Nice gesture, but...
John McCain has selected Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential running mate, according to the McCain campaign, a surprise pick sure to shake up the race and reinforce the idea of the Arizona senator as a reformer.
The news that Palin, the mayor of a small town in Alaska just two years ago, was the pick came after CNN reported that a private plane had traveled from the Last Frontier to Dayton, Ohio where McCain is set to unveil his vice presidential pick later today. The Palin news came after the two supposed frontrunners -- Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney -- each confirmed he would not be traveling to Dayton today.
In picking Palin, McCain is taking a calculated risk. She is totally unknown and untested on the national stage but also has impressive credentials in her short time in public life.
And hey! What's wrong with a weak resume?
Still, it's nice to see that one major party can "man up" and deal with a woman on the ticket.
I wonder if misogyny will turn out to be post-partisan?
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Fantastic!
We'll get racism from the right and sexism from the left. Ain't America grand!
In all seriousness this is a risky pick, which I think is what McCain needed because it has some big upsides (as well as some downsides). The big potential upsides are:
1) Palin has a reputation for being something of a maverick in Alaska politics in that she filed ethics complaints against members of her own party (although she recently had a bit of a kefluffle about the firing of a former in-law);
2) She paints herself as a more rational voice on energy and the environment (her husband is a dog sledder IIRC) which will play into what I believe is McCain's plan to appear to run to Obama's left on the environment (we're going to hear a lot more about Obama supporting the Cheney energy bill and McCain opposing it - it plays against the McSame theme);
3) It guarantees McCain some news coverage and his own claim to history on the run (sure, Hillary wasn't making history, but you can bet the media will think Palin is);
4) Palin has a very compelling personal narrative (young child with autism, former sports star and beauty queen);
5) Because she's young, she's a chance to get the Republicans enthused about this election as being about the future and not just McCain this year; and
6) Of course, it gives all those fauxgressives a chance to spew misogyny and sexism all over the place again (they're already doing it with Cindy McCain) - it may not win McCain more women's votes but it could depress Obama's.
Ha
I knew McCain's pick would be strageically better than Obama's. But I thought Palin was a longshot.
More than a gesture
Lambert. This is big.
Last night's Big Speech has been erased on TV this AM as if it never happened. And Palin gives all the media types the perfect opportunity to prove they so aren't misogynists.
I'm not voting for McCain (or probably Obama, either, but we'll see), but I'm absolutely thrilled and I suspect most of the rest of the 18 million are also cheering this morning.
Hillary
has certainly become a much more important surrogate for Obama and the Democratic Party. McCain almost single-handedly insured that they can't simply shove her in the closet (not that she would stand for that anyway).
A Silver Lining
a woman VP is never going to be enough to get me to vote for McCain, but it's at least a silver lining that if he should win, we'll get the first woman VP. It's kind of like how I feel about Condi Rice. She's wrong about everything and awful, but that would be true for any white man Bush had picked for her jobs, too. At least she opens up the idea that awful non-white men can be selected for these jobs. Which isn't a lot, but it ain't nothing.
And now whenever people talk about McCain's age...
... subconsciously people will think "Well, Palin is next in line."
Could be good, could be bad for McCain.
I'm sure she'll be put in the crucible over the next few days; pass the popcorn!
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
It Will Be Fun To Watch
and see if she holds up. A female governor of Alaska and mother of five, however, strikes me as probably being pretty tough, but we'll see.
It helps that the Democrats have taken away a lot of complaints that could be used about her - she's too young (only two years younger than Obama), she doesn't have enough experience (she has almost as much as Obama and is the VP not the Pres), she was an affirmative action pick only for her sex (Obama himself has said his race helped him). Her weaknesses have become things Dems have written off as unimportant in a presidential candidate so it's kind of hard for them to pick on them in a VP candidate.
And as someone at Talk Left say, every time some Democrat calls her feisty, Obama probably loses at least one woman's vote (even if it doesn't go to McCain).
a Governor too--executive experience-
that no one else in the race has.
That's been what's needed for the VP pick--and why Biden was such a mistake.
Did Condi Rice succeed?
Unfortunately, Rice is no poster child for success beyond succeeding in winning prominent appointments in a presidential administration. Her actual conduct on the job? Epic failure. But, I agree that it sure is something for non-white, non-males to fail as spectacularly as white men have been failing for the 232 years of the Republic!
