Sarah Palin Thread

[GAP]

Correct me if I am wrong, but are not most Presidents picked from the slew of Govenors out there?

Seems to me the executive experience was good enough for other mandates....

 

[Bass ackwards]

Not being American and barely understand the politics there, I kind of like the guts of Palin...single mom with a special needs kid...AND is governer of Alaska... 8) 
I think she can handle soem small problems, like running the country!
Couldn't be any worse  ???
[/quote]

Palin's been married for 20 years.
(...sigh)

 

[gaspasser]

Really?? Where did I get she was single??  My bad, sorry to Mr. Palin.  ;D

 

[Adamant]

Both candidates named their VP choice and the respective conventions approved Biden and Palin. What could get interesting is if Obama throws Biden under the bus in favor of a VP who might offset Palin's charisma. I am thinking Hillary here.

Hillary as VP wouldn't help.  The PUMA faction is for some reason (read sexism) voting Palin, despite the fact that she is counter to just about everysingle thing that Sen. Clinton stands for, except being a woman.  Obama doesn't need someone to offset her charisma he has Biden, who despite the fact of not being a woman (which appears to be a handicap in this election) is quite charismatic, and can be humourously passive-agressive. 

What would help is if either side tried maybe actually running on policies or facts.  Niether party is leading by example, one side (Rep) is outright running on Personalities, and made the VP pick (Palin) to show it, and the other side is running on Change, and made a VP which is mind boggling to that end. 

PS. To those who are going to say a Hillary VP pick would further the change message, it wouldn't.  All it would further is the Clinton hegemony into a possible 2012 presidential bid, going to a 2020 term (1992 - 2020 of Clintons , minus the Dubya years, is too many)

 

[Bass ackwards]

Hillary as VP wouldn't help.  The PUMA faction is for some reason (read sexism) voting Palin, despite the fact that she is counter to just about everysingle thing that Sen. Clinton stands for, except being a woman.  Obama doesn't need someone to offset her charisma he has Biden, who despite the fact of not being a woman (which appears to be a handicap in this election) is quite charismatic, and can be humourously passive-agressive. 

What would help is if either side tried maybe actually running on policies or facts.  Niether party is leading by example, one side (Rep) is outright running on Personalities, and made the VP pick (Palin) to show it, and the other side is running on Change, and made a VP which is mind boggling to that end. 

PS. To those who are going to say a Hillary VP pick would further the change message, it wouldn't.  All it would further is the Clinton hegemony into a possible 2012 presidential bid, going to a 2020 term (1992 - 2020 of Clintons , minus the Dubya years, is too many)

I fail to see what Obama is running on if not personality. All we heard about for months was how charismatic and what a powerful orator he is. I've heard him compared to both Martin Luther King and Jesus Christ.
But he hasn't actually done anything. Ever.

The rare time you get him away from a teleprompter and a scripted speech, he usually displayes a stunning ignorance of the Constitution, US History, foreign affairs and he is routinely caught lying about his background.
I strongly doubt he has any regard for the military and his whole "bringing everyone together" nonsense pretty much ended when he started the "clinging to their guns and God" cracks.

The Republicans, on the other hand, would most definitely NOT have McCain out front if their only platform was about personalities.
McCain, naturally, will be stong on defense. Palin, while not as experienced in that regard, is the Commander in Chief of the Alaska National Guard. That might not seem like much but bear in mind Alaska's proximity to Russia and consequent strategic importance to the continental US. Palin will have far more depth of understanding of security and military matters than Obama -and she's the Republicans' second stringer -not their front runner.
Plus, both of them have children in the military -Track Palin (her son) is heading to Iraq next year.

McCain and Palin are both in favour of drilling for oil in the US. The only thing I've seen from Obama in regards to the oil crisis was to tap into the US strategic reserves -brilliant that. 
Palin, again as Governor of Alaska, has considerable experience dealing with oil companies. Not always on friendly terms.

