Sarah who?

[theknife]

Originally Posted by JackSpratts

hell for that matter this could be number two for bristol.

this could be, indeed (or, how an Internet rumor takes off). somebody at Kos put together a interesting series of photos during the Guv's latest pregnancy: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8...137/486/580223
the photo at seven months is particularly striking - my gal pal says no way.

she might work out yet for McCain, but the first 72 hours can't be encouraging for his campaign. thus far, she's sort of a mashup of all the classic VP fiascos - what you might expect if you threw Dan Quayle, Spiro Agnew, and Thomas Eagleton into a blender.

[daddydirt]

Originally Posted by theknife

.....she might work out yet for McCain, but the first 72 hours can't be encouraging for his campaign. thus far, she's sort of a mashup of all the classic VP fiascos - what you might expect if you threw Dan Quayle, Spiro Agnew, and Thomas Eagleton into a blender.

two of those fiascos were elected btw.

oh the delicious irony as y'all jump aboard and ride the Obama sleaze machine for all it's worth. i am Laughing My Fucking Ass Off reading your posts while you hypocrites seem to be oblivious to the fact that you have become all that you profess to despise as you encourage and pass on smears and innuendo. guess you really didn't hate Karl Rove, just that he was a Republican.

as for her "inexperience" ---- by actually running a city as mayor, and a state as governor, she has racked up more executive experience than all of the other candidates combined. and in case you weren't sure, running for the office of President of the United States does not qualify as actual executive experience.

we'll see how it all plays out, my guess is that it's just another case of democrats underestimating republicans. as America gets to know her during this campaign, they'll probably like her a lot, she doesn't have an 80% approval rate in Alaska for nothing.

these VP choices do say an awful lot about the two Presidential candidates though. the supposed candidate for "change" plays it safe and picks a Washington insider and power player; while the angry, too old, supposed "same old same old" Republican picks an unknown woman.

a screenwriter couldn't have dreamed up a more interesting plot twist.

cheers =]

[Ðiego]

Rovian? hardly. We're just doing the vetting that McCain didn't bother to do before deciding who he wanted to be President should he get elected and die; the former not so possible, the latter extremely so.

I mean honestly, what kind of asshole doesn't vet his VP pick?

Disclosures on Palin Raise Questions on Vetting Process

ST. PAUL — A series of disclosures about Gov. Sarah Palin, Senator John McCain’s choice as running mate, called into question on Monday how thoroughly Mr. McCain had examined her background before putting her on the Republican presidential ticket.

On Monday morning, Ms. Palin and her husband, Todd, issued a statement saying that their 17-year-old unmarried daughter, Bristol, was five months pregnant and that she intended to marry the father.

Among other less attention-grabbing news of the day: it was learned that Ms. Palin now has a private lawyer in a legislative ethics investigation in Alaska into whether she abused her power in dismissing the state’s public safety commissioner; that she was a member for two years in the 1990s of the Alaska Independence Party, which has at times sought a vote on whether the state should secede; and that Mr. Palin was arrested 22 years ago on a drunken-driving charge.

Aides to Mr. McCain said they had a team on the ground in Alaska now to look more thoroughly into Ms. Palin’s background. A Republican with ties to the campaign said the team assigned to vet Ms. Palin in Alaska had not arrived there until Thursday, a day before Mr. McCain stunned the political world with his vice-presidential choice. The campaign was still calling Republican operatives as late as Sunday night asking them to go to Alaska to deal with the unexpected candidacy of Ms. Palin.

Although the McCain campaign said that Mr. McCain had known about Bristol Palin’s pregnancy before he asked her mother to join him on the ticket and that he did not consider it disqualifying, top aides were vague on Monday about how and when he had learned of the pregnancy, and from whom.

While there was no sign that her formal nomination this week was in jeopardy, the questions swirling around Ms. Palin on the first day of the Republican National Convention, already disrupted by Hurricane Gustav, brought anxiety to Republicans who worried that Democrats would use the selection of Ms. Palin to question Mr. McCain’s judgment and his ability to make crucial decisions.

