The Palin Gamble

What will it say about her if she DOESN'T begin a relationship with the media? If she can't answer questions, whatever they may be, she should not be able to step in, oh so gently, into the second most powerful position in the WORLD. She's one Evangelical vote away . . . and McCain may not survive the inauguration.

I don't think this political gimmick will survive 60 days of national scrutiny in what might be the most closely watched campaign in our history.

I was rooting for McCain in 2000 and had we won his primary, I would have seriously considered voting for him. My first choice this year was Biden, and he was knocked out pretty early (although being selected for VP made me happy). Even though I was leaning D this year, I was willing to listen to McCain and his plan for the country. I was dismayed when the GOP trotted out Palin. If it wasn't a desperate political ploy, it sure looked like one. All of the super secrecy, and the fact that she checks so many boxes for the Republican party that looked terrified after the DNC has made me very suspicious.

The GOP may gain some voters with this tactic of selecting a VP based on their ability to bring a victory instead of picking the best person for the job, but they lost me and I know for a fact that I'm not alone. What they did felt cheap and insulting to us as a country.

That said, if they manage to win, I will support them fully, until they give me reason to do otherwise. :)

In Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. John McCain has found a fellow maverick to be his running mate -- one who can help bring the right kind of reform to Washington. Ms. Palin, like Mr. McCain, has a strong record of battling the status quo, restoring accountability and effectiveness to government, and working to secure energy independence, root out corruption and curb wasteful spending. As the chief executive of the nation's largest state, Ms. Palin oversees some of the country's largest energy reserves. She came into office at a critical time in Alaska politics, facing a system plagued by corruption. Her response was to immediately begin cleaning it up. The results of her leadership today speak for themselves: Ms. Palin's approval ratings top 80% -- more than 60% higher than that of the Democratic Congress.
Ms. Palin has a tangible, impressive record of achievement and executive experience. She is head of the Alaska National Guard and the chairman of two multistate agencies that make energy decisions that affect all Americans. While Barack Obama spent almost all of the past two years running for president, Ms. Palin has been running a state.

If, God forbid, anything happens to McCain, I cannot see Palin stepping up as President. No way.

Her views are fringe, far rightwing views shared by few: opposing abortion rights even for victims of rape and incest, opposing contraception, opposing sex education and supporting abstinence education only, supporting teaching Creationism in public schools, not believing global warming is man-made.

As Mayor of Wasala, she asked the city librarian how she could go about banning books that had "inappropriate language??? in them.

She fired the police chief for opposing a gun law that she and the NRA, her campaign contributors, supported. She told her city department heads that they needed her permission to talk to reporters.

Citizens in the town tried to organize a recall election against her.

Less than two years into her governorship, she is already embroiled in an investigation about abuse of power: firing a public safety commissioner who did not fire a state trooper who was divorcing her sister.

This is a pattern of behavior that is better called abuse of power than ???maverick.???

Although she claims to be against the "bridge to nowhere," she was actually for it when she was campaigning for governorship in 2006. After winning $220 million pork-barrel earmark money from the federal government and winning the governorship, she flip-flopped and scrapped the bridge project and kept the money for other purposes. Yet now she is part of McCain???s campaign,promising to be against pork-barrel spending. I am not to believe anything Palin says. Palin is basically crooked, and by extension, McCain is also seriously questioned. Any presidential candidate who chooses a VP who is unfit to be president is automatically disqualified as a serious contender.

ps continuing my last comment re: differences between an executive role and legislative roles which place even the minimal experience of Palin ahead of the others in terms of how qualified she is (even if I won't vote for her due to policy differences).

If anything the problem with eg Obama is that he acts as if he knows more than he does and seems to misunderstand the executive role (eg his strange view that governments aren't negotiating or communicating simply because the leaders haven't talked.. when the real work is done by underling policy wonks.. or that lack of "official" diplomatic relations means there isn't similarly communication through underlings and the issue of diplomatic relations being one of the negotiating cards in a complicated process he should be trusting experts to deal with). Again, chief executives of entities (govt. or private) need to be able to delegate and trust experts when the entities they run are far too large and diverse for any human to know everything about them. There is a difference between legislating high level laws.. and implementing them, ie "executing" on them in the executive branch.

Gov. Palin provides some sorely needed energy to the McCain campaign, for now. As the public learns more about her values and beliefs the enthusiasm will fade, except among the true believers like herself. Republicans have come a long way on anti- abortion, anti-global warming, anti- evolution, anti-immigration, anti-tax but not anti-spend,and of course anti-terrorism. While they have been making us poorer but safer in Iraq and Afghanistan most Americans have become more anxious at home. Something is wrong and it can't be blamed on abortion, immigration, global warming, evolution, the terrorists or the Democrats. Gov. Palin distracts voters from the Republican record. She didn't do us wrong and she likes hockey for Gods sake. All those failed Republican policies will still fail under her and Sen. McCain's guidance, but by God she has a great smile. She has enough experience to satisfy Rush, Karl, Fox News etc. and the evangelicals love her. Gov. Palin went off like a firecracker and she is sure to capture the Republican mommy vote. Her right wing ideas are a little scary to the rest of us, but at least she is better looking than Joe Lieberman.

Clift says that Palin is not fit to be President. You can not make that statement without bringing Obama to mind.

This must be one the cleverest traps of political history. McCain puts Palin on the ticket, on the surface taking the issue of experiencde off the table, but the Democrats keep putting it back on the table, utterly blind to the shortcomings of their own candidate who's at the top of their ticket!

ABOUT SARAH PALIN:

http://webpages.charter.net/suasponte/

If you really want to know Sarah Palin's history (in detail) this is a "must read". It was written by Anne Kilkenny, a resident of Wasilla, Alaska.

ABOUT SARAH PALIN:

http://webpages.charter.net/suasponte/

If you really want to know Sarah Palin's history (in detail) this is a "must read". It was written by Anne Kilkenny, a resident of Wasilla, Alaska.

It's a laugh that Obama has been painted into a corner where he is having to run against the GOP vice-presidential candidate.
I laugh when any Democrat questions Palin's qualifications for vice-President while ignoring Obamas qualitifcations for president.
The Republican back-up quarterback is better qualified than the Democrat starter.