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August 30, 2008 09:39 PM UTC

Palin's Rollout Good, Viewed More Favorably than Biden

  • 118 Comments
  • by: Haners

I’m sure some of my more liberal friends can’t (or won’t) believe it, but Senator McCain’s pick for V.P. seems to be going over well.

From Rasmussen Reports:

http://www.rasmussenreports.co…

After her debut in Dayton and a rush of media coverage, a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 53% now have a favorable opinion of Palin while just 26% offer a less flattering assessment.

By way of comparison, on the day he was selected as Barack Obama’s running mate, Delaware Senator Joseph Biden was viewed favorably by 43% of voters.

And it gets better

Democrats already have begun to attack Palin for a lack of Washington experience even though the message of their party’s presidential ticket is change. One of the reasons McCain clearly chose Palin is because she is the ultimate Washington outsider, even coming from the state on the continental United States that is furthest from the Nation’s Capital. Joe Biden has been in the Senate since Palin was nine years old.

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again.  Democrats have better be careful how they handle Palin-the more the American people get to know her, the more they will like her.  And people aren’t stupid.  When they see Obama and his crew attacking Palin for not having Washington experience, and they remember everything that Obama said about needing to be an Washington outsider….well, people are going to see the hypocrisy.  Talk about “politics as usual”!

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118 thoughts on “Palin’s Rollout Good, Viewed More Favorably than Biden”

  1. Sorry to break it to you, it’s not just Obama and his crew attacking her. It’s coming from those who know her best:

    Anchorage Daily News

    “She’s not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president? said [State Senate President Lyda Green, a Republican from Palin’s hometown of Wasilla]. “Look at what she’s done to this state. What would she do to the nation?”

    Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

    She has never publicly demonstrated the kind of interest, much less expertise, in federal issues and foreign affairs that should mark a candidate for the second-highest office in the land. Republicans rightfully have criticized the Democratic nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, for his lack of experience, but Palin is a neophyte in comparison; how will Republicans reconcile the criticism of Obama with the obligatory cheering for Palin?…Most people would acknowledge that, regardless of her charm and good intentions, Palin is not ready for the top job. McCain seems to have put his political interests ahead of the nation’s when he created the possibility that she might fill it. It’s clear that McCain picked Palin for reasons of image, not substance.

    More from the News-Miner

    Lately her reputation within the state has been bit by allegations of mixing political and family business, and by mistreating one of the state’s premier marine mammals. Palin’s catch-phrase of “openness and transparency” has been tarnished by revelations that staff members tried to have Palin’s former brother-in-law fired from his job as an Alaska state trooper. Also, the governor of the only state with polar bears has adamantly opposed listing the animals as a threatened species, despite strong evidence that global warming has devastated their sea ice environment off Alaska’s coast. Dermot Cole, a longtime columnist for Alaska’s second largest newspaper, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, called McCain’s choice of Palin “reckless” and questioned her credentials. “Sarah Palin’s chief qualification for being elected governor was that she was not Frank Murkowski,” Cole said of her enormously unpopular predecessor, who lost favor with Alaskans in part because of unpopular budget cuts. “She was not elected because she was a conservative. She was not elected because of her grasp of issues or because of her track record as the mayor of Wasilla.”

    People don’t know… yet.

    1. aren’t the ones who are going to get her and McCain elected.  It will be the intelligent conservatives like Haners and the blind followers of the last 8 years of Bush.  People (voters) are stupid, and they prove it election after election…you should see that by now…

      1. Did anyone read our papers today? The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News called McCain out on his odd pick.

        First from the Rocky Mountain News

        Her selection could still prove to be a huge mistake if it turns out that she can’t handle the exposure of a presidential campaign. The national stage can be a merciless place for newcomers, as Dan Quayle learned to his sorrow 20 years ago. But McCain obviously believes Palin will prosper under the media and partisan glare. If he’s right, her assets will more than offset the worries involving her lack of extensive experience.

        And from the Denver Post

        However, Palin is a fervent opponent of abortion, even in cases of rape or incest. She also supports teaching the biblical theory of creationism alongside evolution in public schools.

        We were far from thrilled by Barack Obama’s choice of Biden as his running mate, and questioned his judgment. We’re scratching our heads over this one, too.

        At least Biden, the veteran foreign policy specialist, is qualified to be president if something should happen to Obama. Palin is not qualified to run this republic if something happens to McCain, a 72-year-old cancer survivor.

        Her selection was a not-so- thinly-veiled attempt to desperately court those still- rankled Hillary Clinton voters.

        But if McCain intended his running mate to be a bridge to supporters of the superbly qualified New York senator, Palin’s lack of credentials and her hard-line anti-abortion stance precludes that.

        It won’t be the first time that Alaska has produced a bridge to nowhere.

        Ouch, McCain was just called out in a swing state by the two most important editorial boards for picking an inexperienced ideologue in attempt to fool women voters into supporting him just because Palin is a woman.

        As Rep. DeGette said yesterday, McCain’s choice is an insult.  

