Sarah Palin

[Anonymous]

Rich wrote: I love the name Trig. I hope she has another so she can name him Calc.

this is the funniest thing I've read all day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn't it a bit insulting that McCain decides he wants a woman on the ticket but can only come up with someone with NO experience at any level and very little nationwide exposure? Palin is no where near the electric, motivational speaker that Obama is and there is no way that she can unify and bring people together the way he has done. I just can't believe that here are no other republican female candidates out there or did they all turn McCain down? It bothers me that if they do win (which I doubt will happen) the first woman VP will be there because she is a woman and some man thought he could get votes by putting a woman on the ticket.

I'd like to see the first woman in the white house there because she earned it, deserves it, and got it herself...not a token symbol.

Since when did being governor of the largest state geographically become "NO" experience.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:
Since when did being governor of the largest state geographically become "NO" experience.

Since she not running to be the Fish and Game warden.

[Anonymous]

Sorry as a Texan I'm offended by the notio that it's "inside-the-Beltway" to be concerned about Palin's total lack of exposure to anything outside the US. I'm sure that the PP is correct in saying that more Americans will relate to her life story than to Obama's or Biden's or even McCain's... but I'm looking for leadership, not ordinariness. The last candidate who appealed to Americans' desire for a regular guy was the (very elite) GWB, and many of our domestic problems today are a direct result of his disastrous foreign policies.

Sarah Palin is great pick in terms of shaking up the electoral dynamics - but makes it clear to me that winning is all McCain cares about. Biden is not the most exciting choice on Obama's part (I would have strongly preferred Chuck Hagel!) but it raises my confidence in Obama's judgment - he'd make a good partner in leading the country. Palin might make a great surprise pick as Attorney General but as the second highest official in the land -- please!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the next four months (AT LEAST) she will either be dragging a four-month-old around the country on a grueling schedule where she'll have little or no time to dedicate to him OR she'll be leaving him behind while she's campaigning, essentially removing herself from his life for a third of his infancy.

What fucking bullshit!! You would NEVER post this if the VP choice was a man with an infant child.

Not only WOULD I say that, but I *DID* say it. Right here: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/30/24607.page#150665

Idiot.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Since when did being governor of the largest state geographically become "NO" experience.

Since she not running to be the Fish and Game warden.

Jeff, your elitism is really showing here. So is your concern. If you thought Palin was such a weak pick, you'd be gleeful. But instead you seem pretty worried about it. Just a hint: Most Americans don't live in Washington, DC, and those who do are not in any way superior to those who don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I posted earlier and thought of another reason why I'm not entirely thrilled with the pick.

Putting on my flame suit as I know I will get scorched

I prefer my leaders to be a little bit more sophisticated. Not in the hunting and fishing sense, but academically. I see her education is a BS from the University of Idaho. I don't know - doesn't seem that impressive to me. Will she be able to hold her own against the heavyweights? Is she potentially too much of a lightweight intellectually?

Her resume seems like one of an everyday American. Which is all swell and good, but I don't know if I want an everyday, average American helping to run this country! I want someone who is intellectually above average, sophisticated in those types of dealings.

And yes - I consider myself an everyday, average Amercian. I wouldn't want me running this country.

Amen. Now, what kind of image is Sarah Palin going to project during diplomatic missions? She can carry a conversation about huntin' moose and rats, but YES, this time around, I want some sophisticated leaders, too!

[Anonymous]

For all the people criticizing Palin, would you vote for McCain instead of Obama if McCain had picked another VP choice? It's seems the people criticizing her were voting for Obama anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's such an interesting pick - tactically it will be very useful to McCain because Democrats will be constrained in making the obvious argument against Palin (experience). The fact that she's got 5 kids including a 4mo old is also fascinating - it really provokes an interesting discussion about working mothers.

But honestly it's a little sad in this day and age that the VP candidate of any party appears unfamiliar with the correct pronunciation of 'nuclear' and 'Iraq' (hint: it's not Eyerack.) Has she ever been anywhere outside the US? To one of the PPs who said enthusiastically that she will learn all she needs to on the job - what makes you so sure? How can Americans possibly elevate someone to a heartbeat from the presidency who has so little knowledge of, and experience with, the wider world? And yes, I would feel the same way about a candidate who had limited or sheltered experience with the US - but it's hard to say that about Obama, given the fact he's lived in very different parts of the country and was raised by a single mother on food stamps.

I think Christine Todd Whitman would have been a much, much better choice.

