McCain picks Sarah Palin (Gov. Alaksa) for VP

[klankymen]

would you still say that when your 15 year old daughter gets raped?

[teeb]

Originally Posted by Censport

So where Obama had to compensate for his inexperience by picking Biden, McCain had to compensate by picking a conservative.

The opinion pieces I read suggested that McCain had to pick someone young, to compensate his advancing years.

Although I suppose he picked a young conservative, satisfying both of those.


40 is young in politics

[jetsetter]

Found this photo and it made me chuckle.

John McCain and Sarah Palin at today's Vice Presidential announcement.

[Susurrate]

I had been hoping for the last several months McCain would pick Palin, I think she will excite the Republican base and help draw attention to the ticket from independent voters.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

It just isn't a Republican campaign without a pro-life, anti-gay, anti-evolution Christian nutbar in the mix.

[bartboy9891]

Originally Posted by cvrefugee

The belief that innocent, unborn life should be protected? I don't think so. Nobody will ever convince me that pro-life takes a choice away from a woman. My sister couldn't conceive because of her disease (lupus) and cried every time she heard a story about some woman who threw away her newborn. I've debated this issue countless times at school, college, with friends, etc. and I always come to the same conclusion: abortion is a selfish practice in our society that promotes a lack of accountability and acknowledges a decline in human decency.

This isn't really the thread to argue about this. But wouldn't you rather women only have children if they are able to take care of them? What good does it do the mother and baby if the mother doesn't want or is unable to care for the child?

[cvrefugee]

Originally Posted by klankymen

would you still say that when your 15 year old daughter gets raped?

Nothing is ever black and white, is it? Should a man be punished for stealing medicine to save his wife's life? Should a single person be killed in order to save ten? Should 10 people be killed in order to save 100? There are always exceptions in life, and abortion does have some.

Originally Posted by bartboy9891

This isn't really the thread to argue about this. But wouldn't you rather women only have children if they are able to take care of them? What good does it do the mother and baby if the mother doesn't want or is unable to care for the child?

Adoption? I'm sure many unplanned pregnancies resulted in a perfectly normal child who was not aborted. And if you don't want children there are many ways to prevent it. There are no true "accidents". If I hit your car with my car, I can't say "Sorry, I didn't mean to do that. Now you're stuck with a damaged car because I didn't want to hit you and I have no insurance or money to fix it. See ya later!"

[TomCat]

Originally Posted by bartboy9891

This isn't really the thread to argue about this. But wouldn't you rather women only have children if they are able to take care of them? What good does it do the mother and baby if the mother doesn't want or is unable to care for the child?

The problem with discussing abortion is that there is too much emotion involved. One side is always "Aww, the poor baby" and the other is always "Aww, the poor mother". Both sides like to think they're being logical and level headed, but neither usually are.

I think abortion should be legal, because accidents do happen and we shouldn't be putting iron-clad laws in place that further victimize the victims. But there will always be people who abuse the system and I think there should also be a system in place to prevent that. Abortion isn't another form of birth control, period.

I remember listening to an episode of Howard Stern where he gathered some women to see who had the most abortions. Some of them had literally dozens upon dozens of abortions. I'm sorry, but you have to be a real low life piece of shit to do that and not feel any guilt, regardless of whether or not you think that cluster of cells represents a person yet. The only consolation being that those women are probably the last people on the planet who should be mothers.

[bartboy9891]

Originally Posted by TomCat

The problem with discussing abortion is that there is too much emotion involved. One side is always "Aww, the poor baby" and the other is always "Aww, the poor mother". Both sides like to think they're being logical and level headed, but neither usually are.

You're right, what I think makes perfect sense to me but may be utter BS to others.

[vegasrebel29]

Originally Posted by Seasonone

Shame my vote doesn't matter, my county vote 99.9999999% Democrat. Nothing anybody ever does here will change that, we have too many Prius' ... or Prii whatever the plural of Prius is.

I believe it's "douchebags."

Anyhow, I'm still pretty indifferent, BUT for what it's worth she's more worthy of the presidency than McCain.

[efoolution]

Á really smart move by McCain I think on the first glance, a terrible one at the second.
Picking a newcomer for so obvious reasons (youth, health, woman) looks like a sign of weekness. It´s a bit like a confession of not being able to pull young, modern conservative voters with McCain hinself. So they throw in a kind of opposite of him, not politically but personally. I belive, the People will see throu this ... and be pissed off by it.
It just shows how much they are worried about McCains apeal and their chances. Not to mention what this says about the irrelevance of Topics in the coming election, it´s all about image now, even with the republicans.

And it could backfire catastrophically for the republicans. If McCain get´s even the slightest cold now, possible McCain-voters will realise that their country might be lead by a young woman they´ve never heard about before in the future if their Warhero were to get ill.