I'm waiting to hear more about Palin, but I agree that it sure is giving the chattering classes something else to chatter on about today. I'm also more than a little depressed about what this says about women and political leadership in the U.S. We rejected leadership from a strong, experienced, exceedingly smart and competent woman, but we may embrace a much younger, much less experienced woman? Palin may turn out to be a tough and smart cookie--I'm not saying she's not--but I'm concerned that this is not Revolutionary, but reactionary: we don't want competence and experience in women--we prefer that they remain decorative and essentially irrelevant. That's what it will look like to me anyway if it turns out she's more like Dan Quayle than Al Gore.
Condi Succeeded
only in broadening the definition of who looks like a Secretary of State (as did Colin Powell). On every other front she failed, but that still gives her one more success than some former Secretary of States can claim.
A Strategic, Forward Thinking Pick
No, she won't sway HRC supporters who also would not have been swayed by a woman Dem VP. She will provide cover for those who are looking for a reason to vote Republican.
Most of all, she will appeal to people *within* the Republican Party who are looking for a reason to stay with their ticket. This is not so much a choice to woo Democrats as to solidify Republicans. The Obama campaign is strongly pursuing Republican fence-sitters who like the bipartisan message and aren't happy with the stasis of the Republican campaign. Palin shakes up her side of the poltiical aisle in good ways for them. It gives them their own media darling.
The optics - gravitas at the top of the ticket, youth and energy in the VP position, ready to learn the ropes and be the next generation of Republican leader. This is the opposite dynamic of the Dem ticket. It should have been what we were presenting.
Will it work? Maybe. It is a much more compelling ticket than McCain + [fill in old plutocratic white guy's name here]. It was a savvy political move on McCain's part because it makes him look more daring than Obama. And in politics, appearance routinely trumps reality.
Anglachel
yup--
it really is a briliant and bold choice for them -- and it did knock Obama right out of the news.
Maverick
Smart TL commenter points out maybe the most important broader political impact, which is it smashes home the idea (or illusion) that McCain is an independent thinker and a true maverick.
The other major impact is on the media-- short-term completely switching the story and the excitement from Obama's big speech to the GOP overnight, and long-term for the general narrative.
Palin also totally shores up McCain on things like guns and abortion and working-class identity.
The bottom line
This shows that disgruntled Democrats have more leverage over the GOP at this moment than over their own party.
That's not to say McCain-Palin is a good ticket, but clearly the GOP sees upside in the PUMAs, while the Dems see a bunch of dried-up, SMS-challenged Bubba-ettes.
Obama showed himself a path toward running like a real Democrat last night, until he retrenched into his tired old New Politics themes. Time for him to man up and ride that donkey as far as he can.
If McCain Ends Up Winning
which I don't want, but has been possible for awhile now, I don't mind the narrative that the Dems sat silent in the face of misogyny and drove women to the GOP or dampened their enthusiasm. It's much better than some of the other potential narratives (Dems are losers who suck).
And I have to admit that I'm pretty happy that McCain just made women important again, no taking them for granted now by the Democrats. Although you can bet that there will be at least some wooing that is really just insults (women are just so stupid, they'll vote for anyone with ovaries (never spoken of, of course, will be why black Americans voted 90% for Obama in the primary)).
It also has the added benefit of making me somewhat protective of the McCain ticket, which is just odd. I want McCain to go down, but I want it to be because he sucks, not because Palin crumbles or is barraged with sexism.
Shorter VL
Somebody's asking for my vote!
Yes, Obama did that with words last night, and McCain did it with actions today (and Obama had the chance at action, but muffed it*).
All of which is not to say that the Rs are not 2% more evil; just to say that it's a very smart choice.
NOTE * Not that Obama ever could have chosen Hillary, BTD's logic notwithstanding. You can't smear somebody as racist, and then smear them with calling for your death, and put them on your ticket. America has a pretty short memory, but not that short. But I don't think people see it as I do; they just see that Hillary wasn't picked.
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
That's why he had to pick Biden
Who would never say anything that could be construed as racist.
Ouch!
Snap!
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
Obama golf
Obama muffed -- oh, why bother, it writes itself.
She's not Whitman or Fiorina,
so she won't be tarred with that fascist-CEO groove thang brush.
Still, her demographic similarity to Obama insulates the entire ticket from inexperience attacks, while shoring up GOP desires for McCain's seasoned hand.... well, I'm stopping there, metaphor icky...
One of Obama's "must win" states is now off the table
Obama can forget winning Alaska now.
Also, the borderline misogyny, straight form Obama's campaign, is starting already:
Obama spokesman Bill Burton:
Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency.
