Looks like it's gonna be Romney

[Jeemie]

I just got an email alert from my local news station saying the annoucement will be at 11 am eastern time.

Behind the times?

The timing was generally known earlier this week.

[hermillion]

Sarah Palin -- Alaska Governor

[Bob Juch]

I just got an email alert from my local news station saying the annoucement will be at 11 am eastern time.

I'm watching them talk about Palin being the official choice on NBC right now.

[starfish1113]

I"m just impressed with BobJuch's people and their prediction of Lieberman. Missed it my THAT much.

[Bob Juch]

I"m just impressed with BobJuch's people and their prediction of Lieberman. Missed it my THAT much.

Yeah, what can I say? They're dumb Republicans.

[sunflower]

I just got an email alert from my local news station saying the annoucement will be at 11 am eastern time.

Behind the times?

The timing was generally known earlier this week.

The very first post in this thread says noon.

[Tocqueville3]

I"m just impressed with BobJuch's people and their prediction of Lieberman. Missed it my THAT much.

Yeah, what can I say? They're dumb Republicans.

Hmmm...that's the same thing we said about Democrats when Obama picked Biden.

Even my very liberal Obama drooling brother thinks thak Biden was a crappy pick. And not because his hair plugs are horrible.

[themanintheseersuckersuit]

Bzzzztt..... wrong answer.

Looks to me like it's going to be the Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin.

I just heard that on CNN. A couple of people here did pick MILF Palin in the Veepstakes a long time ago.

My opinion on Palin as the running mate: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Does McCain want to lose this election? OK, I get that he wants to lure many of those bitter Hillary Clinton supporters by putting a woman on the ticket... but don't you think that McCain would pick a woman with more... experience and name recognition? Like Kay Bailey Hutchison, whose name was tossed around on the Bored quite a bit this week?

Palin has been governor for less than two years. Before that, she was the mayor of some town in the middle of Alaska that nobody has heard of. She has less experience than Obama! If it is her, then the entire Republican campaign that Obama is too young and too inexperienced will be automatically defused. Plus, she would never survive in the VP debate against Biden.

There has to be some other reason that Palin is being considered. Is it to sex up the Republican ticket? To win Alaska's oh-so-crucial 3 electoral votes? To keep Ted Stevens and Don Young in office?

Not only that, she has baggage, because she's been accused of using her influence by trying to get her ex-BIL fired from his job as a police officer, firing the guy who refused to fire him.

Bad choice all around. And McCain has Alaska firmly in his grasp- this choice would do nothing for him.

I had the opposite reaction. She has a rep for fighting corruption, she's a Washington outsider, she has strong conservative principles, not to mention being articulate and bright and clean and nice-looking. And she's as good a I'm likely to get on Global Warming (I think she might have actually been to ANWR)

[Bob Juch]

I"m just impressed with BobJuch's people and their prediction of Lieberman. Missed it my THAT much.

Yeah, what can I say? They're dumb Republicans.

Hmmm...that's the same thing we said about Democrats when Obama picked Biden.

Even my very liberal Obama drooling brother thinks thak Biden was a crappy pick. And not because his hair plugs are horrible.

I didn't mean the pick, I mean the people who told me they "knew".

[Bob Juch]

I just heard that on CNN. A couple of people here did pick MILF Palin in the Veepstakes a long time ago.

My opinion on Palin as the running mate: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Does McCain want to lose this election? OK, I get that he wants to lure many of those bitter Hillary Clinton supporters by putting a woman on the ticket... but don't you think that McCain would pick a woman with more... experience and name recognition? Like Kay Bailey Hutchison, whose name was tossed around on the Bored quite a bit this week?

Palin has been governor for less than two years. Before that, she was the mayor of some town in the middle of Alaska that nobody has heard of. She has less experience than Obama! If it is her, then the entire Republican campaign that Obama is too young and too inexperienced will be automatically defused. Plus, she would never survive in the VP debate against Biden.

There has to be some other reason that Palin is being considered. Is it to sex up the Republican ticket? To win Alaska's oh-so-crucial 3 electoral votes? To keep Ted Stevens and Don Young in office?

