Bahaman vacations he took paid for by Keating? Probably not. But he may soon have to as a result of the shortsightedness of his campaign advisors. Nice move team McCain!” –
http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/8/21/185928/267
Conservatives claim morals (e.g., infidelity) are just as important as committing a crime (e.g., perjury–no, I’m referring to Scooter Libby). But once again we see the hypocrisy as Republicans choose another candidate with questionable character.
The way a candidate manages his/her campaign is a first indication of how they’ll run the country. McCain has been all over the place with promises and positions, and rather than take the high road, he quickly reverted to the Rovian tactics that were used against him in 2000. He can’t get people to a rally or the convention, and if it wasn’t for the RNC and Big Business, he wouldn’t have any funds either. It also is said that the VP pick is the first example of presidential judgment for a candidate. McCain’s selection of a woman is only historical for the Republican Party. All this does is remind people how backward the RNC is. But was this the best decision McCain could have made?
A most disturbing thing about John Edward’s recent behavior was that he was unfaithful while his wife was fighting breast cancer. Conservatives, including right-wing women, have always hated Hillary because she wanted to pursue a career in law rather than serve “tea and cookies.” Here we have Sarah Palin, who is praised for being a mother of five, including a baby with Down Syndrome. Where are those fundamentalists now when this woman is choosing to pursue fame and fortune instead of putting “family values” first?
Moose meat versus arugula is the least of our worries. She is anti-science. She does not believe in evolution, or climate change, or development of natural gas and other clean fuels, and most of all she does not believe in women’s rights. There is a reason the prior presidential hopeful Lindsey Graham is not, and probably never will run for President — the Terri Schiavo intervention. That’s when Americans woke up to the fact that religious radicals had taken over the Republican Party. Palin would shake things up all right, she’d help take this country back to the Dark Ages (you know, when McCain was born), and bring government into your home and invade you privacy.
And let’s not forget why we’ve had to endure the tyranny of Cheney all these years. Cheney made it clear he had no intention of running for POTUS. This automatically made him unaccountable. If McCain intends to serve for only one term, or if Palin is just a temporary gimmick for the upcoming 2008 election (I doubt the RNC will want her to be the frontrunner in the future), we would be in for more of the same.
But most of all, after eight miserable years of Bush/Cheney, our country wants to move forward, not backward. It has been my hope that this time Americans would place the bar a little higher in regard to qualifications for the most important jobs in our country and in the world. Like Bush with his C-grade average and business failures, neither McCain nor Palin have very impressive credentials from education to career achievements outside politics. If experience is what counts, where is it? The Bush administration has been copying Obama’s foreign policy positions for a reason. This duo makes Obama look like John Adams.
In the meantime “my friends,” not only has McCain voted with Bush 90% of the time, let’s not forget that McCain is to the right of Bush in regard to war-mongering. We’ll have to get out the old bumper stickers: “Four More Wars!” and “Drop McCain Not Bombs”
So go ahead Republicans, tow the Party line like you always do. Hold your nose and vote for McCain/Palin (or should we say vote against Obama), even though it’s not in your best interest or putting our country first.
Simon,
I agree.
ROCKY FOR PRESIDENT!
(or as he would probably say
ROCKY FOR EL PRESIDENTE!)
All the adults have left the room
Kurt:
At your #48 comment, you had a quote by Gov Palin, but the link doesn’t have it. Could you recheck your source?
I think Palin’s selection needs to be considered as an appeal to the white working class gen xers that grew up with Reagan as the meta-father figure and Rush as the obnoxious older brother on the sound track, rather than just to ex Hillary supporters and older people who want another reason to vote for McCain.
For these people a lesson in economics needs to be front and center. Alaska might be full of rugged individualists, but they get thousands a year from oil revenues, so it’s hard not to see Palin as the pretty, scrappy spokesperson for big oil. Why do we need another flack for big oil?
Also another argument in a broader economic context is that yes, Democrats think everyone should support the country by paying their fair share of taxes, but the Republicans think we can just borrow it from rich people(and other countries). As we have all begun to realize, when you borrow more then you can pay back, those lenders own you. So government borrowing means average people might not pay a few extra dollars in taxes, but eventually they will no longer own their government, just like many people no longer own their homes. So they put up a pretty face to sell you that loan, but the ones they send to foreclose on it will not be so nice.
Eugene —
You should have seen the campaign he ran to get us all to tell NASA to call GLAST Fermi (UChicago now has four of the great observatories: Hubble, Chandra, and Compton are the other three.)
Obama isn’t the only “community organizer” to come out of Hyde Park!
@ anon
It should be possible to make a comment filter that prevents plagiarism. It could take a couple of quotes and search for them on google. Just like you did, but automated. It would kill a lot of trolls, especially on political blogs.
I’ll vote Kodos.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/30/201818/606/27/580690
44+ problems with Palin.
For those who thought she was accommodating of same-sex couples because she voted a bill (always look at the details, please):
http://www.bilerico.com/2008/08/mccain_picks_alaska_governor_sarah_palin.php
“Palin vetoed HB 4001. Before you get too excited, she signed HB 4002 – to put benefits up to a non-binding vote of the people. Palin also stated that while she believed in HB 4001, her advisors had told her it was unconstitutional. Rather than go through the court costs, she vetoed the bill. Yeah, she’s no ally.”
….
