Barack Obama Elected President!

[Roman]

Once?

You mean like when FDR had met Truman for the first time after he got re-elected and they had lunch together one time?

That bullshit?

Wow. Just......wow.

[Roman]

Ok. This is just mean.

Pan down to see the new campaign picture.

[Wales2004]

I watched Race to the White House for maybe ten minutes and Pat Buchanan (who always has his finger on the pulse of America) pointed out how wonderful a choice she is (even if he knows nada about her). Somewhere between Andrea Mitchell's proclamation of Joe Biden underestimating her in a debate and wonderland, either she or David Gregory said that he had only met her once or maybe it was Matthews (since I was obviously not paying close attention).

Anyway John Harwood said it didn't feel right and Rachel Maddow suggested that it felt like Dan Quayle. I suppose that name will be popping up a lot so I'm glad I brought him up before they did.

[Wales2004]

Now Keith O is saying McCain met her twice and that she said in March that Hillary Clinton was whining.

[Adam]

This choice could prove to go either way for McCain. It all depends on if Obama's camp takes the bait...... very interesting.

[EricaKane70]

If something was to happen to McCain if he became president, I don't trust that woman to run the country. I didn't even know her name until today.

[Roman]

Just heard this tidbit:

Sen Ted Stevens, who is under federal indictment, wnated to use earmarks to fund the infamous "Bridge To Nowhere".

Sarah Palin said she told Stevens "Thanks but, no thanks".

The crowd cheered. Only one problem.....

As what was reported in the AP, a former staff worker for Palin said she was also FOR the BTN.

So.........she was for wasteful spending.......before she was against it.

John Kerry would be proud.

[UCLAN]

She was in favor of the BTN in 06 when they had the legislative clout to put it through. She wanted the funds for the state. As you know after 06 elections, Republicans lost their majority in Congress. So yes, she flip-flopped.

[Southofnowhere]

She's a 43 year old hardcore right-winger mother of 5 who just a year and half ago was a Mayor of a city of 9000 peeps and she loves shady Sen.Ted Stevens and he loves her.

McCain was making major head way by painting Obama has rookie and then he goes and does this???????

The GOP think that just because she a women Hillary's voters will come running. Never mind that she's as ProLife and Anti-Gay as they come and that she wants to rip off the top of the artic kill all the Polar Bears and drill for oil that do to all the ice melting that will only be able to truck it out about 1 Month a year.

[Wales2004]

If nothing else, she's making it a little interesting on the Republican side. Now they all get to pretend that she's the greatest possible choice ever for a potential president after flapping their jaws about inexperience. They now have to change their convention theme from blasting Obama's inexperience and they have to rewrite their speeches to extol the virtues of fighting corruption in Alaska. I'm more than amused that the population is less than most cities in California so she's making LA's mayor look like he's running a couple of states.

I also think it's terribly ironic that one of their evangelists asked everyone to pray for rain on Obama's outdoor speech and that didn't happen. I guess God elected not to listen to such shallow foolishness. Now the Republicans have to tap dance around Katrina's anniversary and go all out to make sure they look like they're dealing with Gustav in better fashion.

[Roman]

What Kind Of Vetting Process Did McCain Use?

By: Nicole Belle on Saturday, August 30th, 2008 at 9:00 AM - PDT

As far as I can tell, the only people excited about McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin for the Vice Presidency are the Religious Rights and those paid to cheerlead anything Republicans do, like Sean Hannity. Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty feel used and abused. Conservatives like Kathryn Lopez and David Frum think it’s a mistake. Rove openly pushed Romney and discouraged McCain from considering Lieberman. James Dobson, in stark contrast, is dancing in the aisles. So was it the Religious Right (disgraced former head of the Moral Majority, Ralph Reed has reared up very prominently in the McCain campaign recently) that demanded the price of the VP pick to back John McCain?

It’s the only thing that I can put together, given what appears to be a haphazard vetting process.