[Censport]

Originally Posted by jasonof2000

I'm against drilling because even department of energy reports say it will take at least 10 years before drilling could take place and oil flowing, it would NOT affect the price of gas because all the other oil producers would have to do is lower their own production to account for the new flow. Besides the oil companies already have millions of acres they CAN drill on but are not, drill their first.

That "it would take 10 years" argument was used against ANWR 10 years ago, and you can see how well not drilling has turned out for us. If we had opened ANWR to drilling back then, fuel prices would be as much as 67 cents/gallon lower now.

As for the places that oil companies can drill, but aren't, those aren't the places the EPA has blocked them from drilling, are they?

And on oil companies lowering their production, yes, OPEC is known for that. But American oil companies buy most of the oil they refine, and in the same time that our at-the-pump fuel prices increased 100%, the price of a barrel of oil increased 275%. That doesn't make for great net profits. Supply and demand is pretty easy to understand, so if the supply can be increased, why not? It's not like the earth has stopped producing oil.

Originally Posted by Jacobfox

This is an interesting choice, seems to work out pretty well for the dems actually. It manages to take the experience issue off of the table entirely,

Not entirely. Palin has executive experience, which even McCain and Biden don't have, much less Obama. Also, Palin has done more with her two years as governor than Obama has with his three as a senator. Unless you count using an office as a platform for running for president (right after saying you wouldn't), missing senate votes or voting "present", and proposing $740,000,000 in earmark spending increases as being productive, Obama has squandered his time in the senate.

Obama's people are already labeling this move as a further attack on women's rights (the right to choose)...

Yes, NOW has attacked her on that. Apparently, the only right women have left to defend is the right to have an abortion. You would think they couldn't vote or had to sit at the back of the bus or something.

Originally Posted by BerserkerCatSplat

It just isn't a Republican campaign without a pro-life, anti-gay, anti-evolution Christian nutbar in the mix.

Well, Palin's pro-life stance will provide a nice balance to Obama's pro-abortion stance, which is so extereme that he has campaign for a bill that would allow abortion doctors to kill a baby that was born after an abortion procedure. Imagine that! The doctor performs a late-term abortion, the baby is born anyway, and then the doctor can kill the living baby. But someone pro-life is a nutbar?

And "anti-gay" what? Purely anti-gay? Ahmedinejad is truly anti-gay. You need to clarify.

Palin isn't anti-evolution, she has simply supported creationism being offered as an alternative.

Edited to add: Just wait until you find out she's a life member of the NRA!

[phuckingduck]

Something that's been bothering me about this whole thing is that it was announced on a Friday. A holiday Friday. This critique has nothing to do with the qualifications of Palin, so please don't take it that way. But traditionally in the world of politics Friday's are days when you dump news you don't want anybody to really hear. This is because no one reads the Saturday newspaper and no one watches Friday night news. So you dump things like reports and economic numbers on Friday if you want no one to hear them.

Adversely, I can understand why releasing her on this Friday is important. One, it snubs out Obama's victory tour after the convention. Secondly it is a pretty intriguing decision so it will incite a big discussion across America on a three day weekend. And then the hype from that discussion leads into the Republican convention.

I've just been trying to decide if this was a masterful stroke of campaign leaders that are finally 'getting it'. Or more of the McCain campaign working harder, but not necessarily smarter.

[Firecat]

Some old school Sarah...

+ YouTube Video

[Zorlac]

Wow. Her speech was amazing. Amazingly scary. What a snob. Very smug, very condescending. I realize this was meant for the republican base, something McCain couldnt really grab. But this was also her introduction to America. No one had even heard of her before, and I found it hilarious how Saint Rudy of 911, Freddy Thompson, Mitt Romney had such great things to say about her and her *experience* when I dont remember any of them mentioning even her name before she was chosen. But I wasn't terribly surprised considering her speech was written by a Bush speechwriter.

And the stunning hypocrisies in her speech about policies, things she's done (like being a reformer) I think will be great ammo for Obama and the dems. I'm so glad she mentioned Bridge to Nowhere. And that selling a plane on ebay somehow qualifies her for the 2nd most important job in the US. I really hope the dems tear her to pieces. They cannot be soft on this one. She came out swinging tonight, and the dems need to fight back. They've got so much ammo against her already, they just need not screw up....this is the democrats afterall though.

As for the angry Clinton supporters that might support Palin. Sure there are a few who are irrational and upset, but I gotta think many Clinton supporters supported Clinton for the issues she's fought for or against. If you're a pro-choice democrat, but support Palin over Obama because you're angry and just want a female in office, you should be ashamed of yourself. You were never a Clinton supporter in the first place. But I dont think there are many of those as it seems. Clinton really needs to get behind the Obama ticket and work those angry voters back to Obama's side. Though I think its so pathetic and trite that Palin was picked. McCain hardly knew her, and only picked her because he think he can poach some of the angry Clinton votes by getting a woman. Thats just pandering and insulting to women. Of all the qualified women he could have chosen, he picks this psycho.

edit: Heres a good read.

