I'm sure this board has had plenty of "Palin" posts, and if I read them all I imagine that my comments are not new to the board.

So...forgive me if I rant.

Is this a fucking joke?  It's hard to know where to start.

On the Obama/Palin "experience/preparedness" issue.  I've listened to the Republican talking heads since the announcement was made.  As soon as this issue is brought up their go-to line seems to be "let's talk about experience, let's talk about Obama".  Ok, let's compare them.  Palin went to the University of Idaho and got a bachelors degree in journalism.  She does not have a graduate degree.  Obama got his bachelors degree from Columbia University and then his law degree from Harvard, where he was President of the Harvard Law Review.  Palin got a "minor" in political science.  Obama taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago for 12 years.  Palin served 4 years on the city council of a town of 7,000 people, then 2 terms as mayor for the same town.  She has served for less than 2 years as Governor of the 3rd least populated state in the United States.  Obama served in the Illinois state senate for 7 years and has served in the U.S. senate for over 4 years.  It is "technically" true that Palin has more "executive" experience than Obama, but by this measure she also has more executive experience than McCain.  And, most important in this comparison, Obama just endured and won a brutal primary process in which 18 million Americans thought he would be the best choice for President.  My guess is that with Palin's background, she would not have lasted 2 weeks in this process - but if she would've garnered 18 million votes, I would concede her right to sit at the table.

Is McCain thinking he is going to get Hillary votes based on the fact Palin is a woman?  This is insane given they are ideologically 180 degrees from one another.  If that was the thinking, that is incredibly insulting to women - no less so then if he would've grabbed a wholly unqualified black person in order to get the "black" vote.

It has to be, I guess, that he is reaching out to the social conservatives in his own party.  And in this regard she might serve his purpose well.  Frankly, she is in my opinion another religious nutjob.  She believes in creationism and doesn't believe in global warming - two issues on which you would have to completely ignore science to hold her views (maybe she thinks her minor in political "science" qualifies her to know better?).  She does not believe in abortion rights and in an interview said she would "choose life" if her own daughter were raped and she had to make a decision regarding her daughter's abortion.  She is also opposed to gay marriage, about the last issue the government should have any say in.

Can you even imagine having an inexperienced, moderately intelligent, God-is-on-my-side, intolerant, scientifically ignorant, potentially corrupt (I didn't even go into the firing of the Alaska state trooper issue) person in the seat of the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES???!!!!  This is a fucking joke right?  This is who John McCain thinks we need potentially leading this country during a time that may prove to be the most difficult in our history?

Obama was just a community organizer so no it is not a joke that the Reps VP has more executive experience then the DEms Presidential   choice .
Palin  would have a better knowledge of the multitude of federal laws that impact state fiscal matters from highway funding to health care to food stamps to welfare.

Palin has fought aganist big oil .
Earlier this month, Palin won passage of a bill that included a one-time $1,200 tax rebate for Alaskans to help deal with high energy prices. The bill also repeals the state’s 8-cents-a-gallon gasoline tax for a year.
Unlike Obama she has done real action on her energy plan for her state it is real and not a pie in the sky plan that will get us off oil in ten years when Obama is out of office


Mac has executive experince as he was commander of a squdaron of 1,000 personnel and fleet of 75 jets after he got back from Nam .

The command of the Navy's largest aviation squadron, VA-174, at Cecil Field in Florida .
Mac is the one that is runnig for President and the VET will be around for a good 4 years as he has good genes . Look at his mother who is 95

-- Modified on 9/1/2008 8:36:12 AM

-- Modified on 9/1/2008 8:41:10 AM

Until you do some more research other than on KOS, you have too much empty information to come to any kind of valid conclusion..Alaska has a small population but a very big area to govern..
In my opinion only the mainstream Media and their followers believe McCain thinks he will get Hillary voters..Sure McCains camp threw a bone to the Media and not realizing they would actually take away from Obamas convention, they ran with it..Brilliant on McCains campaign managers part.. What the pundits fail to realize is Palin will energize the Republican base as much as Obama energizes the Democrat base...Its not about how many Democrats switch their votes to  Mccain  but which party  gets the most voters to the polls..The thing I like the most about this election is the "possibility"  we might hit 70% voter participation on election day.

think again, quad.  one of the most important factors for GOP success at the polls already is superior turnout over those lazy Dem voters.  There really ain'tthat much GOP vote left to get out, so Palin's suppossed efect of "energizing" the GOP base is going to be a lot less than the GOP pundits tell you it is.  She's not going to get any Hillary votes, that's a pipedream, but she may help carry Alaska and it's multitude of electoral votes.

In case Gov Palin tanks and proves to be a miserable mistake, I'm already copyrighting this : "Senator Stevens of Alaska gave us 'The Bridge To Nowhere."  Now Gov Palin has given us "The VP Candidacy To Nowhere."  And John McCain happily bought it."

