Palin Is Ready? Please.

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  • Posted By: Joval @ 09/29/2008 6:54:20 AM

    Without being disrespectful, to this lady whom I admire so much. How did Sarah Palin become the Governor of an American State? I listened to her response as to why she feels being the governor of a State close to Russia helps boost her foriegn policy credentials. I was completely embarassed. Initially, when she was asked the question, I was happy, hoping that she would simply smile and say something like, "that was just a joke and I don't understand why people should take it very serious. Well having said that, we have been holding some sort of friendly talks with our Russian neighbors at very low level.....bla, bla, bla,.." But to my greatest disappointment she was struggling to defend what she said. I hope Mr. Putin and Medvedev didn't watch that interview. I would advice Senetor McCain's campaign team to find any reason why she should not take part in the V.P. candidate debates come Friday. The more she speaks on camera, the more she reduces the little esteem the World still has for America. A nation, expected to lead World. With Sarah Palin as Vice President? I don't think so. Please answer me; can presidential candidates change their running-mates?

    • Posted By: marksgershenson @ 09/29/2008 9:43:54 AM

      Its called the Peter Principle. She is way over her head now.

    • Posted By: Braes @ 09/29/2008 9:20:48 AM

      Ok, there are plenty of really small American States, as far as population goes. Most have the geographic territory of countries. They also have quirky constitutions, and an independently controlled military component. Being a Governor is not that big of a deal. All of this junk about executive experience is funny. Few if any of them could run a corporation, or large business. Most states are not really well run.

  • Posted By: teddyo @ 09/29/2008 9:43:52 AM

    Mr Grumpy Old Man who would not look a his Obama not even one time during the debate, picked her after talking to her only once at some party. What do you expect ?

  • Posted By: Vmineb @ 09/29/2008 6:23:42 AM

    If just spouting off talking points as answers to questions from some one who is just as unqualified to ask the question makes you unqualified for the job of VP then Biden shouldn't be where he is on the Democratic ticket. As a matter of fact Hussain Obama shoudn't be on the ticket either. When he goes off script he sounds like a rambling fool.

    • Posted By: marksgershenson @ 09/29/2008 9:42:55 AM

      Have you ever gone off script or do you know anyone else that has ever gone off script? I didn't hear Obama go off script in the debate. Did you? But this article has nothing to do with Obama, McCain or Biden. This discussion is about Palin.

  • Posted By: prof3 @ 09/29/2008 9:26:35 AM

    Independent ThinkR must be under the age of 10. Three times in my lifetime, the VP has become President suddenly and without warning. We ARE electing a Vice President. It does matter. McCain is 72 and a 4-time cancer victim. He had treatment for a skin lesion over the summer. Wake up and think.

    • Posted By: Braes @ 09/29/2008 9:40:59 AM

      He isn't an Independent anything. He is soooo GOP that Palin is worth fighting for. She is just another McCain tantrum come home to roost.

  • Posted By: Tina49 @ 09/29/2008 8:07:20 AM

    Why? Because she wants to attack your beloved Pakistan?

    Let's have Biden drop out first. He didn't know that FDR was not the President when the stock market crashed. Bush didn't know who the President of Pakistan was yet we didn't hear calls for him to bow out. When Tim Russert asked Obama and Hillary Clinton who the new President of Russia was after Putin, Obama didn't have a clue. The President of Russia, he didn't know anything about!! But commentators only think it's appropriate for women to drop out of the race.

    The truth is that this sounds to women just like Hillary's campaign, when pig headed sexist men called for her to drop out so that King Obama could assume his throne. Not so fast, I say. Sarah Palin shouldn't drop out until all the dumb ass men drop out first, but then we wouldn't have an election because all the men would be gone! And Gov. Palin is more experienced than Obama. He says he's run a campaign of 79 people so that qualifies him to be President. She's run a government of 29,000 people. Women are tired of unqualified men taking their slot.