At the least, Republicans close to the campaign said it was increasingly apparent that Ms. Palin had been selected as Mr. McCain’s running mate with more haste than McCain advisers initially described.

Up until midweek last week, some 48 to 72 hours before Mr. McCain introduced Ms. Palin at a Friday rally in Dayton, Ohio, Mr. McCain was still holding out the hope that he could choose a good friend, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, a Republican close to the campaign said. Mr. McCain had also been interested in another favorite, former Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania.

But both men favor abortion rights, anathema to the Christian conservatives who make up a crucial base of the Republican Party. As word leaked out that Mr. McCain was seriously considering the men, the campaign was bombarded by outrage from influential conservatives who predicted an explosive floor fight at the convention and vowed rejection of Mr. Ridge or Mr. Lieberman by the delegates.

Perhaps more important, several Republicans said, Mr. McCain was getting advice that if he did not do something to shake up the race, his campaign would be stuck on a potentially losing trajectory.

With time running out — and as Mr. McCain discarded two safer choices, Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, as too predictable — he turned to Ms. Palin. He had his first face-to-face interview with her on Thursday and offered her the job moments later. Advisers to Mr. Pawlenty and another of the finalists on Mr. McCain’s list described an intensive vetting process for those candidates that lasted one to two months.

“They didn’t seriously consider her until four or five days from the time she was picked, before she was asked, maybe the Thursday or Friday before,” said a Republican close to the campaign. “This was really kind of rushed at the end, because John didn’t get what he wanted. He wanted to do Joe or Ridge.”

In the final stages, two Republicans familiar with the process said, Mr. McCain’s campaign manager, Rick Davis, emerged as a key advocate for Ms. Palin.

Mr. McCain’s advisers said repeatedly on Monday that Ms. Palin was “thoroughly vetted,” a process that would have included a review of all financial and legal records as well as a criminal background check. A McCain aide said the campaign was well aware of the ethics investigation and had looked into it.

“It was obviously something that anybody Googling Sarah Palin knew was in the news and there was a very thorough vetting done on that and also on the daughter,” the aide said.

People familiar with the process said Ms. Palin had responded to a standard form with more than 70 questions. Although The Washington Post quoted advisers to Mr. McCain on Sunday as saying Ms. Palin had been subjected to an F.B.I. background check, an F.B.I. official said Monday the bureau did not vet potential candidates and had not known of her selection until it was made public.

In Alaska, several state leaders and local officials said they knew of no efforts by the McCain campaign to find out more information about Ms. Palin before the announcement of her selection, Although campaigns are typically discreet when they make inquiries into potential running mates, officials in Alaska said Monday they thought it was peculiar that no one in the state had the slightest hint that Ms. Palin might be under consideration.

“They didn’t speak to anyone in the Legislature, they didn’t speak to anyone in the business community,” said Lyda Green, the State Senate president, who lives in Wasilla, where Ms. Palin served as mayor.

Representative Gail Phillips, a Republican and former speaker of the State House, said the widespread surprise in Alaska when Ms. Palin was named to the ticket made her wonder how intensively the McCain campaign had vetted her.

“I started calling around and asking, and I have not been able to find one person that was called,” Ms. Phillips said. “I called 30 to 40 people, political leaders, business leaders, community leaders. Not one of them had heard. Alaska is a very small community, we know people all over, but I haven’t found anybody who was asked anything.”

The current mayor of Wasilla, Dianne M. Keller, said she had not heard of any efforts to look into Ms. Palin’s background. And Randy Ruedrich, the state Republican Party chairman, said he knew nothing of any vetting that had been conducted.

State Senator Hollis French, a Democrat who is directing the ethics investigation, said that no one asked him about the allegations. “I heard not a word, not a single contact,” he said.

A number of Republicans said the McCain campaign had to some degree tied its hands in its effort to keep the selection process so secret.