        1. That was the Rocky Mountain News opinion, although one could never tell by what Go Blue chose to highlight.  

          http://www.rockymountainnews.c…

          Did anyone read our papers today? The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News called McCain out on his odd pick.

          First from the Rocky Mountain News

             Her selection could still prove to be a huge mistake if it turns out that she can’t handle the exposure of a presidential campaign. The national stage can be a merciless place for newcomers, as Dan Quayle learned to his sorrow 20 years ago. But McCain obviously believes Palin will prosper under the media and partisan glare. If he’s right, her assets will more than offset the worries involving her lack of extensive experience.

          Go Blue @ Sat Aug 30, 2008

          If you look at the actual newspaper, the phrase highlighted in boldface print, by the Rocky, is “Each party’s ticket now includes one person with little foreign policy or military expertise.”

          As the editorial correctly went on to point out:

          In the Democrats’ case, however, the person with these deficiencies would be making the critical calls in the Oval Office.

          “Not ready to be No. 1” is a far more powerful argument than “not ready to be No. 1’s replacement.”

          Unless McCain were to die, say, within a year or so of taking office and had kept Palin totally out of the loop (which is Franklin Roosevelt did, for example, with Harry Truman, Palin should be capable of smoothly moving into the top job should tragedy strike.  

          The Rocky’s editorial was a far better review of Palin’s selection than the Denver Post’s piece panning Joe Biden: “Obama’s pick hardly inspiring,” which ended as follows:

          One of the first tests of a presidential candidate’s judgment is their selection for running mate.

          In that crucial first test, Obama seems to have failed.

          http://www.denverpost.com/edit…

          1. and I think you’re right, it shows a double standard by the media but these were not glowing reviews for Palin, especially by the Post calling it a “bridge to no where.”  

          2. to Palin’s home state papers had to say

            Palin is not ready for the top job. McCain seems to have put his political interests ahead of the nation’s when he created the possibility that she might fill it. It’s clear that McCain picked Palin for reasons of image, not substance.

            Yeah, not good at all.

        2. Doesn’t sound like it if you read the entire article you cited.

          We understand that some conservatives are delighted because Palin is strongly pro-life and a longtime advocate of the right to bear arms – two hot-button issues in the party. But the reason they should be most happy is that she represents in her actual behavior what some politicians only claim to be with cascades of pretty words: a genuine government reformer who is not afraid to buck the establishment. A person who has, in fact, done exactly that during her entire political life.

          The Republican ticket now boasts two mavericks willing to poke the political establishment in the eye when they feel like it. That’s an attractive message at a moment when voters appear so utterly disenchanted with the status quo.

          The fact that Palin is said to be smart, well-spoken and charming doesn’t hurt, either, of course.

          Might even call that an edorsement

          1. As in pointing out she’s not a moderate, and not someone who can persuade voters for from the much needed middle, but rather a pander to the far right. McCain picked her because he’s desperate to appease people like James Dobson, but because she’s VP material.  

  2. I not only believe it, I’ve been saying it since she was selected.

    Trooper-gate will be forgotten, if it hasn’t been already. Her shortcomings will be smoothed over.

    The Republicans picked a dynamo for McCain’s VP.

    1. The scandal will only be forgotten if Democrats persist in foolish attacks on her experience that play the Republican tune.  If we most of our heads out of our collective asses and work to hang this and the Matanuska Dairy around her neck like an albatross her positives will fade.

      1. You keep talking about messaging in terms of a giant monolith of generic “Democrats”, I think you are being far too general in your analysis.

        There are many Democrats on the national stage and strategically all of them will play different roles in the messaging.

        For example, the Obama campaign has a commercial out right now that ignores Palin completely and continues to tie McCain to Bush. That is a smart strategy for the campaign. Surrogates are another matter, Hillary Clinton will deliver powerful attacks. Others will point out that McCain’s internal campaign narrative regarding experience is now completely inoperable. It’s a fine line but it can be walked if done strategically. Discussing a generic and mononlithic entity known as “The Democrats” is taking a far too broad perspective on the strategy of the campaign going forward. It will require nuanced and smart attacks from all angles.  

      2. Also, it may well be that a lot of people are saying Palin is a good pick just because a woman is historic and now Hillary is out of the picture. Some Dems may think she’s a good pick for the Rs because she’s so weak.  

        As more people see her, hear her, I doubt that many will be able to picture her as a potential Commander in Chief.   The news today(no doubt after the completion of the Rasmussen poll) was very heavy on pictures of her as runner up beauty queen and local TV anchor person, looking very cheap and over made up, then featured her gushing over being picked for VP and, let me tell you, it was VERY hard to believe this was actually the Republican VP candidate. As noted many papers have come out with pans including Alaska papers. I bet the  Generals are flabbergasted at the prospect. Lets see how she plays in the near future.

  3. That’s a pretty bold statement.

    It’s the sort of thing that one can say with confidence when speaking about a politician who one knows a great deal about and who has been vetted to some extent by the media but has not yet been introduced to the general public.