    I've been to Pakistan and India. It's not pretty. You still burn women alive over there and shoot them. We women in the US want a female President just like African Americans want a black President. Women are 54% of the electorate. We should be represented, even if you men don't like it. And after all, with Palin, McCain has a chance of winning which is why the liberals at Newsweek are scared to death of her.

    • Posted By: jnaqvi @ 09/29/2008 9:05:25 AM

      As a Pakistani I would like to know when was the last time you went there 1936 (the year John McCain was born). Because otherwise you would not make such a ignorant comment about the people there burning their women etc. If anything you would know that the women in Pakistan have more rights than the women in America and they're not treated like sex objects as they're in the states. Our women have something that average American women like yourself and Sarah Palin appear to be lacking which is self respect for ones self and family values. So next time you decide to bash another countries culture take a look at your own.

      • Posted By: waterfairee @ 09/29/2008 9:40:58 AM

        Here here! you tell em girl. Thanks for your post!

    • Posted By: Braes @ 09/29/2008 9:07:12 AM

      Fareed's Pakistan? Fareed is now an American there silly. He is also on the Council for Foreign Relations and a scholar. Now, I might not agree with the CFR agenda, and might not agree with him personally at all times, I have never seen any pro-Pakistan bias whatsoever.
      Palin is useless except before a teleprompter. A mere puppet. Is that what you want your daughters to emulate as a role model? I do not.

  • Posted By: mnnngj @ 09/29/2008 7:38:38 AM

    Too true.
    When Grampy loses I bet he will say his advisors choice of Palin did him in. He could be right but it will also be because of him. Palin however is a big liability and they are probably right to keep her bunkered and not answering any questions. We all know she is in intensive day and night school trying to catch up on international affairs etc. but no matter how much lipstick you latther on this one its just not going to stick.

    • Posted By: Braes @ 09/29/2008 9:31:52 AM

      McCain wanted Liebermann and the Right-Wing revolted. Then he tried with Pro-Abortion Tom Ridge and they flew off at the handle.
      He dropped Caribou-Barbie into the fray and they went wild. Then they listened to her and have tried to run the script for her since. They also said "She will not be Disrespected by the Media." which is GOP code for, holy hell we really need a lot of cover, let's blame the press.
      They have since blown the roll-out. She had to talk sometime and Couric is an almost foxnews player.

  • Posted By: jamestwo@cfl.rr.com @ 09/29/2008 9:25:43 AM

    I regret that the only sentiment I can express for the McCain/Palin or Palin/McCain ticket is pity. If any single thing exemplifies the most fearful flaw in McCain's personality it is the grossly irresponsible choice he has made for a running mate. It is abundantly clear to anyone with an IQ above 100 that this was essentially a reckless, politically opportunistic choice. So much for "country first"! McCain is not a maverick. He is fundamentally a reckless gambler. This may not even be an admirable trate in a fighter pilot. It certainly is not a trate we want in our next president.

  • Posted By: mnelson54 @ 09/29/2008 7:08:28 AM

    Last week your argument would have made a lot of sense. But, lets see, now we have the geniuses that have been thinking about these problems for a long time running helter skelter to Congress with a three page plan to spend $700 billion dollars of tax payer's money on Wall Street. Maybe it is time for the Harvard grads to step aside and give a mother of five a chance.

    • Posted By: Braes @ 09/29/2008 9:16:09 AM

      This is not about Harvard vs Hearth. Harvard has never been anti-family.
      Being a good mom is awesome. It is also not what I want in a brain surgeon, lawyer, professor or President. (They can be mom's, it's just not why I am hiring them.)
      Palin lacks the skill sets. That's all.
      It's not a job where "I'll get back to ya!" is in the range of acceptable options.

  • Posted By: jean lynn @ 09/29/2008 9:05:50 AM

    Thanks for your incisive analysis of Gov. Palin's performance thus far as candidate for VP. You were right to include extensive direct quotes: her responses are quite baffling and essentially vapid. Of all of the decisions that Sen. McCain has made during his 72 years on this Earth, the choice of Sarah Palin must rank in the top segment of worsts. The only positive aspect of her candidacy is that it decreases the likelihood of McCain's being elected.

