She is a young, pretty woman, and a Washington outsider, all of which reinforces McCain's "maverick" image (illusory though it may be). It also appeals to PUMAs (illusory though they may be).

She is an evangelical and pro-lifer, which appeals to the wing-nut base and people like my single-issue (abortion) Catholic mom.

I am betting her ethics problems will go away.

Chances are her pregnant 17 year old daughter will turn out to not be pregnant after all.

Her experience, meager though it may be, is executive experience rather than legislative (even if it is for a small town and one of the least populated states), so they can still say Obama is lacking in experience where it counts.

I think rational people would see her as woefully unqualified, but many voters are rarely rational. They vote on their emotions, not their brains, especially when they are under-informed or misinformed by the corporate media and right wing echo machine. That's how the GOP has been so successful, and this pick is brilliant given the voter idiocy our country is mired in.

_________________________

Check out My Voice Acting Page.

Since we've stopped calling ourselves liberals, preferring instead the term "progressive", there is no reason to continue calling these reactionaries "conservatives", which is how they want to be called. It's much better to use a term for them that makes sense from our, as opposed to their deluded point of view: they are best called "regressives", the opposite of progressive.

"Israel is a good friend of Israel." -- Barack Obama. Is that a Freudian slip indicating that Obama suspects that Israel is not a good friend of the US?

Or impure and complex.

Have it your way.

Sorry...she's fuckable. Elections are won on percentage points.

And...also sorry...she's a female. Ditto the "elections are won on percentage points" idea.

Any group of female (or homosexual male) loons who would vote for Obama because he's "cute"...third time sorry, but read "fuckable" there, please...is instantly negated by the equivalent group of male (or homosexual female) loons who will vote for McCain because his running mate is "cute".

Percentage point parsing.

There goes the sex appeal advantage.

Coupled with the PUMA-hyped loons who are mad at Obama and the Dems because they didn't pick Ma Clinton, people who were thinking of voting for McCain or abstaining out of spite?

UH oh!!!

As I said...elections are won on percentage points.

It's at the very least a small win.

Coupled with the fact that in the VP debates Biden will be forced to be "gentle with her" (If indeed he possesses enough personal self-control to do so.), and there's another small win.

Need I repeat the "'percentage points" meme?

If they can whittle it down to Diebold-level  percentage points?

UH oh!!!

Watch.

AG

Goodness had nothing to do with it, dearie.-Mae West

Every policy the lady has is bad for women. Even her choices in funding in Alaska are bizarre. But McCain thinks that her plumbing will make women vote for her.

I do agree that we now have a challenge to inform. McCain has also motivated some of his ultra conservative base, but they would never vote Dem anyway and the thought that those voters were planning to stay home really wasn't realistic.

Michaela

The narrative will change soon about the impulsiveness of picking someone so green, and how that reflects poorly on McCain's judgment.

John McCain hates children

She says nucular, and eye ran and eye rack.

And that VOICE!!

You say she is "not expected to play a significant role..." John McCain could die before the freaking election, much less while in office, for crissakes. We shouldn't act like she'll be sitting on her butt.

Now I get the idea that we shouldn't rest on our laurels--I don't think we ever should. But this is a disaster, and it's only if we don't call it that that McCain wins.

The simplest thing to do is do what Obama said DEMS should do with McCain - respect him personally and attack his policies and track record.   Treat her with respect as a person and see how savvy she really is - I very much doubt that she won't narrow the voter pool is fishing in, even if it does help motivate his base.

Her inexperience will show as times goes on.  Every slip will be magnified by her inexperience and her selection will come to epitomise the risky and impulsive nature of McCain.

How many creationists are there out there?

"We reported back to hearts what we had seen, and told our footsteps all about where we had been."

I wouldn't dismiss the potential damage that Palin can do.

But the choice of Sarah Palin raises several questions about McCain's judgment.

Why did he bypass more experienced (and vetted) VP candidates to pick someone he'd only met twice?  Did he think about the fact that this very inexperienced, much younger, unknown might have to step into the presidency?  Did he just want someone he could be certain would be subservient to him?  

The thought of a President Sarah Palin makes all the blood drain out of my head.

