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It has happened again.

From the beginning, nothing about this campaign on either party has met my expectations. Now here is another surprise.

In case somebody didn't see it yet, McCain pulled a fast one. For his running mate he chose a woman with five children (disaffected Hillary supporters who don't really like Obama anyway), the governor of Alaska. She is married to an Eskimo (minority votes), has a son currently in Iraq (conservative hawks vote), who has been voted "the hottest governor in the country" (heterosexual male vote).

The sneaky old bastard may be onto something. I sure never saw it coming. Did anyone else see this one coming?

Man....

Spoke too soon. Evidently their son deploys sometime in September.

One more correction, based on additional web research. her husband Todd is part Eskimo. Evidently one of his grandmothers.

I wish the journalists would check this stuff before they post it on major news sites. i hate quoting false information. Sorry about that.

According to Wikipedia, Sarah Palin did a spread for Vogue in Dec. of 2007, and holds a lifetime membership in the National Rifle Association. Her husband is a member of the United Steel Workers Union, and she is reported by CBS to also be a member of some union. Grew up the child of a teacher and a secretary, both coaches. Hubby is a commercial fisherman and oil field worker.

I have no idea... This campaign is getting more unpredictable by the week.

Personally I find it a very weird choice for a Republican who really needs to holds a conservative base that is fairly suspicious of him to begin with. It also smacks of craven pandering to a vote he's not that likely to get an awful lot of in the first place.

And here's where I'm afraid I turn very un-PC and probably deserve to be slapped. This woman has five children, apparently including an infant with Down's Syndrome, and she WANTS to be Vice President? I'm a fairly liberal feminist, but this just sounds nuts to me. Not to mention that with McCain's age there's a very decent chance she could actually suddenly become President ... is she ready? After governing a state the size of Alaska for so little time and participating so little in national politics? And this decision from the guy who's been arguing that Obama is not ready?

But who knows. I may have my facts wrong. I don't know her at all. Maybe she's got the charm and charisma that ticket really needs and it's actually her husband or mother who does the childraising or something. I'm certainly curious to learn more.

The info is out there. In fact, it is all over the place. Check it out. I found it interesting indeed.

BTW, Spiro Agnew had only held a county level office before becoming VP. many candidates, like Geraldine Ferraro, or Jimmy Carter, have only held state office. She is about two, maybe three years younger than Obama I believe. With approximately the same amount of foreign policy experience.

Apparently this lady has made quite a splash in Alaska politics during her time in office, and has collected quite a few well established scalps on both sides of the aisle doing it. Mean little woman it seems.

Reads like they share child rearing duties. Two career family. Dunno. Odds are lifestyles in Alaska are a bit different than they are in NY or DC.

The conservative base that McCain needs to hold is not likely to object to a woman like Sarah Palin. A lifetime membership in the NRA? A union member and the wife of a Union Member? A firm Pro-lifer? The daughter of a teacher and a secretary, both of whom were union members?

I guess Obama can kiss us "bitter" bible clinging gun owners goodbye. According to the news reports I have been hearing the two groups that Obama has been having the most trouble nailing down are white working class males, and women who supported Hillary and are ticked off about her losing out. So McCain's pick could potentially draw in both of those groups.

She's already a governor, so she'll probably have to do less as VP and have more time for her kids if any of them really need it. I mean, keep in mind that being VP used to be synonymous with the end of one's political career unless you managed to get elected president right afterwards. And even then you have two terms at the most, and I've never heard of a former President ever going back to being a senator or a governor.

^ Didn't John Quincy Adams return to Congress after having been President? Garnted that was a while ago, but still...

CX wrote:She's already a governor, so she'll probably have to do less as VP and have more time for her kids if any of them really need it. I mean, keep in mind that being VP used to be synonymous with the end of one's political career unless you managed to get elected president right afterwards. And even then you have two terms at the most, and I've never heard of a former President ever going back to being a senator or a governor.

Begad! Politics is subtle!

John Quincy Adams may have. But that was back in the day when being elected to the Presidency or Congress was regarded as a form of public service, rather than a career and a chance to gain power and wealth.

Heheee... John Quincy Adams... I'm watching the TV show about his father... it's very good! (a lot of stuff about that era that I didn't know). I shouldn't like John Quincy Adams, because Florida was ours, you know

Anyway, as I'm seeing, the next President of United States (whoever is elected) isn't going to be a retarded, at least. That's good for the rest of the world On the other hand, Condoleeza Rice is quite intelligent herself (I don't like the woman, but I don't doubt her ability either) and it didn't help much (sorry, sorry, don't throw tomatoes at me, please! )

I don't know.
Many things escape me.
I cannot perfectly understand Obama and I cannot perfectly understand McCain.
Please don't get annoyed if I say I don't like the one and I don't like the second.
But probably this is due to the fact I'm distant from US and from US political mood.
Likely all of you would feel the same about Europe (To not mention Italy!)

Frankly I am not satisfied with either one of them myself. I lean more toward McCain because I am a reactionary caveman, but I dislike the republican social agenda. I approve more of the democratic ideals of social justice, but their penchant for wanting to help themselves to other people's right's and property without so much as a by-yer-leave gets under my skin. I don't really *like* either party. By preference, I would vote for the libertarians if they ever ran anyone that looked Human. I have not seen verifiable evidence that anyone significant in either major party actually cares if I or my family drops dead.

That's where Palpatine/Vader comes in?

Frankly, Sarah Palin fits the original intended model of a presidential candidate more closely than any of the others, including McCain. the Founding Fathers never intended for service in Congress or the Presidency to become a way of life. They expected people to be elected, serve a term or two, then go home. The idea of getting elected and then fortifying your position so that you can hold power for thirty years was not what they designed the system for. The American government was INTENDED to be operated by ordinary citizens.

blacknblue wrote:BTW, Spiro Agnew had only held a county level office before becoming VP. many candidates, like Geraldine Ferraro, or Jimmy Carter, have only held state office.

Actually, I don't think anyone holds up Spiro Agnew as an example of a great VP. He had to resign long before before his boss did. Geraldine Ferrraro was a U.S. congresswoman for six years before she ran (not that she was a great pick either). And Carter -- well, he's not exactly considered one of the more successful Presidents.

Which is not to say that governors don't make successful Presidents -- usually it is governors who get nominated, not senators. But as someone pointed out tonight, Alaska has the same population as Austin, TX. And being pro-gun isn't exactly a tough choice there. This lady is very interesting and clealry she does have some charisma but she has never had to really cope with national politics before. And she's as much as admitted to not having had much interest in international affairs. It's also not clear that McCain really knows her at all. So I still think this choice is bizarre.

But hey, she'll win the Eskimo vote.

Of course, that's in a state he would have won anyway.

KTR, your bummer sticker is hilarious. Escriba, that John Adams HBO series is AMAZING. There is like one draggy episode when he is in Paris. KEEP GOING! I sure learned alot. It reminded me of Roots, it was that impressive.

As for my political leanings, I'm a Democrat who is a little to the right of the Democrats on on economic issues FREE TRADE! Hooray for capitalism! I am a social liberal. People should be free from harrasment even if their lifestyle is not mainstream. Evern if they are not religious. But I want the government to provide education and healthcare to all. I want a safety net in place. I don't want the government supporting art or regulating the media. I do want it supporting basic science. I want government to be competent if there is a huge disaster like Katrina. I want a strong military . . . I guess. (I say guiltily, since I was brought up kind of pacifist.) I want the U.S. to participate in international humanitarian efforts, and work constructively with other nationa to solve/deal with international problems/conflicts.