Friday, August 29, 2008

Palin

John McCain tapped little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential running mate, two senior campaign officials told The Associated Press on Friday.
Sarah Palin on Gun Control
I am a lifetime member of the NRA, I support our Constitutional right to bear arms and am a proponent of gun safety programs for Alaska's youth.
This doesn't tell me all that much. But I've heard some good things about her.

If this is confirmed by an official announcement, McCain made the best choice he could have, all things considered with the existing field.

Who knows what about her? Comments?

UPDATE:Structureless first impression rambling to follow. Saw her intro and speech. From a strictly political standpoint, this is a brilliant move--beautiful family--Norman Rockwell Americans--likable--people can identify with them. As for attacks on experience, she has more as an executive in charge of a government than Barack. Schumer is gloating he wants to see her debate Biden--ditto--I think she'll kick his ass. Concerns were raised in comments about a scandal to exploit--if it's the trooper deal, evidence says she wasn't directly involved, the guy who did was disciplined, she has cooperated with the dems leading the charge making subpoenas unnecessary, plus it sounds like the guy was a true 'Only One'.

On first glance, I'm impressed, but admit most of it is emotional rather than analytical--like I said, politically, I don't think McCain could have done better. I imagine a Mitthead choice and compare him to her and the visceral reaction says there is no comparison.

For some reason I'm conjuring up a cartoon of her standing behind McCain at the inauguration getting ready to pop a blown up paper bag.

UPDATE: Some partisan rah-rah that makes some valid points about political viability...

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

She's got 5 children.

That's all I know.

opaww said...

I heard she was a streight shooter. And a pro-gunner is all I have heard

The Duck said...

She was shooting & hunting before she ever sought office

Unknown said...

I do not know much about her except for that she is a hunter, fisher, and shooter. She seems to be the real deal. And the gender factor should neutralize the race factor.

And fyi, your word verifications are some of the longest I have seen from blogger. The one I did is 8 letters long!

Anonymous said...

She sounds better than the others, Becky likes her; http://girlinshortshorts.blogspot.com/2008/07/barracuda-sarah-palin-for-vp.html
I still can't vote for mccain.

the pistolero said...

Well, I did see a picture of her with what looked to be a scoped AR-type rifle, if that's any indication. ;-) Maybe that's grasping at straws, but I still think it's something.

DJK said...

She's an All American that just won the election for McCain (IMO).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_palin

She hunts, she fishes, she worked as a commercial fisherman, Miss Alaska runner up and point guard for her team in college.

OH yeah, and a whole bunch of good political stuff.

and...she's hot. ;)

The dems have just taken a collective (it's always collective for them) shit in their pants.

Anonymous said...

She's got a problem right now that the Dems are going to go to town on. I'm not going to go into the details except to say that you'll hear all about it from the MSM, and while you're listening to them, remember who they're in the tank for. There's a bit of a personal issue there, but it's nowhere near as bad as you're going to hear.

If the R's can get that "scandal" contained, McCain's got the election. She'll pull back that automatic 10% of the nominally Rep female vote that the Dems always collect, and she'll get a big chunk of the Hillary cohort - the otherwise rabid Dems who would NEVER vote for a Rep. Oboy will get 98% of the black vote, but that's only 8% more than usual... of 14% of the electorate, and as reluctant as I am to admit it, race will cost him more than that among the white, over 60 crowd. It's really amazing. I figured the Dems were a shoo-in this election, and instead, they nominate probably the worst (general election) candidate of the bunch, he picks someone who can be counted on to stick his foot in his mouth for a VP, the reps nominate the guy who is the furtherest from Bush and he grabs a VP candidate that nullifies all of the identity politics that drives many of the Dem voters.

It's a race.

Ken said...

She hunts and fishes, she cut her own salary and cut property taxes by 60% in keeping with a campaign promise (this may have been when she was mayor of Wasilla rather than guber of Alaska). She worked on the boat with her husband when he was a commercial fisherman (I think he works in oil now). Apparently opposed the "Bridge to Nowhere" (this would be consistent with her rep for fiscal probity).

jon said...

whatever bud may be referring to, i am sure you could find it on wikipedia already, whether the truth is involved or not.

Anonymous said...

She knows how to hold that AR15. I might consider voting for her for POTUS.

Anonymous said...

Bud is no doubt referring to this:
"...that she ordered the dismissal of Alaska's public safety commissioner because he would not fire her former brother-in-law as a state trooper." Doesn't seem like a big deal.

Jake (formerly Riposte3) said...

I believe this is the issue Bud is talking about. The MSM has already brought it up, without any details (because without the details, it sounds worse than it is). It's about the firing of the Alaskan Commissioner of Public Safety.

It doesn't appear to be anything truly bad. The Commissioners serve "at will" so they can be fired at any time, and even the Democrat overseeing the investigation says her administration has been cooperating.

A good choice, I think. She'll help pull the conservative base back together, draw a lot of the "Hillary" fence-sitters, and draw a lot of Democrat feminists who would vote for any woman who ran (cynical, but strategically important).