  • Posted By: jean lynn @ 09/29/2008 9:05:43 AM

    Thanks for your incisive analysis of Gov. Palin's performance thus far as candidate for VP. You were right to include extensive direct quotes: her responses are quite baffling and essentially vapid. Of all of the decisions that Sen. McCain has made during his 72 years on this Earth, the choice of Sarah Palin must rank in the top segment of worsts. The only positive aspect of her candidacy is that it decreases the likelihood of McCain's being elected.

  • Posted By: jean lynn @ 09/29/2008 9:04:31 AM

    Thanks for your incisive analysis of Gov. Palin's performance thus far as candidate for VP. You were right to include extensive direct quotes: her responses are quite baffling and essentially vapid. Of all of the decisions that Sen. McCain has made during his 72 years on this Earth, the choice of Sarah Palin must rank in the top segment of worsts. The only positive aspect of her candidacy is that it decreases the likelihood of McCain's being elected.

  • Posted By: collegevoter @ 09/29/2008 5:31:13 AM

    Why do Republicans always try to change the subject and fail to take responsiblity? There are all of these conservative posts on here whining about what kind of a journalist Fareed Zakaria is. Who cares? Is he right or wrong? That's all I care about. And does anyone, literally ANYONE, still think Palin is a qualified Vice Presidential candidate at this point? If not, then that's the end of the discussion.

    • Posted By: Braes @ 09/29/2008 8:58:27 AM

      They can't win over an educated voter, they do the low-information voter big time. Slime with smears.
      Generally they are dropping prepared bombs in here to scroll a discussion down. They have Rove run shops of disinformation to get into peoples heads.

  • Posted By: JackieLynn @ 09/29/2008 8:51:31 AM

    Sarah Palin is not ready to represent our country domestically or to foreign leaders. To those who think she is: read her responses in the Couric or Gibson interviews. If you still think she's ready: either you're putting party over country, or you are one of those "low information voters" (i.e., ignorant). Unfortunately, we have too many in this country, willing to devalue intelligent thinking at our country's expense.

  • Posted By: p1tey1 @ 09/27/2008 4:03:04 PM

    Comment: Sarah Palin is an insult to the intelligence of all American's. And John McCain's decision to put her on his ticket is just another example of his poor decision making. To think that this woman could possibly be President if something happened to McCain is down right FRIGHTENING.

    • Posted By: KarenN2 @ 09/29/2008 8:47:14 AM

      KarenN2

      McCain made a decision, & it was McCain first, country last. He "picked" Palin to get to the women who were irritated that Clinton was out, & the Christian right, that had abandoned him. He appears to think he's an invulnerable 72 year old cancer survivor. I say this as a woman who normally votes Republican, but couldn't be paid to this year. Palin in control? Horrors

  • Posted By: charcam @ 09/29/2008 8:46:59 AM

    Mr. Zakaria, For many years I refused to read you or Tom Friedman after hearing the two of you on Charlie Rose say that invading Iraq was a wise thing to do. It seemed so foolish to me. Perhaps now I can resume reading your material, but I still pass on anything Tom writes.

  • Posted By: libi @ 09/29/2008 8:42:50 AM

    This election has set back female Politicians 50 years.

    We need to add an education requirement of the office of President and VP. If a person did not have the intelligence and discipline to achieve a "B" average in College they have no business running for the highest office in our land

  • Posted By: onthemark60 @ 09/29/2008 8:36:01 AM

    Good old John McClueless...still chasing skirts, looks like the "maverick" has caught a doozy this time.

  • Posted By: JackieLynn @ 09/29/2008 8:33:52 AM

    Thank you, Mr. Zakaria, for pointing out the obvious. Mr. McCain could have selected any of a number of qualified Republican women to run as VP--Kaye Bailey Hutchinson, for instance. He chose Palin, whose answers are talking points surrounded by a bunch of rambling spin. As a woman, I'm offended also that the term "sexism" is used in reference to Palin--it is not sexist to say she's incompetent. She is!!

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