Not only that, she has baggage, because she's been accused of using her influence by trying to get her ex-BIL fired from his job as a police officer, firing the guy who refused to fire him.

Bad choice all around. And McCain has Alaska firmly in his grasp- this choice would do nothing for him.

I had the opposite reaction. She has a rep for fighting corruption, she's a Washington outsider, she has strong conservative principles, not to mention being articulate and bright and clean and nice-looking. And she's as good a I'm likely to get on Global Warming (I think she might have actually been to ANWR)

Her husband works for BP.

[ne1410s]

Sarah Palin tried to get her BIL fired because he was beating her sister. She let her heart overrule her head.

[Appa23]

Sarah Palin tried to get her BIL fired because he was beating her sister. She let her heart overrule her head.

Do we really want one man's allegation to be treated as fact?

Lots of allegations out there about nefarious things in Obama's past and present (and likely Biden as well).

So far, nothing has been proven, other than the person who inquired about Wooten has stated (repeatedly) that he was not asked to make such an inquiry by Palin. The only other fact that we know about the investigation is that Governor Palin and her administration are being so open and honest that there is no need to seek subpeonas. Kind of a refreshing appraoch, whatever your politics. In addition, Palin provided substantive reasons for the firing of an apoointee who serves "at her pleasure." (Which has a much different spin on it, when you consider her "MILF" status.)

On an interesting note, both VP candidates will have a son serving in a "war zone", as Palin's son begins a tour in September. (I was thinking that both were headed to Iraq, but I could be mistaken.)

[andrewjackson]

Just stay away from John C. Calhoun.

That's all I'm saying.

[Appa23]

BTW, in looking at all of the established politicians, including Governors and Senators, that she has dismantled in the past few years, should Obamaniacs really be that sure that Biden will have his way with Palin in their debate?

[themanintheseersuckersuit]

Not only that, she has baggage, because she's been accused of using her influence by trying to get her ex-BIL fired from his job as a police officer, firing the guy who refused to fire him.

Bad choice all around. And McCain has Alaska firmly in his grasp- this choice would do nothing for him.

I had the opposite reaction. She has a rep for fighting corruption, she's a Washington outsider, she has strong conservative principles, not to mention being articulate and bright and clean and nice-looking. And she's as good a I'm likely to get on Global Warming (I think she might have actually been to ANWR)

Her husband works for BP.

If its a "real" job, I'm good with that.

[ne1410s]

tmitsss

If its a "real" job, I'm good with that.

Apparently it is. His job is to separate water from oil as it is pumped up.


BTW: She calls him "The First Dude."

[silverscreenselect]

Bzzzztt..... wrong answer.

Looks to me like it's going to be the Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin.

I just heard that on CNN. A couple of people here did pick MILF Palin in the Veepstakes a long time ago.

My opinion on Palin as the running mate: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Does McCain want to lose this election? OK, I get that he wants to lure many of those bitter Hillary Clinton supporters by putting a woman on the ticket... but don't you think that McCain would pick a woman with more... experience and name recognition? Like Kay Bailey Hutchison, whose name was tossed around on the Bored quite a bit this week?

Palin has been governor for less than two years. Before that, she was the mayor of some town in the middle of Alaska that nobody has heard of. She has less experience than Obama! If it is her, then the entire Republican campaign that Obama is too young and too inexperienced will be automatically defused. Plus, she would never survive in the VP debate against Biden.

There has to be some other reason that Palin is being considered. Is it to sex up the Republican ticket? To win Alaska's oh-so-crucial 3 electoral votes? To keep Ted Stevens and Don Young in office?

I thought going in that Mitt Romney, Joe Lieberman, or Tom Ridge would be a net negative (lose more for McCain than he gains). Dems hate Lieberman, lots of people hate Romney and pro-lifers hate Ridge. Tim Pawlenty would have been a wash (as frankly is Joe Biden).

