Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (29069)	8/29/2008 10:05:58 PM
From: nigel bates	Respond to of 149317

More pile-on: washingtonmonthly.com A CONFOUNDING CHOICE.... Charles Homans offers some very helpful background in an item below about Sarah Palin, but I have to admit, I'm still struggling to understand what on earth the McCain campaign is thinking here. * McCain has spent the last several years insisting that the most important qualities in a candidate for national office are experience and a background in national security. Sarah Palin was, up until recently, the mayor of a town of 9,000 people, and is currently the governor of a small state with a part-time legislature, with one-and-a-half years under her belt. * McCain may want to improve his appeal among women voters, but he skipped right past more qualified Republican women -- women he actually knows -- such as Kay Bailey Hutchison, Elizabeth Dole, and Olympia Snowe, all of whom would have brought genuine credibility to a ticket. * In an election season in which voters desperately want change, McCain has picked a hard-right conservative. I mean, really conservative. We're talking about a former activist for Pat Buchanan, staunch opponent of reproductive rights, global-warming denier, and skeptic of modern biology. There's a reason every right-wing group in America is jumping up and down with glee this afternoon. * The usual pattern is for Republicans to reach national office and then face ethics investigation for alleged wrongdoing. This year, the GOP seems willing to reverse this, putting a governor on the national ticket who's already facing an ethics investigation. * She recently asked what a Vice President does all day. How encouraging. * Can anyone, anywhere, explain why Sarah Palin would make a good president? Given that McCain is a 72-year-old man with a history of health trouble, isn't this a rather important question right now? I realize Palin is new, which necessarily generates some excitement. But I can't help but find this announcement utterly bizarre, and completely devoid of seriousness. I heartily endorse Kevin's take: "This whole thing is crazy.... I'm just stunned by the cynicism of the whole thing. I'm sure Palin is a fine person, loving mother, devoted wife, learning her way as governor, and so forth. But a heartbeat away from the presidency? ... You gotta be kidding."

To: tejek who wrote (29069)	8/29/2008 10:07:54 PM
From: zeta1961	Respond to of 149317

Ted, as I digest this news, it's the below from your post from prospect.org that really rings true and pisses me off..and it should piss off every Republican/leaner in America... And here's what even his supporters must admit: Country did not come first. Polls did. The calculations are fully transparent. Understanding that he needed to broaden his electoral coalition, he picked a woman. Understanding he needed youth, he picked a young politician. Understanding he needed to emphasize his reformist credentials, he picked a onetime whistleblower. What he didn't pick was anyone able to help him govern, or capable of stepping forward in a moment of crisis. Palin is not an experienced foreign policy hand like Lieberman or a successful and experienced governor like Tommy Thompson. Today, McCain chose his campaign over his presidency. Over our presidency. Palin seems like a promising young politician, but McCain increasingly seems like a desperate one.

To: tejek who wrote (29069)	8/29/2008 10:10:56 PM
From: nigel bates	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 149317

And more: FRIDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits: washingtonmonthly.com * Paul Begala: "John McCain needs what Kinky Friedman calls 'a checkup from the neck up.' In choosing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate he is not thinking 'outside the box,' as some have said. More like out of his mind." * David Gergen was pretty impressed with Barack Obana's speech last night, calling it "a political masterpiece" and "less a speech than a symphony." * The McCain campaign is selling pens on its website that misspell the word "students." Ouch. * Sarah Palin actually doubts that human activity is responsible for global warming. * Palin has never been to Iraq. I'm looking forward to McCain denouncing her disinterest in the troops. * What a coincidence: "Ad featuring scandal-plagued Ted Stevens endorsing Sarah Palin for governor in 2006 mysteriously vanishes from her campaign Web site." * Ezra makes it plain: "[H]ere's what even [McCain's] supporters must admit: Country did not come first. Polls did." * In a few years, Palin may be as accomplished as Dan Quayle was in '88. * McCain is 23 years older than Alaska. * John Cole on the Palin pick: "It seems so transparently cynical, so deeply poll-driven and focus-grouped, and so manifestly just a bone to the wingnut pro-life base and the 8 PUMA holdouts, that I really can't treat this pick seriously." * For months, Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty have worked their asses off for the McCain campaign, traveling, speaking, doing interviews, and launching attacks. Palin, meanwhile, didn't do much of anything to help the McCain campaign. As of today, Romney and Pawlenty are pissed.