The media is reporting that Pawlenty nor Romney will be McCain's VP pick. Personally, I'd take that with a grain of salt. Ok, so that leaves Sarah Palin, Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge. And I missing anyone else? I have NO IDEA who he's going to pick. You have any ideas?
UPDATE: Confirmed: McCain taps Palin. (just for you IRE)
61 Responses to “Veepstakes, Part 2”
I'll buy a round at the next happy hour if it's not Mittens. Dude can raise the cash the old fart is going to need.
Even Joe Scarborough isn't buying the "NBC CONFIRMS ROMNEY WILL NOT BE THE PICK!"
Catherine I'll take that bet! CNN is saying Pallin but "can't confirm"
Ok CNN just dropped that line from the screen so who knows. HEY CNN: YOUR SOURCES ARE TOTALLY WHACK!
CAtherine owes the IRE uno cerveza. CNN Confirms Paln.
CNN confirmed its Palin. So has Orlando Sentinal and CNBC.
You owe me a drink Catherine!
MSNBC says a senior source confirmed that Palin is the pick.
But.. she shall see!
Looks like Catherine will need Mittens to help her raise funds for the next happy hour... OH SNAP!
Dang. That sucks.
Eh. Pallin. Sure.
Palin too.
Re: Palin
She supports a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.
She's a member of Feminists for Life.
And she smoked marijuana when it was legal in Alaska, but illegal under US Law.
http://dwb.adn.com/...nor06/story/8049298p-7942233c.html
Interesting side fact: she has a four-month old baby at home. It doesn't really matter to me, if she's up for it, but I do wonder what the "family values" crowd will make of it.
Also, 1) this is move is a blatant attempt to exploit whatever remains of the HRC/BHO rift, and 2) it's a classic Republican move: pick the most conservative woman/minority you can find so you can claim to be making history with the choice while not really sacrificing anything (see, e.g., Clarence Thomas).
Palin's got some personal issues in Alaska:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/22/185110/659
Also, she's got the whole creationist thing going. "Fuck Huck" is fully on in my point of view.
I agree Paula.
Also, given McCain's obvious predilection for younger women, I expect Cindy will never be too far away for the next two months.
Well, we have our work cut out for us now.
Agree with Paula... Catherine, I hope you come to DragonCon tonight...looking forward to that drink
What amazes me is that the GOP has gone ape sh*t over Obama's "lack of experience" and now McSAME picks a young mother who's been governor for about a year? If McSame drops dead in office, I would NOT want her in charge. If the worst happened with Obama, I'd sleep well with Joe Biden at the helm.
The right loves Sarah Palin because she found out early on that her youngest child would have Down's Syndrome, and she made a huge deal of deciding to not have an abortion. She's damn lucky she even had the choice... God knows McSame would make sure that no other mother did.
This is also highly insulting to women. McSame thinks that by throwing a woman on his ticket, he negates the historic candidacy of Obamam and that upset Hillary supports will see a woman on his ticket, swoon, and vote for him. It's insulting to the intelligence of women. Obama and Hillary both fought hard for black and female votes in the primary, neither one ever just giving up on the assumption that women would vote Hillary or all blacks vote Obama.
I do not want to hear any more from the GOP about Obama having no experience.
Sorry, can't make it to Dragon Con tonight. But, lets schedule something for next Friday. First round on me.
One more point against her (in my book) is that her children are named:
Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper, and Trig
Who does she think she is? Gwyneth Paltrow?
But back to more important things: Obama! Obama! Obama!
Cleans up nice, I guess. Cindy might have some competition. Then again, Palin doesn't have Mrs. McCain's millions. Never mind.
The other thing to remember is that really the only way McCain has been able to stop anything Obama does is to have a trump card. Now he's got nothing left (other than the convention). THere is no dirt to unearth because let's face it, if there was, HRC would have used it in the primary.
What can McCain do the next time Obama has a huge speech (likely in the next two weeks)?
I can't believe this pick. She might be a great inside baseball pick for conservative activists who were probably going to vote for McCain anyway, but really, she's been the Governor of a small, far away state for 18 months, and prior to that was the mayor of a town of 5,000 people and has absolutely zero national political experience - zilch? How, exacatly, is she qualified to take over the Presidency?
I think the pick brings up more concerns that any positives it might add.
