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I'm so bored of Sarah Palin

Alyth

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I'll admit, I'm for Obama/Biden. So, you may assume there's some bias in this rant, but I must say something about it.

Now, I like watching the debates. I watched last years debates (not as closely, but I did keep an eye on them) and I paid attention to the debates in 2000 as well. They get dirty and mean at times and so on. This year is not too much different except we may have our first black president or first woman vice president, so there is a lot of discussion to be had. These debates also have gone on for what seems to be forever since the primaries also went on since last year.

Now, first I'll comment that this year to me seems kind of lame. People really seem to like McCain saying he's got tons of experience. He's got age, but he's got no more executive experience than Obama does. He's a senator and from what I remember, he was never a mayor or governor of any state or city/town. He deserves respect for his years in the military and for surviving torture as a POW, but that does not make him an experienced leader of this country. He can offer sympathy and empathy to the troops and with that, he'd be a good man to have around during a war or skirmish. He's already stated he's not good with the economy which is one of the biggest issues we are facing now. His method of campaigning is really lame though. He talks constantly about Obama and tells half truths about him and flat out lies. He leaves out specific details of Obama's plans and comments to make him sound bad. He also steals motto's like "Change We Need," etc.... That was Obama's line. Now, a lot of candidates did this so it's no surprise he does this, but he almost never talks only about himself and what he plans on doing...in detail.

Obama I'm sure has told some half truths about McCain. It goes with the territory of campaigning, but for the longest time he'd talk about himself and what he plans on doing for the country as president. Then he finally had to stick up for himself and lowered himself to McCain's level of politics and toss around some dirty campaign ads talking about McCain and discuss his downfalls during his speeches. He really didn't want to do that, but it's part of the game. He's good at it though, I think.

Now about the vice presidential candidates. I don't have a problem with Biden. He's got a long list of experiences as senator and with decision maker. True he's no mayor or governor so you can't claim experience there, but he's got the foreign experience that Obama needed. He may not stand for change based on his age, but he is a good man to have in your back pocket to bounce ideas off of and someone who is open to new ideas. So I can't say much about Biden only because I don't know more than what I've heard.

Sarah on the other hand, I can't stand. I believe McCain only brought her in to appear like a "maverick" and play the "change" game. Ok, 1. Maverick could mean something good or bad so being a maverick isn't always a good thing. 2. McCain can no longer attack Obama about having lack of experience since she's lacking some of that herself. 3. McCain can no longer pick on Obama about being a celebrity since Palin has become one herself. Actually, there's a bunch of things he no longer has the right to attack Obama with since he took Palin in as his running mate. She's got very little experience in years which is enough in my book to say she's not ready to be vice nor commander in chief. 18 months as Governor and a couple of years as mayor. She's got more executive experience than any of the candidates, sadly enough, but just not many years of that experience. I don't care that she's a mother of many children. I don't even care that her 17 year old daughter is pregnant with a kid of her own...though it seems questionable that she believes strongly in teaching abstinence and her own daughter did not follow that herself. Teaching abstinence does not work. It should only be part of the lesson, but kids don't always follow their parents or teacher's advice. They will do what they think is right at the time, so I believe it's more important to teach them the best way to protect themselves AS WELL AS the idea that abstinence is not a bad thing to consider when faced with the decision to have sex. She's extremely conservative, which I'm not, so I can't say much to that effect. She says she's a lover of environment and wildlife, yet she supports drilling in the wildlife preserves. She hunts too. How can you love something and kill it for fun and actually believe you love wildlife? She changes her mind as often as McCain does and says dumb things like McCain does. They are a match made in heaven!!! Seriously though, she just annoys me. It truly scares me that she could not only become our vice president, but if McCain kicks the bucket while president (which could happen), she steps up to take his job. People can say that could happen to Biden since he's old too, but he's not president, he's vice president. Obama would still be leading this country and he would just have to pick a new running mate if that were to happen. Back to Sarah... she's all I hear about and the more and more I hear about her, the more and more I dislike her. I honestly don't think she can make the right decisions for what this country needs. She's gotten so much attention, but only because she's different. I do not believe she can really stand for any change that we need as a country though. She's really is only there to help McCain win the game and not because she is qualified to do the job as VP correctly.

Sorry about this lengthy post. Kudos to you if you read through it.
 
The celebrity criticism is one that strikes me as particularly hypocritical.
By last count, McCain has 9 homes (apparently his memory loss extends to his campaign managers who quote him as having 7) in 3 different time zones, and a private jet. Obama comes from a poor family, raised by a single mother, and HE'S the celebrity?!?

Aside from the smear politics, which I just find distasteful on both sides (and I do agree that Obama has sunk to the level of the attack politics rather than rising above them, although I'd argue about him being "forced" to do so), my real issue is the matter of qualifications, and what we'd get from each candidate.

