Aynne88
Posts: 3873
Joined: 8/29/2008
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Thadius seriously, with the multitude of time you spend online, read his webiste yourself. One major thing he has done is made a far wiser choice in VP selection than McOld and the Beauty Queen.
From Votefromabroad.org.
John McCain fooled everyone and chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) as his running mate. People had talked about her but not many people took her seriously. She comes with an unusual mix of characteristics. First, she's a woman. Second, she's a woman. Third, she's a woman. McCain is betting the farm that the female Democratic PUMA voters who said they would vote for McCain will now really do it. The (unspoken) reasoning, of course, is either McCain is old and has had cancer four times and might die in office, leaving us with a woman President or in 2012 or 2016 she can run for the office on her own. It is likely that the working-class male supporters of Clinton, especially those in the rust belt will think she's a hot chick (she's a former beauty pageant runner-up and fond of motorcycling) but whether they will vote for her is something else again. She is a very devout Christian with five children, the youngest of whom has Down's syndrome. She is very strongly against abortion. This pick allows him to say to the Base: "You had doubts about me. Look who I picked." It will give him enormous credibility with the evangelicals. In that respect it was a brilliant choice. She is a member of the NRA (and likes to eat mooseburgers), which will be popular with gun owners.
However, the conventional wisdom dismissed her for a variety of reasons that are still true. First, some reporter is going to ask him: "Of the hundreds of governors, senators, congressmen, and business leaders available to you, do you really think that a 44-year old person who has two years' experience as governor of a thinly populated state is the best person in the country to be President of the United States after yourself?" After all, she knows nothing of foreign policy and not even that much about domestic policy except that drilling for oil is a good thing.
Second, picking her destroys McCain's strongest argument against Obama: he has no experience. Little as he has (8 years in the Illinois state senate and 3 years in the U.S. Senate) it is more than she has (4 years as mayor of Wasilla, a town then of 5,000 people, and 2 years as governor). How is he going to argue that she is qualified to be President and Obama isn't. He can say experience doesn't matter (and a case can be made that it doesn't) but there goes his whole argument against Obama--lack of experience.
Third, like many Alaska politicians these days, Palin is involved in an ethics scandal. Her sister was married to a state trooper named Mike Wooten. The two of them got divorced and were involved in a bitter child custody battle. Sarah wanted to help her sister so she asked the state commissioner of public safety, Walt Monegan, to fire Wooten. He refused, so she fired him. He protested so loudly that the Republican-controlled state legislature appointed a retired prosecutor, Steve Branchflower, to investigate whether she abused her power as governor. Needless to say, Monegan is about to get a small army of reporters camped on his doorstep. It seems very strange indeed that McCain wants to be associated with someone under investigation for an ethics violation. The Democrats are going to say: "More of the same." Time will tell how this will play out. One can already envision the Vice Presidential TV debate featuring the long-time member and now chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee facing someone has has been governor for 2 years. Romney or Ridge could have held their own against Biden, but Palin is going to have a tough time.
In short, McCain is gambling that Palin's support among conservatives (where he needs help) and disgruntled Clinton supporters will offset voters who don't see her as qualified to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency. Despite the closeness of the national polls, McCain probably realized that he is behind in the Electoral college and needed something to shake things up. This might just do it.
As I've stated before McCain is a slot player,one that gambles by randomness. Obama is a poker player,one that calculates odds.
Obama made a far better choice in the vp selection.
Ask yourself which vp candidate would be most qualified to assume the presidency?
_____________________________
As long as people will shed the blood of innocent creatures there can be no peace, no liberty, no harmony between people. Slaughter and justice cannot dwell together.
—Isaac Bashevis Singer, writer and Nobel laureate (1902–1991)
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RE: Palin as Commander in Chief - 
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