Barack Obama Elected President!

[Roman]

I was answering a question from someone else about what may or may not go into picking a VP.

I don't give a [!@#$%^&*] whether a presidential or vice presidential pick likes each other or not.

Never as meant anything to me.

[Roman]

I don't know why he listened to Rove in the first place.

By picking Ridge or Libermann he would havre appealed to moderate and independent voters, who see issues as liberal, moderate or conservative. It would depend on where they fell on each issue.

By picking Palen, he satisfied the ultra-conservative base of the party, but may have sacrificed the much more moderate voters, seeing as she is being described as a Buchanan Conservative.

But the vetting process, such as it was, seems to have been non-existent. It is the second day of the convention and 5 days since she was announced, and I woke up this morning to see two news stories........Hurricane Gustav, and the complete lack of vetting Governor Palin. The media is talking more about the process, and JM is spending more time defending his pick of her than staying on message.

[Wales2004]

This goes to my opinion that bad publicity isn't always a good thing. It's not good when it becomes too much of a distraction. One of my local news radio stations said that they plan on keeping her from reporters. Maybe after she gives her speech tomorrow or the next day, they will make her available.

Had she public at large more knowledge of who she is then she might appear more sympathetic. McCain was adamant about defining Obama an not letting him have the chance to do it himself but at least people had a fair amount of exposure to him. The same can't be said of Palin and the media gets to introduce her to the public and with what's being put out there and the way it's being done, it's not that easy to drum up sympathy as a victim of the media. Having officials from her state say that they didn't get asked questions about her, two newspapers not supporting her being VP, and her mother in law say she isn't ready doesn't help.

[Roman]

She will be kept from the media?

What good sense does that make?! How are people supposed to get to know her if she not made available?!

This is turning into Tom Eagleton all over again.

[Southofnowhere]

From what i've been reading Alaska sounds like the wild wild west with snow!

If the Dems can dig up some tape of Palin bashing the USA she's TOAST! It's funny that the Clintions and team McCain were hoping for a tape of Mrs.Obama bashing the USA and it's McCain VP who was part of a party that wanted to consede from he Union!

[Roman]

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id...2697&page=1

[Southofnowhere]

McCain is accusing Obama of spreading smears about Palin is is a complete and total LIE! Obama hasn't said word one about Palin. It's not Obama's fault that he didn't vet his VP!

[Roman]

Tim Reid in St Paul

A stream of fresh revelations about Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential choice, continued to unnerve her party and delight Democrats today, including allegations that she once belonged to a fringe Alaskan political party that want independence from America.

As a dozen Republican operatives and lawyers flew to the state to limit the fallout of what US voters are learning about John McCain’s new running mate — the day after her teenage daughter’s pregnancy was revealed — it also emerged that in January the Alaskan governor repeatedly laughed on air as a talk radio host described one of her political opponents as a “cancer” and a “bitch”.

The opponent in question, the Alaskan state senate president Lyda Green, is a cancer survivor. An audio recording of the interview with the Alaskan “shock jock” Bob Lester had received over a quarter of a million hits on YouTube by this morning.

Meanwhile officials of the Alaskan Independence Party — a fringe group that has been pushing for a referendum on whether Alaskans can secede from the US — said Mrs Palin and her husband Todd were members in 1994, and even attended the 1994 convention.

The McCain campaign denied that Mrs Palin was a member, but Lynette Clark, the AIP chairman, insists the Palins were members until 1996, when Mrs Plain joined the Republican party. “When she joined the [independence] party, our platform was right under her nose,” Mrs Clark said.

Both Republicans and Democrats said it was clear that Mrs Palin, 44, had not been properly vetted before being chosen last week by Mr McCain, who had only met her once before he picked her. Yet the Republican nominee said: “The vetting process was completely thorough and I’m grateful for the results.”

Arthur Culvahouse, a veteran Washington lawyer who headed the vetting process, said when she was interviewed Mrs Palin volunteered information about her 17-year-old daughter Bristol’s pregnancy, and her husband’s 1986 drink-driving charge.

Details emerged about the father of Bristol Palin’s child. He is Levi Johnston, 18, the high school ice-hockey hunk. He describes himself on his MySpace page as a “f****** redneck.” He says he has a girlfriend, but “I don’t want kids”.

More potential problems arose for Mr McCain’s running mate. A central plank of his campaign is his fight against federal, “pork barrel” spending, when politicians seek millions of dollars for local pet projects. Mrs Palin, when she was unveiled as the Republican running mate on Friday, said she too was an anti-pork crusader. Yet in Wasilla, an Alaskan town of 6,700 where she was mayor less than two years ago, she employed a lobbying firm that secured almost $27 million in federal earmarks, for such items as a youth shelter and new rail line.

Her daughter’s five-month pregnancy brought an unexpected spotlight on her views — and those of Mr McCain — over teenage pregnancy. Both oppose sex education, and believe in teaching an abstinence only approach in schools. In November 2006 Mrs Palin, who is pro-life, said she would oppose an abortion for her daughter even if she had been raped. She also opposes contraception for married couples.

Democrat operatives — and teams of investigative reporters now in Alaska — said they were also turning their attention to her husband Todd, a champion snowmobiler, to see what they could find.

Julian Epstein, a Democratic strategist, said: “We will see this story go on for weeks. Reporters are competing with each other to see what shoe will drop next.”

McCain is now grasping at straws. He wants the media to blame the Obama camp for his campaign's extremely losuy handling of this vetting process.

[Roman]

McCain's Obama-Palin comparison falls short

By JIM DRINKARD – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential candidate John McCain says his vice presidential pick, Sarah Palin, was already an experienced government official while his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, was working as a community organizer.