In appx 10 weeks the dust will settle and we'll see what's what.  I suspect all sides will have to eat some crow on some issue or another.  The Palin Effect I think will be like the Butterfly Effect  -- greatly interesting in theory, much harder to prove in fact.

As a McCain supporter, I would agree that in terms of length of public service Obama has a longer record by a few years.

However, there is a huge difference. With his slightly more experience, he is running for President.  His lack of experience will definately be a factor on Day One.  She is running for VP.  Unless McCain croaks the first year, she isn't so bad off.  

If McCain lives for another year, by that time she has had a crash course as the VP and in those two years she would have had more experience relevant to the president than Obama would on the first day.  

(Although I hate to do this, I have to give credit to Carter, who I regrefully voted for.  One of the few good things he did was to re-make the vice-president's office from more than a ceremonial post to a serious post in the executive branch.)

As to experience at this time, I am totally unimpressed with "community activist" or what ever it is called.  Finally, as someone who has substantial experience in the area of constitutional law, I don't really care about his teaching law.  Lord knows I had some lousy professors and W.Wilson wasn't that great a president, in spite of the fact that he was the president of Princeton.  

I would prefer Truman, who ran a clothing store to Wilson.

Isn't that a pseudonym for a person who is unemployed that goes around bothering people who have real business to attend to.?

Besides bothering people who have real business to attend to, they also play an important role in getting local governments to enact regulations that make the real businesses to get any work done, and they also encourage legislation that will discourage people from hiring extra help.

A "community activist" in Chicago also has the important role of acting in concert with Jesse Jackson, local church leaders (yeah, cheap shot), and the Daley Machine.

I hope that makes it clear.  Don't get me going on law professors.

"There really ain'tthat much GOP vote left to get out, so Palin's suppossed efect of "energizing" the GOP base is going to be a lot less than the GOP pundits tell you it is."

 First of all I haven't seen any pundits anywhere saying the GOP will vote in record numbers this year, however I think both parties will break all the previous records. You say "There really ain't that much GOP vote left to get out," makes me realize  you haven't done  any research on what you think you know..

GOP turnout is almost always superior to Dem turnout, it has to be, as in both aggreate numbers and % of voting population, registered Reps trail registered Dems.  

The GOP turnout, it you want it stated this way, is far superior in efficiency to Dem turnout, so there's little unused voting capacity left for the GOP to squeeze votes out of.  

What's left?  convert the Dems?  Not very likely?  Sway the undecideds?  More likely.  Get the previously unregistered to the polls as GOP voters?  A nice trick if it can be done, but I suspect those unregistered types are probably alientated from politics and as such are likely to blame the GOP and the incumbent Bush, and heavily vote Dem.

10 weeks will tell the tale.  I'm patient, and I can wait.  We'll see what November brings.

...makes me wish for the good old days when we were ruled by a king.

Those silly activists also didn't even think about how it would turn the cotton industry upside down if some people weren't allowed to own other people.  And, if you can imagine, they later had the audacity to expect these people to be given the right to vote.  They even wanted this right for women, imagine that?  

I could go on and on.  Yea...those activists are a real pain.

Either Quad has flip-flopped or more likely he has just reacted to the change in the situation.

I think you underestimate the GOP's ability to "get out the vote" and overestimate a couple of demographics that Obama dominates in, such as the youth vote. That's what Palin brings to the table, just like in 2004 when Gay marriage was the ultimate issue that decided the election.

the other thing you may have overlooked is the Hillary factor, I don't care what she said in her speech, she wants Obama to win about as much as I want a tax increase. She still has a card or two to play. I don't know what it will be, and I don't know if we ever will as I imagine whatever she pulls, it will be behind the scene.

As you said, 10 weeks will tell.

I posted my comment about Sarah Palin expecting it to be, in addition to potentially repetitive, a little like preaching to the choir.

I am new to this board, as I said in my post, but I was honestly surprised that most of the comments so far are clearly from conservatives.  To make matters worse - from conservatives who seem to somehow be embracing the very far right perspective brings to the McCain ticket.

Are you guys serious?  On THIS board?

I get it (perhaps) that only men with money can indulge in this "hobby".  And some people believe (and it may be true, I've never looked into it) that most of this country's wealth is controlled by conservatives/Republicans.

But c'mon.  Really?

Please tell me that most of the guys on this board are not so self serving and two sided to indulge in a hobby which is illegal in most states yet at the same time consider for even one milisecond a candidate who wants to take away a woman's right to choose an abortion and a couple's right to get married.

If someone on this board has justified their participation in this "hobby" on the foundation that the government doesn't have a right to intercede in this type of activity (which is my position), then lend a hand to other people in this country who are battling equally egregous extensions of the government's arms into their lives.  Don't vote for these nutjob religious candidates they keep putting up to appease the truly sick James Dobson's of this country.

I am pretty moderate by and large. I support safe and legal acess to abortion, I support gay rights including the right to legal marriage, I support fully funding stem cell research, and believe creationism has no business being within 100 miles of a biology class.