On MSNBC this evening Andrea Mitchell reported on how minimal John McCain’s interactions with his choice for vice president, Sarah Palin, have been. According to Mitchell, McCain only met Palin once. video_wmv Download | Play video_mov Download | Play (h/t Heather)

The very day he announces his choice, Alaska State Senator Hollis French announces that Palin is likely to be deposed in the abuse of power investigation, dubbed “Troopergate” in the media. ABC is reporting that Palin wasn’t even in the running until this week and McCain sent lawyers to Alaska to vet out the Troopergate issue solely.

Well, that probably wasn’t so smart. Because Palin has a cozy relationship with indicted and disgraced Republican Senator Ted Stevens. Luckily, like her Wikipedia entry audio_mp3 Download | Play (h/t BillW), those pages on her state governor pages have been scrubbed. As have the ones where she praised Barack Obama’s energy policy. Maybe she’s being so careful because she’s had experience before in hacking in and looking for deleted files on someone else’s computer.

Paul Begala nails the kind of Presidential decision making process that McCain has already proven himself ill-equipped for:

For a man who is 72 years old and has had four bouts with cancer to have chosen someone so completely unqualified to become president is shockingly irresponsible. Suddenly, McCain’s age and health become central issues in the campaign, as does his judgment.

In choosing this featherweight, McCain passed over Tom Ridge, a decorated combat hero, a Cabinet secretary and the former two-term governor of the large, complex state of Pennsylvania.

He passed over Mitt Romney, who ran a big state, Massachusetts; a big company, Bain Capital; and a big event, the Olympics.

He passed over Kay Bailey Hutchison, the Texas senator who is knowledgeable about the military, good on television, and — obviously — a woman.

He passed over Joe Lieberman, his best friend in the Senate and fellow Iraq Kool-Aid drinker.

He passed over former congressman, trade negotiator and budget director Rob Portman.

And he also passed over Mike Huckabee, the governor of Arkansas.

For months, the McCainiacs have said they will run on his judgment and experience. In his first presidential decision, John McCain has shown he is willing to endanger his country, potentially leaving it in the hands of someone who simply has no business being a heartbeat away from the most powerful, complicated, difficult job in human history.

From Crooks & Liars.

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

According to my uncle who lived in Alaska on a mission, This woman's 17 year old daughter, Bristol had a baby, who Sarah is passing off as her own. This is the 4 month old child disabled child. Palin didnt tell anyone she, herself was pregnant until she was "7 months" and she had taken Bristol out of school 7 months early and sent her away for a while. It will come out!

[Roman]

By Anne E. Kornblut

DENVER -- Though it was high in shock value, the Palin pick left bruised feelings among the short-list contenders who were not picked -- and infuriated some Republican officials who privately said McCain had gone out on a limb, unnecessarily, without laying the groundwork for such an unknown. Two senior Republican officials close to Mitt Romney and Tim

Pawlenty said they had both been rudely strung along and now "feel manipulated."

"They now know that they were used as decoys, well after McCain had decided not to pick them," one Republican involved in the process said.

Democrats quickly absorbed the Obama talking points. Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar, of Colorado, said it demonstrated a "lack of judgment" on McCain's part.

Even some former Clinton supporters said Palin would not automatically draw disenchanted women voters -- and would face fierce pushback from the Obama campaign over her conservative social views.

"I know Hillary Clinton, and Sarah Palin is no Hillary Clinton," Debbie Wasserman Schultz said in a phone interview with NBC.

But Howard Wolfson, the former Clinton communications director, said she could peel away some votes.

"Both campaigns seemed to have decided that Hillary Clinton's 18 millions voters represent a key swing bloc in this election -- both Barack Obama's speech and John McCain's pick were at least partially aimed at them," Wolfson said in an e-mail.

"The fact that Palin is pro-life and pro-gun will be a block for many of Senator Clinton's supporters -- but not all. And it will raise the question for many why Senator Obama didn't pick Senator Clinton as his running mate."

From the Washington Post.

[JackPeyton]

Actually, her name has been brought up for months now.

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

Yet and still, no one knows who the hell she is!! It's ludicrous!!