August 29, 2008
McCain VP Pick: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin
44-year-old former beauty queen and current Alaska Governor Sarah Palin wins the honor of being Republican Sen. John McCain's running mate. (It will not be, as was guessed yesterday, Tim Pawlenty.) A bit of background: Palin is the youngest and first female governor of Alaska -- a state that has a rape rate that is double the national average.
Palin is also under investigation for allegedly firing Alaska’s Public Safety Commissioner because he refused to fire Mike Wooten, a state trooper, who is also her ex brother-in-law. (It seems he divorced Sarah Palin's sister, which prompted this mess.)
According to Wikipedia, Palin "hunts, eats moose burgers, ice fishes, rides snowmobiles, and owns a float plane." What's more, she "holds a lifetime membership with the National Rifle Association" and has admitting to using "marijuana when it was legal in Alaska, but says that she did not like it." (Liar.) Oh, and she also wears pearls and has a kid with Down syndrome. So...there you go.
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if you didn't question John McCain's judgement, you will now.
Ignore Palin's complete lack of experience, which undercuts any attempt by the Republicans to make that claim against Obama. Ignore the fact the she is an ultra right wing fringe candidate. Ignore the fact that McCain is in his 70's has had TWO boughts with cancer already.
This candidate is fighting an ethics investigation in her own state right now!
Who pics a VP nominee that is currently under investigation? Did NO ONE vet this person?
http://www.ktva.com/ci_10026165
where did you get this? all i see elsewhere is that she's under consideration.
that's what i get for not having a TV.
Total stunt casting. Her nickname should be "Cousin Oliver".
Just echoing Badly Drawn Bear here... this is either a false rumor or the McCain campaign has lost it. You just can't pick someone who is CURRENTLY under investigation by the feds. It seems like they just thought, "We need to pick a female candidate to undercut Obama... oh, here's one!"
If she's really the VP choice, then the election should be over. The only thing between Obama and the White House would be an as-yet-unseen, unshakable current of residual racism.
ha!
oh, yesyes, i caught it on GMA when the news broke through.
Note: Sorry, she's under state investigation, not federal. Also, do you think McCain & Co. are hoping that Biden will somehow be too chivalrous to engage Palin in what could undoubtedly be a soul-crushing debate with her?
The Palin Choice is confirmed you can check the McCain website
Don't crow to much over this choice, remember that Bush the first picked Dan Quayle and still won.
"be too chivalrous"
I take your point. But let's be real. McCain has had cancer TWICE already, he is 71 and not in the greatest health.
There is every reason to think that Palin will need to step into the role of President at some point, being chivalry shouldn't enter the picture (of course 'shouldn't' and 'won't' are to very different things).
Oh fucking please. If anyone thinks this is a pro-feminist move (not saying my fellow commenters do, just sayin'...), get back to me when all four POTUS/Veep candidates are women.
is it a long A or a short A? (paaaaaahhhhlin? paylin? PAL-lin?)
Pale'n as in Bale'n
We laugh, but just to point out that if you step outside of SF and into the rest of A-murica, you will find a whole lot of people who "hunt, eat moose burgers, ice fish (go fishin'), ride snowmobiles (4x4s), and own a float plane (or a floating house in Louisiana)...who hold lifetime memberships with the National Rifle Association and have admitted to using marijuana. They too have 5 kids, maybe 7, not because they are pro-life (which they probably are) but because they are just morons and/or the good Lord blessed it upon them.
And these people come out of the woodwork on election day to vote for the very government that doesn't want to acknowledge poor people exist. Scared stupid, they are.
Apologies for the rant.
Rape -Yes
Pot - No
Abuse of Political Power - Yes
Pearls - Yes
Beauty Queen - Yes
Sounds perfect.
The challenge now is for the Obama-Biden campaign and their surrogates to make the gender argument in a careful way. They need to paint this as a cynical move by McCain to appeal to women and disenchanted Hillary supporters. You have to ask, would McCain have picked a man who had been governor of Alaska for roughly two years, who's only former experience is as the mayor of Wasilla, and who is under a state ethics investigation?
They can make the experience argument easily, and that's going to hurt McCain, and if McCain tries to pull out the "historic nomination" card, Dems can point to having a female VP candidate in the 1980s.
THANK GOODNESS!
I was concerned that Maverick McCain would pick a VP who is not a good Republican.
WE GOT :
anti-gay marriage
pro-gun
anti-choice
and a creationist to boot!
absentee you are absolutely correct.
But were any of those people likely to vote Obama/Biden in the first place?
This is a choice designed to shore up support from the far right base of the Republican party, but base supporters do not win you a general election it is the middle of the road "undecideds" that do.
I don't think Hilary supporters are likely to flock to a woman who is about as pro life as you can get.
of course I could be totally wrong but this seems like a big fat goose egg of a choice. Why not Kay Bailey Hutchinson or some one similar.
I just find this a very poor/risky choice from a political strategy point of view.
Wow, that is so progressive of them. The Democrats only did this, what, 20 years ago?