Biden, I think was a good choice as a VP nominee for Obama. He brings experience in most of the ways that Obama lacks. His downside is that he's outright disappeared from the campaign scene. It's possible that he's been overshadowed, but I'd expect more ability to rise to the challenge from a VP nominee. I doubt that I'd have voted for him as President, but he seems an excellent choice to be a 2nd in command, and to take on the role of senior advisor.

Obama's major issue, to me, is not his experience or his integrity, but his lack of a clear path in how he intends to accomplish the goals he's set out.

McCain has some real issues for me. He's been notoriously absent-minded while on the campaign (most recently, putting Spain in Latin America, and dodging a simple question about being willing to meet with Spain's PM, while attacking Obama's willingness to meet with foreign leaders in his first term), and I get the same vibe from him that I do from most Republican politicians of late (not classic, old-school, small-government libertarian Republicans), which is pro-corporation, heavily influenced by special interests, and out of touch with the majority of Americans, relying on the faith and "small town" values cards without actually practicing either of those ideals according to their base fundamental principles.

Palin, OTOH... where to start? Her "executive experience" is a joke. She's in charge of a state whose population is 1/5th that of the city of Chicago. That's not to belittle Alaska, but to only try to put into perspective the scope of what's being presented as "experience".

As far as I can tell, her only real asset is that she's overwhelmingly more pleasing on the eyes than any candidate for major office in the last 50 years. After that, the list gets horrifically short. Just from the Gibson interview, where I think she came off awfully, these were the viewpoints of hers I was able to establish:

  • Her political viewpoints seem like they're being force-fed to her by the same people who are currently doing the same with Bush.
  • She's apparently convinced that foreign policy experience is based on proximity to a foreign country, and not on actually meeting with foreign representatives or ever actually leaving the continent and seeing how the rest of the world lives.
  • She's apparently willing to speak authoritatively on the issues of the current administration's basis for foreign policy (aka, the Bush Doctrine) without really knowing what it is.
  • We can't second-guess Israel.
  • We can't second-guess Israel.
  • We can't second-guess Israel.
  • It's just as impressive to have brief local government experience than a resume with decades and decades of national service.
  • While it's completely unacceptable for Russia to invade Georgia unprovoked, we're in the clear to send troops into Pakistan without the consent of their PM.
In my view, McCain's age and health does become a major issue when deciding to vote for that ticket, because I see Palin as a completely unacceptable choice.
The reality is that we now know in hindsight that Reagan was starting to experience symptoms of Alzheimer's while still in office, and McCain is several years older than Reagan was when he took office. This leaves open the real possibility that Palin could take over as President before McCain's term is up. I have far less issue voting for McCain than I do opening the door for Palin to step in as President.

What this race boils down to for me is that we have two candidates who we have no idea what they'll do if they become President.
With McCain, we might see the "maverick" of pre-2004 that crossed party lines with regularity and voted with his conscience, or we may see the post-2004 McCain, who has been decidedly along party-lines, voting with his party significantly more often than not, and who seems to have changed course on his "maverick" reputation by using his position to reward those helping him seek higher office..

With Obama, we have someone with great ideas on how to fix the problems in this country from the bottom up, but who hasn't given anyone a clue about how he intends to put his ideas into action.

Now, with McCain, there's a chance he could return to his maverick ways, and vote in line with what's best for the country instead of going along party lines. With Obama, it's simply a huge question mark.

For me personally, I can't take the chance that McCain could continue with the politics-as-usual of the current administration. It's just too dangerous a gamble to hope he'll be the maverick of old.
In my mind, it's better to go with the x-factor who has new ideas than take a chance on things staying the same.
 
When McCain's biggest criticism was that Obama has "no experience", Obama picks Biden as his running mate (presumably to fill in any potential gaps and hopefully squash the "no experience" criticism).

Then McCain criticizes Obama for being a "celebrity". But any time McCain is speaking about Palin's "qualifications", he loves to point out that "she's the most popular governor!" Not to mention that he picked a running-mate with NO EXPERIENCE.

It is clear that McCain has completely lost touch with reality and is just trying to win an election. Which gets me to the point that has upset me the most during this campaign: the national conventions!

During the Democratic Convention I watched Hilary Clinton, Bill Clinton and Obama's speeches. What I got from these speeches was pretty much what I personally believe: our country has been heading down the wrong path (at high speed) for the past 8 years, and John McCain is bringing another 4 years of the same to the table.

During the Republican Convention I watched Giuliani, Palin and McCain's speeches. What I got from them was a bunch of immature name-calling. Giuliani was by far the worst, but Palin and McCain didn't clean it up much either.