Palin appears to me to be a very good choice for McCain for a number of reasons. She has a very compelling personal narrative (child with Down's Syndrome she refused to abort; another son heading to Iraq), she's photogenic, and she has a folksy appealing manner. By picking her instead of someone who is already well known, the media was forced to spend a lot more time covering her and talking about her background than if Mitt Romney were picked. The net result is that the media can't spend all weekend drooling over Obama's acceptance speech the way they would have otherwise. Going forward, as a new face, she is going to get a lot more media attention this fall than Joe Biden will (I doubt you'll see Biden on The View or Entertainment Tonight).

Her image is everyday hockey mom (it's probably a fair amount of show but she carries it off well). Her husband is a typical blue collar guy, a member of the Steelworkers Union who has worked on the oil pipeline and as a commercial fisherman. She is very popular in the State of Alaska, where Republican politicians right now aren't faring too well due to all sorts of scandals.

Palin is inexperienced, but she has been to Iraq as many times as Obama has and has visited the troops in German hospitals one more time than Obama has. Her overall governmental experience is roughly comparable to Tim Kaine and no one dismissed him as cavalierly as Palin has been dismissed. If Biden goes after her, he will have to tread carefully because her overall image is much better than Dan Quayle's ever was (Quayle came across as a typical country club spoiled snot). She is very conservative on social issues but not in a way that offends people, and women in particular.

The other major complaint that's come up about her has been the "scandal" about the firing of her ex brother-in-law. From what I've been able to find out, this guy was a state trooper wife and child abuser who was protected by the typical good-old-boy network. If his sister-in-law hadn't been the governor, he'd have gotten away with it, but she was and he didn't. The "scandal" obviously hasn't hurt her in Alaska (and frankly there's always some "scandal" involving every governor in the country, usually caused by someone who doesn't get what he wants whining to the press).

Palin is a very shrewd pick, and it shows just how much in tune McCain's people are with mainstream American thinking (as opposed to network pundits, left wing bloggers, Obama fanatics and a couple of people on this bored). Picking her was like dropping chum in a shark tank and they have come out gunning for her as was to be expected. Every time they criticize her for her lack of experience, it raises the questions of Obama's experience (if she's not experienced enough to be a heartbeat away, then what qualifies Obama to be zero heartbeats away). Plus, a lot of the criticism of her is snarkily sexist (it's the same type of snide nasty criticism that Hillary faced for months). Women will see her and be reminded of what Hillary went through, and it will undercut Obama's claims about being "better" for women than McCain is. Already, Obama has had to back off some initial nasty comments about her being a mayor of a typical American small town (the same type of elitism that has cost him earlier in the campaign). And if they pursue the brother-in-law scandal too vigorously, they will be in the uncomfortable position of championing a wife-and-child abuser.

Of course, the Republicans will have to back off a bit on Obama's lack of experience, but I have a feeling the campaign had already planned on changing directions on that front anyway.

Palin does present risks, if the scandal proves to be more solid than it looks or if she commits gaffes that make her look like a ditz rather than a serious politician, but the potential upside makes the risk seem worthwhile.

[TheConfessor]

Palin is inexperienced, but she has been to Iraq as many times as Obama has and has visited the troops in German hospitals one more time than Obama has.

Assuming this is true, can someone explain why? What would be the purpose or rationale for any city's mayor or any state's governor to visit a foreign war zone? Do other mayors and governors go to Iraq? If so, who pays for it? What do they accomplish there?

[silverscreenselect]

Palin is inexperienced, but she has been to Iraq as many times as Obama has and has visited the troops in German hospitals one more time than Obama has.

Assuming this is true, can someone explain why? What would be the purpose or rationale for any city's mayor or any state's governor to visit a foreign war zone? Do other mayors and governors go to Iraq? If so, who pays for it? What do they accomplish there?

Palin is commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard, a number of whom are in Iraq (and presumably also in the hospital). I would assume a visit like this would be good for the soldiers' morale knowing that the governor cares for them and would qualify as official business. I doubt when she visited the troops in 2007 that it was with the thought of using it as a photo op for a vice presidential bid a year later.

[TheConfessor]

Palin is inexperienced, but she has been to Iraq as many times as Obama has and has visited the troops in German hospitals one more time than Obama has.