Maybe she'd be more credible if she'd written an autobiography (or two) like Obama has, but she probably simply hasn't had the time.
Unlike Obama.

 

[Redeye]

I fail to see what Obama is running on if not personality. All we heard about for months was how charismatic and what a powerful orator he is. I've heard him compared to both Martin Luther King and Jesus Christ.
But he hasn't actually done anything. Ever.

What?!  Obama was a state senator in Illinois from 1997-2004, and a US Senator from 2004 onward.  That's a lot lot of things to do.

The rare time you get him away from a teleprompter and a scripted speech, he usually displayes a stunning ignorance of the Constitution, US History, foreign affairs and he is routinely caught lying about his background.

Please, cite specific examples.

I strongly doubt he has any regard for the military and his whole "bringing everyone together" nonsense pretty much ended when he started the "clinging to their guns and God" cracks.

Granted, that was a dumb thing to say - but he said it once.  And since then he's had a lot better things to say.  He also has the backing of a lot of military and military families, there was a lot of them at the DNC.

The Republicans, on the other hand, would most definitely NOT have McCain out front if their only platform was about personalities.
McCain, naturally, will be stong on defense. Palin, while not as experienced in that regard, is the Commander in Chief of the Alaska National Guard. That might not seem like much but bear in mind Alaska's proximity to Russia and consequent strategic importance to the continental US. Palin will have far more depth of understanding of security and military matters than Obama -and she's the Republicans' second stringer -not their front runner.
Plus, both of them have children in the military -Track Palin (her son) is heading to Iraq next year.

What a pile of red herrings.  Sarah Palin is C-in-C of the AK National Guard by virtue of being governor, not because she has any sort of military prowess.  I doubt the job entails all of that much either.  Forgive me for thinking that her experience in that regard is minimal-to-irrelevant.  Children in the military?  Yeah, and?

McCain and Palin are both in favour of drilling for oil in the US. The only thing I've seen from Obama in regards to the oil crisis was to tap into the US strategic reserves -brilliant that. 
Palin, again as Governor of Alaska, has considerable experience dealing with oil companies. Not always on friendly terms.

The last report I saw on offshore drilling suggested that the US might be able to produce enough oil to meet current demands for perhaps a year or two.  I don't think that included the ANWR, but regardless, US proven reserves are not much.  Drilling for oil will not solve the USA's problem.  Breaking its addiction to oil by expanding research and development of alternatives to oil - from "clean coal" and nuclear to wind and solar, to natural gas (which America seems to have a lot of us) featured prominently in a variety of remarks made by Barack Obama.

Maybe she'd be more credible if she'd written an autobiography (or two) like Obama has, but she probably simply hasn't had the time.
Unlike Obama.

I'm not going to even start with what a pointless remark that is.  If that's the best that Republican talking points have to offer I guess my wife will be keeping her US passport when Obama wins.

 

[Adamant]

Obama has already said that he is running mainly on judgement, and judging by the last 8 years where the president was a former governor (read: experience), judgement may have been a nice thing to have.  Might have saved them some problems.  I will fully agree that he is running on personality as well, what I meant is that the Republicans (Steve Schmidt aka: Karl Rove Jr.) are outright saying that this race is about personalities.  I don't think that either side is focusing on facts or issues.

And about Palin not having the time to write, you're correct she was too busy taking kickbacks on the bridge to nowhere, then when the tides turned against it, she turned against it...yet kept the money.  Also i guess trying to abuse her power to remove her state trooper ex-brother-in-law probably took some time too.  Sounds a bit like the Justice department debacle, seems to be the way of the Republican party lately, you don't agree with us we run you out of town, only at least the legislature in Alaska called her on it and is actually investigating it, unlike the Federal legislative branch which has accepted Gonzales' answers of "I can't get into that"

On a final note, having children in the military is not a qualification for being president.  It is something to be proud of, but has nothing to do with running the country.  