And here is some from a Dem who isn't part of Obama's campaign:
A Democratic operative unaffiliated with the Obama campaign rolls out an early line on Palin: "Geraldine Quayle."
They Can't Help Themselves
there's the answer to that question.
Palin can't get me to vote for McCain, but she very well may make it impossible for me to vote for Obama.
"Misogyny" - irony?
I hope labeling an attack on Palin's lack of foreign policy experience as "misogyny" is some kind of snark.
About as misogynist as attacking Obama's thin resume is racist. Distorted and stupid, maybe (what happened to the governorship?) but woman-hating?
As for "Geraldine Quayle" - that's just dumb.
Policy not party!
Not Snark
Here's how it works - when a woman is the more experienced as Hillary was in the primary, then experience doesn't matter. But when the man is more experienced (although in Obama's case it's just barely more experienced), then experience is key. Also, as BTD noted, Palin is not less experienced than Tim Kaine and the Dems thought it was fine to consider him for VP.
The Geraldine Quayle thing is also sexist, particularly the Geraldine part. Because it basically implies that Ferraro was a mistake. And she wasn't. Mondale didn't lose 49 states because of Geraldine Ferraro and no running mate was going to change the outcome in 1984. At least the Dems made a little history of the good kind on the way to their landslide loss. But by using Ferraro as the reference, it implies that 1984 was her fault when it wasn't.
yup--it's disgusting, and
if they keep this up, even more Democratic voters will sit this out for sure.
Palin has far more experience and accomplishments than Obama does--and has a track record of them too.
its the double standard....
...the attack on a woman who lacks experience when the party has just "unified" behind a male who lacks experience is all about a double standard.
Its always been okay to be "inexperienced" as a VP -- she's not running the country, and only would take the reigns if something disasterous happened and the president dies. Ultimately, when people question her experience, she can just say "Well, I'll gather all the facts, and ask myself, what would President McCain do?"
Nice!
“Geraldine Quayle” -- Totally connects to the hatred ginned up for Ferraro -- while pissing off older voters who remember what it was like at the time!
Way to go!
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
To insult Geraldine Ferraro is to insult Hillary Clinton
in absentia.
Do you think Mrs. Clinton will effectively campaign by bad-mouthing another female candidate?
Do you think she'll remember who's spreading these new insults that are OK, because they're not using her name?
Does anyone with a synapse think that they'll just search-and-replace all the Hillary jokes with Sarah's name?
Doesn't anyone want to win this game?
If this were a board game...
I'd say that the McCain campaign is pretty awesome at competing via memes: BHO finally unleashes a speech which recognizes that there are 2 parties, and they are different, and one of them has screwed up and needs to "own" their handiwork (isn't this as forceful as we've heard him on this point?); but the theme of the last four days in Denver up to and including last night has been:
"More of the same!" "More of the same!"
I think that's been neutered in several ways now.
Also, applause to the McCain strategerists for stepping on BHO's awesome event of awesomeness. BHO did this to HRC over and over and over during the primaries - scheduling events and announcements to step all over her remarkable election results.
Just like I wish the Democrats were able to fire their weapons upon Republicans, instead of each other, I wish the increasingly "with it" McCain campaign was in service of someone besides the horrible, horrible John McCain.
McCain never fit the "more of the same" stuff anyway--
that wasn't ever gonna work--the "maverick/independent" thing is far too engrained in the public's mind.
Obama gets punked!
What a bold move by McCain. The Dems spend a week (rightfully) tying him to the failed policies of the Bush administration, building to a magical crescendo that gets wiped out in less than 24 hours. what Fun!
They will take the attack from the Obama camp about Palin being a mayor of a town with only 9000 residents, and link it to Obama's own comments about the "bitter" rural voters.
In short, the Palin pick makes it possible to pull the Republican party to the center, for survival if no other reason. The rethugs love her, and they will get behind anything he does now because frankly, neither he or party has anything left to lose.
Read her wikipedia bio
I'm not voting R, and don't like her politics, but she's an excellent pick strategically IMO.
For starters, she has a journalism degree and broadcast experience, which should help her in the debates and with media. Whether she can handle the debate herself is questionable, but there's a possibility Biden may either underestimate her for their debate, or come off too misogynistic (and the Obama campaign may also).
She's pro-life, and just gave birth this year (knowingly) to a child with Down's Syndrome. She has an 18 year old son who's in the army and deploying to Iraq in September. Her husband is an Alaskan Native American and snowmobile racer.
