Sarah Palin as VP…BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA [ by James Linkin] [News You Can Abuse]
August 29, 2008With Barack Obama’s clarion call of “Enough” still ringing in our ears, John McCain makes what might be the purest political pander I have ever seen in my life.
Still smarting from an unresolved scandal in which she fired Alaska’s Public Safety Commissioner for refusing to involve himself in her family vendetta, Governor Sarah Palin offers us a resume with less than two years experience in her job running one of the least populous states in America (smaller than Joe Biden’s Delaware). There are fewer than one quarter as many people in the entire state of Alaska as there are in Obama’s hometown of Chicago. Before that, she was the part time mayor of a town of about 6,000, again a fraction of the size of Obama’s state senatorial district in Illinois.
A right-wing anti-abortion, climate-changing-denying, ANWR-perforating, fundamentalist Christian who is utterly clueless about foreign policy, national economics, or just about any other issue of national import. She brings nothing but her gender and a whole lot of baggage to the national ticket. Her selection is an insult to every Hillary supporter, and it completely undercuts every argument McCain has made about his experience.
On the plus side, there’s at least a chance that Palin will help McCain carry Alaska.
(9) Comments •
Wow, James, one of us is on the wrong side of the looking glass.
Reading through your misunderstood laundry list of Gov. Palin’s “faults” I fail to see where you call her just another conniving politician which, of course is what Senator-for-life Joe Biden is, and one might include Obama and McCain.
Sarah Palin is what the Founding Fathers intended, a citizen-politician. Without a horse in the race, she does what she believes is in the best interest of her constituency.
Meanwhile, Maureen Dowd and all media left of ABC News has decided that it is the media’s job to protect Barack Obama. CBS News is morphing into the Daily Kos.
Maybe the Media senses that Palin is what Obama pretends to be, but is not, an outspoken, principled politician who wants to rein in Washington and return some control back to the people.
Posted by on 09/03 at 03:36 PMFor months, McCain’s and his surrogates’ principal criticism of Barack Obama has been that he lacks the experience to be president. Indeed, the Republican Party’s prinicipal anti-Obama Web site is called notready08.com.
So when McCain made this assertion, he was:
(a) lying, because he actually thinks Obama is qualified.
(b) lying, because he actually thinks experience is unimportant.
(c) lying, because contrary to popular belief, he will actually say or do anything to become president.Long gone is the maverick of your imagination, Elliott. He was in favor of a sustainable energy policy before he was against it. He was in favor of diplomacy before he was against it. And he was in favor of a balanced Federal budget before he defenestrated it by supporting Bush’s hugely irresponsible raid on the Federal treasury. Excessive Federal spending you say? The most cursory of reviews of the Republican Congress just past reveals them to be the peerless champions of pork barrel politics.
As for your principled politician, she was in favor of earmarks before she was against them. She was in favor of secession before she was against it. She was opposed to the abuse of political power until she became a politician, firing political opponents at will, and involving the state government in a family dispute, in violation of state law, as the currently ongoing ethics review will undoubtedly find. She is a Creationist, even more steadfastly and mendaciously opposed to sound science than the current Regime; she believes that humans have no role in global heating, despite the fact that her state is the most affected by it. And she would make no exemption to her opposition to abortion even in the case of a ten-year-old girl who is raped by a family member. That’s not principle, Elliott, that’s unspeakably cruel madness.
And as for reining in Washington, what we really need is for Washington to be run by people who believe, as was demonstrated in the Clinton Administration, that government can and must be professionally managed. The assertion that Washington is the problem is self-fulfilling. If a president’s reputation depends on broken government, it will always be broken. That’s what we’ve had for eight years.
Enough.
Posted by James Linkin on 09/03 at 04:19 PMSorry, James, but you are rushing to judgment on Gov. Palin and assuming that the vast majority of Americans believe as you do.
First, when Sarah Palin was Mayor of Mooselick, AK (or whatever), she did what mayors do, beg for state and federal funds. Later, as Governor, her perspective and responsibilities are different.
