Peg Kerr&#39;s Journal

http://www.anonymousliberal.com/2008/08/palin.html

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davidschroth.livejournal.com

Nice line at the end there...

He chose a trophy running mate, not a partner.

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Yeah. I hope it gets used.

B

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I hope it doesn't. Take her down for any of the huge list of reasons she's not a good candidate, but not because she's a woman.

K.

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davidschroth.livejournal.com

My perspective is different - I see the last line as denigrating the person who made the choice, not the person chosen.

No doubt my perspective is askew from that of normal folk...

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Remember: "Obama - Biden '08. Only two houses. Only two spouses."

B

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Rocks. Anybody who thinks Obama might possibly be qualified to be President will beclown himself -- or herself -- by mocking Sarah Palin's qualifications for VP.

I hadn't thought McCain would make such a good choice.

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shweta-narayan.livejournal.com

Seems like a silly argument to me. Obama as less experience than McCain, but most of McCain's experience consists of making really stupid decisions. Looking at the voting record recently, McCain just looks bad.

Biden has experience comparable to McCain's and has made better decisions overall.

Palin has less experience than Obama and does not seem to be able to make smart decisions. Firing someone for not firing your sister's ex does not seem smart to me.

So Obama/Biden win over McCain/Palin on both joint experience and joint judgment.

Obama has said he wants someone who will disagree with him, who he can debate with and listen to. Do we think McCain will listen to Palin?

The only motivation I see is that McCain thinks most Hillary supporters see one woman as equivalent to another. It's the McCain/Vagina ticket.

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It's the McCain/Vagina ticket.

*falls over laughing*

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Huh. I'd have thought the advantage would run rather dramatically the other way. The Republicans have now cut off one of their lines of attack, since if Obama isn't qualified to get that 3 a.m. phone call, Sarah Palin sure as heck is not qualified to get the 3:05 one. (The one that goes, "President McCain just had a massive stroke...")

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I think the argument that experience is only important in the VP choice, but not in the POTUS choice, will only appeal to the True Believers.

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Incidentally, I don't have a particular problem with her level of experience. I think most of the liberals talking about her experience are mostly just gobsmacked that after making a huge enormous deal about Obama's lack thereof, the Republicans would pick Palin.

EXPERIENCE COUNTS! EXPERIENCE MATTERS! WHO DO YOU WANT GETTING THE 3 AM PHONE CALL? Oh, hey, meet your future vice president! She used to be a mayor of a town with less than 6,000 people, and then she became Governor of Alaska, a position she's held for almost two years now!

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Oh, wait. The population was under 6,000 in the 2000 census. Wasilla now claims a population of 6,715.

It's a really tiny town.

Actually, being mayor of a really small town is probably pretty good preparation for going to Washington. You'll certainly have a good idea of how one works with Congress...

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I don't understand why this is a benefit. Politics aside, I don't understand the tactic.

It's not that Obama supporters argue that he is qualified; it's not a Demoratic talking point. "Not qualified" is a Republican talking point; they're the ones pushing argument. And it was a promising argument. But Palin is even less experienced than Obama. And McCain chose her. It's a contradiction in the Republican message, not in the Democrats'.

"'I think we're going to have to examine our tag line, "dangerously inexperienced,"' a top McCain official said wryly.".

Or Rove on "Face the Nation" (video at the link):

Well, with all due respect again to Gov. Kaine, he's been a governor for three years. He's been able but undistinguished; I don't think people could really name a big, important thing that he's done. He was mayor of the 105th largest city in America. Again, with all due respect to Richmond, Virginia, it's smaller than Chula Vista, California, Aurora, Colorado, Mesa or Gilbert, Arizona, North Las Vegas or Henderson, Nevada. It's not a big town. So if you were going to pick Governor Kaine, it would be an intensely political choice where he said, you know what, I'm really not first and foremost concerned with is this person capable of being President of the United States, what I'm concerned about is can he bring me the electoral votes of the state of Virginia, the thirteen electoral votes of Virginia.

Ouch. McCain's lucky that the he/she difference makes that quote unusable without a overabundance of backstory.

If McCain wanted to ensure that anyone accusing the vice presidential pick of not having enough experience, it would have been smarter to choose someone with experience. That would leave the inexperience argument around for McCain to use for another couple of months.

Again, politics aside, this seems like a needless jettosning of a good attack on Obama. And it also brings up the age issue -- as any inexperienced VP pick would -- which seems like a mistake as well. And the news gets to run the clip of McCain saying that his most important criteria is that the person is ready to assume the role of the presidency (sorry, I couldn't find the clip quickly, and didn't have time to search), which plays into the Democratic "reckless" frame. I get the political positives of her pick, but wasn't there someone with the same politics and more garvitas?

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I didn't help that he spent her acceptance speech checking out her butt.

B

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Oh, my, is that wince-worthy. I couldn't bring myself to watch the whole thing.

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It's easier with the sound off.

