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So now that the running mates have been picked, I might actually want to vote for McCain, which I never thought I'd do.

Sarah Palin. She is the governor of Alaska and she is strong in areas that I felt McCain lacked. For one thing, she's pro-life. It's not the only thing that makes me happy, but it's definitely up there. She's also pro-contraception, which I don't always see in pro-life candidates. She's stronger on border security than McCain is, and she's taken a stand against some of the bigger fish in the Republican circles when she felt they were wrong, corrupt, etc.

I'm excited to know more about her in the coming months and more about how she and McCain will interact. I don't know much about her, but from what I can tell, he could not have possibly picked a better candidate for Vice Presidency.

So...thoughts?

I had heard good things about her leading up to today (90%-80% approval rating as a governor? How is this possible?!). She kinda slipped from memory as I was so sure he was going to pick Romney to try and help win back conservatives.

I'm really glad it's her. I was at work and all the guys were like "Hey! McCain picked an Alaskan woman for veep!" So after the shock wore off (that it wasn't Romney) the first thing I did was look her up on Wikipedia and I was just beaming for the rest of the day. She is a FIGHTER! Wow! Then I got to hear the sound clips from her speech on the way home. I really REALLY like her right now. I like what she's done professionally so far between running a city and running a state...and as of right now I really like her personally.

I don't think I have EVER been this energized over a politician.

I was going to vote for McCain anyway as a lesser of evils...but now I feel I can do that without holding my nose. smile

Don't be too sure...

I don't believe the Dems won Congress in '06 because the country took a liberal shift. I think it's because the conservatives stayed home after deciding their candidates sucked...which they did but not for the reasons many democrats think.

If McCain truly was pandering to the Hil fans, he would have selected a woman more like Hil and THAT would have truly shredded his chances. There is already a liberal candidate running. Why do we need another? This is a different breed of woman...a different breed of feminism.

This choice is appealing to two fence-sitters/write-in voters that posted above you and has relieved McCain stink from the third. I doubt Palin's ability to convert people to her platform and to change opinions. I think her strength lies in bringing out disgruntled voters who would have otherwise stayed home or voted for other candidates in protest.

Also remember she is running as VP and not Pres. This is still not HER race. McCain is still the name on the ballot and the upcoming months are still going to be about HIM. I don't know how many established McCain supporters will drop out over this.

I don't think he did, though.

Have you noticed that the majority of people upset by this choice are liberals, citing her lack of experience and right-wing nutjobness? Conservatives aren't upset by her except that from what I can gather, a small portion feel he's just pandering to conservatives by choosing her as opposed to the other people his campaign had mentioned. If they wouldn't vote for him with a running mate who is a conservative feminist, they certainly wouldn't have voted for him if his running mate had been Ridge or Romney. He's not going to lose many conservatives over this, if he loses any at all.

Cyanna hit the nail on the head. Conservatives did not want to go out and vote for McCain. He needed to pick a conservative, but not just any conservative, a conservative who was not just more of the same, and a conservative that other conservatives could identify with.



Pyro: "Yeah, we've all heard it before by now Zin. We all know liberals tend to say the damnedest things when they're scared."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/us/politics/02mother.html?hp

This pisses me off.

It pisses me off too.

First off, what can she offer that her husband cannot? Any married women raising this question should consider this. Why must she specifically be the parent with the most facetime with her children when the father is ready, willing, and has assumed the same roles that mothers generally take on? Do these women feel their husbands are incapable of having that much involvement in their children's lives, and if so, why did they marry these men?

Secondly, the entire article questions the ability not just of Sarah Palin to take this job on but of ANY woman to take it on. And I firmly believe if she was male this would not be an issue. Sure, it's a piece of cake to juggle fatherhood and political office, but motherhood? Are you insane? Mothers can't do anything, they're too busy being mothers, jeez!

It's really sad to see this sentiment coming from people who are supposed to be forward-thinking. Very, very sad. I've seen it so much in the past few days and it's angering.

Nah, I'm still voting for Obama.

He may be pro-choice, but better social politics that lead to fewer people in poverty + universal health care = fewer abortions.

The Daily Show is really starting to piss me off on this stuff. Usually I like the Daily Show, but right now, it's like they're part of the Obama campaign, and they keep going on about Bristol's pregnancy like the Palins want her to have a choice even though they're trying to keep the right to choose away from other women, rawr! When actually they're just trying to protect the poor girl's damn privacy. Not even mentioning the fact that we're not about taking away all choices from people!

Grr. It's got me really steamed. Because they just ignore it whenever someone tries to explain that to them, and keep repeating, "But isn't it hypocritical to be Pro-Life but still try to give Bristol Palin a choice?" There's still a choice, even in this issue, for Pro-Lifers, people! There's adoption, and there's keeping it!