 

[tomahawk6]

And about Palin not having the time to write, you're correct she was too busy taking kickbacks on the bridge to nowhere, then when the tides turned against it, she turned against it...yet kept the money.  Also i guess trying to abuse her power to remove her state trooper ex-brother-in-law probably took some time too.  Sounds a bit like the Justice department debacle, seems to be the way of the Republican party lately, you don't agree with us we run you out of town, only at least the legislature in Alaska called her on it and is actually investigating it, unlike the Federal legislative branch which has accepted Gonzales' answers of "I can't get into that"

I hope Lt you are more informed about your day job than the topic of Governor Palin. Try looking at web sites other than the Daily Kos or HuffPost. There are alot of smears out there all of them plain lies. By all accounts Trooper Wooten should have been fired just for tasing his 11 year old stepson,he wasnt.Here is an article about Trooper Wooten.
http://www.adn.com/politics/story/476430.html

Palin turned down the bridge to nowhere and also killed the previous Governor's road to nowhere a $350m project from Juneau to Skagway.

Finally Palin beat an incumbent Governor in a primary and then beat the former democrat Governor in the general election.This tells me that the democrat establishment isnt her friend and neither is the Republican establishment.Her 80% approval rating in Alaska 2 years into the job is an indication that the folks are satisfied with her job performance.
http://www.factcheck.org/

 

[Bass ackwards]

Apologies to all, I'm going to have to do this in sections (I'm just not computer savvy enough to be able to reply to Redeye the way he did my last post).

Obama in the senate:

Can you -or anyone- name one thing that Obama accomplished while in the senate?

Anything at all?

He keeps hollerng about change -what change did he even try to effect while there?

Standby...

 

[tomahawk6]

Obama did vote for the bridge to nowhere. ;D

 

[Adamant]

I hope Lt you are more informed about your day job than the topic of Governor Palin. Try looking at web sites other than the Daily Kos or HuffPost. There are alot of smears out there all of them plain lies. By all accounts Trooper Wooten should have been fired just for tasing his 11 year old stepson,he wasnt.Here is an article about Trooper Wooten.
http://www.adn.com/politics/story/476430.html

Palin turned down the bridge to nowhere and also killed the previous Governor's road to nowhere a $350m project from Juneau to Skagway.

Finally Palin beat an incumbent Governor in a primary and then beat the former democrat Governor in the general election.This tells me that the democrat establishment isnt her friend and neither is the Republican establishment.Her 80% approval rating in Alaska 2 years into the job is an indication that the folks are satisfied with her job performance.
http://www.factcheck.org/

The trooper had already been disciplined and the case had been closed, then the governor got involved after the fact.  That is not her job, no matter what way you cut it.  And if you count Foxnews, and Wall Street Journal as smears, I would appreciate an opinion on where I  should be getting my news from.

Jimmy Carter beat an incumbant president, so I guess he's a great guy too?  

And on the $350m  yeah she killed it when it was unpopular, after supporting it, and then kept the money.  

I have said several times, I don't think either of these candidates are a good choice.  But I find lots of people are quick to jump on one candidate and due to party affiliations give the other a free ride.  Obama has no experience to be president, and John McCain has sold his soul to gain the support of the party.  McCain circa 2000, was by far the best candidate.  Due to being unpopular with the party base, he was pre-selected to not win, and instead the race was between Clown #1 (GWB) and Clown #2 (AG).

Back OT, Palin was a choice made for very Rove-ish reasons.  Maybe she should have said "thanks but no thanks" to the nomination.  I think in time you'll see she's a Dan Quayle VP pick...picked to try and excite the base, which in this instance worked...for now.

 

[Haletown]

Hey . .  Obama just called her a pig !!

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/obama-says-mc-1.html

"You know, you can put lipstick on a pig," Obama said, "but it's still a pig."


Calling a lady, a mother at that, a pig.

Not gentlemanly, not gentlemanly at all.

 

[Snafu-Bar]

Strike one for Obama...  :

 

[Eye In The Sky]

Strike 1??

Thats very generous.  I'd say its well past "1".