    Unfortunately for you not even John McCain knows much about Sarah Palin. She very clearly has not been vetted and within 24 hours we know that she has lied repeatedly about her role in trooper-gate, lied about her position on the bridge to nowhere, does not believe in a womans right to choose even in cases of rape or the mothers health, does not believe in evolution and does not believe that climate change is man made.

    I can’t wait to learn more about her. What does she think of the current state of relations between China and Taiwan? The role of pre-existing conditions in constructing a viable national health care plan? The list goes on and on.

    As the nation learns more about her it will become readily apparent that Sarah Palin is not up to McCain’s own professed standard of a Vice President – that they be the person most qualified to assume the presidency. Even  the campaign itself cannot bring itself to make that argument!

    The GOP base and spin-meisters are trying desperately to convince themselves and the nation that this is a solid pick. I’m betting that the American public isn’t quite as gullible as you all would like.  

    1. As Gibson was wrapping up the segment, dealing with Sarah Palin’s selection, with George Stephanopolous last Friday, he remarked:

      “Well, of the four of them, she the only one who has actually run anything.  The other three have been in the Senate.”

      Clearly, she is unfamiliar with the national stage, but she at least had experience running a town and a state.  That is more than McCain, Obama, and Biden can claim.

      But as I had stated repeatedly before… and no doubt will again… come November, no one votes for vice president.

      1. But I do think you can point to some recent executive experience by both Obama & McCain – they have been running national presidential campaigns and those are very large high-pressure executive jobs.

        I’ll leave it to others to say how good a job each has done running their campaign…

        2. And that is a valid point, but I do think you can point to some recent executive experience by both Obama & McCain – they have been running national presidential campaigns and those are very large high-pressure executive jobs.

          by: DavidThi808 @ Sun Aug 31, 2008

          When you get into national presidential campaigns, I wonder just how much control the candidates themselves have.  Obviously, they have significant input, but I doubt they are deciding where to go next, what polling firms to hire, who (beyond the top echelon of the campaign staff) to bring on board, etc.  I can’t see McCain or Obama having the time to delve into such details on a daily basis.

  4. Obviously from the Democratic point of view Palin needs to be attacked.  We need to define her, but we were caught flat footed thinking that it was going to be Mit Romney.  And I think you’re right that the experience attack is idiotic.  And I’ve even seem some sexist idiocy from some liberals.  

    The way Palin is most vulnerable is to point out her policy and judgment problems.  Troopergate is a term that liberal bloggers ought to link over and over.  Even more substantively they can point out her bad handling of the closing of the Matanuska Maid Dairy that she tried to save by firing all the members of the Board of Agriculture and Conservation so she could get a new Creamery Board.  And that she left Wasilla $20 million in debt for an ill conceived sports complex, that’s $3,000 per resident of the small town.

    Or most damming of all a fellow Alaska Republican.  Alaska State Senate President Lyda Green (R): “She’s not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president? Look at what she’s done to this state. What would she do to the nation?”  (Green is from Palin’s home town of Wasilla.)

      1. I think you hit on something here (whether or not you meant to)…Palin has probably made a lot of enemies in taking on the corrupt Republican establishment.  

        Just something to keep in mind!

          1. Because either they’re part of the 65% of the Alaska residents that approve of the job she’s doing….

            Or they’ll want her gone.  

            But I like the chances that they’ll approve of her.  She is the most popular governor in the country.  (yes, GB-that means she’s more popular than Ritter!)  🙂

            1. her Alaska constituents and now her potential national constituents.  I think late night talk show hosts will have a hayday with her.  She is going to get drilled.  

              If she were president, you’ve got to admit – you would be very nervous, right?

            2. regularly scores around 70% approval. He’s just as if not more popular.  And being popular in Alaska may not translate so well outside of the state.  look at Sen.  Stevens.  He’s a crook and the king of the pork barrel and has been so popular you can’t swing a dead cat in Alaska without hitting something named after him. Outside of Alaska?  Not so much.

              I think the more the public knows about her and her paper thin resume, silly municipal spending and tendency to use power in questionable ways, the more the initial enthusiasm because she’s new and different will fade. Maybe not among the hard core base but so what?

              1. Any reputable media source is calling Palin the most popular governor in the country.  Yes, that means that she’s more popular than Schweitzer.  Sorry, but that’s the fact.

                Oh, and Stevens isn’t popular in Alaska anymore.  That’s why he’s behind in his race for re-election….

            1. I really couldn’t care less about the minutia of the corrupt Alaskan GOP and neither will the American public. My point was that she’s a supposed reformer who had the now several times indicted Ted Stevens cut a campaign commercial for her. Her “reformer” shtick is very easily attacked and undermined.  

              1. There’s a difference between statewide politics and national politics.

                She helped to reform the corrupt nature of politics within the state of Alaska. She did not, however, do anything against the indictedly corrupt Stevens. Minutia would indicate that she was indeed a reformer, but like you say, it doesn’t really matter.

                Poster is not a supporter of Sarah Palin.