[Firecat]

He picked her not only because he wanted to appeal to angry Clinton supporters, but because of her conservative credentials and age as well.

Obviously I didn't agree with much of what she said, but she was quite effective. She said what she needed to say to rally the base, and she didn't say anything that would send independents running for the hills. She's a novice on the national scene, so the next 2 months will be very critical...if she slips up a few times, it would be hard to recover with such little time left. Obama has been on the campaign trail for quite some time and is already well-adjusted (he's become quite the expert politician, which has put some people off).

On the flip-side, my politics don't line up with Biden as well. Not sure if I mentioned this already, but I wouldn't mind seeing her thrash him in the debates.

[Hidden_Hunter]

Originally Posted by Zorlac

As for the angry Clinton supporters that might support Palin. Sure there are a few who are irrational and upset, but I gotta think many Clinton supporters supported Clinton for the issues she's fought for or against. If you're a pro-choice democrat, but support Palin over Obama because you're angry and just want a female in office, you should be ashamed of yourself. You were never a Clinton supporter in the first place. But I dont think there are many of those as it seems. Clinton really needs to get behind the Obama ticket and work those angry voters back to Obama's side. Though I think its so pathetic and trite that Palin was picked. McCain hardly knew her, and only picked her because he think he can poach some of the angry Clinton votes by getting a woman. Thats just pandering and insulting to women. Of all the qualified women he could have chosen, he picks this psycho.

edit: Heres a good read.

you put too much faith in the general public my friend, in the local paper in our last election said they wouldn't vote for someone because his eye brows were too bushy....

[vegasrebel29]

Originally Posted by Hidden_Hunter

you put too much faith in the general public my friend, in the local paper in our last election said they wouldn't vote for someone because his eye brows were too bushy....

Indeed.

Another example is Clinton's race itself. Obama had some verbal gaffes (LET'S INVADE PAKISTAN!), and Clinton was as exciting as a grapefruit, but at the end of the day their policy goals were EXACTLY the same.

[watisdis]

Originally Posted by Zorlac

Wow. Her speech was amazing. Amazingly scary. What a snob. Very smug, very condescending. I realize this was meant for the republican base, something McCain couldnt really grab. But this was also her introduction to America. No one had even heard of her before, and I found it hilarious how Saint Rudy of 911, Freddy Thompson, Mitt Romney had such great things to say about her and her *experience* when I dont remember any of them mentioning even her name before she was chosen. But I wasn't terribly surprised considering her speech was written by a Bush speechwriter.

And the stunning hypocrisies in her speech about policies, things she's done (like being a reformer) I think will be great ammo for Obama and the dems. I'm so glad she mentioned Bridge to Nowhere. And that selling a plane on ebay somehow qualifies her for the 2nd most important job in the US. I really hope the dems tear her to pieces. They cannot be soft on this one. She came out swinging tonight, and the dems need to fight back. They've got so much ammo against her already, they just need not screw up....this is the democrats afterall though.

As for the angry Clinton supporters that might support Palin. Sure there are a few who are irrational and upset, but I gotta think many Clinton supporters supported Clinton for the issues she's fought for or against. If you're a pro-choice democrat, but support Palin over Obama because you're angry and just want a female in office, you should be ashamed of yourself. You were never a Clinton supporter in the first place. But I dont think there are many of those as it seems. Clinton really needs to get behind the Obama ticket and work those angry voters back to Obama's side. Though I think its so pathetic and trite that Palin was picked. McCain hardly knew her, and only picked her because he think he can poach some of the angry Clinton votes by getting a woman. Thats just pandering and insulting to women. Of all the qualified women he could have chosen, he picks this psycho.

edit: Heres a good read.

Smug? Condescending? Ever since she got picked she's been getting critisized left and right, one can only expect her to try and defend herself. Please give excerpts from her speech and explain how she was condescending. What did you want her to be "nice" and timid? Face it, she called the circus that is the Obama campaign out for what they are, nothing more nothing less. As one reporter put it, it was her "How dare you?!?" speech.

About the Hilary thing, why in the hell is it that everyone is saying that she was chosen to "pick up" all these Clinton votes? These two women are on completely different frequencies (politically). Surely one wouldn't expect a woman who sides with Hilary to side with Palin, it's obvious. If they do, then it's not a Hilary vote, but a 'I'll vote for any woman running for office' vote. And if that's the case, then it nullifies the "Clinton Vote" argument to begin with. Apples and oranges.

Political leanings aside, one thing I can say with certainty is that this Presidential race is the biggest freak show I've ever seen.

[LurkerPatrol]

As my previous roommate and friend from 7th grade said:

John: mccain's VP is like
John: some random lady
John: who doesn't know jack about jack
John: and mccain's obviously gonna die before his term is up if he gets elected
John: so we'd be stuck with her
John: that's reason enough to vote for obama