Sarah Palin: Awesome Pick
Totally stoked:
Palin was the only person I was going to be excited about. I can’t believe McCain picked her. I don’t know much about her, but what I do know, I like a lot. Instapundit rounds up some reactions. It’s go time!
I’m off to the Getty Museum today with the family but I’m going to have a lot to say later.
Tingly about McCain- whodathunkit? Memo to team Obama: tread carefully. More round up at Pajamas Media.
UPDATE: Check out the Google Search for Sarah Palin Awesome. Something about her seems to inspire that adjective. Interesting. That led me to the Draft Sarah Palin for Vice President blog (yes there is a blog for everything), which has this further advice on how to beat Joe Biden
Biden is without doubt the best attack dog in the country, period. We aren’t going to find someone who can beat him on that front. Furthermore, sinking to Biden’s level would make the ticket look sleazy. Instead, we should note that Biden totally undermines Obama’s “change” mantra, which McCain can now seize for himself by taking a reform minded VP from outside Washington. We can also show up Biden in the debates by selecting a calm, collected candidate who will show Biden for the hothead he is. Sarah Palin fits both bills.
For one, Palin has actually produced the sort of change that Obama and Biden can only talk about. Secondly, she will refuse to play in Biden’s mudpit, which makes him look even worse. Third, she knows how to debate hotheaded opponents. Biden compares very well to John Binkley, another fast-talking attack dog who ran against Palin in the 2006 primary. Palin filleted Binkley (and incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski) by sitting back while they ranted and then delivering crushing one liners that made them look like bratty kids (“Alaskans deserve better than this.”).
I can’t believe how enthused I am by this choice by John McCain. If I’m any indication (and I don’t know that I am) I think McCain- make that McCain/Palin are going to get a big bump in the numbers.
Strange Monkey Doll 
Indeed there does appear to be a new ticket for hope and change. Interesting analysis from Hanson.
I’m honestly surprised by your being “totally stoked” by Palin… I had figured you’d be concerned somewhat more concerned about if she were a capable choice to stare down a Putin or an Ahmanidejad…. or someone who had shown a bit more interest or deeper knowledge in the Middle east conflict than she had shown….so what attracted you to Sarah as VP most?
You guys don’t get it. She’s the VP. Not the top of the ticket.
Moreover, she shares my values. Barack Obama doesn’t really. And in the final analysis that is the most important thing to us both isn’t it?
Final point: John Edwards. How is she less qualified than silky pony? Answer: she is more qualified.
I heard Joe Trippi on NPR today. He sounded very much un-stoked and worried. You should be too.
Here is what I don’t get. You wrote: “Totally stoked:
Palin was the only person I was going to be excited about. I can’t believe McCain picked her. I don’t know much about her, but what I do know, I like a lot.”
You admit you don’t know much about her yet you are “Totally stoked”. Really? I could understand if you were curiously optimistic but your tone has such resolve even though you admit there are a lot of unknowns.
Here is what I do get: if elected, she will be #2 to a man that is 72. The average life expectancy of White American males is 75.4. And though McCain is a tough a nails kinda guy, there is no denying his age puts him at a higher risk. Is she, in any way, prepared to step in for what ever reason she may need too?
UPDATE: Check out / Google “What Alaskans think about Palin”.
And yes Count, I am worried. When a potential VP to be accepts the nomination after recently asking “What it is exactly that the VP does all day?” I have good reason to be very, very worried.
With McCain being 72 and a repeated cancer survivor, the VP choice has a bit more existential meaning than in some other races…. And all I’m saying is that I was surprised that given your main focus of the blog on foreign policy that you would be as stoked as you seem that McCain chose someone who hadn’t even seemed curious about Foreign affairs before being picked and hadn’t even had a passport before 2007.
It would seem there was a number of serious VP Republican women candidates available, and odd that he passed over them for Palin.
“I heard Joe Trippi on NPR today. He sounded very much un-stoked and worried. You should be too.”
Politically maybe. But I’m more worried about WHY and HOW McCain made this choice. Prior to Barack choosing Biden, Karl Rove predicted the nature of how and why Barack would choose his VP:
A few weeks later and the exact opposite occurred. Barack chose a candidate that like him or not, is a very serious candidate for VP and that those on the left and right would say is a credible and serious person capable of taking over the Presidency if needed. And one that got him no additional electoral votes that he wasn’t going to get anyway. (Deleware is strongly blue already)….