“If you really want it to be a surprise, the circle of people that you’re going to allow to know about it is going to be small, and that’s just the nature of it,” said Dan Bartlett, a former counselor to President Bush.

Former McCain strategists disagreed on whether it would have been useful for Ms. Palin’s name to have been more publicly floated before her selection so that issues like the trooper investigation and her daughter’s pregnancy might have already been aired and not seemed so new at the time of her announcement.

“It’s a risk,” said Dan Schnur, a former McCain aide who now directs the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California. “No matter how great the candidate, it’s a significant risk to put someone on the ticket” who hasn’t been publicly scrutinized.

“They obviously felt it was worth the risk to rev up the base and potentially reach out to Clinton supporters,” Mr. Schnur said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/us...l?ref=politics

What a buffoon. He couldn't have anyone he wanted and so made a brash decision like a petulant child. And you want this moron deciding the direction of this nation and how it deals in international affairs? Not by half!

More proof that McCain lacks the experience and judgment required for the highest office in the land, not that any more was needed; the guy is a raving loon.

It has been said that McCain takes the judgment of whomever has his ear at the moment and this time it was Rick Davis. Rick would have been better served selecting himself


Ð 8)

[albed]

Damn it's like propaganda diarrhea time; Palin must be pretty upsetting to certain types. But the fact that almost nothing is about her political views or character indicates there is little to object to.

[Ðiego]

Oh really? So, you don't think America will mind that she is against Sex-Ed? For abstinence only? Against contraception, even for married couples? For teaching creationism as science in the schools?

You don't think it matters that she was, and most probably still is, at least at heart, a member of the Alaska Independence Party?

Maybe you believe no one will notice that when speaking of her decision to carry her Down's Syndrome baby to term she was speaking of her having a choice and that when she announced her daughter had decided to have her baby and marry her boyfriend, she was again speaking of choice; the exact same choice she would deny to the women of America?

Or that perhaps no one will care that her first action in office as mayor was to fire the entire board? That she attempted to get books banned from the town library? Staged a personal vendetta against her ex-brother-in-law?

People may well overlook the fact that her first speech had lies in it such as being against earmark spending to the point of turning down Congressional funding for the 'Bridge To Nowhere' or that she opposed political corruption?

'Almost nothing is about her political views or character indicates there is little to object to'? You are off your tiny little misguided mind.


Ð

[albed]

And another gusher gets blown out your ass; "probably-at least at heart". Honesty just isn't in your psyche.

[Ðiego]

Well now, if Obama had been in the Communist party in college, how would you look at him being a Democrat today? Double standards much?

Has it been proven she was in the Alaska Independence Party? yes. Has she shown she is no longer in tune with their beliefs? Not at all.

In fact, quite the opposite. When asked, jsut last month, about her chance of being selected as McCain VP pick her words were, and I'm quoting here, "As for that VP talk all the time, I'll tell you, I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day? I'm used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration. We want to make sure that that VP slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans.."

You can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ys4HGbiONY

So when it comes to 'blow' and 'ass' it seems McCain has that covered.


Ð

[JackSpratts]

Originally Posted by daddydirt

two of those fiascos were elected btw.

your point? both were discredited and one was disbarred and remains the "only vice president in u.s. history to resign because of criminal charges." i wouldn't bet america will be all that excited to make the same mistake again.

smears and innuendo.

not quite. palin herself made the pregnancy announcement.

what kind of great plan for america (schools, supreme court etc) is abstinence if it works for neither the proponent nor her own daughter? there is nothing to recommend about married pregnancies at 44 or unmarried ones at 17.

the palin hypocrisy charge seems plenty valid.

palin is unqualified. and i'd say mccain, by the way he chose her is equally so.


here's what alaskan representative gail phillips, a republican and former speaker of the house, had to say about the superficial vetting:

I started calling around and asking, and I have not been able to find one person that was called. I called 30 to 40 people, political leaders, business leaders, community leaders. Not one of them had heard. Alaska is a very small community, we know people all over, but I haven’t found anybody who was asked anything.

and from the article:

Although The Washington Post quoted advisers to Mr. McCain on Sunday as saying Ms. Palin had been subjected to an F.B.I. background check, an F.B.I. official said Monday the bureau did not vet potential candidates and had not known of her selection until it was made public.