She appears to have seriously attacked GOP corruption in AK and cut pork-barrel spending, including selling the state's luxury jet and canceling the bridge to nowhere. She appears to have taken on oil companies as well, and may be attractive environmentally.
Her supposed "Troopergate" doesn't look like a serious problem - the trooper involved (an ex-bro-in-law) "was briefly suspended for ten days for threatening to kill McCann's (and Palin's) father, tasering his 11-year-old stepson (at the stepson's request), and violating game laws".
As noted above, the pick reinforces McCain's faux maverick image.
I'm rarely good at predicting, but she seems to be potentially troublesome for the Dems, despite the feeding frenzy going on at Cheetopia.
Oh hell, the N.A. vote. the one obama's ignored?
the one McCain's cultivated?
Her babies have Obama's winsome life story, but with added ADA appeal. And she has walked the pro-life talk, unlike most anti-repro rights folk.
Biden is going to have to tread
more carefully, too -- esp in the debate.
AP/Fournier-"Palin's age, inexperience rival Obama's"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080829/ap_o...
(he's not impressed, but the GOP base totally is)
Gaah, Fournier
How I hate it when assholes say things that are true. Makes it hard to sort out.
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
Sarah "Barracuda" in HS--
wiki-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin
--and she gave gay state employees benefits -- "While the previous administration did not implement same-sex benefits, Palin complied with an Alaskan state Supreme Court order and signed them into law. ...
Palin's first veto was used to block legislation that would have barred the state from granting benefits to the partners of gay state employees. In effect, her veto granted State of Alaska benefits to same-sex couples. The veto occurred after Palin consulted with Alaska's attorney general on the constitutionality of the legislation.[35] ..."
(she graduated in 82, like me)
She has far more experience than Obama--in local govt since 92.
Gay.com on the benefits thing and her veto---
http://www.gay.com/news/article.html?200... -- Alaska governor won't block partner benefits
"Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin vetoed a bill Thursday that sought to block the state from giving health benefits to the same-sex partners of public employees, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
In the first veto of her new administration, Palin said she rejected the bill as unconstitutional despite her disagreement with a state Supreme Court order that directed the state to offer the benefits.
"Signing this bill would be in direct violation of my oath of office," Palin said in a written statement Thursday night. "
This is a very good sign--that even tho she's all Christian and whatever, she doesn't let that override the law and Constitution.
I Am Going To Enjoy This
Let the Dems deal with the sexist bullshit they spewed during the primary. It's created a minefield for them in terms of dealing with Palin. Couldn't happen to a more deserving group, IMO, than the party whose leader told us that he didn't realize there was sexism because he didn't have cable and its nominee who called women sweetie and feisty and suggested Hillary had only served tea as first lady.
They built this monster, I'm happy to see it turn on them.
Which is not to say that I would be happy to see McCain elected only that I'm happy that there will be some consequence for all the bullshit that spewed during the primary.
oo--Wolfson rubs it in
"Yesterday I argued that picking a woman for veep would help re-establish McCain's reputation as a maverick. If the pick is indeed Sarah Palin you are going to have a lot of women voters wondering why Senator Obama didn't tap Senator Clinton as his running mate."
-- http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank...
Pay closer attention "GOB"
First, you kind of forgot to address the word "borderline" in my comment, then you failed to realize that calling Mr's Palin "the former mayor of a town of 9,000" really diminishes the many accomplishments of THE GOVERNOR OF ALASKA, which can easily be thought of as a sexist attack.
More insensitive comments like this directly from Obama's campaign, combined with all the sexist comments they made about Hillary (monster, crying, claws) and a very damning picture emerges about Obama's campaign.
You sound angry "OxyCon",
but I don't see why. I'm not attacking you; I addressed the silliness of ignoring her time as governor. I simply don't see the point of seizing upon every stupid attack as necessarily sexist because the target is a woman and because the attacker has a history of such attacks, any more than I approve of calling every attack on Obama racist. There have already been plenty of nasty, sexist attacks on Palin by the bloggerboyz and media (see Melissa, on the job already, and I'm sure there will be plenty more from the Obama campaign.
Policy not party!
Who still thinks Obama is running an exceptional campaign?
The convention buzz is gone in less than 24 hours. Obama's VP--though I like him--was stale and predictable while McCain's was more risky, or "Maverick" if you will. (Seeing McCain at the announcement with the smirk didn't sit well with me, mind you.)
Obama could have been the president if he chose Hillary, end of story. His campaign did the stupidest thing imaginable by not chosing or even vetting her. Can we dispense with the meme that he has run a good campaign? Since Feb, he's lost and lost big even though he outspent two or three to one. How is that good? Take out caucuses and how good did he do?