And McCain seems to my eyes to have done exactly what Rove was pre-accusing Barack of doing. Making a vote that will shore up the hard right base, may help with Alaska electoral votes, may peel off some HIllary voters, but seems to be by Rove’s standards listed above is a particularly unserious choice in terms of governing.
BTW: which values does she share with you that Barack does not?
OMG you guys crack me up. Worry away about WHY and HOW McCain made this choice. I’ll tell you in a while if you don’t figgure it out. I’d be interested to hear your theories though.
Personally I wonder WHY and HOW you as a party settled on Barack Obama as your candidate as leader of the free world. It sure wasn’t his long years of experience. Everything you are saying about her will just magnify the very justifiable questions about Obama’s experience.
And that’s a question you guys just don’t want to think about. This whole current spate of blogging began with me observing that what was THE MOST IMPORTANT THING about John Kerry- his military experience – matters not at all this election cycle. You obviously have no real answer for it.
Obama may win, but it’s going to be closer than anyone thought possible. For that alone, I remain totally stoked.
Give me your theories please? Why do you think McCain picked Palin? Why did Obama pick Biden?
The internet is fun again.
Values: For starters, Palin chose to have a Down Syndrome baby, wheras Barack Obama wouldn’t want his daughters “punished with a baby” if they made a “mistake”. Nuff said.
So out of context Barack quotes aside: anything else other than her pro-life views?
On my thoughts on how and why McCain chose Palin:
Either he:
A. thought she was the most qualified person in America to be President
or
B. He didn’t, but chose her for the sorts of reasons Rove assumed Barack would choose Kaine.
Either way, I worry for what it says about McCain’s first execuitve judgement call.
On why Barack chose Biden:
How is Palin less qualified than Barack? Than John Edwards? Do you think Nancy Pelosi is the most qualifed person to be the number three spot?
Your dismissal of Barack’s words speak volumes. He indeed may have been speaking about birth control in that quote- but either way the most important part is “punished with a baby”. Sick.
John McCain is vastly more qualifed than Barack Obama to be president.
Oh and Barack chose Biden because he’s weak on foreign policy.
If McCain wanted to play state-by-state electoral politics a ala Rove, he would have picked Mitt Romney.
You are being deeply dishonest here my friend. Let’s drop the “worry” and “concern”. If you are worried and concerned about having a president with the experience and judgement to lead this country, vote for John McCain. By your own arguments he should be your pick.
I promise, the worry and concern is real. I’m worried for what would be in a “President Palin” scenario for our country, and I worry for what John McCain has shown his judgment to be in setting that possibility up. Again, I think you only have choice A or B above as to why he did it, and both choices are troublesome as to what they say.
Second, the “punished with a baby” phrase is so deeply out of context, and even saying it as relating to contraception doesn’t put it in context. I dismiss it as pure cheap shot material for that reason. And you never did answer as to what other “values” Palin showed that attracted you to her other than being prolife.
Third, to your question of qualification in all of this I was using Rove’s example of what a serious versus unserious VP choice would be. Rove set that standard that Kaine, a 3 year Governor of a state that is 7.7 million people who was a former Mayor of a tiny town would be “purely political” choice, not thinking responsibly about who was qualified for President.
I was just judging BOTH Barack and McCain’s VP picks by Rove’s standards.
And to your point of Romney as a more politically positive choice, Nope. Romney would have cost McCain the Christian Right vote, who do not trust him on abortion, and are not hot to vote for a Mormon. Plus Romney would not bring in his home state of Massachusets, and Palin likley will likely bring in an increasingly purple Alaska.
Besides, McCain hates Romney. His real first choice we now hear was Lieberman, but the religious right base would have revolted. Hence the last minute relatively unvetted pick of Palin who he only met with once before the day he chose her as VP.
Lastly, if you really want this to be a place of dialog, do me a favor and stop insulting me. I keep trying to assume good faith in your arguments, and keep trying to respond substantively and you keep calling me “dishonest” or in previous cases delluded, lying etc…
That gets really old fast.
Tim-
All things considered, you like Obama’s policies and I like McCain’s. You think Palin would be a terrible VP, I think Obama would be a terrible president. I want McCain to win and you want Obama to win. Nothing wrong with any of that. I think a more productive discussion would be along those lines rather than couched in terms of “concern” etc. That’s all I’m getting at with the “dishonest” comment.