Getting back on to the specific topic of Sarah Palin, I find it interesting that the topic of "sexism" is suddenly an issue. I also don't care that her daughter got knocked up (hey, it happens to Republicans AND Democrats), but I do care that she believes in abstinence only sex "education" and believes that we should teach creationism (so much for separation of church and state). In interviews, she comes off as super defensive and arrogant (i.e. as if she's thinking "how dare you criticize me, I deserve to be the Vice President!").

Is Obama going to be able to make all of the changes he talks about? No. Will McCain do everything he claims? No. But I believe that even if Obama could only accomplish some small percentage of his goals, we'd be leaps and bounds ahead of where we'll be if McCain wins this election (no matter how much he accomplishes).
 
Nootch, I agree with you!! One thing to add to your last sentence though. Obama himself may not be able to bring all the changes he wishes, but he's got a lot of good, experienced people that he can bounce ideas off of and that I think makes a good president. One that doesn't think that he knows everything and can do everything on his own. The best way to make an informed decision is to get all the information necessary and make a choice based on what you learn. I believe he'll do that. No need to get all the ego and arrogance in the way. I don't know who McCain has to bounce ideas off of. If he does, so far they are unimpressive. I agree this is only a game he wants to win...and it's not because he's the better choice. He wants the trophy!

Dan, To me, Obama is the only choice!!!

I'm good with Biden. Hillary Clinton may have been the easier win for Obama, but Biden is a good choice if he wishes to battle it out for presidency. Biden will chew up Palin, though having a girl fight with Hillary and Palin would have been more fun to watch. ;)
 
I'm an Obama/Biden supporter 100%, and I agree! Quite frankly, she scares me. Firstly, it seems to me, since McCain wasn't getting the attention before, he decided to pick someone for VP that he thought would grab people's attention. That is all. Just someone pleasing on the eyes, I guess.
She seems to also put other politicians down as well, especially Obama and Biden.
One of the things I find very unnecessary, is that she wants to start war with Russia. What has Russia ever done to us?? The problems between Russia and Georgia are their issues, and we need to stay out of it. And since when does being able to see a country from where you live make you qualified and experienced in foreign policy?
Her and McCain also want to take away the rights of women, and ****, who have both fought long and hard to get these rights they now have (remember "pray gay away", and her immense opposition to a woman's right of choice?)- getting rid of such rights would set this country back immensely. Her views on such things are way too extreme. And also, teaching abstinence is NOT going to work! You can't just stop teenagers from having sex- they will do it, and even at a younger age nowadays, so teaching them about birth control and having clinics is the better option, rather than abstinence.
Joe Biden was a good choice that Obama made for VP- he has so many years, over 30 I believe, of foriegn policy, which we really need right now. You're right, that Obama most likely won't accomplish all that he wants, but it would be a change for the better in the US if he gets elected.
 
I should point out that by no means do I consider Obama "the lesser of two evils", or think that he is incapable of making the kinds of changes that he speaks about. In fact, I was hoping that he would run for president long before he announced that he was, and I truly believe that he is the president that we so desperately need to re-unite our country.

Before McCain chose his running mate, I thought that if Obama lost I'd be sad but I'd get over it (afterall, can he REALLY be worse than Bush?)... but now that he has chosen Palin as his running mate, and there's a very real chance that she could actually become the president, so much more is at stake. If McCain/Palin win this election, I will lose all faith in our political system and in the American people.
 
I'm so bored of Sarah Palin
--It's no wonder, she's been dominating the news since she was announced by the McCain campaign; and perhaps, that was part of the McCain campaigns strategy all along. I think they (the republicans) realize that the election is most probably about "change", and by selecting a Washington outsider, perhaps that gives them some credibility in that area. One thing is clear: whoever gets elected will have a desk full of problems and issues to be addressed. And now with this financial institution crisis, which is getting more and more bizarre with each passing day; I don’t know about you guys, but I’m very concerned about this. America is beginning to sound like some third world country.
 
She's a Bimbo...

Read over Palin's incoherent response to Couric and then read over the infamous Miss South Carolina's response to a pagent question. I actually think Miss South Carolina's response is more coherent.


COURIC: Why isn't it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries; allow them to spend more and put more money into the economy instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?

Governor SARAH PALIN (Republican, Vice Presidential Nominee): That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, were ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the--it's got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we've got to see trade as opportunity not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we've got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.

Miss South Carolina offered the following statement: I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because ah some people out there in our nation dont have maps, and uh I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should, our education over here, in the U.S. should help the U.S. err should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the asian countries so we will be able to build up our future for our children
 
:lol: I can't believe how sad that interview was. I mean I never thought she was that smart to begin with, but this just...., well it's about all the little people and how they need a smart woman to lead them. Well, you know, people want to know they can get the jobs they see on TV. It's what they see and that's what they...if you...well.........also....yea. :D
 
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