This entry claims got a degree in Journalism, too.  Could be helpful, if they need her to deliver messages to the public with predetermined spin.

A friend asked if I suspected incest (teenagers with younger eggs usually don't have deformed babies), and this was my response, slightly edited.

****
I'm not sure about incest....  The Palins eloped, supposedly to save her family the cost of a wedding.  [Track was born less than 8 months after the wedding.  No mention of being premature.]  Todd has some college, but will never rise above middle management... probably happiest hunting/fishing with his kids while his wife brings in the money.  No money in the families, no inheritances, which will lead to my final point.

1. For Ms. Palin to only have 4 children means that she was timing her cycles OR her husband has a very low sperm count or they were using birth control (which that part of the [Pentacostal cult of] pro-lifers have defined as abortion since it contravenes the Skyfairy's will for them to multiply).  I suspect timing... which means being aware of her own body.

2. For her to not be aware (she said that she didn't know until she was 5 months pregnant) is unlikely.  Somebody who has already given birth 4 times HAS to recognize what her body is like during pregnancy.  Throwing up, temperature changes (one friend described it as buns in the oven), weight gain... whatever her symptoms are, she would recognize them.  Even if she was a stupid low-IQ idiot, she would know that she was pregnant again.  Bleeding is obvious.  So is not bleeding.

3. There are several pictures of her leaning forward (giving medals and signing autographs, etc.).  Nobody who is carrying 20-30 pounds on her stomach leans forward like that without toppling.  Pregnant women straddle a bit when they walk, too, as their hips adjust.  (As an animator, I've had to observe how people carry their body mass.)

4. Why wait until 7 months along to announce to disbelieving/unknowing staffers?   Her secretary would have to know earlier in order not to set up morning appointments, or to set up doctor appointments, and everybody would want to celebrate.  She wouldn't be worried about getting fired, so there'd be no reason for secrecy.  Also, pregnant women are supposed to take more vitamins and see a doctor often and a few other tell-tale signs... like irritability.  Babies drain their incubator... and they kick and switch sides.  And, there is a pheromone shift.  Have you ever noticed how one pregnant lady in an office often leads to 3-4 others coming down with a case of childbirth?  Dorm mates and housemates and teammates unknowingly synchronize their menstrual cycles.  It would not be a surprise to those who work closely with her.

5. In Alaska, they bundle up, even indoors, but there are no pictures that I have seen that show her with a belly-bulge.  None.  Not even plump wrists from the water retention.  She might be a vain beauty queen, but all those public appearances and fashion magazine spreads ought to reveal some temporary weight-gain AND glowiness.  OTOH, the pictures of her daughter Bristol show the heavy breasts and the belly bulge and the hands-under-the-belly maternity cradle.  Yup.  The tell-tale cradle.

6. She went back to work 3 days after allegedly giving birth.  This is laughable.  I could see working on a laptop at home or in a hospital bed.  But a 44-year-old woman who has just given birth to a Down Syndrome child is going to be under care for longer than 3 days.  Both the child and her are going to be tested and monitored for other problems.  Otherwise, you have a ripe case of medical malpractice.

7. Why would a pro-lifer ever have a DNA test if they are going to keep the child no matter what?  Proof of parentage.  With a partying drug-sniffing child, they might not have known who the father was.  If suitable, they may have thought of forcing the marriage... and forcing responsibility.

8. Down Syndrome is genetic.  That extra chromosome carries.  If you have a relative with it, your chance of producing a baby with it skyrockets.  My cousin married a woman whose brother is DS.  1 in 4 chance of her delivering a deformed baby.  There were family discussions about this.  Is anybody else in the Palin or Heath bloodline deformed?  Not that I've read.  I suspect that once they knew the baby's father was a carrier, they decided not to force the daughter to marry him lest they have an entire household of handicapped children... like my mother-in-law's cousin (where it was incest - cousins).