She wasn't. Palin was finishing college, getting married and working as a TV sportscaster when Obama was directing a church-based community group on Chicago's South Side in 1985-88.

McCain sought to make the comparison in an appearance on Fox News Sunday, criticizing Obama as too inexperienced to be in the White House despite his choice of a running mate who's also being called too unseasoned for that role.

Challenged about his vice presidential choice, McCain said as governor of Alaska for the last two years, Palin "has had enormous responsibilities, none of which Senator Obama had." Later, McCain elaborated that "as a governor, she has had executive experience. She didn't sit in the state legislature."

The same contrast could be made with McCain himself, whose entire 26-year political career has been spent in Congress.

It's true that in recent years, more presidents have come from governorships than from legislative bodies. But it's a stretch to argue that running the statehouse in a small state is ideal preparation for the issues that will confront the next president, from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to coping with a half-trillion-dollar budget deficit and serious energy and health-care problems.

In the same interview, McCain continued the theme, noting that "when she was in government, he was a community organizer."

That's incorrect. When Palin was first elected to the town council in Wasilla, Alaska, in the fall of 1992, Obama was wrapping up work in Chicago on a voter-registration drive. When that job ended, he joined a Chicago law firm and became a lecturer at the University of Chicago law school, and the Chicago Tribune picked him as one of "25 Chicagoans on the road to making a difference."

Obama's community organizing career had come years earlier, in 1985-88.

McCain also highlighted what he termed Palin's independent streak, praising her for often bucking her own party leaders.

"When she was taking tough positions against her own party, Senator Obama was voting 'present' 130 times in the state legislature, on every tough issue, whatever it was," McCain said.

That charge was reminiscent of attacks waged on Obama by his fellow Democrats during this year's primary campaign, including Hillary Clinton and John Edwards.

It's true that Obama voted "present" dozens of times, part of the thousands of votes he cast in an eight-year span in Springfield. Illinois lawmakers commonly vote that way on a variety of issues, and he has countered that many of those votes were cast because of technical or legal considerations about the underlying legislation.

Often, Obama voted "present" with large groups of other Democrats to protest what they saw as Republican trickery or abuse of power. Other times, voting that way sends a message that a lawmaker supports a bill's intent, but has concerns about how the legislation is drafted. Voting this way also can be a way to duck a difficult issue, as McCain charged, although that's difficult to prove.

There are also cases where legislators vote "present" as part of a strategy. Obama did this on some abortion measures, voting "present" to encourage some wavering legislators to do the same instead of voting "yes". Their "present" votes had the same effect as "no" votes, so getting them to vote present helped defeat the bills.

[George008]

That is the big difference in the outlook of the people that support McCain and those that do not. The great majority of McCain's base (those that were going to vote for him anyway) are happy with Palin. Those that aren't happy with McCain's pick were never going to vote for him.

The constant focus on Palin is only going to cause people to know her and she will no longer be considered an unknown. Much like Obama. Republicans have continued to try to dig up dirt on him, but all that has been found has not detered his supporters.

McCain chose a strict conservative, something that he is not. Republicans are happy that she is no Hillary Clinton.

[Roman]

And apparently, so is Hillary:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/09/02/h...-against-palin/

[George008]

IMO McCain wasn't trying to gain the disenfranchised Hillary supporters with his pick of Palin. From what I heard, many of them were still going to cross the lines and vote for McCain even after Hillary spoke at the convention and before he chose Palin.

For the most part McCain is trying to gain support of women in general. He wants the independent women and women who are on the fence.

If he wanted Hillary supporters then he would have asked Hillary herself to run with him! It's not that big of a leap if you think about it. Lieberman was thought to be in strong consideration, and he was the Democratic VP nominee only 8 years ago.

[Tishy]

Wow. It boggles my mind that McCain didn't more thoroughly check Sarah Paulin out. Seriously, it boggles my mind. Is there a way he can say "Hey, I changed my mind?" and now he wants someone else. Although Obama should be happy

[George008]

I'm glad this article talked about Obama's stance on abortion. I've been trying to come up with a way to get Obama's stance out there. He is the polar opposite of Palin on abortion. Which is another reason I like her. Abortion is an important issue to me personally.

Check out this article....here is an exert..."For not only is Barack the most pro-abortion member of the Senate, with his straight A+ report card from the National Abortion Rights Action League and Planned Parenthood. He supports the late-term procedure known as partial-birth abortion, where the baby's skull is stabbed with scissors in the birth canal and the brains are sucked out to end its life swiftly and ease passage of the corpse into the pan."

This hurts my stomach! I'm a guy and I'm not usually very sensitive, but I do not understand how anyone can support this measure of abortion! I know my outlook has changed drastically since my daughter was born. She's 17 mnths now.

http://www.limaohio.com/articles/abortion_...ama_barack.html

this article is also disturbing. It talks about how Jill Stanek submitted a statement to the Illinois Senate Health and Human Services committee in which she reported that "infants who survived abortions at her Oak Lawn hospital were sometimes "taken to the Soiled Utility Room and left alone to die."

Susan T. Muskett legislative counsel at the NRLC coxed Obama by asking , writes in an email to Obama. "Are these babies medical waste, or persons protected by the Constitution? Obama's reaction was to consider them non-entities under Roe v. Wade until they were 'viable,' even when they were gasping outside the mother."

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Publ...15/404kfgky.asp

[Roman]

It does really make you consider his judgement.

If he did change his mind, it would kill him in November. His judgement, then like now, would be the central theme. If his people would have just done their homework, this would be moot.