Mr. Palin is an oilman though, so availability of big money is probably not too far away.
If I could be crude, crass, and puerile for a second -- Confirmed: McCain taps Palin.
Heh.
I may be missing something, but it seems like a bonehead move to me. No pun or anything else intended.
That ethics issue is going to be great media fodder. Divorce, revenge, abuse of power, hypocrisy, official investigation, all the ingredients for a string of revelations and off the record accusations. She may have even thrown a staffer under the bus for their part in this, and it has to do with interfering with public safety. Lot's of reasons for lot's of people to have something to say about this.
Does any one seeing him dropping her if all this breaks?
DAMMIT.She's a union member so I can't say nothing bad about her.
Nope just her husband. Wow her first speech is pretty ho hum.
Nothing that appealing about her and she can't deliver a speech.
Some of her tone and word choices make it sound like she is the one running for president. Head's up, this will be a theme during the election--building up Palin for POTUS.
This was a good pick. Her kid is in Iraq, she has a retarded child, her husband is probably down low, but he races "snow machines". This is what you get to do when you pick second.
OK I am watching Ms. Palin speak right now and she just said she is "just an average Alaskan hockey mom"....certainly gives me confidence if McCain doesn't make it though his term. But now that I think about it, I know a lot of soccer moms and they just don't strike me as having the expertise to deal with say, Mahmoud Ahmajinedad. "Mahmoud....take off those skates right now and come in for supper!"
Trapper John has a pretty good synopsis
http://www.dailykos.com/...08/8/29/104611/395/220/578471
WOW. Blatantly showed they are trying to steal HRC's voters. She namedropped her AND Ferraro. Oh and then specifically called out the 18m HRC votes--because you know, they were all women.
MotS,
"she has a retarded child,"
Good thing it's not up to me, because I'd delete that entire comment.
Her child has mental retardation. I wasn't trying to offend. Simply rolling out some facts that make her difficult to attack.
Oh boy! She believes in "intelligent design". That means the Flying Spaghetti Monster is back in play!
Speaking of which: Mark your calenders- Sept. 19 is Talk Like a Pirate Day.
Incidentally, the last school code I looked at, and granted, this has been close to four years described those that fit the condition as "educable mentally retarded". I apologize to any I have offended, and if my information was incorrect I apologize for that too.
This selection lays a rhetorical minefield for the Obama/Biden campaign. Lots of issues regarding gender, parenting, disability, corruption, and experience around which they'll have to tread lightly or BOOM. I have the feeling Palin will be exonerated on the current investigation, so they probably shouldn't lean on that too heavily.
i think this is one of the smartest political decisions mccain has probably ever made
its getting fun now!
Technically, MotS, her child has Downs Syndrome, or Trisomy 21. Lots of physical, emotional, and mental disabilities come with it. I do wonder who will care for this child, b/c it certainly won't be her mother.
Not sure I'd go with "smart", Nicolette. It presumes that all you have to do is wave a vagina in front of women, and they'll come flocking with their votes. Don't know about you, but I give diehard Hillary supporters much more credit than that.
Someone pointed out on FB that McCain is older than the state of Alaska by 23 years
But yes, lots of minefields here for Obama/Biden.
That's fine. I was just repeating what was broadcast.
Wow, someone actually broadcast that she has a retarded child? I sure hope it was FOX
I'm watching Palin on CSPAN right now, and the combination of her crazy eyeglasses, Republican hair, and caked on eyeliner is going to make Jules' head explode.
This was a good move by team McCain (kudos, Mike Murphy, my favorite Republican hobbit), but it's not going to win them the election,I don't think, for a couple ofreasons. If they're trying to cut into Obama's female demographic, it's going to take a lot more than a former beauty queen and a smile. Women typically aren't going to find a pretty woman automatically endearing; in fact, females were some of HRC's harshest critics. It's a sad but true fact that women unfortunately don't exhibit the same loyalty to their gender as men do. Obama's charm, skills as an orator, nice suits, and passion are going to do a lot more to motivate the fairer sex to the voting booth than a paint by numbers makeup lightweight. Add to that the fact that Palin's a little short in experience, the same thing they've been attacking Obama over. So while it's a *good* move, it's definitely, to get Irish Catholic Liberal about it, a "hail mary" move. As Chuck Schumer stated so efficiently, "I look forward to a Biden Vs Palin debate in Missouri."
