You guys repeatedly quoting Dirt completely ruins this boards ignore feature.
Let Palin Be Palin
Why the left is scared to death of McCain’s running mate.
by William Kristol
I do wonder if Kristol is laughing when he writes this stuff.
Right, I’m sure that’s going to last until at least Tuesday.
We just want you to enjoy the full majesty of Dirt as much as we do.
Does she say “nuclear” or “nucular”? It sounds like “nucular” but I can’t make it out for sure.
I can’t believe anyone could listen to that horrible screech more than once.
Come on, you know the negatives are coming back (barring McCain getting total dominance in the polls). I don’t know if it’s fair to put all the blame for the negative campaign on McCain in any case – it’s what works in American politics, taking the high road rarely does.
I’ve got to admit I’m a little surprised Fooey, I had guessed you were more of a social moderate/fiscal conservative type. Didn’t have you pegged for a creationist who believed rape victims should be denied abortion. There does seem to be little argument with her being a strong social conservative. She’s totally untested in serious campaigns though, so I guess we’ll all see how she holds up.
I stopped it there, but I did replay that part a few times. Maybe Fooey is the only one that can help me. I don’t think I could vote for another ticket that says “nucular”.
Well, I jumped on the Obama train after hearing the man speak more than a dozen times and realizing we were seeing the genesis of an actual leader. I first starting watching him after his 2004 speech, which surprised just about everybody. Then he kept doing the right things. Sure, I’ve disagreed with some of his policy statements and past Senatorial votes, but I see a man smart enough to make the best decision possible after careful consideration of the facts and with the people skills necessary to bring others to his side. In short, a leader.
I can see the appeal of Palin as a person to the Right; she has a ton of kids, always talks lovingly about her husband, is an outdoorswoman, and a social conservative. Plus, she’s kinda hot. But her resume’s not just razor thin, she doesn’t even HAVE one. There are more people registered on Qt3 than in the entire town for which she used to be mayor. Sure, she’s a governor, but she’s governor of a state that has less people than most major US cities. And not only has she been doing the job for less than a year, which means she hasn’t even had a chance to do anything yet, she’s still governor of Alaska, where nothing ever happens.
So here’s my question to you: Are you REALLY excited about Palin as a candidate, or simply happy because she might be the anti-Obama and generate her own fan club?
Because, most of the views of the people in this thread where Obama and Palin are concerned are based more on partisan politics and a double standard than actual “logic”. A few of the things I’ve brought up in this thread to counter many people’s attacks on Palin are things people brought up when defending Obama when he started running for President.
Yep, this is the big one. I think people who think this was a bad selection are greatly underestimating the number of socially conservative people living in this country. Just because you don’t know many or think they’re all stupid doesn’t mean they have no power. And sure, her resume is thin, but many people think her views are more important. That’s true on the left, as well, which is why I think McCain decided to vacate his “inexperience” argument. It wasn’t working.
One doesn’t have to be a creationist who believes rape victims should be denied abortion to be happy with the pick. Some people are just happy she’s socially conservative in general, since socially conservative views were sorely lacking in this election.
Here’s an avatar for everyone.
This is getting hilarious.
Translation: we’re horning in on his turf.
A few of the things I’ve brought up in this thread to counter many people’s attacks on Palin are things people brought up when defending Obama when he started running for President.
See? Dirt is the master of double-standards. Stop trying to steal his thunder.
Tom Chick for President!
I don’t get it. THAT speech is seen as inspiring? I’m a centrist (check my results in the other thread!), but her speech just seems pretty bleh to me. Maybe the fact that she is talking about all the things she did in Alaska is part of it. I can’t help but think that the major issues of Alaska just don’t translate to even minor issues of the U.S. itself.
She wants to challenge the status quo? What does that mean? She IS the status quo in many ways. And where she isn’t, she’s scary.
