McCain picks woman for VP slot

[Liam]

Oh, gawd, would you all get off the Palin mommy-track discussion? It is so irrelevant.

[Stephen Best]

CBS new has done a fact check on Palin's speech. Given this thread what's particularly ironic is the item below about Palin slashing "funding for schools for special needs kids by 62%."

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Edited September 4, 2008 by Charles Anthony
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[WIP]

CBS new has done a fact check on Palin's speech. Given this thread what's particularly ironic is the item below about Palin slashing "funding for schools for special needs kids by 62%."

Now that even bald-headed, pinstriped womanizers like Rudy Giuliani are playing the sexism card, CBS is going to have to issue an apology for fact-checking her speech. Maybe if they follow the Politico's example, it would be helpful:

— On behalf of the media, I would like to say we are sorry.

On behalf of the elite media, I would like to say we are very sorry.

We have asked questions this week that we should never have asked.

We have asked pathetic questions like: Who is Sarah Palin? What is her record? Where does she stand on the issues? And is she is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency?

We have asked mean questions like: How well did John McCain know her before he selected her? How well did his campaign vet her? And was she his first choice?

Bad questions. Bad media. Bad.............................

But where did we go wrong with Sarah Palin? Let me count the ways:

First, we should have stuck to the warm, human interest stuff like how she likes mooseburgers and hit an important free throw at her high school basketball tournament even though she had a stress fracture.

Second, we should have stuck to the press release stuff like how she opposed the Bridge to Nowhere (after she supported it).

Third, we should never have strayed into the other stuff. Like when The Washington Post recently wrote: “Palin is under investigation by a bipartisan state legislative body. … Palin had promised to cooperate with the legislative inquiry, but this week she hired a lawyer to fight to move the case to the jurisdiction of the state personnel board, which Palin appoints.”

Why go there? What trees does that plant?

Fourth, we should stop making with all the questions already. She gave a really good speech. And why go beyond that? As we all know, speeches cannot be written by others and rehearsed for days. They are true windows to the soul.

Unless they are delivered by Barack Obama, that is. In which case, as Palin said Wednesday, speeches are just a “cloud of rhetoric.”

Fifth, we should stop reporting on the families of the candidates. Unless the candidates want us to.

Sarah Palin wanted the media to report on her teenage son, Track, who enlisted in the Army on Sept. 11, 2007, and soon will deploy to Iraq.

Sarah Palin did not want the media to report on her teenage daughter, Bristol, who is pregnant and unmarried......................

[White Doors]

I hope this is not from a media source that actually pretends to be unbiased, is it?

That's pretty scary stuff if it is.

[M.Dancer]

I hope this is not from a media source that actually pretends to be unbiased, is it?

That's pretty scary stuff if it is.

It's an op-ed peice.....nothing more

[Stephen Best]

Why is Sarah Palin running scared from the media? Palin's avoiding the Sunday news shows. If she hasn't the guts or skills to face the media, what makes her and McCain think she can face America's enemies and adversaries: Russia, North Korea, Iran, Syria, China, etc. Or help deal with America's problems: energy, debt crisis, national debt, two wars, etc.?

Or, is this too an unfair, irrelevant question about Sarah Palin?

[Shady]

Just by observing the number of views and replies to this thread, illustrates the phenomenal level of excitment for this monumental selection as VP. It's already quite amazing. And each new view, and each new post, only serves to solidify that reality.

[M.Dancer]

Special needs children need special love

I think the child will be okay

[WIP]

I hope this is not from a media source that actually pretends to be unbiased, is it?

That's pretty scary stuff if it is.

POLITICO is about the only U.S. newsblog that has tried to be bipartisan and talk to people on both sides of the political divide. But the Republicans have raised the drawbridge and declare war on all independent media; a very stupid decision considering the falling numbers for their media like Foxnews and Rush Limbaugh, who are seeing declining ratings in an election year. They will serve as an even smaller platform for Republican propaganda after the election is over.

[JerrySeinfeld]

Palin did a great job last night!

