Mountainphan wrote:

cshort wrote:I heard an interesting comment from Larry Kudlow. She may get dinged for lack of foreign policy experience, but as governor of Alaska, she actually is much more in tune with Russia (and global oil issues) than your average governor.

I think her biggest impact may be on the issue of energy, which I heard is kind of a big issue. She understands that we can't blow our way out of the energy crisis.

I'm for ANWR drilling, but that isn't sufficient either. And stepping back, I don't think this is an issue that can be fought out in the context of sound bites within a presidential campaign.

The Obama response already is to link her to the oil companies. But they'd probably do that with any Republican. And I specifically doubt that any Alaska Republican--or any Alaska Democrat for that matter--could reach high office without bestowing some wet sloppy smooches on oil interests.

Mountainphan wrote:Here's the paragraphs from Wiki on this non-scandal. It provides more detail and context then Josh Marshall's attempt at spin.

tasering his 11-year-old stepson (at the stepson's request)

:?:

"Taser me, taser me!!!"

"Duh, OK..."

for god sake i cant believe that john mccain is going to be the president.

well that decides it for me. not joining the military with that senile moron running the country.

woohoo war with iran here we come.

The crowd she spoke in front of was twice the size of the town she was mayor of. That is crazy.

It was pretty clear she has never been in the national spotlight. Her speech was shaky and she seemed nervous.

There is no doubt that wherever she goes local media markets are going to give her so much attention. More attention than Joe Biden.

CalvinBall wrote:The crowd she spoke in front of was twice the size of the town she was mayor of. That is crazy.

It was pretty clear she has never been in the national spotlight. Her speech was shaky and she seemed nervous.

There is no doubt that wherever she goes local media markets are going to give her so much attention. More attention than Joe Biden.

Of course they will - she's hotter than Biden

CalvinBall wrote:The crowd she spoke in front of was twice the size of the town she was mayor of. That is crazy.

It was pretty clear she has never been in the national spotlight. Her speech was shaky and she seemed nervous.

There is no doubt that wherever she goes local media markets are going to give her so much attention. More attention than Joe Biden.

Joe Biden's gonna have to counter by wearing something low cut.

Phan In Phlorida wrote:

CalvinBall wrote:The crowd she spoke in front of was twice the size of the town she was mayor of. That is crazy.

It was pretty clear she has never been in the national spotlight. Her speech was shaky and she seemed nervous.

There is no doubt that wherever she goes local media markets are going to give her so much attention. More attention than Joe Biden.

Joe Biden's gonna have to counter by wearing something low cut.

Like this?

I'm going to enjoy watching the GOP vacillate between pushing her as a strong woman that Hillary lovers can get behind, and whining about the big bad men picking on her when Biden or someone else lands a solid shot. It should make for great theater.

This is probably a smart pick, but I'm hoping it's so transparent that it backfires.

On a side note, can you imagine the look on Hillary's face when McCain dies and Palin becomes the first woman Prez? And then the faces on America's women when they realize they helped vote in a female Bush, complete with all the cronyism and oil and military industry connections?

Monkeyboy wrote:On a side note, can you imagine the look on Hillary's face when McCain dies and Palin becomes the first woman Prez? And then the faces on America's women when they realize they helped vote in a female Bush, complete with all the cronyism and oil and military industry connections?

I understand the oil connections, but where are the military connections? I hadn't heard of those. And believe it or not, some women aren't as concerned about those as they are other things.

Sometimes Monkeyboy makes me want to vote Republican

cshort wrote:

Monkeyboy wrote:On a side note, can you imagine the look on Hillary's face when McCain dies and Palin becomes the first woman Prez? And then the faces on America's women when they realize they helped vote in a female Bush, complete with all the cronyism and oil and military industry connections?

I understand the oil connections, but where are the military connections? I hadn't heard of those.

Same as oil connections.... Alaska is known for it, along with the fishing industry, too.

But really, ANY pick of the GOP is going to come with the same problems. They wouldn't have picked her if she wasn't one of them (see: every Bush attorney general that seemed like he might be independent, every general put on the ground in Iraq, etc, etc). Remember, the guys with McCain are the same guys that brought us GW. She's a trojan horse, like all the others, albeit a nicer looking incarnation.