There are a lot of things about Obama that bother me, including some of his ideas about reform. But Palin detracts from McCain’s campaign, at least for me. It’s seriously pushing me toward Obama more every time I read something else about her.
See, there’s the difference. The people who like her think that where she’s not the status quo, she’s awesome.
Oh, I didn’t mean that. I had (unfairly) stereotyped him with the other republicans who work in finance in the NYC area I know – they mostly have a similar political philosophy. Sort of libertarian, plus “aggressive” foreign policy, but without much care for social issues. Not the sort of people who get excited about social conservatives, except in as much as they might help get a republican elected and cut more taxes for rich people.
Of course I’m pretty bigoted about creationists, so I’m always surprised if someone can look past that.
Honestly, after reading and watching as much as possible on her, she seems like a good woman who’s done well in Alaska, but I get this nagging feeling McCain has done her a great disservice. You can’t make any kind of experience argument for her - she’s a housewife who decided to get involved in politics and did extremely well in her state. Now she’s getting raked through the coals with all manner of cruel personal attacks, demonization, etc. that goes with today’s politics.
It is indeed clearly a sign that, despite the polls, McCain feels like he’s in trouble, and had to do something totally off the wall to see if it would stick and turn things around. It is also scary in terms of what it demonstrates about McCain’s decision making process. No doubt this was a hope to grab some disgruntled Hillary voters, to get the hard core social conservatives, and to create some kind of image. But it seems to be a shallow thought process. Time will tell. Certainly, what Obama needs to do is put in the voters’ minds the thought of Palin as President and making the decisions on Iraq, Iran, Putin invading another country, etc.
One thing that I do not attribute to McCain’s thought process: it may, perhaps, give independents who are deep down racists a way to feel good by thinking, hey, I can vote for something historic without having to vote for Obama.
No. It’s a sign of confidence. It’s a sign he actually wants to win. If you understand the people he is aiming for - that is to say, Americans, as opposed to foreigners, political insiders, and deracinated culture-free urban liberals such as populate this board - this becomes very clear.
However, this thread has demonstrated pretty conclusively that the other side is not really capable of understanding why that is the case, so there’s no point going into the details here. What remains to be seen is if the political boundaries of the USA still contain a majority of Americans.
Real Americans vote Republican? You’re pretty pathetic.
This sounds a bit patronizing. Because she’s a “housewife” she was ignorant of the criticism she’d endure on a national ticket and/or not capable of enduring it?
BTW, let’s just run through her bio and see how well the housewife label applies:
I’m guessing a bit at this chronology, mostly based on data from Wikipedia. Don’t take this as perfect…
circa 1982 : Graduates high school after being a stand-out athlete (it seems).
circa 1984 : Competes in beauty pageants (fairly successfully).
1982-1987 : Attends college (multiple colleges), graduates with BS in communications-journalism, minor in poly-sci.
1988 : Marries Todd Palin. Oldest son is now apparently 19, putting his birth year circa 1989. Next 2 oldest are 17 and 14, so she had several kids moderately quickly.
Sometime after college: Brief time as a sports reporter. Works with her husband in commercial fishing. I don’t know how much fishing she did or for how long - but that’s not lightweight work.
1992 : Elected to Wasilla city council. Serves 2 terms through 1996.
1996 : Elected mayor of Wasilla. She ran for and won re-election in 1999, so I’m guessing they have 3 year terms? If so, she was mayor for about 6 years.
2002 : Runs for Lt. Gov., loses race (2nd in 5-way Republican primary).
2003-2004 : Chair of Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, also Ethics Supervisor. Resigns in protest over “lack of ethics”. Apparently exposes issues, leads to resignations of others.
2006 : Elected Alaska Governor.
Sounds like a lot more than a simple housewife. The only significant time when she WASN’T involved in politics in some way, post-college, was in her first four or so years after graduating, when she was, at least for a time, a sports reporter and involved in commercial fishing, a new wife and a new mom.