B

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Never mind. I've been reading some smart analyses that talk about how the "inexperience" attack isn't working, and the Republicans are dropping it in favor of other lines of attack. I'm understanding their reasoning a bit better.

B

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Could you point me to some of the analysis you are talking about?

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ajodasso.livejournal.com

Guilty as charged.

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This undercuts his argument that Obama's too inexperienced to be president. If he really thinks he's going to get the women's vote this way, well, it just shows you how little he thinks of women.

I'm glad it's not Pawlenty.

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Yup; I agree: Obama's too inexperienced to be president. And the folks who are objecting to Palin as VP are -- unwittingly -- agreeing with you and me.

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Please don't put words in my mouth. I never said Palin was too inexperienced, only that, in tapping her, McCain has undercut one of his own arguments about Obama.

It takes more than "experience" to make a good president.

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And more than sweethart real estate deals with a convicted Rezo. Err: felon.

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Right; what the person said below. The "inexperience" frame is a Republican one, not a Democratic one. The cognitive dissonance is on the Republican side, and seems like a needless giveaway.

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eal.livejournal.com

What "lj user='thistlerose'> said.

I'm just too stunned for words beyond that right now.

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avengangle.livejournal.com

Dear John McCain,

If you possibly think that I feel that Sarah Palin is a good substitute for Hillary Clinton for one minute, then you have the intelligence of a dung beetle.

Since you obviously think that, well . . .

Sincerely,

Someone with Two X Chromosomes

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mamculuna.livejournal.com

I think this was maybe a smart move--or not. Women who would have voted for Hillary aren't going to vote for some pro-life, pro-gun rightwinger.

I hope. Maybe we're all nuts.

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Well, she certainly appeals to Joel Rosenberg, but I would've figured McCain already had that vote locked up. ;-)

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*snerk* Indeed.

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*giggle*

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ravenspb.livejournal.com

Agreed. Among other things, he finds the fact that she's "a hot babe" to be one of her defining points as a candidate.

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Incidentally, I've thought for weeks that Palin should be more of a contender than she seemed to be. McCain needed a running mate that would appeal in some way to the swing voters while also shoring up his support with the Evangelicals. Palin is extremely popular with the Evangelicals but is also young, moderate-ish on gay issues, etc. She's also insanely popular in Alaska, which implies a high degree of charisma.

She'd gotten so little buzz, I'd figured there must be some deal-breaker I didn't know about (a bad TV voice? a skeleton in her closet?). But apparently not.

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von-krag.livejournal.com

Talked to some people I do research w/in AK, they do like her across all the political spectrum from Libs to Righties.

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pameladean

I can't wait to see if the idiot media will be as sexist about her as they were about Hillary Clinton.

I suspect they will, but in a very different way. I wonder if I can stand to watch it.

P.

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dreamcoat-mom.livejournal.com

The choice of running mate was weird enough, but as I told a friend over on my journal today, McCain's cloak and dagger crap during the speech, along with announcing his scene-stealing VP pick the day afterward was a bit like a drunken uncle taking the mic out of the bride's hand during the wedding toasts to sing Feelings. I get the impression that the American public is a little fed up with such games. Poor John. The rules have changed, and he's just a little slow on the uptake.

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barondave.livejournal.com

As I've said in other lj's, this is the best pick for Hillary. Clinton doesn't have to be "historic" anymore, and can run on her merits, which are considerable. She will still be in the limelight, far more than Biden, in comparison to Palin, and she will shine. In any debate, whether direct or conducted via back and forth speechifying, Hillary will mop the floor with her.

This is a Jack Kemp pick, and completely good news for Obama and the Democrats. McCain is solidifying his base of the 27% of ultra-right wingers who think Bush is too far to the left.

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http://users.livejournal.com/anam_cara_/

I hadn't ever heard of her, so was more curious than anything else at the announcement. Until I learned this:

John McCain's vice-presidential pick, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, is an evangelical Protestant with a strong record of opposition to abortion and an openness to teaching creationism in the public schools.

*sigh*

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skg.livejournal.com

GAH!!!!

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cph9680.livejournal.com

Well, he took care of the 10% of the time he disagreed with the Bush.

Between the two of them there's 100% support for the crimes of the past 8 years

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skg.livejournal.com

Am I the only one who is completely boggled by the fact that she has a four-month old baby and is not only acting governor of Alaska but now VP-nominee for the Republican party?

0_o

Yes to all the comments about it being a bizarre choice as well as a probably misstep.

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archmage45.livejournal.com

She isn't the acting governor of Alaska. She *is* the governor of Alaska.

But still a surprise choice.

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I assume her husband does his share of the parenting, so, no, not boggled. That's probably the only thing about her that I like. O_o

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davidwilford.livejournal.com

Like about him, don't you mean?

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Her husband? Well, both of them, I suppose. Though, on second thought, I don't know enough about them to make that call. I just like the idea of parenting being shared.

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moondancerdrake.livejournal.com

Or that the woman has cash and can pay for a nanny?

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