Assuming this is true, can someone explain why? What would be the purpose or rationale for any city's mayor or any state's governor to visit a foreign war zone? Do other mayors and governors go to Iraq? If so, who pays for it? What do they accomplish there?

Palin is commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard, a number of whom are in Iraq (and presumably also in the hospital). I would assume a visit like this would be good for the soldiers' morale knowing that the governor cares for them and would qualify as official business. I doubt when she visited the troops in 2007 that it was with the thought of using it as a photo op for a vice presidential bid a year later.

Yeah, it appears that Texas Governor Rick Perry visited Iraq in 2006 with Mike Huckabee and two Democratic governors. I don't know if it's really a great idea, but I guess it's not unusual.

However, the sources I found say that Palin has never been to Iraq, though she once visited some troops in Kuwait and Germany. If that's true, you might have to retract your statement that she's been to Iraq as often as Obama, who's been there twice. Do you have a source that supports your claim?
http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/ ... -the-dice/

[silverscreenselect]

Assuming this is true, can someone explain why? What would be the purpose or rationale for any city's mayor or any state's governor to visit a foreign war zone? Do other mayors and governors go to Iraq? If so, who pays for it? What do they accomplish there?

Palin is commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard, a number of whom are in Iraq (and presumably also in the hospital). I would assume a visit like this would be good for the soldiers' morale knowing that the governor cares for them and would qualify as official business. I doubt when she visited the troops in 2007 that it was with the thought of using it as a photo op for a vice presidential bid a year later.

Yeah, it appears that Texas Governor Rick Perry visited Iraq in 2006 with Mike Huckabee and two Democratic governors. I don't know if it's really a great idea, but I guess it's not unusual.

However, the sources I found say that Palin has never been to Iraq, though she once visited some troops in Kuwait and Germany. If that's true, you might have to retract your statement that she's been to Iraq as often as Obama, who's been there twice. Do you have a source that supports your claim?
http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/ ... -the-dice/

I stand corrected. Her trip was to Kuwait in 2007, so she had the same number of trips to the Middle East as Obama had when he was anointed. The scope of focus for a state governor's trip is is different than for a senator, or a presidential nominee-to-be. He conncern was rightly for the troops she was responsible for from Alaska, how they were equipped, what their morale was, etc. I might add that running a state government, even a small in population state, is a full time job and few governors are able to make extended world trips. Obama had a number of opportunities, but like the chances to hold subcommittee hearings, he elected not to. On Palin's trip in 2007, it does appear she made a point to visit where Alaskan troops were stationed in Kuwait.

If I was a soldier in Iraq (or Kuwait), I would be glad that the governor of my state cared enough to visit me and not just use me as a campaign talking point.

[Appa23]

Palin is inexperienced, but she has been to Iraq as many times as Obama has and has visited the troops in German hospitals one more time than Obama has.

Assuming this is true, can someone explain why? What would be the purpose or rationale for any city's mayor or any state's governor to visit a foreign war zone? Do other mayors and governors go to Iraq? If so, who pays for it? What do they accomplish there?

Governors are the Commanders of their state's National Guard. So, a governor might have a very good reason to visit his/her "troops". (It may not be the reason why Governor Palin went.)

So, to add to everything else, Sarah Palin apparently also has more military experience than Obama and Biden combined (if you think that such a thing is a "plus" for the office of the President.)

[wintergreen48]

My opinion on Palin as the running mate: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Does McCain want to lose this election? OK, I get that he wants to lure many of those bitter Hillary Clinton supporters by putting a woman on the ticket... but don't you think that McCain would pick a woman with more... experience and name recognition? Like Kay Bailey Hutchison, whose name was tossed around on the Bored quite a bit this week?

Palin has been governor for less than two years. Before that, she was the mayor of some town in the middle of Alaska that nobody has heard of. She has less experience than Obama! If it is her, then the entire Republican campaign that Obama is too young and too inexperienced will be automatically defused. Plus, she would never survive in the VP debate against Biden.

There has to be some other reason that Palin is being considered. Is it to sex up the Republican ticket? To win Alaska's oh-so-crucial 3 electoral votes? To keep Ted Stevens and Don Young in office?