Woody wrote:Sometimes Monkeyboy makes me want to vote Republican

Really? Why?

Is it because I saw Bush for what he was before the "more informed" members of the board?

But really, what's wrong with that post?

No you're just like LAExile's leftist foil

Monkeyboy wrote:Same as oil connections.... Alaska is known for it, along with the fishing industry, too.

Fucking goddamn fishing lobby. Most corrupt damn group of people. Ruining this country one dolphin caught in a tuna net at a time.

jerseyhoya wrote:

Monkeyboy wrote:Same as oil connections.... Alaska is known for it, along with the fishing industry, too.

$#@! goddamn fishing lobby. Most corrupt damn group of people. Ruining this country one dolphin caught in a tuna net at a time.

I didn't say th fishin industry was corrupt, just that Alaska was known for it.

Am I alone in thinking this really isn't a great pick for McCain? Two year governor of Alaska is probably the equivalent being mayor of a medium size city. If I'm the dems, I'm getting this out there staring now. McCain is old and might die any minute. Then we're going to have to turn things over to this young lady who really has no governing experience at all, other than taking money from big oil.

Woody wrote:No you're just like LAExile's leftist foil

Except I don't ignore facts, which is a pretty significant difference. If I've ignored facts like LaExile has, please point me in the right direction because I don't want to do that.

I woudn't call Josh Marshall a lefty foil (in the LaExile mold) and I find myself agreeing with him more than any other person on the interwebs. So I don't think my ideas are too far out there.

But we can all wait to see how she turns out and we can all hope that she's the one person to join the GOP inner circle that isn't a maniac.

Monkeyboy wrote:But we can all wait to see how she turns out and we can all hope that she's the one person to join the GOP inner circle that isn't a maniac.

Didn't you call yourself the type of voter McCain should be appealing to/trying to win over?

TenuredVulture wrote:Am I alone in thinking this really isn't a great pick for McCain? Two year governor of Alaska is probably the equivalent being mayor of a medium size city. If I'm the dems, I'm getting this out there staring now. McCain is old and might die any minute. Then we're going to have to turn things over to this young lady who really has no governing experience at all, other than taking money from big oil.

But then the Dems will be making the argument against Obama. It will be hard for the dems to directly attack her inexperience without bringing Obama's lack of experience to mind. I realize he has vastly more experience than her, but I think that's how it will play out.

On the other hand, Obama seems very adept at walking the tightropes.

TenuredVulture wrote:Am I alone in thinking this really isn't a great pick for McCain? Two year governor of Alaska is probably the equivalent being mayor of a medium size city. If I'm the dems, I'm getting this out there staring now. McCain is old and might die any minute. Then we're going to have to turn things over to this young lady who really has no governing experience at all, other than taking money from big oil.

There's that, but what bothers me about the pick is that it just feels like a plot contrivance from some Hollywood movie about politics. Palin seems smart and likable and, at least by politician standards, seems to have some integrity, and she certainly seems more like a "real" person than any of the other three on the ticket. But it's beyond a huge leap of imagination to see her as the president right now.

It might help politically, I just have trouble seeing how, if McCain wins, it helps in terms of governance. Granted that I'm not supporting McCain anyway, the thing about him that makes me most nervous is his instinct toward neoconservative-style foreign policy thinking. I would feel better if he'd picked a realist, Lugar-style Republican to run with--someone I could see pushing back against him in cabinet meetings held during crisis situations. It's easy to imagine Biden and Obama going back and forth, not as equals but as two guys with clear ideas and shared deep understanding. Does Palin reach that level or command that kind of intellectual consideration?

Another point is that given that she has five kids, including an infant with severe developmental disability, I think she'd be a considerably less active or engaged vice-president than either of the last two. This isn't necessarily good or bad, but my personal belief is that the presidency has become such a huge job that you almost need a VP who has some clear areas of responsibility. With a 72 year-old and a young mom, there would be a lot of potential for government-by-"staff."