McCain's vetting process for Palin - 15 minute call?

More is coming out on the potentially troublesome presence of Palin on McCain's ticket.

Her daughter's pregnancy should be a non-issue, in my opinion, and Obama made the right, and honorable, call on this one (his forceful statement to the press to this effect was nice to see).

However - once part of the secessionist Alaska Inpependence Party, apparently in more ethical hot water over the firing of her sister's Trooper ex-husband, drunk driving (from 22 years ago, and, yes, we all screw up...but "moral cleanliness" issues start to add up, at least in perception), herself a glutton for federal pork...the piper is coming to McCain, and it won't be pretty.

Obviously, McCain wanted Lieberman on the ticket, at least it seems very likely (and as daily coming out, more likely this was his preference), but he felt hamstrung by the religious right-wing of the GOP over the issue of abortion:

The GOP is in a tailspin, and until it can shake the shackles of this one force - a force I believe that has harmed not only the GOP, but the republic generally, for reasons I've stated elsewhere - I frankly don't know how the GOP will operate effectively.

As I have said, this seems a potentially disastrous choice for McCain. What we know, her one strong position, is anti-abortion - not something that will gain him the apparent Clinton women's votes he sought; and his rush to judgment will come back to bite him in the ass - not the least reason of which is what it says about his judgment generally, a point he has wished to hammer home, vis-a-vis Obama. He picked her after one conversation, six months ago, and she doesn't appear to have been vetted much at all. Not even the GOP is happy:

(excerpts above from: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26501863)

In another sting to the ticket's notion of being "reformers" in cleaning up government as anti-earmark mavericks, Palin grabbed up millions in federal earmarks while mayor of her one-horse town:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/01/palin-received-millions-i_n_123004.html (I've seen this breaking news elsewhere as well).

Beyond this - beyond what is growing to be a big problem for McCain, that he apparently rushed to judgment on his VP choice, fired from the hip without a lot of thinking (and very well may have horribly missed his intended target), my question to the GOP, something I've not understood: if, in their desire to peel away Clinton supporters from Obama's camp, they sought a woman on the ticket, this is the one woman they choose, over the entire landscape of GOP women in America? Why not Olympia Snowe, or any number of others?

The answer is becoming more clear by the day, namely, it is because McCain is completely constrained by the extreme right-wing of his party. The extremely capable, principled women who McCain could have chosen from were, many of them, anyway, moderate on their views with respect to abortion and gay rights, and the religious right-wing of the GOP leapt up at the very thought, to threaten a partisan civil war.

I don't envy McCain. I had come to believe, much to my surprise quite frankly, that this election was coming down to a dogfight. More and more, I believe this election is lost to him, and the cause is Sarah Palin.

 

Alaska's Proximity to Russia Called a Plus

The wife of Republican U.S. presidential candidate John McCain defended the national security qualifications of her husband's running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, citing Alaska's proximity to Russia.

Cindy McCain told ABC television's "This Week" on Sunday that Alaska's geographical location had prepared Palin for foreign policy.

"Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia. So, it's not as if she doesn't understand what's at stake here," Cindy McCain said.

 

nothing much to look at. the old man had already surrounded the control to the nut wing of the party. He had his orders and he just followed them. I hope this would end the influence of the religious wrong in politics also. If this proves anything is that experience does not result in good judgment all the time.

 

McCain made a great choice choosing Palin. Obama also should have went to Alaska on his 60 state tour. Look how beautiful Mount McKinley is.


"Alaska is a land of superlatives the biggest this, highest that and most of these. Whether it's a world-record 97-pound, 4-ounce king salmon or a massive 20,320-foot-tall mountain (Mount McKinley), Alaska is all about unique, amazing sights."

Mount McKinley,

 

Oh, lord - really - make the bleeding stop. This truly is growing to a tragedy for McCain. The woman never once studied another country, much less visited another country until applying for a passport last year, but because she lives, uh, close to Russia, she's "qualified" on foreign policy?

By Cindy McCain's logic, the Mayor of Dillingham, Alaska, is even more qualified than Sarah Palin on foreign policy because, uh, Dillingham's closer....

Brilliant.

 

Thank for the Alaskan Tourist Council ad.

Did you have something substantive to respond to regarding the looming problems for McCain's presidency hopes, based on his selection of Sarah Palin, or were you interested in simply continuing the process of diluting threads with irrelevant, titanic, multiple images?

 

i rather Hawaii

 

I like Palin.