 

[GAP]

If Obama really said that he just pissed off 50% of the population......

edited to add.....just read the article, and while he was not talking about Palin, except obliquely, his comment is going to be interpretted as a slam, and he will pay the price.....

 

[Bass ackwards]

Specific examples of BO showing his ignorance or lying:

Allrighty then:

From the Washington Post:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/08/obama_to_palin_dont_mock_the_c.html

Barack Obama
Obama to Palin: 'Don't Mock the Constitution'
By Peter Slevin
FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. -- Sen. Barack Obama delivered an impassioned defense of the Constitution and the rights of terrorism suspects tonight, striking back at one of the biggest applause lines in Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's speech to the GOP convention.

It was in St. Paul last week that Palin drew raucous cheers when she delivered this put-down of Obama: "Al-Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America and he's worried that someone won't read them their rights."

Obama had a few problems with that.

"First of all, you don't even get to read them their rights until you catch 'em," Obama said here, drawing laughs from 1,500 supporters in a high school gymnasium. "They should spend more time trying to catch Osama bin Laden and we can worry about the next steps later."

If the plotters of the Sept. 11 attacks are in the government's sights, Obama went on, they should be targeted and killed.

"My position has always been clear: If you've got a terrorist, take him out," Obama said. "Anybody who was involved in 9/11, take 'em out."

But Obama, who taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago for more than a decade, said captured suspects deserve to file writs of habeus corpus.

Calling it "the foundation of Anglo-American law," he said the principle "says very simply: If the government grabs you, then you have the right to at least ask, 'Why was I grabbed?' And say, 'Maybe you've got the wrong person.'"

The safeguard is essential, Obama continued, "because we don't always have the right person."

"We don't always catch the right person," he said. "We may think it's Mohammed the terrorist, but it might be Mohammed the cab driver. You might think it's Barack the bomb-thrower, but it might be Barack the guy running for president."

Obama turned back to Palin's comment, although he said he was not sure whether Palin or Rudy Giuliani said it.

"The reason that you have this principle is not to be soft on terrorism. It's because that's who we are. That's what we're protecting," Obama said, his voice growing louder and the crowd rising to its feet to cheer. "Don't mock the Constitution. Don't make fun of it. Don't suggest that it's not American to abide by what the founding fathers set up. It's worked pretty well for over 200 years."

He finished with a dismissive comment about his opponents.

"These people."

---Okay, what are we doing here? Giving terror suspects the (highy questionable) right of Habeas Corpus, or killing them on sight?

Then there's this:
Barack Obama Off Teleprompter - 3 Videos
http://sweetness-light.com/archive/barack-obama-off-teleprompter-two-videos

And this:
Obama Speaks with 'Deep Humility' on Memorial Day
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/05/26/obama_speaks_with_deep_humilit.html

Obama said he suspects that one of the reasons his grandfather seldom spoke of his wartime experience was the trauma he had witnessed.

"In World War II we didn't have the concept of post-traumatic stress syndrome. People had to basically handle it on their own," he said. Referring to an uncle who had been one of the first U.S. troops into Auschwitz, the concentration camp, Obama said: "The story in the family is he came home and just went up in the attic."

----Hello? Russian troops liberated Auschwitz. Auschwitz is in Poland.

Or there's this:
The Politics of Spare Change
Even $85 million wasn't enough to get Barack Obama to keep his promise.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/19/AR2008061903026.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

BARACK OBAMA isn't abandoning his pledge to take public financing for the general election campaign because it's in his political interest. Certainly not. He isn't about to become the first candidate since Watergate to run an election fueled entirely with private money because he will be able to raise far more that way than the mere $85 million he'd get if he stuck to his promise -- and with which his Republican opponent, John McCain, will have to make do. No, Mr. Obama, or so he would have you believe, is forgoing the money because he is so committed to public financing. Really, it hurts him more than it hurts Fred Wertheimer.