& the more they knock Palin's experience/story, the more
they both highlight Obama's own glaring weaknesses--and alienate female voters who are already pissed.
CNN is all Palin all the time--
and NYTimes website too.
MoveOn, Schumer and Emmanuel continue the bleating
Seems like the entire DEM party is savaging Mrs. Palin's credentials.
These idiots are playing right into McCain's hands and they are too dumb to even realize it. Keep attacking her, morons, the backlash will be here in no time.
Go to Ben Smith's Politico blog for the stories.
they couldn't be more stupid at this point--
just idiotic.
I guess this is for sure the day Obama lost.
"Dems Pounce on Palin Pick"
-- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/29...
Dissing small towns and rural voters
SusanunPC of NQ (I know, I know), just made another very good point which I completely overlooked. Obama's spokesperson, Bill Burton not only attacked Mrs. Palin in a questionable way, he also just shat all over small town American and the rural voters who live there. Combine this with Obama's snobbish comments on same, and they just handed McCain a giant mallet to hammer them with.
Well, if you know...
... then why do it? There's plenty of other content ont his thread that says the same thing. So the value add is where?
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
Damnit. My head just 'sploded.
Re: Amberglow's post @:
http://www.correntewire.com/mccain_picks...
yup--she's actually better than
Obama, who has never lifted a finger to protect us, and who continues to use his religion as the reason why he won't act.
read it and weep.
she's not a psycho rightwinger.
This is going to be fun
Palin has no experience... she sucks!!
Hillary has a lot of experience... she sucks!!
Palin too young (slightly younger than Obama)... she sucks!!
McCain is too old (slightly older than Biden)... he sucks!!
Palin is political newbie... she sucks!! as opposed to arch-insider Biden but not really different from Obama
McCain represents old Washington... he sucks!! (as opposed to Biden, of course)
Palin got cooties... she sucks
the Rep party hates women (which it does)... they suck!!
Go Global!
they can't use drilling/oil against her either--both Obama &
Pelosi have already caved in on that issue.
This is a brilliant political move--on so many levels.
B-b-but Obama said last night
that drilling is a stopgap measure.
Of course he didn't say he would oppose it (just like FISA).
saying it's stopgap is supporting it
--it's pure caving in to GOP demands, as usual.
Clyburn better stop trashing Ferraro--
wtf is wrong with them?
WaPo-- McCain Introduces Alaska Governor Palin as Running Mate -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con... -- "... Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) compared Palin's choice to George H. W. Bush's choice of Dan Quayle and Walter Mondale's decision to pick Geraldine Ferraro.
"She proved to be a disaster as a running mate and a campaigner. She was just absolutely awful," Clyburn told a radio station in his state. "I think it is very risky for McCain to do this, but it may be all he has left." ..."
Clyburn = a phrase children shouldn't hear
He's a goddamn fool, because the *last* time the Democratic Party tried someone innovative, it was *her*.
Call Ferraro a wife to a corrupt man and so lastingly poisoned any defense she made of Clinton was distorted (grok that, all you "oh, Clinton's political career won't suffer lasting harm" idiots), but she was not a disaster, merely undervetted and red meat for a feral GOP oppo team.
and when they made the "safe" DC choice in Biden, they hurt
the whole "change" / against DC thing they were pushing so hard for so long.
i think "risky move by McCain" is their talking point--idiots!
so so dumb!
So I Guess We All Agree Then
Mondale's loss was Ferraro's fault.
And Palin = Ferraro because all women are exactly the same.
nuance is: nuancy.
No.
The tactics used to bring down Ferraro and Clinton will be tried with Palin -- and since the Dems don't remember that well what happened with Ferraro, they think their slurs won't have an effect on their failing attempt to shore up their female base.
No, the base is not monolithic, but it does recognize language used with Clinton being searched-and-replaced for Palin.
The ones who see Clinton and Palin as alike are sexists.
Is that clear enough for you?
Holy Shit
Something I agree 100% with cg.eye on.
I'm sorry about this cg if it wasn't the result you hoped for. But, IMO, this is dead fucking spot on.
I knew a guy
Who compared Obama's candidacy to Jesse Jackson's. That wasn't well-received, unlike the perfectly logical and defensible Ferraro-Palin comparison.
they don't have oppo stuff on her at all, apparently--
Looking to Wikipedia -- http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-tra...