However, in order to vote for those issues, ie vote Democratic, I would also vote in favor of implementing a colossal disaster called universal health care, I would vote for a retreat in the war against terrorism, I would vote for higher taxes, I would vote for appeasement cloaked as "diplomacy", and a foreign policy that includes the belief that Iran is a tiny nation and not a threat. Voting Democratic means voting for nanny state interference in the form of everything from more idiotic bans on trans fats to higher taxes on cigarettes. Not because we need bans on trans fats or need taxes on cigarettes, but because the Democratic party seems to have forgotten that the concept of freedom also includes the freedom to fail, the freedom to make bad choices.

The simple fact is, that even as moderate as I am, the Democratic Party has strayed so far to the left that they can't even claim to be sane anymore.

One can also make the argument of course that the Republican party of late has not demonstrated an acceptable level of fiscal responsibility, and that would be true. Contrary to rhetoric, the irresponsible and outrageous spending habits of Congress were a big factor in losing control of Congress in 2006. The Iraq war certainly was a big factor, but far from the only factor. That is one of the reasons that I like McCain and Palin both. Aside from their stance on abortion and other values issues, both are strong advocates of fiscal responsibility, and champions of reform. McCain didn't earn the nickname of Maverick for nothing, and Palin clearly demonstrated her willingness to go against members of her own party to expose corruption, cronyism, and wasteful spending.

So in spite of the fundy values which I don't buy into at all, I vote Republican because on the issues that matter most, I flat out don't trust the Democrats to lead on.

True dat. You're being polite to the Republicans Sins.

that wouldn't try to tax my business out of existence, or try to get me to pay several times my share of Social Security, or create a socialist form of healthcare that already doesn't work in the countries that currently use it.

If you would nominate such a candidate, I would be happy to support such a person, and I would be even happier if that person believed in a woman's right to choose and everyone's freedom FROM religion as well as their right of religion.

I wanted an excuse to vote Democratic, but what do you give me? Barrack Hussein Obama. No thank you. I'll side with the religious nut jobs before I vote for Obama.

He is a liberal hobbyist that can't understand how many of his fellow hobbyists can be conservative. unlike Avenger who was most probably a child who thought the hobby itself was evil, the differences could not be plainer.

I don't know about you, but I welcome more Libbies even if I disagree with much of what they say. I also disagree with much the right has to say also. A little balance is a good thing, do you really want to confine yourself to people that think the same as you?

Where/when did I say that?

He does have one similarity with Avenger in that he was scolding the conservatives for hypocrisy in the hobby. Not being a conservative may have allowed that one to bypass you.

I disagree with most of what he says, but on that point well............

"Either Quad has flip-flopped or more likely he has just reacted to the change in the situation."


I'm never too old to change my mind however since I have been here I have been consistent unless I was playing the occasional Devils advocate.. All my posts are recorded..Where do you see flip flops ??
In all honesty I am not excited about Mccain or Obama but Sarah Palin could easily get me excited.

"do you really want to confine yourself to people that think the same as you? "


Now that would be a boring world...I wouldn't even come her if we all had the same views.
 

but a few months ago you were, while not exactly pro Obama you were making statements like "the younger voters will come out in droves for Obama"

Your attitude toward the election has definitely changed over the last few months. I don't view that as flip flopping, I view it as keeping an open mind.

has anyone checked on his blog recently to see who else he is trying to out?

"but a few months ago you were, while not exactly pro Obama you were making statements like "the younger voters will come out in droves for Obama""


I still believe the younger voters will come out in droves for Obama, however now that Palin is VP to be, I can see just as many if not more young Conservatives coming out to vote..A lot of soccer Moms have conservative daughters who wouldn't waste their time with Mccain Romney but vain or not they will come out to vote for Mccain Palin IMO... I have always thought that Obama is a good guy and might be a good president.. Once he started on the mega tax on rich {like the SS over 250K} and all the promises, I am getting worried he might destroy the economy including mine ..In my line of work I depend on the  rich to maintain my lifestyle.. They have bills also just like everyone else. If we steal their discretionary income to the tune of a couple hundred grand on a million dollar a year salary they are not going to have the $$ to pay for my work.. Once again they have bills and mortgages just like everyone else..
However I do think Obama means well but he just doesn't understand economics..

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Illinois like other states, where being a member of the state legislator is a part time job? They only show up about half the year. And over 4 years in the US Senate for Obama? Didn't he get sworn in in January, 2006, or have I been asleep all this time. Law professor at the University of Chicago for 12 years? How much of that time was he teaching, and how much of that time was he playing basketball in the gym while a graduate student taught his classes for him. It appears that he's had a lot of free time to gain some experience. Like hanging out with crooked real estate brokers, terrorists, radical, America hating preachers, nut-case Catholic priests, et al. There are no 'perfect' candidates, but I like Palin. She's a life member of the NRA. That's all I need to know. LOL.