the fact that she is a woman is not the only reason why i think she was a good choice for mccain i do give hillary supporters more credit then that. while it is one of the pluses, she also has the ability to help seccure the republican base/family values voters who are leary of mccain (as well as get them out to vote) while also being a total washington outsider and cannot be tied to bush. it also helps that she is attractive with a large pretty family
i'm not saying i like her or that i think she would be any good as a leader, but i am saying that it was a good political move for mccain to draft her....and frankly she wins him the most out of all of the other possibles out there
One way it's good for McSame is that it's another way for him to say, "See, I'm not Dubya! I'll be different! Honest!"
She was definitely the best choice, you're right on that. Attractiveness might help, but probably only on the white male demographic...which McCain doesn't need help with. This was definitely an attempt, and a valiant one, to be like "omg no u c I'm not rly old and tired and stuck in archaic policy!!". Unfortunately, all it really did was prove again that he really doesn't get it. At all. (Plus, imagine if McCain croaks and she's president...I do NOT want a Mary Kay, fluffy bang nation that does whatever strategists tell her to!)
McCain made a huge mistake by not going with Huckabee. Kiss the Conservative Democrat vote bye bye McCain.
Obama/Biden '08.
Yeah, I said it.
I dunno, Rural. Palin has a lot of similarities issue-wise to Huckabee.
The main difference is that she isn't a Southern Baptist.
And she's not charismatic. That's the other half of evangelical.
I'd give Huckabee much more credit that than.
Ah well, I think McCain messed up.
Which, at least he didn't pick Mittens.
Even my GOP friends in class this morning were shouting in excitement that it wasn't Mittens.
What did they do next? They asked "who is Palin?"
Ha, ha.
I'm sure a lot of people did that, Rural.
Of course, that's why pundit's love the Veepstakes so much. So much opportunity to speculate on obscure governors and almost-national figures in the hopes of a dark horse like Palin showing up.
Nice to have you on board, Rural.
It took some time, and, well, last night combined with this morning really did it for me.
Now, I still have some concerns, but, looking at the two tickets, it's obvious which is the best choice.
Something I've already had a discussion with a few people about today:
There are quite a few people out there that are just as hesitant about voting for a woman as they are voting for a black man.
Well, now, with a woman on one ticket, and a black male on the other, where does this group go?
Oh, btw, MSNBC is really pushing this "Palin is a lifetime NRA member" thing.
Is she a longtime member or did she pull a Mittens and suddenly decide to join before the vetting process?
Remember, Mittens became a lifetime member then suddenly decided to run for President.
to be a Lifetime Member of the NRA its only like a 10k donation (not something that is in my financial realm at the moment so I forget).
Being a lifetime member is something else.
"Kiss the Conservative Democrat vote bye bye McCain."
They were ever on board or had a chance?
Haha, I'm a member so I know about the "Lifetime membership", it's just, they're doing what they did with Romney, and it was shown that Romney suddenly joined when it was convenient.
Conservative Democrats would cross over for someone like Huckabee. Which, it could just be my bias because I'm a Huckabee fan.
I still say Huckabee would make a perfect conservative/populist Democrat on fiscal issues, minus the fairtax and some other ideas.
Oh, and um,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nTX-oJUCaU
Stevens endorsing Palin in 2006.
If you think about the little squabbles in Alaska it's interesting. Palin runs against corruption, yet gets endorsed by corruption? Stevens endorses Murkowski's opponent while his daughter is serving in the Senate with Stevens!
Crazy stuff!
Add to the negative column that she is "pro home schooling." As a former educator - umion member -- I believe home schooling should certainly be a personal choice. But the "pro home schooling" movement is republican talk for dismantling public education.Our children and educators can't handle more funding cuts and more No Child Left Behind.
so don't let her status as a union member fool you. I am sure neither AFT nor NEA wants her a heart beat away from the presidency.
As a product of Private Religious Education i say PHOOEY on her education stances.
Any idiot that thinks private RELIGIOUS education, particularly that within the baptist/fundamentalist/sometimesevangelical wing of the crazy parents, is better than a full-scale public education, is out of their mind insane.
Home schooling...don't EVEN get me started. The social skills lacking alone is enough to make me cry.