                1. If you get attacked and you need anything beyond a 5 word explanation you’ve lost the argument.

                  This is why the Palin selection is so ripe with potential disaster for McCain. No one knows who this woman is or has any strong feelings on her one way or the other. There is tremendous opportunity to shape her image and leave real lasting damage on her reputation. Since McCain didn’t vet her they don’t know from what direction the attacks will be coming from, they are going to be forced to be totally reactive. Not a good position to be in if you’re the McCain campaign.  

          2. After she was elected Gov.

            She refused to match the state portion of the funds earmarked for the bridge to nowhere, and said if Alaska wanted a bridge to that island, they would buid it themselves.

            She has challenged the state’s Republican leaders, helping to launch a campaign by Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell to unseat U.S. Congressman Don Young and publicly challenging Senator Ted Stevens to come clean about the federal investigation into his financial dealings.

            Palin frequently had an approval rating above 90% in 2007. A poll published by Hays Research on July 28, 2008 showed Palin’s approval rating at 80%

            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S…

            1. AFTER the Bridge to Nowhere was already a national laughingstock, and “challenged” Stevens to come clean AFTER he was already very publicly under investigation and nearing indicted (and after happily accepting his wholehearted endorsement). That’s not courage, but there is another word for it.

              Again with the soft prejudice of low expectations.

              Palin beats up on two agin politicians when they’re already on the ropes? That makes her a maverick?

              Citing Wikipedia as an objective source when it’s being constantly edited by pro- and con-Palin partisans is ludicrous.  

        3.    The N.Y. Times had an interview with state Sen. Green.  She explained the reason for the bad blood between her and Palin.  Palin is one of these “my way or the highway” types when it comes to dealing with the Republican legislature. (Like we haven’t seen enough of that for the last 8 years.) Imagine how effective she would be with a Democratic Congress!

            Palin was also bitter towards Green because Green opted to stay neutral during the ’06 gubernatorial primary.  As leader of the Republicans in state Senate, it was probably the smart thing for Green to stay neutral.  She would have to work with whoever won the primary.

            Haners, I can appreciate that you’re enchanted by her right wing positions on abortion, gays, guns, and God, but aren’t you at least a little put off by the shoddy way in which Mittens and Pawlenty were used?

      2. They are just in different Republican factions.  When a state or locality is very dominated by one party the factions tend to come to the fore a lot more.  And who is friends with who brings out all the legitimate criticism that would usually be papered over with “for the good of the party”.  

  5. She was in Texas at a conference when her water broke this spring.

    Then she got on a plane and flew 11 hours back to AK.  If I remember correctly she flew commercial.

    Considering her age and that the child had problems that seems like an incredibly risky thing to do, but I am not a doctor (hell I’m even known to pass out when I go to the doctor).

    If anyone knows anything about medicine I would like to know if my gut feeling that this was incredibly reckless.

    1. Her child was diagnosed with D/S before it was born.

      To suggest that she somehow caused that is pretty low, and frankly, it surpises me to hear that kind of an accusation coming from you.

      1. Danny never mentioned DS, you did.

        He asked a legitimate medical question about the wisdom of flying 11 hours after your water breaks. Then you attacked him for no reason whatsoever and injected the DS comment out of nowhere.

        1. Then what did this line mean?

          Considering her age and that the child had problems that seems like an incredibly risky thing to do, but I am not a doctor (hell I’m even known to pass out when I go to the doctor).

          Obviously, Danny is never insinuating that the airplane ride caused her child’s problems, as Haners assumes. However, he does mention that the child “had problems.”

          1. Child had problems is probably referencing downs but I stand by the rest of my statement. Haners is attacking for no reason. Danny didn’t say the plane ride caused the downs syndrome and he didn’t even use the term.

        2. On closer inspection, I see that it is constructed as you say, but don’t think it is our place to second guess her personal decision.

          You are liberal Democrats.  Conventional wisdom says you would be OK with her electing to  aborting the child. Right.  You would say its her choice right?  So why other than blatant partisanship would you criticize this decision.  The baby lived.

          1. My question was is what she did dangerous.  It shows bad judgment if it is dangerous.

            No one has addressed that question.

            The outcome isn’t the issue, its the risk taking and the decision making process.

          2. about childbearing for herself doesn’t mean they love abortion and hate babies.  And just because so many Republicans hate abortion doesn’t mean they love the already born.  They often hate to provide any help to the children of mothers who made the decision they approve, don’t like supporting public education, are fine with executing children and the mentally retarded and with fertility clinics throwing fertilized eggs away.   So let’s get off the high horse, please.

      2. I don’t see anywhere in Danny’s comment that he suggested or even implied that she somehow caused her baby to have Down’s Syndrome.

        I think Danny was asking whether it was medically contraindicated for her to fly, when the pregnancy was high-risk, after her water broke.

        As a parent whose spouse had high-risk pregnancies, I can tell you that competent OBs recommend in the strongest possible terms against air travel in the last trimester of even a healthy pregnancy.  Given Palin’s age, and not even taking into consideration that her baby had been diagnosed with Down’s, hers was definitely in the “high-risk” category.

      3. it’s risk the child’s life. There is a mass of statistical evidence that says flying greatly increases your risk of a serious medical event or death. You should not get on a plane at a time like this.