Anonymous said...

Here's to Johnny having a massive heart attack his first day on the job;)

Anonymous said...

I can't believe anything police unions say about one of their own.

Anonymous said...

Looks to be a non-issue. Hell, the guy deserves to be fired and imprisoned. From Wikipedia:
"The Commisioner serves at the will of the governor, so her right to fire him is not in dispute; but Monegan alleged shortly after his dismissal that it may have been partly due to his reluctance to fire an Alaska State Trooper, Mike Wooten, who had been involved in a divorce and child custody battle with Palin's sister, Molly McCann. In 2006, before Palin was governor, Wooten was briefly suspended for ten days for threatening to kill McCann's (and Palin's) father, tasering his 11-year-old stepson (at the stepson's request), and violating game laws. After a union protest, the suspension was reduced to five days."
-MRJarrell

Anonymous said...

Here is the wikipedia information link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin

She doesn't seem to understand anything about economics. Maybe she'll learn. Don't hold your breath.

Knowing how to shoot or going hunting proves nothing.

She's a politician. That's all I need to know.

BobG said...

"She doesn't seem to understand anything about economics."

Hell, none of the Democrats I've ever met knows a damn thing about economics, otherwise they wouldn't push socialism so hard.

Anonymous said...

She doesn't have to know anything about economics as long as they appoint bright people to deal with it for them. Reagan didn't know that much about economics either. It doesn't mean you can't make informed decisions and trust your people.

jon said...

"as long as they appoint bright people to deal with it for them."

since when has that been the norm? the mid-1800s? there are hardly any of these people around and you can be damn sure The War Party won't hire anyone who says, "well your first problem is fiat currency and the federal reserve. so get rid of it," as that deprives them of their populist guns and butter schemes.

it's these very "experts" who have no idea what they're doing: keynes idolizers who've been marching towards welfare/warfare socialism. they call it "progressive" so that they can sleep at night, comfortable not with what they do but at least with the idea of it.

tom said...

Something to keep in mind, she's never had a problem with Alaska's liberal (in a classical sense) concealed and open carry regulations.

Shall Issue.
Open Carry.

jon said...

"open carry."

yeah. and i like red lipstick on my pigs. will our fearless leader allow it?

Anonymous said...

"I support our Constitutional right to bear arms"

Funny how most people who claim to support the 2nd amendment seem to leave out the part about actually bearing those arms that they try to reassure us that they won't take from us.

tom said...

Some pigs are prettier than others. You want Biden?

Obama and Biden could foment another Ruby Ridge, Waco, or even a low-level civil war if they act how I think they would like to. I'm one of the people that really doesn't want any of that to happen. Only lunatics want shootouts with government agents over gun rights.

I'll stick to the prettier pig that was a Miss Alaska runner-up and likes to shoot and hunt and fish.

jon said...

yeah well, those two, they're something much worse than pigs, worse than lipstick. but that's not my point.

my point is that by no means does this imply you should let down your guard against imperialism for one second.


voting successfully for what is perceived as the lesser of two evils immediately makes it the greater evil for becoming realized. i won't tell you not to do it, but it's still a sin.

nobody for president! or everybody. same thing.

jon said...

by the way, she's not the pig, she's the lipstick.

NotClauswitz said...

Co-captain of her championship winning high-school basketball team with the nickname "Barracuda" - NRA Life member, reportedly her husband was a sniper, Army son about to be deployed in an infantry unit to Iraq - what's not to like?

Anonymous said...

People I met in Alaska seem small-town and real. The STATE capital complex is about the size of the average high school, and even looks like one.
Palin may be just the vaccine Washington needs.
If we can't have an independent, Palin sounds good. I wish she had a better running mate.
A Democrat operative -- some advisor of the Clinton campaign -- was very concerned that "they'll continue to try to reverse Roe v. Wade. I'm sure they're VERY concerned that they will NOT try to erase our gun rights. They need not be worried about THAT. Maybe Palin can kick some sense into our "friends."

Anonymous said...

Plus, Massachusetts gets to keep Romney.

Anonymous said...

Hahahaha!!! Red Ruby Lipstick On A Pig is better than Obama and/or Biden any day.

DJK said...

Sarah Palin's new home...


http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/life/vpresidence.html

Anonymous said...

She's from my state, Idaho!
Look here guys: She had a kid that she knew was going to be born messed up and still had the baby. I love her for that because me and my wife have a baby girl we knew was gong to have huge problems long before she was born. That baby is the love of my live and she's not my only one. A child is a gift from God and a blessing. A woman who knows that and lives that is a human being that knows God giving rights.
Far better than the other choices on the other ticket.

Anonymous said...

A VPILF would be ... different.

opaww said...

I kind of wrote my openion of McCain/Palin and obama/biden if anyone is interested in reading it.

http://opawwsrange.blogspot.com/2008/08/mccain-and-palin-vs-obama-and-biden.html