With all due respect, I think that comments that suggest that a candidate picked a particular running mate in order to 'sex up' the ticket say a bit more about the people making the comment than about the people involved in the comment. Same kinds of things were said in 1988-- Dan Quayle supposedly resembled Robert Redford, and Bush I supposedly picked him in order to draw 'the woman vote' (whatever that is).

Palin does a lot of good stuff for McCain. From the demographic standpoint, while she is not likely to draw in any of the embittered Hillary voters, she does help McCain avoid the problem that he would have had with someone like Joe Lieberman ('two old white guys') or even Mitt Romney ('two white guys'); that pulls a little of the air out of Obama's tires of 'change.'

More importantly, she is a conservative who does not threaten McCain in any way. She will probably shore up his base with the conservative wing of the Republican party (the ones who would have sat out the election, or voted for a third party, if he had picked someone like Romney), while at the same time she will probably not drive away too many of the people who are located more toward the center or slightly left side. At the same time, by being somewhat 'obscure,' she does not have a power base of her own, and so, would not threaten McCain the way that someone like Huckabee would have done (and Huckabee and other folks who are more prominently 'conservative' would be more likely to drive out more of the center and slightly left people who already back McCain).

That kind of highlights a problem that the Republicans have that the Democrats do not. The Republican party is currently more of a 'big tent,' in the sense that there are really distinct right and lefty (or moderate or centrist) wings, that are ideologically opposed-- there are in fact a lot of 'Reagan Republicans' and 'Rockefeller Republicans,' and a Republican candidate has to tread very carefully in order to keep them all together. This is why you get someone like Reagan (very much in the right wing of the party) running with someone like Bush I (very much in the center-left wing of the party), and Bush I running with someone like Dan Quayle (who was kind of a 'harmless' conservative, like Palin, just as Bush I was a moderate/centrist, like McCain).

The Democrats are much list divided ideologically than are the Republicans, to the extent that when someone does not spout the party line, he is literally silenced, a non-person (as happened with the late Governor Casey, who was not allowed to speak at the Democratic Convention a few years ago: because he did not follow the party's line on abortion, he was not permitted to speak at all, even though he was not going to say anything about abortion; ideologically purity must be maintained). The problem for the Democrats is that their party includes a lot of divergent, often conflicted special interest groups, and whoever is in charge of things has to find ways to accommodate the different interests: the whole 'I'm a Hillary supporter and I won't vote at all' thing arises from the conflict between gender and racial blocs in the party, a conflict which arises where their special interests do not coincide (there can only be ONE candidate, so one interest has to take the back seat; it is ironic that, this year, the two principal candidates happened to represent those two groups, a problem which would not have arisen if Hillary had made her move in 2004-- pre-Obama).

It's all very interesting, that the candidates have to make choices for their campaigns that have nothing to do with who THEY really are, or what THEY really stand for, but instead, have to worry about the impact of a decision on sub-groups of their respective parties.

[silverscreenselect]

Palin does a lot of good stuff for McCain. From the demographic standpoint, while she is not likely to draw in any of the embittered Hillary voters, she does help McCain avoid the problem that he would have had with someone like Joe Lieberman ('two old white guys') or even Mitt Romney ('two white guys'); that pulls a little of the air out of Obama's tires of 'change.'

I beg to differ on this. A substantial number of Hillary supporters have been looking for some degree of cover to justify voting for McCain and Palin provides it in a way that Mitt Romney wouldn't. Plus, the mere fact that she's on the ticket (which I think was decided the second Obama went with Joe Biden instead of Hillary) continues to point out the shabby treatment Obama supporters have given Hillary. Plus, every sexist snotty thing they or anyone in the media say about Palin (and these people love to get snotty) will again remind Hillary supporters about what she went through.

Keep in mind, a lot of Hillary supporters are not lifelong Democrats but former independents and moderate Republicans who were moved by her personality and, to a lesser extent, her stance on the issues. So the fact that Palin is far to the right of Hillary on social issues won't have as big of an impact as the mere fact she's there and that she and McCain are willing to say the right things about Hillary and her campaign now.