        In addition, 5th child, water broke – how on earth did the delivery take over 11 hours from then. If your water breaks and it’s not the first child, you drive to the nearest hospital immediately.

        This is not going to play well with the mom’s of America.

      4. Her age was probably responsible for the D/S.

        Probability for downs increases exponentially after 30. Going from about never under 30 to 1/30 at 44.

        Why do I know this?  My brother-n-law has downs: his mother was 41.  I try to keep myself up on the issues since my wife and I nominated as his custodian.

        I am questioning her judgment for getting on a plane to fly 11 hour after her water broke especially since she knew the pregnancy had complications.

  6. Biden’s a known quantity.  It is almost axiomatic in politics that favorability declines, and negative ratings increase, as a politician is in the spotlight for longer.

    Go Blue’s point above is on target.  Governor Palin may have reached her zenith already.

  7. One measure of how well John McCain kept his choice of a vice presidential running mate secret is that 67% of voters nationwide have no opinion one way or the other about Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that she is unknown to 78% of women.

    Of course Ras would try to spin an unknown as a positive for McCain, but take this at face value. Republicans see Palin not as the most qualified person to be the VP, but as a “sell” to voters. McCain doesn’t even know her! They met once before he picked her to run. Talk about a total lack of judgement on his part.

    However, she’s an unknown and the Republican like that as we heard yesterday. They’re already trying to attach the same faux labels that McCain has given himself as a “Maverick” and outsider.

    Charlie Black has said she doesn’t need any real experience to be the VP since McCain will not likely die in office. What a reassurance that is.

    This is a shameless attempt to put a new face on the same failed policies of Bush-McCain.  

  10. Yet they fear Obama because he is different.

    The chioce:

    Same/Different    or    Different/Same

    I choose Different/Same because the Same on that ticket is there to support and advise the change Different brings.  

    Not like the other ticket where the Different is there to get votes for the Same

    1. I really think pictures from beauty pageants (or any other youthful activity) should probably be left alone.  At best they are petty.  At worst it can sound like a sexist, racist, etc dog whistle like the pictures of Obama when he was visiting Kenya (or something, I don’t remember) in his youth.

  12. I believe enough information has been presented in less than two days to sufficiently say she’s not ready for the national scene and will implode at the least convenient time for the McCain campaign.

    And it’s really John McCain’s judgement who should be called into question for picking such and under-qualified running mate. McCain’s history of poor choices makes it easy to understand why he picked Palin, for his own ambition, which also makes it all the more clear why McCain must not be our President. His judgement is blinded by his ambition.  

    1. You’re really reaching.  This is awesome.

      Who runs for President that doesn’t have tremendous ambition?

      Oh, I forgot – Sen. Obama is running because he feels so strongly that the unwashed masses need him so badly.

      I can judge how much you guys are freaking out by the fact that there are something like 500 posts about Palin and a couple of hundred about The One’sВ® speech on Thursday.

      What specifics did he cover in that speech again?

      1. Palin is a terrible choice and it’s gonig to hurt McCain more in the demographic he was targeting than help; women. As nearly 80% of women polled haven’t a clue who she is, the more they will learn about here, the more they will question McCain’s judgement for choosing her as a running mate.

        As pointed out nationally by almost every editorial across the US including two from Palin’s home state, McCain’s choice was bad.

        As for Obama’s speech, I already posted a diary on it with a portion quoted. I can put in more specifics if you like, but seeing how you didn’t even take the time to see what has been written already, I’m sure you won’t take the time to read much of anything else either.

      2. Taxes:

        I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America.

        I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow.

        I will cut taxes – cut taxes – for 95% of all working families (those making under $150,000 a year -rsb.)

        Energy:


        I will set a clear goal as President: in ten years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.

        As President, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power. I’ll help our auto companies re-tool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America. I’ll make it easier for the American people to afford these new cars. And I’ll invest 150 billion dollars over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy – wind power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels; an investment that will lead to new industries and five million new jobs that pay well and can’t ever be outsourced.

        That’s for starters.

        1. that it was too full of specific policy proposals and not enough of that soaring Obama rhetoric and poetry. I think he struck the right balance, but LB’s the only one I’ve heard say it lacked specifics.

          1. How is he going to pay for this?  That’s the question.

            I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America.

            THis is vague.  Any company that employs anyone overseas will lose any tax break they might get?  What does he mean?  When a far-left politician says “good jobs” often it’s code for union jobs.  Will that be a stipulation for receiving tax breaks?  We just don’t know because he hasn’t told us.

            I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow.

            No capital gains for only energy startups?  Again – he says high-wage. What if it’s a solar plant that manufactures panels with low-skilled labor.  How high are those wages going to have to be in order to not pay capital gains?

            Specifics.

            I will cut taxes – cut taxes – for 95% of all working families (those making under $150,000 a year -rsb.)

            Ah. Class warfare.  How much more of the tax burden do you expect to give the top earners?  This is pretty significant in terms of overall dollars – two tenured schoolteachers in a big district could conceivably earn more than a combined $150k.  Do you really want to stick it to them?