Second, regarding Troopergate, I don’t know all the facts. I did hear on the news that some Alaskan Democrat is running that show, second, that there are two tape recordings between a Palin staffer and someone regarding what actions,if any, the top state law enforcement boss had taken again the allegedly out-of-control trooper-in-law.
It seems as though the guy Gov. Palin ended up firing either didn’t do anything, or failed to keep his boss, her honor the Gov., informed. Among other things, the trooper tazered his own 10-year-old son. My understanding is that he did other things to make him unworthy to carry a badge and gun. I wish someone high-up would do the same to some of the LAPD rogue officers.
As far as abortion goes, James, look at Pres. Bush and embryonic stem cell research. He wasn’t alone in thinking those Petri dishes of unwanted fertilized eggs were sacred.
If around half the nation thinks that a fertilized egg is a human life, or that God used the Book of Genesis as a guidebook, then, feel free to criticize, but do not make the mistake of thinking that it makes Gov. Palin, or anyone else, unqualified to be VP, or President.
And speaking of qualifications, that issue has been well covered by both conventions.
You takes your pick and hope it doesn’t kill you.Posted by on 09/05 at 02:15 PMElliott, I am not rushing to judgment on Sarah Palin. I don’t need to wait for the findings of the ethics inquiry to dismiss her as unworthy. I can do that on the issues.
Let’s leave aside that there are two e-mails from her to the Public Safety Commissioner, Monegan, directly from Palin, criticizing him for not firing her brother-in-law, and let’s leave aside the distinct possibility that she will be impeached. Let’s even leave aside that as mayor of Mooselick, she tried to fire the local librarian for not banning books.
Instead, let’s focus on the issues. I’m not sure where you got the idea that embryonic stem cell research is unpopular. It’s a Democratic wedge issue. And I’m not sure how you think stem cell research addresses the issue of abortion. No abortion for ten-year-olds, for rape victims, for suicidal women? You may not think so, but that is an extremist political view, one that would make the Taliban proud.
And what about climate change, Elliott? This woman actually thinks humans have no role in global heating. Do you, Elliott? Perhaps the most sickening spectacle at the convention on Wednesday was the chant of “Drill Now! Drill Now!” Do you think that further perforating the Earth to extract a few months more oil is the basis of a sound, sustainable energy policy?
Palin puts me in mind of other VP luminaries of the GOP such as Dan Quayle and especially Spiro Agnew. Remember him? Her line denigrating community organizing might have come out of his mouth. I’ve got news for you: being a community organizer is hard, responsible work, getting one’s hands dirty, working one-on-one helping people desperately in need. She apparently thinks it’s fluff, that it’s more responsible to order people around and fire political enemies. There’s a word for that point of view: elitism.
Posted by James Linkin on 09/05 at 02:41 PMI think you are misrepresenting my point on embryonic stem cells and abortion. There are tens of millions of Americans who support all stem cell research and tens of thousands who oppose embryonic stem cell research or any abortions that terminate the human cells, even if fertilization just occurred. Their point is that human life is sacred and that cells become human at the point of conception. Therefore, rape and incest, even embryos showing birth defects are human life and aborting the fetus is murder.
This nation is not going to resolve the abortion issue because of this great chasm between Pro-Choice and Pro-Life. Gov. Palin represents one side of the issue and Sen. Obama represents generous abortion laws.
You can belittle McCain or Palin for their view on when human life begins, but that is just your “groups” point of view. We’re not talking about the Earth being flat.
I haven’t heard that Gov. Palin is pro-Creationism. I have heard that she prefers to let the local school boards determine their own policy. Regardless, I do not see how this issue is one that would be addressed by the President or Vice-President.
Regarding climate change, I just read that last month was devoid of solar surface activity, a very rare event that can precede a cooling of the Earth.