Pardon the sarcasm. But given Mr. Obama's earlier pledge to "aggressively pursue" an agreement with the Republican nominee to accept public financing, his effort to cloak his broken promise in the smug mantle of selfless dedication to the public good is a little hard to take. "It's not an easy decision, and especially because I support a robust system of public financing of elections," Mr. Obama said in a video message to supporters.

Or this:

Obama: U.S. Troops in Afghanistan Must Do More Than Kill Civilians
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,293187,00.html

I can go on, but all this bouncing from site to site is making my eyes bug out.

 

[Bass ackwards]

The AK National Guard:

I never said she got there by virtue of any military prowness.
But she did get there.
Here's an e-mail forwarded to me a few days ago -it's not a news article, just some food for thought:

"Before anyone dismisses the fact that Sarah Palin is Commander of the Alaska National Guard consider this. Alaska is the first line of defense in our missile interceptor defense system. The 49th Missile Defense Battalion of the Alaska National Guard is the unit that protects the entire nation from ballistic missile attacks. It’s on permanent active duty, unlike other Guard units.

As governor of Alaska , Palin is briefed on highly classified military issues, homeland security, and counter-terrorism. Her exposure to ---classified material may rival even Biden's and certainly by far exceeds Obama's.

She's also the commander in chief of the Alaska State Defense Force (ASDF), a federally recognized militia incorporated into Homeland Security's counter-terrorism plans. Palin is privy to military and intelligence secrets that are vital to the entire country's defense. Given Alaska 's proximity to Russia , she may have security clearances we don't even know about.

According to the Washington Post, she first met with McCain in February, but nobody ever found out. This is a woman used to keeping secrets.

She can be entrusted with our national security, because she already is."

---By all means, have at that. I'd love to hear a decent rebuttal.

And I'll dismiss the children in the military angle as soon as the press stops harping about Bush and Cheney not having loved ones in the fight (ie: Bush's daughters)

 

[Bass ackwards]

As to drilling:
Palin, an Alaskan, supports drilling in ANWR. And anywhere else there may be oil in the US. No doubt your sources will downplay the amount of oil available -and mine will exaggerate it- but the fact is, there's oil there and we're just not ready yet to replace it with anything else.
Nuclear? Oh spare me. The same loons that refuse to allow drilling get downright violent over the thought of nuclear. Who does Obama think he's kidding?

Anyways, I'm no doubt getting tedious (OK, I arrived there long ago  ) so I'll call this a night.

Other than Tomahawk-6, none of us can vote for any of them anyways...

 

[Adamant]

As to drilling:
Palin, an Alaskan, supports drilling in ANWR. And anywhere else there may be oil in the US. No doubt your sources will downplay the amount of oil available -and mine will exaggerate it- but the fact is, there's oil there and we're just not ready yet to replace it with anything else.
Nuclear? Oh spare me. The same loons that refuse to allow drilling get downright violent over the thought of nuclear. Who does Obama think he's kidding?

Anyways, I'm no doubt getting tedious (OK, I arrived there long ago  ) so I'll call this a night.

Other than Tomahawk-6, none of us can vote for any of them anyways...

I'm all over Nuclear, put the plant in my back yard I'm cool with it.  But I don't think the McCain/Palin view of Drill drill drill is really going to solve anything.  This is because oil is a finite resource, the single largest oil supplier to the states is...Canada.

But on lies, Palin has lied about the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere," she lied about selling a government jet on ebay, she lied about making a profit on that jet.

She also charged the Alaskan tax-payers a per diem for living in her own home. 

They're politicians, they all lie.  Holding one up as holier than the other is plain and simply false.  Obama lies, Biden lies, McCain lies, and Palin lies.  It's simply a choice between the lesser 2 of 4 evils.    And yes Bass Ackwards, we all have no say, but we will be affected, probably negatively regardless of who will be president-elect.

 

[tomahawk6]

Adamant your lies disgust me. If you acre to see the proof its there.Palin did sell the jet on eBay.They dont charge Alaska residents in fact they get $2000 a year in a dividend.