            And I’ll invest 150 billion dollars over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy – wind power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels; an investment that will lead to new industries and five million new jobs that pay well and can’t ever be outsourced.

            Really?  How is he going to do this?

            Specifics.  Anyone can promise things like this. The devil is in the details, and if that’s your evidence that Obama’s getting specific, well, you just made my whole argument for me.

              1. What about Afghanistan?  Are we still going to fund the war there?

                How should we end the war? On a timetable with the Iraqis like we’re negotiating now or just pull out?

                What about my points above?  How specifically and what specifically does he want to accomplish the above?

                1. and they want our combat troops out by a given date, that should do it.  Of course under Bush or McCain, it won’t because the idea that we occupied them in order to give them the gifts of freedom, democracy and sovereignty is bull.  With McCain, they’ll accept what we tell them and like it or else. He clearly doesn’t consider  Iraq a sovereign state.  Just listen to him some time.

                  Also there is the little matter of their having all that surplus now so why don’t they start picking up their share of the tab regardless? That would save us money too.

  13. with more than just that of one Rassmussen poll.

    USA/Gallup has also put out numbers showing conflicting views on McCain/Palin.

    There is also wide uncertainty about whether she’s qualified to be president. In the poll, taken Friday, 39% say she is ready to serve as president if needed, 33% say she isn’t and 29% have no opinion.

    That’s the lowest vote of confidence in a running mate since the elder George Bush chose then-Indiana senator Dan Quayle to join his ticket in 1988. In comparison, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden was seen as qualified by 57%-18% after Democrat Barack Obama chose him as a running mate last week.

    And as for targeting women voters who supported Hillary during the primary.

    Among Democratic women – including those who may be disappointed that New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton did not win the Democratic nomination – 9% say Palin makes them more likely to support McCain, 15% less likely.

    As one McCain aide put it

    We either get Hillary’s voters and we win, or we don’t. It’s not a mystery.”

    And as I’ve said before the more voters learn about Palin, the more they’re going to be less likely to vote for McCain. This was a poor choice by McCain.

    1. once women who supported Hillary know that Palin stands AGAINST Hillary on almost every conceivable issue, including women’s and family and health care and economic and environmental issues, they will support Hillary by voting for the candidate she is supporting, Barack Obama. He stands with hr on all those issues.

      Also, Biden has been great on women’s issues, especially in  addressing violence against women.  He and Obama clearly adore, respect and admire the women in their lives, mothers, grandmothers, wives and  daughters.  

      As for Obama as a great choice for women voters, with his strong mother and grandmother and strong professional wife, he is no doubt very invested in a bright future for his daughters.  He has no sons, after all. The future for his children  will be largely determined by issues affecting the future for all American women.

      1. I’ve been trying to figure out what role Hillary will play in this race, and we now have our answer with Palin. Hillary, as many bloggers here (OQD, Parse) have been telling me for months, is very much needed for Obama to win. They were right and I now see why.

        Hillary was brilliant this week. “I’m Hillary Clinton and I do not approve of that message,” and the “No way, No How, No McCain,” lines were bulls eyes. I can’t wait to see what she says next. I can’t wait for the next Obama ad with Hillary in it!

  14. Seriously this pick was made to get the evangelicals aboard the Crooked Talk Express.  All the comments about attracting Hillary Clinton supporters is nothing but a ruse.  McCain needed to get the Dobson crew on board.  It is a measure of his campaign that he had to choose his campaign over his country and pick a candidate whose only purpose was to energize the evangelicals who were a given with George Bush.  Obama picked someone who could assume the duties of president without a learning curve.  McCain picked someone who was a gimmick for his campaign.  That tells you a lot about the decision making of the two primary candidates.  

    Obama graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard Law School.  McCain was at the bottom of his class and Palin has a Bachelors in Journalism.  Obama is a political prodigy who has never lost an election.  He isn’t going to lose this one to a grumpy old man and a reject from Northern Exposure but hey good luck believing otherwise.  I’m voting for the smartest person in the room to deal with our most difficult problems.  I’m tired of letting stupid people do stupid things to our country.

    1. You might want to ask Congressman Bobby Rush about that.  He beat Obama by 30 points in 2000.

      And it’s a little hard to lose a State Senate election in an overwhelmingly democratic district when you get all the other Dems on the ballot disqualified…  Nothing wrong there, just making a point…

      Other than that, I agree with you.

    2. There is an old phrase that Rep. Rahm Emmanuel (D-Ill.) is frequently quoted as saying which is – “We can disagree without being disagreeable”.  I suggest we should try to observe that protocol if we are going to have a meaningful national conversation. Perhaps if we are Talking Politics this is not a realistic assumption, but if we keep this is mind it might mitigate the damage. Name-calling the McCain-Palin candidacy as a “grumpy old man and a reject from Northern Exposure” or Obama-been-Ladeen for Obama ( as seen in another blog site) is not helpful.

  15. She might fall flat on her ass but she also might become the next American Idol, displacing Obama.  If she survives the next two weeks she’ll be in position to do what she was picked to do–inspire the base and give Repub women a place to land.  No one seriously thought she was going to attract Hillary supporters to McCain!  They will migrate to him on their own or smply not vote.