“She also supported the 1998 ballot initiative to put a ban on same-sex marriage in the Alaskan constitution…”
In this day of google, there is no reason to believe the spin, look it up yourself.
http://community.adn.com/adn/node/104285
Palin vetoes HB 4001
Posted by Alaska_Politics
Posted: December 28, 2006 – 7:48 pm
“On Dec. 19, the Alaska Supreme Court directed the state to offer benefits to the same-sex partners of state employees. Palin, a Republican who does not support gay marriage, said she was forced to make her first veto because the court’s ruling made the bill unconstitutional.
“Signing this bill would be in direct violation of my oath of office,” Palin said in a prepared statement Thursday night.”
…
The statement from the Palin administration said the veto doesn’t mean Palin suddenly agrees with the Supreme Court, which ruled that the state has to offer the benefits starting Jan. 1.
“It is the Governor’s intention to work with the legislature and to give the people of Alaska an opportunity to express their wishes and intentions whether these benefits should continue,” the statement said.
http://dwb.adn.com/news/government/legislature/story/8525563p-8419318c.html
In the first veto of an administration that isn’t yet a month old, Palin said she rejected the bill despite her disagreement with a state Supreme Court order earlier this month that directed the state to offer benefits to same-sex partners of state employees.
Advice from her new attorney general said the bill passed by the Legislature was unconstitutional, she said.
“Signing this bill would be in direct violation of my oath of office,” Palin said in a prepared statement released by her administration Thursday night.
Sarah Palin – expert on energy policy!
http://www.adn.com/legislature/story/415749.html
From the comments:
48 May 29, 2008 – 3:03pm | fluxxx
ACEP
She cut the MATCH funding for the Alaska Center for Energy and Power–The feds were going to give us half, the state/university was responsible for the other.
Now, the woman in charge of this project worked on the geothermal energy project at Chena Hot Springs. I’m sure Sarah will think this is a great idea next year when half the state freezes to death next winter because of heating fuel prices, unfortunately, the federal funds might not be available. This project is about renewable state energy resources. Forget that $100/month, it isn’t going to help anyone when heating fuel hits 10/gal.
Sarah really messed up on this one.
This is like shooting moose (from various accounts on the web, the dumb animals don’t even run away as you drive up in your SUV and shoot them).
Anchorage Daily News
http://www.adn.com/
Easily find all the spin and lies the Repugnicans have spun around their VP candidate.
“She can look you in eye and tell you black is white.
Especially when there’s oil involved.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-kelly/governor-palin-has-what-i_b_103702.html
This is a typical case on tokenism. McCain wanted and got a female on
his ticket. I have seen it happen in academia, and I still don’t understand
the reasons why people would choose the least qualified female from the
pool. Maybe they want the other women to then reject them – then they
come back with: I tried to hire/promote a woman; but the other female faculty did not agree.
Once I saw Palin’s positions on various issues of interest to me as a woman and a scientist, I was appalled that someone would have such a low opinion of women in general to think that Palin would help McCain. I hope these Rovian strategists are not correct.
She reminds me of the health instructor from Donnie Darko.
Or Putney Swope
Sarah Palin! Charge!
<a href=”http://www.freesmileys.org”
Wow Palins a great choice for Mccain. Palins all about drilling in national parks screwing endangered species is an abortion extremist and is under investigation for misusing her power as Gov. of Alaska. She holds a Bachelors degree in communication/journalism from the University Of Idaho. She dreamed of being a espn sports reporter. While Mccain cant think for himself and relies on cue cards or a teleprompter to say anything intelligent. He was third to last in his class of almost 800 people at a U.S naval academy. A naval academy he arguably got into because of his four star general dad. He has melanoma “skin cancer” he was born in 1936, he is good friends with the current President A.K.A the worst president ever elected. Obama graduated from Harvard law with honor, Biden graduated from University of Delaware in Newark, where he double-majored in history and political science. He went on to graduate from Syracuse University College of Law. Considering Obama and Bidens education and that they are not taking any money from special interest groups. It makes it considerably hard for me to believe anything Mccain Palin is doing or saying his/her agendas rely in the lobbyists that give them huge donations. With that said you can either vote for an idiot that could croak at any moment and leave the White House to a person with a 4 year degree that is a beauty pageant winner and has dream of working for espn. Or you could rely on a Harvard graduate with an honest dream of a better America who is morally sound. A Syracuse graduate that would actually work for everyday Americans and has tons of government experience with foreign and domestic issues abroad. If you pick Mccain you are either really rich and would actually gain something from him being president or your really stupid.
I cant wait for the VP debate and Presidential debates Obama and Biden will own them.
If Mccain Palin is elected I will be moving to Canada, taking my Degree elsewhere and laugh when this country continues to crumbles around the edges.
This is a very important election either we are screwed or we are saved. TV news media spins stuff to look a lot better then it seems. Google each candidate for an hour or more before you swing in a direction. This should take four hours or more of time it doesn’t have to be done in one day. Once you are swinging in a direction watch the debates four in total three presidential debates one VP debate. Then make up your mind. Its the best way to get to know your candidates in a unbiased way. Its all about who make up the more believable lie, the republicans are very good at this. Be aware!!!
Sean: Stop being such an unquestioning feminist! She supports banning abortion in the cases of rape and incest and she supports teaching Creationism in schools.
Read Darwin’s great great grandson’s essay on the ID trial in Penn:
http://www.wesjones.com/gorilla.htm
McCain’s choice is one of cynicism and breathtaking inanity.