Actually, if you watched the whole night, it was jab after stunning jab at Obama.

And it had to be done by somebody. Every time someone has attacked Obama - for going to a racist church, for example - he finds it "offensive" as if he is the messiah and above such meanial discussion.

I am interested to see how he will handle such a barage of attacks - mostly accurate ones.

Many may say about last night "where is the substance - what are the specifics?"

Well, I think last night was largely meant to be about defining this race - the two men involved. One a war hero with an extensive track record, and one a "community orgnizer" who hasn't penned more than a couple of laws in his lifetime.

As well, last night was meant to bring perceptions of Obama back down to earth. Part of what this barage of attacks is intended for is to say to the country "this guy isn't a messiah above attacks, he's a thin-resume junior senator of four years with a nice smile and a good stage presence."

If this was the goal, it was successful.

[WIP]

Just by observing the number of views and replies to this thread, illustrates the phenomenal level of excitment for this monumental selection as VP. It's already quite amazing. And each new view, and each new post, only serves to solidify that reality.

And Adolph Hitler would have been a ratings phenom if he was around today also; what's your point?

Of course she is attracting a lot of attention; but the only enthusiasm for her is coming from the hardcore religious conservative base. A lot of other people have considered the reverse discrimination problem for everyone who has to take on a woman candidate. If I might digress a bit, Rick Lazio won that debate with Hillary Clinton for the N.Y. Senate seat hands down, but was effectively castigated as being a bully because he walked over and handed Hillary Clinton a piece of paper! You can bet that debate strategists are already talking to Joe Biden about how to effectively debate Sarah Palin, without giving the Republicans a chance to play the sexism card.

From what we do know about her, she has good communication skills, and combined with her insane views about the environment, abortion, sex education, creationism, war policy, everyone who is not in the tank with the religious right are rightly concluding that this woman is toxic, and should be an even greater focus of attention than John McCain, the guy who's supposed to head the ticket.

[JerrySeinfeld]

And Adolph Hitler would have been a ratings phenom if he was around today also; what's your point?

Careful with that. Lines like that could be used to bring down the entire Obama campaign. Didn't Hitler used to give rousing stadium addresses?

Edited September 4, 2008 by JerrySeinfeld

[WIP]

Careful with that. Lines like that could be used to bring down the entire Obama campaign. Didn't Hitler used to give rousing stadium addresses?

At least he had some substantive points and not just endless emotional appeals. Did Sarah Palin, or any other Republican speakers for that matter, have anything to say about the economy?

[jefferiah]

Obama isn't a leader, and he isn't right the second time either. He held fast against the surge right to the point when it appeared it would be a campaign liability. He is a liability.

In his defense though, I don't think Barack Obama is a bad man. He just doesn't get it.

[Stephen Best]

I've changed my mind about Sarah Palin. My concerns about her deciding to campaign to be John McCain's Vice President while needing to care for a teenage daughter going through an unwanted pregnancy and a special needs child have been answered. I read the many posts on this forum. I read reports in the mainstream and the independent press. After all that I find myself agreeing wholeheartedly now with Bonnie Fuller, a mother of a 17 year old daughter, who wrote in the Huffington Post, "Is Sarah Palin ready to take the mantle of worst mother of the year from Lynne Spears? Has Todd Palin wrestled the title of worst father from Billy Ray Cyrus?

Sarah Palin may be running for Vice President but is she any different from the woman who sold the story of her daughter Jamie Lynn's pregnancy to a magazine for $1 million, or from the father that allowed 15-year-old Miley Cyrus to be photographed semi-nude for Vanity Fair supposedly to further her career?"

Read Fuller's article, and I think you'll agree she makes a compelling, irrefutable case that Sarah and Todd Palin are possible the worst parents in America.

My minds now settled, and will not be changed by further posts on this matter.

[Guest American Woman]

QUOTE=American Woman: Someone else did write it. dry Matthew Scully, to be precise.

You haven't heard a speech from either campaign at either convention that wasn't created without help from speechwriters. Why is the use of speechwriters suddenly an issue for Palin, when it wasn't for Obama or Hilary?