    It was a bold pick for McCain.  If it works he will prosper greatly.  If it doesn’t work, he’ll be no worse off.  Who here would call Biden a bold pick?  Yeah, right.

    Obama–0

    McCain–1

    1. McCain’s pick was a political gimmick rather than one of who could best assume the responsibilities of the presidency.

      You said it perfectly. McCain made his choice based on what the radical right wanted him to do, so they will vote for him.  

      1. “You said it perfectly. McCain made his choice based on what the radical right wanted him to do, so they will vote for him.”

        I didn’t say that.  I would agree that she would help his candidacy the same way Biden help’s Obama’s.  Both choices had a political component to them.

        I also did not say “McCain’s pick was a political gimmick.” We’ll know after the next two weeks what kind of VP she’ll make.  I would guess McCain’s campaign vetted her and believes she would be a good VP and would be able to step into the presidency if needed.  But, much is yet to be learned.

    2. and has public sentiment on his side. He has to persuade voters he’s able to lead the nation. Why would he need to make a bold pick, and why is that a negative that he didn’t? the Obama nomination itself is plenty bold.

      McCain, on the other hand, has thrown a Hail Sarah. You’re right, the upside is great — she could surprise everyone, including those who’ve known and worked with her in Alaska who feel she isn’t remotely qualified. But the downside is also great — his errors in judgment are amplified when he has to make a decision and stick with it, unlike all the other decisions he’s made the last eight years. If she’s not up to the task, it reflects very poorly on McCain’s desperation move.

      And your assessment of the Hillary vote is dead wrong. McCain gets a percentage or two of them, as always happens in presidential elections. Obama makes up the difference by attracting disgruntled Romney voters, angry that McCain used Mitt as a decoy all week and treated him so shabbily. Very few Hillary voters won’t vote. The vast majority are already in Obama’s corner and their support will only deepen when the cynicism of the Palin pick becomes evident.

      1. He doesn’t need excitement.  He IS excitement.  He needed someone who can help him get things done and a give him good advice.  

        McCain is the one who felt he needed a gimmick or a pander. Unfortunately, with his lousy judgement he needs somebody to give him good advice a lot more than Obama does but there it is.   Another instance of poor judgement on McCain’s part.  Being old doesn’t always bring wisdom, does it?

  16. Palin booed for mentioning Clinton:

    This might not be the best way to reach out to those disillusioned Hillary Clinton supporters.

    In just her second appearance on the campaign trail with John McCain, newly-minted GOP running mate Sarah Palin was showered with boos on Saturday for attempting to praise Clinton’s trail-blazing bid to become the first female president….

    But in contrast with the mild reception that greeted the comment at the Ohio event, when Palin praised Clinton here for showing “determination and grace in her presidential campaign,” the Alaska governor was met with a noisy mix of boos, groans and grumbles around the minor league ballpark where the “Road to the Convention Rally” was held.

    Palin quickly recovered, promising the audience that female candidates weren’t yet finished, and that she and McCain were on their way to victory in November.

  17. Palin makes undecideds much less likely to vote for McCain.

    http://andrewsullivan.theatlan…


    But among the critical undecideds, the Palin pick made only 6 percent more likely to vote for McCain; and it made 31 percent less likely to vote for him. 49 percent said it would have no impact, and 15 percent remained unsure. More to the point: among undecideds, 59 percent said Palin was unready to be president. Only 6 percent said she was. If the first criterion for any job is whether you’re ready for it, this is a pretty major indictment of the first act of McCain’s presidential leadership.

    One other striking finding. If McCain thought he could present Palin as a moderate, he was wrong. A whopping 69 percent view her as conservative (37 percent as very conservative), and only 13 percent see her as moderate.

    This is going to be a disaster for the GOP.

    1. I watched an interview she did on one of the morning shows that let her give the response she should have. She said she was so nervous she blanked, which is obvious from the above clip.  

  19. Palin’s accused of being a onetime Pat Buchanan supporter:

    http://blogs.abcnews.com/polit…

    Back in February of this year, she was calling Ron Paul “cool”:

    http://newsroom.mtv.com/2008/0…

    Are you sure she’s not going to be painted as too much of a “radical” to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency?

    Personally, I think the “cool” part about her is that she has the same last name as a member of Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

      1. Because the oil companies pay the state so much money every year. It avoids the whole what are you willing to be taxed for to have the state provide.

        It’s the same reason a lot of trust fund babies are libertarians – no hard choices because they’ve got a free money stream.

  20. The Anchorage Daily News peers into the ancient past — less than two years ago, when Sarah Palin was the mayor of 8,000 souls — to demolish the chief claim Republicans are making that Palin is a “maverick.”

    It’s true, she stood against the powerful Alaska political establishment by rejecting the Bridge to Nowhere … except that was after she wholeheartedly endorsed the Bridge and campaigned for governor by ridiculing Bridge opponents:

    “I told Congress, thanks but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere,” Palin told the cheering McCain crowd, referring to Ketchikan’s Gravina Island bridge.