9. The daughter was out of high school for MONTHS with a supposed case of mono, lasting between 5 and 8 months depending upon which source... at exactly the time her mother was supposedly pregnant.  I had mono in 10th grade and was out for 3 weeks.  I also had mumps my senior year (Christmas prezzie from my kid brother), and lost a week or so after vacation.  In both cases, it was obvious to my schoolmates that I was sick.  Her classmates all thought she was pregnant and in hiding.  You can't hide much in PE classes.  There is a big difference between looking like a chipmunk and looking pregnant!  In the photos, Bristol looks pregnant.  Her mother has no extra water weight at all.  If the "mono" didn't coincide with the pregnancy, it might be believable.

10. The daughter was supposedly too sick to be in school, yet got into a fender-bender half a state away... in front of the Family Medicine Center.  The news and police reports are being scrubbed.  Why delete them?  Remember Serenity?  "You can not stop the signal."

11. She claims that her water broke while at a conference in Texas.  At 4:30 a.m.  After leaking amniotic fluid for hours, with risk of infection to her and to her highly sensitive defective and premature fetus, she gave a 30 minute luncheon keynote address... and then flew back to Alaska (11-12 hours flight with layover in Seattle)... with absolutely nobody noticing that the Governor was having contractions.  Extra-Ripe Bullsh!t.  What airline allows a person whose water has broken to fly even a short hop?  They don't want the liability, or the mess.  Later babies get faster, and this was supposedly her 5th child.  I bet she got the phone call from her daughter but didn't want to yield her scheduled time in the limelight.  Any responsible woman about to give birth would head to the hospital as soon as the water broke... rather than risk the dubious sanitation of an airplane floor.  Judgement?  And not telling the airline... just in case it needed to divert?  Callous.  And then, to top it off, instead of having the child in Anchorage at a high tech hospital... she drives 45 minutes to Wasilla to a tiny regional medical center.  45 minutes.  Traffic.  Still-wintry Alaskan roads.  Judgement??  Leaving civilization and a good hospital to get to a remote place unsuited to handle premature babies with defects!!!!!  This is good judgment???

http://www.newsminer.com/news/2008/apr/22/palins-flight-labor-falls-under-scrutiny/

http://commentsfromleftfield.com/2008/08/who-is-the-mother-of-trig-paxon-van-palin

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/30/121350/137/486/580223

BTW, many of the links, including the official Alaska links, are scrubbed.  Almost all pictures have been pulled recently.  There's a tug-of-war at Wikipedia.  If they aren't trying to hide something, why are they editing the Internet even as we probe?????

WHY would she lie about being the mother?  Simple.  Insurance fraud.  A Down Syndrome child will require a lifetime of 24 hour care.  Expensive.  Ongoing.  [With good care, the child can live for decades.  And reproduce.]  As Governor, Ms. Palin has excellent health insurance.  Her teenage daughter?  She might be covered by her mother's plan for the next year or so, but the out-of-wedlock child wouldn't be covered under anybody's plan.  [Now, if she is VP, then a child considered hers will receive the finest medical care America can provide, just like Cheney's care.]  When in doubt, follow the money.  This has nothing to do with family values and everything to do with having us pay the medical costs.
**********

I am a real feminist... I've faced harassment, sexual assault, discrimination... and created 4 careers from scratch.  I detest the word "girl", because it belittles and minimizes us.  I strongly believe that women are just as capable of governing, (or doing any job requiring problem-solving, intelligence, decision-making) as are men.  Within my lifetime we will have a female President.  One worthy of us.

However, this woman has no judgment and no experience.  She isn't even trainable for the job of President (she lacks curiosity), and doesn't realize how far she falls short.  Ms. Palin is vicious, petty, vindictive, vain, and cruel... not qualities we need in a diplomatic post.  Why would McCain gamble on somebody already under investigation when he could have chosen Snowe or Hutchinson or Fiorina or Whitman or...???  

If he wanted a woman to balance the ticket, he had a choice of credible women.  But he gambled with his gonads holding the stakes.  He chose yet another beauty queen.  I doubt if there are enough fashion models and beauty queens to fill out his Administration.  

But perhaps he can bother to find a few who aren't corrupt to the core.

Sarah Barracuda and McNasty.  Ready to face global challenges?  Or ready to enrich themselves.  As long as there are insurance companies to bail them out, we will all pay the price.