I’ll also say this: if you would just give some examples of why Obama is more qualified than Palin I’d feel more compelled to answer some of your questions. Often though, your tactic is not to really comment or discuss but plant your own suppositions and simply posit your point of view without really relating it to mine. In this way my excited about Palin post becomes a referendum on McCain’s wisdom picking her as relates to some Rove column I don’t give a shit about. Whatever. We all have our little obsessons.
This is my blog, and I want to discuss things that I want to discuss. Rovian inside baseball politics is not my area of interest; and I really don’t quite get what you’re saying any way. What I have been wanting to discuss, and what you have failed to address is questions of judgment, especially regarding Iraq. You have avoided direct responses, from which I conclude you have not much of defense.
And you can dismiss the “punished with a baby” line but that is a substantive issue for me and a great many other people. There is no context that makes that word combo OK for me. Then theres also the Infant Born Alive Act business- not to mention Rezko, Rev. Wright, Bill Ayres etc. Right now I’m Obama’d out though.
I can’t let you steer this blog places I’m not interested in or I will never get to the stuff I’m interested in. If you think that means you win fine. But I think I need to keep a focus on passing on info and blowing off steam more than answering a litany of questions from you or anyone else. Please, please, please, no offense. It’s just too hard when there’s so many places of disagreement. I’m not saying I’ll never respond to you or anything, it’s just my main priority has to be posting. Maybe keep it pithier. I hope this doesn’t make you mad and go away I just have to be honest about my priorities.
I’ve already spent too much time on this damn comment. Sorry.
Palin is indeed a great pick, on multiple levels. Taking on corruption in her own party and throwing the bums out is just one of them. Regarding experience- Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were all governors.
That said, in the context of this blog and the recent comments here, the real point I see is that the 2 worldviews in play could not more starkly and clearly contrasted for all to see:
OBAMA- voted against the infants born alive act 3 times, even after it was identical to the Federal bill that even Hillary and Boxer voted for. For good measure, O lied about his reasons for opposing it, as his campaign admitted to recently.
PALIN- chose to have and raise her Down’s Syndrome child, Trig, rather than abort him.
OBAMA- said he didn’t want his daughters “punished with a baby”. For those of you are sticklers about context, here is the entire quote: “When it comes specifically to HIV/AIDS, the most important prevention is education, which should include — which should include abstinence education and teaching the children — teaching children, you know, that sex is not something casual. But it should also include — it should also include other, you know, information about contraception because, look, I’ve got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
An unplanned pregnancy, a mistake, and “punished with a baby”. Pretty clear.
PALIN- Palin is not just talking the talk, but walking the walk. Their daughter Bristol will marry the father and they will raise the child with the love and support of the whole family. Here’s her statement:
“We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us. Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support.
“Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family. We ask the media to respect our daughter and Levi’s privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates.”
Obama’s and Palin’s core worldviews could not be more clear.
OK Dave, this is your blog and if your main goal here is to vent off steam – not a bad goal at all, cheaper than therapy and better than high blood pressure or an ulcer — and if having a “devils advocate” around (that questions the direction or heat of your venting) steps on what this blog needs to be for you, happy to chill.
That kind of engagement with opposing views does take lot of work and patience and time. And none of us has that much discretionary time these days.
But to overly mix metaphors: my one concern or you is that to vent off steam simply into an echo chamber actually won’t accomplish much more than to create more and hotter steam inside for you…. (Wow, was that like 3 or 4 metaphors?)…. anyway, enuff of that.
“If you think that means you win, fine.”
Wow, I really hope you don’t see my posting here being about “winning.” If so, I’ve been giving off vibes I had no intention of sending.
OK. So happy to chill and when i do post around here do so with great pith.
Tim-
All I probably should have said is: I probably won’t have time to answer your questions or pursue some threads. I have about an hour at most to get all this done and I can’t respond and blog at the same time. I feel obligated to answer questions, and feel bad if I don’t, and get tired if I do.
I hope that you keep commenting- I wish more people would, but it probably needs to be more about communicating what you think than trying to convince me of more than one thing. That’s something I should try to stick to as well.
I don’t think of it as an echo chamber as much as a Tim… well you know what I mean. Sometimes it’s like talking to a wall except that it buys you a beer once in a while.
I get frustrated when we can’t even agree on what we’re talking about. I get frustrated when you refuse to acknowledge basic facts like Obama being wrong on the Surge.
Please keep trying though I get lonely when no one comments. Record traffic lately BTW.
You should check out the new Sarah Palin dolls they are selling at http://www.SockPoliticians.com . They even have some strange monkey dolls of Obama and McCain to go along with it.