McCain's entire campaign reeks of desperation, particularly those ridiculous ads with the women saying "I was going to vote for Clinton, but now that she's out, I'm going to vote for the dude who wants to take away my reproductive freedom, prevent me from getting equal pay, and calls his wife a cunt in public."
The fact that McCain is where he is in the polls is all the proof you need that this country is circling the drain.
Separated at Birth
Sarah Palin
and Tina Fey
It's a brilliant choice.
Total MILF. McCain's got my vote!
Would.
It is a truly historic moment to see the first milf nominated as VP.
I guess Ann Coulter was away from her phone at the time.
Who pics a VP nominee that is currently under investigation?...asks BadlyDrawnBear
Uhh, if the candidate doesn't have abuse of power or corruption on their resume, the GOP won't advance their political chances in the first place. Wanna' be's for the party need to make their bones, doncha' know?
She's a bleached blond now, her au natural self has gotten a make-over so she won't stand out against Cindy, the Cryptkeeper, McCain while standing on the same stages.
The GOP's top henchmen's sphincters imploded when she was announced as his pick. They aren't happy but they never are unless there's some corpses to profit from.
She's married to an Eskimo!
Inuit!
I guess McCain locked up the 3 electoral votes from AK. Dang.
oops . . forgot to mention . .
A rabid GOP "base voter" knifed an Obama supporter working for the campaign at Fifth and Market Street.
In the news: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/29/BAJO12KNGU.DTL
Sometimes SF gets a horrid reality check to remind us there are rednecks in our midst.
What are the odds she was the first person they could find who would say yes?
Monica Goodling could not be reached for comment.
Add Pro-Life and husband who got a Purple Heart in Iraq to Gov. Palin's brag list.
you all have it wrong. he chose MICHAEL palin as his running mate, not SARAH palin. he was courting the sophisticated san francisco vote by choosing someone with an english accent.
I just hope that Sen. Biden shows genuine respect for women by kicking her ass in the debate.
John McCain and the Republican Party have officially "Jumped the Shark" on this one.
@absentee...i come from a place much like the one you describe, and you are 100% correct. these people crawl off the farm in numbers never know...and vote, they VOTE.
with that being said, @badlydrawn...NO they would not have voted for obama. my mother, who works in a hospital cafeteria making less that 20k a year, is voting for mccain (??? seriously!). nothing in this WORLD would make her vote democrat, which is incredibly sad and makes absolutely no sense to me. but is the way of rural america.
Wow, the Trotskyite left never lets facts get in the way of their fantasy lies.
The first veto cast by Gov. Palin was to BLOCK legislation that would have denied homosexuals domestic partnership benefits.
As for experience, she was mayor of Wasilla, a city with a great deal more complex problems than S.F., and she is the Governor of the State of Alaska. A state that produces more oil than 4 members of opec, yet she has firmly slapped the oil industry down over attempts to influence state legislation. She has formed a committee to create a state wide plan to deal with issues of climate change & sustainability in energy production/use. What exactly does BO have to compare? A partial term in Congress with no achievements.
A textbook Republican she is not.
yehudasf, she wants to steal your soul and your babies!
I'm looking into my crystal ball and predicting that McCain and Palin will push for drilling for oil in ANWR... She'll be a boost to his energy plans and the republicans will go wild with admiration!
May I be the first to coin VPILF?
A 72-year-old candidate for President, who can't tell ya how many homes he owns, kisses Jerry Falwell's ass after Jerry Falwell and the religious right attack his wife and adopted child in the year 2000 when he first tried a run for the Republican nomination, and who has certainly had his share of medical issues lately, picks a person who was Mayor of a 10,000 population town and governor for a couple of years to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency? Oh, hell no.... HELL NO
ENOUGH!
@Hollymm, you're absolutely right. My mom is a teacher in a hideous rural hick town and she's the only dem in the place. All her fellow ill paid teachers are rabidly pro-McCain.
How she stays there without her head exploding I will never know.
As an aside, the Republicans must be shitting their pants over the idea that a hurricane heading towards New Orleans the week of their national convention will offer a stark reminder that Republicans do not care about people making less than $5 million a year and would just as well allow the poor people of New Orleans die when Katrina struck - 5 days before the Feds helped out - 5 days before they responded. Flat footed, selfish bastards.
@Generic: VPILF. I will use it. But how do you pronounce it?
She hates Polar Bears...
http://www.236.com/blog/w/chris_kelly/governor_palin_has_what_it_tak_6769.php
VEE Pill FFFF
Of course, all this VPILF talk is contingent on the a McCain/Palin victory. If we are willing to overlook that fact, then Rielle Hunter has long beat you to the punch.
Folks I hate to interrupt the silliness with some seriousness but there is a good chance whoever is McCain's VP will end up serving as President because of McCain's serious health issues.
People who actually know McCain say that he's a lot worse off than they let on, and you may be electing a governor from the state with the indicted senator and all the corrupt political nonsense that exists in Alaska. Just sayin'