Ummm. Because August1991 said: I didn't listen to the speech but I was certain that "the Left" would immediately step in and claim that someone else wrote it, so I was pointing out that someone else did write it. I didn't realize that would "suddenly make it an issue." I guess I should have ignored the comment and carried on as if she did write it? Would that have been better?

I couldn't care less about how "good" her speech was. It was written by someone who met her a week ago, so if her speech was good, it tells me that he wrote a good speech. I'm much more interested in her words, which so far haven't impressed me in the least.

Obama and Hilary use teleprompters too. However, I'm not sure if coverage of their speeches has ever been quite so blunt about choosing camera angles that show the teleprompter as it was during Palin's speech.

If you're "not sure," I guess you have no point.

The bottom line is that Palin's performance was so compelling that her detractors are left grasping at straws in their efforts to undermine it.

I have no desire to praise it or undermine it since she merely read the words someone else had carefully written for her. But keep feeling her "performance" (you got that right, it was nothing more than a performance) was "so compelling" that we have to "grasp at staws," because that says a lot more about you than it does her "detractors."

[M.Dancer]

My minds now settled, and will not be changed by further posts on this matter.

Both of your minds?

[JerrySeinfeld]

At least he had some substantive points and not just endless emotional appeals. Did Sarah Palin, or any other Republican speakers for that matter, have anything to say about the economy?

Last night wasn't about that. Obama's been making love to the public with rhetoric for months. It's only fair the Reps even the score a bit.

But your comment is revealing: as republicans, we believe in cycles and laissez fair. Sure, there4 may be some good policy changes that could tweak up the confidence in the financial system or ensure solid future lending practices, but to expect the government to rescue you from the plight of your now extinct GMC truck manufacturing job is a democratic sentiment, not a republican one.

[Stephen Best]

Both of your minds?

One must be of two minds not be a half wit. Wouldn't you agree?

[M.Dancer]

, Obama's promise to step up the game in Afghanistan has more relevance than McCain's parroting of the Bush line that Iraq is the central front in the war on terror.

Step up the game!

Obama thinks all the US is doing in Afghanistan is ....

We've got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians...

How can he step up the game when he doesn't even know what the game is or what's the score?

[M.Dancer]

One must be of two minds not be a half wit. Wouldn't you agree?

No, that a recipe for confusion and indecisiveness, which explains at least a quarter of your confusion and indicisiveness. You are still short a quarter though....

[Shady]

And Adolph Hitler would have been a ratings phenom

Godwin's law

Godwin's Law (also known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies)[1] is an adage formulated by Mike Godwin in 1990. The law states:[2][3]

"As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one."

Wikipedia

Good job!

My minds now settled, and will not be changed by further posts on this matter.

That's alright. Nobody's buying the "concerned citizens for the welfare of Sarah Palin's children" meme anyways. Nice try.

[gc1765]

Godwin's law

Godwin's Law (also known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies)[1] is an adage formulated by Mike Godwin in 1990. The law states:[2][3]

"As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one."

Wikipedia

Good job!

Nobody is comparing anyone to Hitler...just pointing out the obvious flaw in your logic, i.e. that just because someone invokes a response does not mean that it is a good response.

[Black Dog]

Obama thinks all the US is doing in Afghanistan is ....

We've got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians...

Now you're just being silly. If he had said "we need to have enough troops so we're not running around in circles." would you think he meant they were literally running around in circles? or could it be that he's using hyperbole to make a point?

[Shady]

Nobody is comparing anyone to Hitler

And Adolph Hitler would have been a ratings phenom if he was around today also; what's your point?

com·par·i·son Audio Help /kəmˈpærəsən/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[kuhm-par-uh-suhn] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun 1. the act of comparing.

2. the state of being compared.

3. a likening; illustration by similitude; comparative estimate or statement.

4. Rhetoric. the considering of two things with regard to some characteristic that is common to both, as the likening of a hero to a lion in courage.

5. capability of being compared or likened

It was a comparison. There is no debate.