I get it, James, you don’t like Gov. Palin because of her views, but you are missing the point that she has changed the dynamics of the election and, you heard it here first, Barack Obama’s choice of Joe Biden over Hillary Clinton will be viewed as his greatest mistake after McCain-Palin win in November.
Posted by on 09/06 at 12:54 AMElliott, it is you that seems to have a distorted perspective here. Banning stem cell research and refusing abortion to rape victims and ten-year-olds is an extreme political view. Extreme. The right-wing Christian fundamentalists among whom these views are popular constitute roughly one-sixth of the electorate. Maybe they’re a majority in Georgia, Idaho, Utah, and South Dakota, but not in Ohio, Michigan, Florida, or even Colorado or New Mexico. That they have such a stranglehold on the national dialogue over the last 40 years (since Nixon and his southern strategy) is America’s great national tragedy.
Be honest, Elliott. With Sarah Palin’s political CV, how confident are you with her in the role of Commander in Chief? Think she’ll do even as well as Bush? Don’t you find the prospect even remotely frightening? Haven’t we had enough of willfully ignorant pit bulls in the Federal Executive?
If McCain and Palin win in November, it will be once again because the Republicans succeeded in making this campaign about personalities rather than the issues, to make it about celebrity, theirs. That is Rick Davis’s stated intention. Indeed, it’s been the Republican strategy since Reagan. That and fear. What a way to run a country!
Posted by James Linkin on 09/06 at 01:14 PMJames, I agree that Gov. Palin’s abortion view (No abortion for rape or incest) is extreme, but it is not insane. It is consistent with the very popular view that human life begins at conception.
As for being afraid of her assuming the Presidency in case of McCain’s incapacity, no, I would not be comfortable and confident, however, I do believe that she will seek counsel and will do an adequate job.
I feel pretty much the same about Sen. Obama winning this election. Furthermore, I do not understand why Sen. Biden is considered ready to step into the office given his undistinguished record and inability to get anyone to vote for him in the primaries.
Sen. Biden strikes me as the guy Central Casting would send over if you asked them for a senator-looking extra.
If Barack Obama’s run for the Presidency isn’t about personality rather than the issues, I don’t know what is.
Posted by on 09/06 at 01:58 PMPalin on abortion: insane is a good word for it. If requiring a ten-year-old to carry a pregnancy to full term is not insane, what is?
As for your characterization of Obama’s candidacy, you’re partly right insofar as the primary was concerned. But Obama was actually the most conservative of the major candidates, and that had a great deal to do with his success. His detailed positions, which have long been available on his Web site, talk at length about personal responsibility, which infuriated the old-line African-American pols like Charlie Rangel and Jesse Jackson.
And he is the only one of those candidates who favors nuclear power development, which I oppose but consider preferable to accelerated fossil fuel consumption. We can generate more than 70% and perhaps 90% of our electricity just from wind with currently existing commercial technology, but Al Gore and I are still among the few whistling in the dark on this issue.
Here’s another well-kept secret: four years ago, the most conservative of the major Democratic candidates was Dr. Howard Dean, then governor of Vermont, the national capital of self reliance.
Posted by James Linkin on 09/06 at 02:29 PMSorry, James, but I think I’m better qualified to determine how conservative a candidate is. Hillary Clinton was close to being a Centrist until she had to dive to the far left to compete with Obama for the love of the Democrat base.
Howard Dean, like Nancy Pelosi, can only work with the left so no way is Dean conservative-like.
I have no idea whether Sen. Obama believes in the moderate proposals on his website. For all I know Michael Tulipan wrote them for him and the campaign staff said, “Yeah, that will fool the moderates.”
This is a problem with being a first term senator running for the presidency. Obama has left no footprints for us to know where he stands.
If we judge him by his campaign rhetoric, he is both for and against Free Trade. For and against abandoning Iraq, for and against a divided Jerusalem.
And that would be okay with a veteran politician like McCain or Biden, but Obama is in the same position as Sarah Palin, great personality but not enough track record to know who they are.
Posted by on 09/10 at 10:56 AM