Actually, you've got it backwards. It will constrain McCain from making the inexperience argument against Obama... which has been his only semi-effective attack on him thus far. I'm shocked that McCain just rebutted his own argument!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't it a bit insulting that McCain decides he wants a woman on the ticket but can only come up with someone with NO experience at any level and very little nationwide exposure? Palin is no where near the electric, motivational speaker that Obama is and there is no way that she can unify and bring people together the way he has done. I just can't believe that here are no other republican female candidates out there or did they all turn McCain down? It bothers me that if they do win (which I doubt will happen) the first woman VP will be there because she is a woman and some man thought he could get votes by putting a woman on the ticket.

I'd like to see the first woman in the white house there because she earned it, deserves it, and got it herself...not a token symbol.

Since when did being governor of the largest state geographically become "NO" experience.

Because the United States is not one big empty land mass populated by a handful of people. The president deals with huge bureaucracies and institutions, of which, I imagine, Alaska has very few.

Say, why not Fenty then -- Alaska barely has more people than the District.

[Anonymous]

Rich wrote: . I love the name Trig. I hope she has another so she can name him Calc?

Please excuse my shouting.

LMAOLOTF (laughing my ass off laying on the floor), with snorting noises.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Actually, you've got it backwards. It will constrain McCain from making the inexperience argument against Obama... which has been his only semi-effective attack on him thus far. I'm shocked that McCain just rebutted his own argument!

But Obama is running for president, while Palin is running for vice president. McCain's experience is at the top of the ticket; Biden's is at the bottom. Yes, McCain undercuts his argument, but Obama undercut his change argument by choosing Biden. So that's a wash. And the McCain campaign is already pointing out that Palin first ran for office in 1992. The Atlantic's Ross Douthat notes that, ". . . it's also quite possible that any conversation that ends up happening about whether Sarah Palin is ready to be Vice President after ten years in local government and two years in statewide office can only end up hurting the Obama campaign - by raising, indirectly, the Democratic ticket's biggest liability." Obama's going to hammer it, for sure, but in the meantime you have a very articulate and personable woman telling voters "I just put down the BlackBerry and pick up the breast pump." I think a lot of women are going to relate to her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For all the people criticizing Palin, would you vote for McCain instead of Obama if McCain had picked another VP choice? It's seems the people criticizing her were voting for Obama anyway.

I just don't want asinine small-minded people who've never set foot outside the states making policy decisions that affect 300+ million people in the US and billions outside of it. Alaskans are very removed from the rest of the country not just in geography, but in mentality and reality. They refer to to rest of the US as "the lower 48" as if it were another country, somewhere far, far away. Intelligent Design policy decisions on a national scale, good God. How does she promote women's issues with a pro-life stance? Not to mention, a heartbeat away from the Presidency with an under educated blue collar husband in the White House greeting ambassadors and other diplomats?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For all the people criticizing Palin, would you vote for McCain instead of Obama if McCain had picked another VP choice? It's seems the people criticizing her were voting for Obama anyway.

I just don't want asinine small-minded people who've never set foot outside the states making policy decisions that affect 300+ million people in the US and billions outside of it. Alaskans are very removed from the rest of the country not just in geography, but in mentality and reality. They refer to to rest of the US as "the lower 48" as if it were another country, somewhere far, far away. Intelligent Design policy decisions on a national scale, good God. How does she promote women's issues with a pro-life stance? Not to mention, a heartbeat away from the Presidency with an under educated blue collar husband in the White House greeting ambassadors and other diplomats?

Hey! I'm with you about Palin but let's not go after blue collar workers like that!

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:
Jeff, your elitism is really showing here. So is your concern. If you thought Palin was such a weak pick, you'd be gleeful. But instead you seem pretty worried about it. Just a hint: Most Americans don't live in Washington, DC, and those who do are not in any way superior to those who don't.

Elitism? Its elitism to expect more than 1 and 1/2 years of running one of the least populated states in the Union, a state that has very little in common with the rest of the country?

I don't know about you, but every year I write a check to the DC government for income taxes. In Alaska, they don't have income tax (or sales tax). Instead, each resident gets a check from the government. I'm not sure Palin's experience sending checks to her constituents is going to be very helpful at the federal level.

Is it elitism to expect your VP to have a minimal knowledge of foreign affairs? I mean, when she goes to those funerals, shouldn't she know who the dead person is, and how to pronounce the name of their country?

As for scared. You are damn right I'm scarred. I'm scarred for the future of this country if it has to go through four more years of the the last eight. I am scarred for the the world my children will face if we have to live through a McCain/Palin administration.

I am scarred as hell by the reaction I am seeing here by some of posters -- many of whom proclaim themselves Democrats and even one who says she raised money for Obama -- who appear to have lost all hold on their senses and don't seem to give a fig about what two far right-wingers would do to this country.