"The Obama campaign learned that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has joined the McCain ticket shortly before leaving Denver for a Rust Belt bus tour. Staffers responded like many Americans presumably did: they Googled Palin and read her Wikipedia page."
Gaah
Nice catch. Of course, if the McCain people are really smart, they got to WikiPedia first...
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
i don't think so--
the GOP would have made the prolife Christian stuff bigger and deleted/minimized the pro-gay stuff, i think. And they wouldn't allow quotes that show her as reasonable on any social issues at all.
They fed the oppo through PB 1.0
Quelle surprise!
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
this really is telling--
Biden was a reactive and defensive move to shore up weaknesses, and make the DC Village happy.
Palin is an active and reinforcing strengths move--she's a reformer, ran against her party and won, and feeds McCain's "maverick" thing.
If i was on Obama's team, i'd throw Biden off the ticket when he makes his first gaffe, and put Hillary on--they wouldn't dare tho, and it's really too late now.
they wanted to run against Romney, i think--
they were ready to go after him, and are flailing now.
"same old politics with the same old players"-Obama last night--
"You understand that in this election, the greatest risk we can take is to try the same old politics with the same old players and expect a different result." -- http://www.realclearpolitics.com/article...
kinda reads differently now, no?
Karen from Will & Grace!
that's who she looks like!
http://f.freeblog.hu/l/o/s/lostwords/fil...
: >
The village has spoken: she looks like
Tina Fey.
nah--definitely Karen
no question--altho Tina rocks too.
; >
only Chris Matthews is still on Obama
now--everyone else has totally dropped him and the DNC stories entirely.
read it and weep, DNC--
http://www.talkleft.com/comments/2008/8/...
"... I was asked for my vote today by John McCain, a man I respect for his service to country [I'm a veteran; my spouse is a veteran; my father, two sisters, and brother are veterans; my father is buried at Arlington Cemetery with full military honors]. You dismiss that service at your own peril.
Yes, I'm a Democrat. But I supported Hillary Clinton for President, and the Democratic Party dismissed her candidacy in favor of the candidacy of an unknown, untested, and unqualified candidate--Barack Obama. Moreover, this party allowed Barack Obama to dismiss Hillary Clinton as his VP. Party leaders told me they didn't need me, that I should stay home, that I had nowhere else to go.
Until today, I really did have nowhere else to go. But, all of that has now changed. Barack Obama should have chosen Hillary Clinton as his running mate. If it weren't for his colossal ego, he surely would have done so. She would have taken the job, and this campaign for the Presidency would have been ours. ..."
But if we are skeptical of the Obamaoids conversion narratives,
we sure as hell should ask more from someone than throwing down their inassailable bona fides (hi, I'm my kid's mom/a decorated Iraq veteran/ the tenth generation of Democrats voting), then declaring that they must now vote for McCain.
Why?
Tell me exactly which policies that he has declared as inimical to Democratic, progressive or liberal principles you will embrace.
How will you embrace all the politicians he'll campaign for, in which he'll discard the sugar coating of his policies for the GOP's red meat?
All I ask is that the converted, for Obama or for McCain, stop talking as if they've just been baptized, where they simplify a very complex decision and thereby close off debate about their choice.
Note I said debate, not argument; respect should be the key on both sides, to make certain that we feed neither spite or hate spurred by the usual troll suspects.
"Brilliant" for all the wrong reasons
Check this endorsement:
But heck. We're all post-partisan now....
UPDATE And so much for sucking up to the Christianists. Gads.
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
I have to admit. I'll be watching the Repub convention.
I love this job!
I am physically sick listening to Paul Begala eviscerate
McCain for picking Palin considering that she is a heartbeat away from the presidency - intoning she is not ready to lead. Not ready to lead?! She has more experience in leading than Obama. Boy, oh, boy, if this is the dems line of attack they are dead out of the gate.
I love this job!
The New Haka
is that Palin is insulting to women because other more experienced women were passed over. Because, you know, it's always the most experienced man who gets the nomination.
I dislike Palin's politics a lot, but this is a double standard pure and simple. Obama seriously considered Tim Kaine who has no more experience than Palin. Obama doesn't have that much more than she does (although he does have more, IMO).
But then this is what I learned today:
woman with thin resume and little national experience = unqualified
man with thin resume and little national experience = change agent
I just occurred to me...
... and I know it's trivial minded and wrong of me to think this, but one hilarious result of a McCain victory would be that all the Rs who jumped ship to the Ds would be totally, totally fucked. Hilarious.
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
Lieberman for Speaker of the House.