    But Palin was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it.

    The Alaska governor campaigned in 2006 on a build-the-bridge platform, telling Ketchikan residents she felt their pain when politicians called them “nowhere.” They’re still feeling pain today in Ketchikan, over Palin’s subsequent decision to use the bridge funds for other projects — and over the timing of her announcement, which they say came in a pre-dawn press release that seemed aimed at national news deadlines.

    The only principled stance Palin took on the Bridge was after it had become a national joke, after Congress yanked the earmark, and after Alaska received the money, which Palin continued to urge should be spent on the Bridge when she was courting nearby voters.

    In September, 2006, Palin showed up in Ketchikan on her gubernatorial campaign and said the bridge was essential for the town’s prosperity.

    She said she could feel the town’s pain at being derided as a “nowhere” by prominent politicians, noting that her home town, Wasilla, had recently been insulted by the state Senate president, Ben Stevens.

    “OK, you’ve got Valley trash standing here in the middle of nowhere,” Palin said, according to an account in the Ketchikan Daily News. “I think we’re going to make a good team as we progress that bridge project.”

    One year later, Ketchikan’s Republican leaders said they were blindsided by Palin’s decision to pull the plug.

      1. for which either conservatives are in denial, OR conservatives just don’t see the same irony that non-conservatives see.  That is, when you publicly proclaim your party as the party of family values, when as a party you advocate abstinence as the only form of birth control that is needed, when you home school your kids because you don’t want them exposed to dangers of the outside world, then it comes across as — I don’t know, fill in the blank — ludicrous? contradictory? false?  when things aren’t as controlled or perfect as the picture the party paints of themselves.

        What I’m saying is no reflection at all on the teenager — instead it just reminds again that the Republican party does not own family values.  

          1. is the judgment of Palin and McCain (who I have to assume knew about this) that they would put a 17 year-old kid through the trauma of publicly announcing her out-of-wedlock pregnancy.

            My dad grew up in a very religious conservative small-town family–one where teenage pregnancy (although certainly not an uncommon occurrence) got the girl virtually tarred and feathered and the boy run out of town by the girl’s father and his gun.

            Palin’s daughter must be absolutely mortified. What a cruel thing for her mother and John McCain to shine the worldwide spotlight on her when she was already by the virtue of her upbringing probably not in the best of places emotionally.

            1. And if I sense that McCain or Palin are using the kid’s situation for political gain, I’ll be just as hard on them.

              It’s a non-issue in this campaign until some asshole on either side tries to make it one.

      2.    I distinctly remember Michael Reagan, Rush Limpbaugh, and even John McCain making hurtful and demeaning jokes about her.

          What goes around comes around…

            1. You’re one of the most level-headed people who posts here.  But you know what?  If it was wrong then, it’s wrong now.

              It WAS wrong then, and it IS wrong now.

              Or maybe I just feel the way I do because I have daughters.

              1. The family can and will have to deal with this issue on its own – we don’t need to concern-troll it, nor do we need to pick it up as an issue when there are so many other issues on which to attack Palin.

                If you can’t keep the schadenfreude in, just go watch the righty blogs trying to figure it out.  They’re the ones who started the rumor about Bristol being Trig’s mom, and they’re the ones who have problems with this kind of situation.  They can do well enough on their own.

  22. It appears Palin may have also been lying when claiming to have won the Miss Congeniality award

    ALASKA PIPELINE: Amy Gwin, 43, of University City, grew up in Alaska and competed in the Miss Wasilla, Alaska, competition in 1984 against GOP vice presidential choice Sarah Palin. Gwin said Friday that she won the Miss Congeniality award in the competition, although Palin’s Wikipedia entry says she won the contest – and the Miss Congeniality award. Gwin was a year behind Palin, now 44, at Wasilla High School, which had about 800 students. Gwin said Palin was “a high school star in a good way,” a beauty who got good grades and excelled at athletics. Gwin, who was president of her class, does not recall Palin holding school office. The Wikipedia entry on Palin said she was head of the school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes and captain of the basketball team. Gwin said she was not surprised when Palin became the governor of Alaska, but is astonished that she got the GOP nod for vice president. Asked whether she would support Palin because she knows her, Gwin said: “I wouldn’t support her if she was my very best friend. I support Obama and don’t share any of her (Palin’s) politics. She’s very shallow.” Gwin is the director of agency relations for the Rodgers Townsend advertising firm. Her husband, Brad Nuccio, is executive VP of the St. Louis Science Center. The couple have two children, Mia, 9, and Max, 7.

    All it takes is a yearbook and some school records to confirm this. No wonder McCain sent a “rapid-response” team to Alaska to finally vet his VP.

    Honestly from being against the Bridge to Nowhere after being for it (and keeping the cash), laughing at a cancer victim being called cancerous, being a member of the a party wanting to secede from the United States, and heading a 527 for indicted US Senate Ted Stevens, either McCain was willing to gamble with all these problems with his Hail Mary VP choice, or he failed to inform himself properly about who Sara Palin truly is.

    Either way, his judgement sucks.

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