What I like about her with a little of my opinions.
1) Pro family. Lives family values.
2) Pro Life. Truthfully, I hope that we never take away the woman's right to choose in early stages of pregnancy, but honestly, by the third trimester I think the woman has had plenty of time to make her choice.
3) Pro Guns - But really, someone should convince the NRA that we don't need AK-47s to hunt squirrels.
4) Environmentalist
5) Working class mom raising a family. Yeah it looks like she is not a saint, but that's OK with me.
6) Foriegn Policy experience? Not so much.
7) Hockey mom, PTA president, mayor and governor.
8) Christian

Looks good to me.

Wiki Link

 

She also hunts large game just as our founding fathers did. I would have made a conclusion in less than 2 hours about her merit as a leader and Vice President. Strong family values is even what Obama is calling for. Well Obama called it or just one race but he probably want the whole US to have family values.

 

That's fine, Jazz. Though these don't speak to me of her ability to be, quite possibly, the President of the United States.

And I completely disagree with you in calling her an "environmentalist." Again:

I couldn't remember where among the plethora of threads on Palin I had posted this, so I searched. I haven't seen her here in a while, but Rebecca created a great thread on the subject of these wolf hunts all the way back in 2007:

Government Slaughter of Wolves in Alaska.

 

hunting goes a long way for VP. she can always shoot some one in the face so chaney would have nothing on her.

 

Anwar should be opened up. Lets have a solution or sit and do nothing. Perot was talking of the impeding oil crisis when Clinton was President. The sit and do nothing mentality will collapse the economy into a depression. The environment argument. That is another Joke. People are unable to live in Texas, Pennsylvania, and Oklahoma because oil was drilled. More nonsense scare tactics.

 

Finally, someone who thinks my way. I thought i was all alone in the world on this.

 

Hey, Lightless. No, there's a few left, I think. We're all gathering in a mountain retreat, before the end of times.

Oh, and howdy. Haven't chatted in a while.

 

Anything done in life should presumably have at least a tacit cost-benefit analysis. ANWR will do nothing to really dent the bleed, yet the costs are potentially huge. No thanks.

A good read:

http://www2.bren.ucsb.edu/~kotchen/links/anwr.pdf

 

A good read would be Palins energy plan that I read back nin June but can not locate.

 

Trade you.

I believe the plan is here - (WARNING: PDF) is this the one?

Endemic to her plan is something I've not seen a good deal of discussion on, whenever her energy plan is bandied about: It can't be taken from the equation that Alaska is a state drowning in cash. It is easy enough to talk of providing energy relief to end-users and producers alike when you've got a boatload of cash to use as a kind of danegeld to hand out:

(And, again, let us note that Gov. Palin certainly didn't mind federal pork, to the tune of millions, both while Mayor of Wasilla (pop., under 9,000) and then, governor).

The tough call is what to do when you're tapped, and nevertheless need to make a substantive shift. Unless I've missed something (and I very well may have), I don't see much here in the way of a revolutionary, and sound, approach for what plagues the country at large.

 

@ northpointaiki

No that's not the one. I am tired of discussing merits even though she is a better choice than the other Republicans. I will vote for the same person as you and tape it to prove I did. Who are we voting for and what factors won you over?

 

Let's face it, Obama has no business being President of the United States. He has only proven himself as a Chicago social reformer. That's all. One half term as State senator before he quit performing his job to run for U. S. Senate. One half term as U. S. Senator before he quit performing his job to run for President.

She wants the Polar Bears off the list so we can drill in ANWR. You're a smart guy and you know how much land we are talking about here. I've said this several times before, but really never about environmentalists. The two opposing forces both need to find middle ground. There is no reason to begrudge 0.003% of Alaska to the oil companies, especially if it is located where no one lives anyway.

You don't like her opinion on wolves? Maybe she has a thing about wolves. That is no reason to disqualify her as VP.

You guys are trying to elect a social reformer with NO economic experience, NO leadership experience, and NO foriegn policy experience. He is all talk and promises.

Add to that his list of friends, allies and pastor and I think he has you all fooled.

He cavorts with

1) William Ayers - Obama's political career starts in Ayers living room.
2) Tony Rezco - Chicago bad guy - Was on Obama's finace commitee. Rezco and his friends donated $250,000 to get Obama started.
3) Reverend Wright - Wow, this guy is sooo far outside the box. Hard to believe that Obama became a member of Wright's church in th 80's.
4) Louis Farrakhan received the lifetime achievement award from Obama’s church.

We see where Obama gets his start, his money and his guidance, and you are worried about wolves in Alaska?

Obama is a nice guy, make no mistake. I have met him. But the idea of him running this country really scares me.

Don't even get me started about Obama's tax promises.

 

Some men/women aren't even kind to fellow men/women! How can they be expected to be kind to animals.