The current mayor of Wasilla, Dianne M. Keller, said she had not heard of any efforts to look into Ms. Palin’s background. And Randy Ruedrich, the state Republican Party chairman, said he knew nothing of any vetting that had been conducted.

State Senator Hollis French, a Democrat who is directing the ethics investigation, said that no one asked him about the allegations. “I heard not a word, not a single contact,” he said.

is this is how mccain will choose cabinet members and judges?

- js.

[Ðiego]

Further let it be know: the FBI says it doesn't 'vet' any candidate, so John McCain is completely unfamiliar with the vetting process. 'Vetting' to him means someone in his party says he should do it.

You can't get much more 'inexperienced' than that and it shows not a lack of judgment, but no judgment at all.


Ð

[theknife]

the more you read about her, the scarier she looks:

Speaking before the Pentecostal church, Palin painted the current war in Iraq as a messianic affair in which the United States could act out the will of the Lord.

"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God," she exhorted the congregants. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."

she sounds more than able to complete Bush's third term, if necessary.

[Ðiego]

Someone told McCain to vet her, so he had her car cleaned inside and out..


As Rick Klein says on his ABC news blog:

Let’s say you don’t read The New York Times or The Washington Post (or The Note, for that matter). Let’s say you don’t follow the big political blogs and you’re not obsessed with every turn of the screw of this fascinating presidential race.

Let’s say, instead, like millions of working-class Americans, you get your “news” on the political race from the supermarket aisle. Let’s say you’re -- I don’t know, a “hockey mom” -- and you’re intrigued by this Sarah Palin person you’ve been hearing so much about since Friday.

So you’re shopping this week -- and what do you see on the cover of US Weekly? That esteemed journalistic institution is taking it right to John McCain’s running mate -- with a hard-hitting piece that details the “scandal” involving her daughter’s pregnancy.

“BABIES, LIES & SCANDAL,” screams the headline on the cover, with a picture of a smiling Palin holding her fifth child, 4-month-old Trig.

Inside is a collection of Palin lowlights -- from her daughter’s now well-known pregnancy; to Internet rumors that the governor pretended to be pregnant to cover for her daughter; to “troopergate”; to her onetime support for the “bridge to nowhere”; to a radio appearance where she giggled while shock jocks called a political rival a “bitch” and a “cancer.”

“Within hours of McCain’s surprise introduction of the little-known, charismatic mother of five as his running mate, the scandals began to emerge as quickly as flies at a Labor Day picnic,” Mara Reinstein writes for the magazine.

It should be noted that there is no new reporting here that I can discern -- just a greatest hits from what’s out there.

But this, to me, is the clearest evidence yet that the McCain-Palin campaign is losing the battle over Palin’s image. US Weekly readers are the voters her selection was designed to attract. There’s not much to like in this early take -- and not much to indicate that the next round will be much better.

Fork..done...


Ð

[daddydirt]

oopsies!......Rick Klein "forgot" to mention that US Weekly is owned by Jann Wenner, founder of Rolling Stone, and a huge Obama supporter. but i guess that fact has absolutely nothing to do with the negative front page headlines and unbiased article, right Ð?

[zombywoof]

Originally Posted by JackSpratts

palin is unqualified. and i'd say mccain, by the way he chose her is equally so.

- js.

Really...Everyone's so caught up with McCain's #2 anf not the #1 man on the Lib side. Barack Obama is a political lightweight. What makes him more qualified than Palin?

Besides, if the soccer milf was out in left, Palin would be called a progressive.

[ittybitty]

All right Gents! This is the Millennium (2000). She is a lot wiser than yr Hussein....!She is righteous and up front educated! Think twice and vote for the team! Oh, by the way , us females can look as good as we wish......... Good for Todd!!!!!!!!!!