Do you really believe what you write? What you make up? Why is it that EVERYONE calls him a maverick but now Timr says well no hes not……..so it must be true.

Do you really believe what you write?

Yeah I read. Dont agree and in fact you have posted your own agenda when you said its important to define Palin as quickly as possible. Your analysis of her abilities are flawed and politically motivated. Based upon facts she is way more qualified then a part time law professor who lead nothing, was appointed to nothing, wrote no papers and has accomplished NOTHING in his life except run for a lot of public offices.

The simple facts are that you guys are bashing Palin for having no experience when in fact she is more experienced and more qualified then Obama. hell I bet she could even take him in a game of one on one. Face it. Obama is about as qualified as I am to be president.

Even Biden said so………..The job of president does not lend itself very well for OJT. Obama will step into the White House and start learning how to be president. Palin will step into the VP office down the street and start learning how to be VP. A HUGE difference and one in which you guys are now returning the light on Obama's total lack of experience in comparing her to Palin who even as VP is more experienced and qualified for the presidency then is Obama.

Palin City Mayor, Governor of Alaska.

Obama……state senator, Part Time Senator. Spent his whole life running for office.

Yeah I can see how Obama is so highly prepared for the job. I can see how his 3 years in the Senate is totally prepatory while her time as mayor and Governor is not.

Gotta love fantasyland politics.

Until now McCain had been running a classic incumbent's campaign while being able to distance himself from the Bush legacy. He was running on his superior judgement, experience on international affairs and proven experience to work across the aisle with Democrats.

While Obama has been continually trying to tie the Bush legacy around McCain's neck and to question his judgement about going to war in the first place, the Main Stream Media has pretty much bought into the talkingpoint that this election would be a referrendum on Obama because McCain was a proven commodity.

In essence the media was pushing the thought that McCain was the per se incumbent and Obama had to prove to the public that he was qualified to be President. Even lousy incumbents win in that type of environment. Placing the burden of proof on an “unknown commodity makes it very difficult for that person to win.

McCain could have selected a credentialed Republican and that dynamic would not have changed. Instead he chose a seemingly unqualified person as VP who will have to prove to an extent that she is qualified to be one heartbeat away from President. This is especially an issue because of McCain's cancer history and age. McCain made these issues especially relevant because of this selection.

Now the press is focused on Palin. She needs to PROVE her bona fides. If she does not, then it provides clear proof that Obama's claim of poor judgement on the part of McCain is validated.

McCain no longer has the “incumbent's” advantage. The rightwing may try to spin this as a great pick, but the press is all over him on the perceived problems. Once they latch onto a “narrative” they will go out of their way to repeat and support that narrative.

Instead of keeping the burden of proof on Obama, McCain put it in his own lap.

This is not an example of high stakes poker or working the blackjack table where a pro has a shot to manage the odds. McCain ponied up to the craps table to roll the dice. And he didn't need to do it, unless he genuinely believed that based on the way the DNC was going he was going to lose anyway.

My friends, if you ever wanted to see an example of risky behavior—this is it. McCain is either smarter than most of the 'unbiased” observers or a loose cannon. And the sad part is for him is that he lost most of the control over how that outcome will play out.

Lieberman would have been a maverick choice: A unity ticket for the good of the country.

Romney would have been a maverick choice: A popular governor who has done some amazing things as far as health care, and would be an excellent advisor on the economy.

Tom Ridge or Charlie Crist: The needs of this country outweigh the single social issue of abortion.

The choice of Palin is nothing more than throwing away the maverick and change mantras, and trying to become Bush with different faces. No thanks!

Yeah, shame on them. The next thing you know they'll do something really smeary like posting Palin's Vogue pose next to a Paris Hilton vogue-type pose. I can't imagine the GOP doing anything like that.

Your observations are right on point. The bottom line is that this election will be about judgement, change and risk.

Time will tell if Palin will learn enough to validate McCain's pick–however from a first blush it genuinely calls into question his judgement.

Up till now Obama has owned the change mantle. While he has been a “Maverick” on some issues in the distant past, McCain's 90% support of Bush in conjunction with the full support of the rightwing agenda over the past year has blown that up. I don't know if selecting Palin as a change agent is nothing more than a me too stab at it.

Palin vs Biden as VP selections? Judgement points to Obama

She needs to prep for Biden. Expect 1 small campaign event a day for the next month while Randy Scheunemann teaches her about international affairs, Phil Gramm trains her about how the economy works, Charlie Black teaches her how to work with Washington Lobbyists and Lindsey Graham teaches her how the government works. Kind of like bundling a 4 year college program packaged into a one month crash course. Everything You Needed to Know About the Federal Government 101.

I say this while I withhold comment (bite upper lip) on the quality of what they will teach her.

At the end of the day, the focus will be the one day course on talkingpoints. Remember 20 focus group developed lines and repeat.

Consider the source of training when evaluating what kind of product comes out the backend.

The Bridge to Nowhere lie is debunked here.

We will find out more in the coming days and weeks that the rest of her reformer cred is a joke. Abuse of power is just the beginning.

The cite you are looking for:

Here's what she told the Anchorage Daily News on October 22, 2006, during the race for the governor's seat (via Nexis):

5. Would you continue state funding for the proposed Knik Arm and Gravina Island bridges?

Yes. I would like to see Alaska's infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now–while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist.

It appears she turned against it AFTER it got knocked down in 2007

Predictable to say the least.

Palin is far and away more qualified to lead this country then is Barak Obama.

Neither is high up on my list of best qualified but certainly when it comes to experience of RUNNING GOVERNMENT……………OBAMA has NONE.

I will repeat……Palin has been in politics longer then Obama. She has led first a city and then a state. She has tackkled corruption. She voted herself a pay cut……Halle fricken lulujah someone who WALKS THE WALK……sold Alaska's governors JET and rides the bus…………..Went after the politicians in her own party…….

Palin was also elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors.

Palin has followed through on plans to create a new sub-cabinet group of advisers to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions within Alaska.

Governor Murkowski appointed Palin to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, where she chaired the Commission from 2003 to 2004, and also served as Ethics Supervisor.[20] She resigned in protest over what she called the “lack of ethics” of fellow Republican members.

Her list of accomplishments goes on and on. She is the right choice for the GOP to tackle their own graft and corruption and it appears at least in Alaska she is not afraid of her own party and this has gotten her elected and relected many times.

The more I look at this choice the more it fills TWO and not ONE slot for what McCain wanted as a VP……… Shake things up…Palin and Lieberman. Maverick… Lieberman and Palin.

The deciding factor was she was a young, attractive, conservative WOMAN and Lieberman is still a liberal wrinkly white haired old dude.

McCain’s VP pick also shows a disdain for this country because if something were to unfortunately happen to McCain, Sarah Palin would be our next President of the United States. Can you imagine in her that role? This proves two things in my mind, McCain’s lack of love for this country and that he does not have the judgment to lead this country at this most profound time.

“John McCain for all his white hair who represents the risky choice, while it is Barack Obama who offers cautious, steady, predictable governance.
Here’s I fear the worst harm that may be done by this selection. The McCain campaign’s slogan is “country first.” It’s a good slogan, and it aptly describes John McCain, one of the most self-sacrificing, gallant, and honorable men ever to seek the presidency. But question: If it were your decision, and you were putting your country first, would you put an untested small-town mayor a heartbeat away from the presidency? David Frum

Some in the media call it Historic but in reality Is this decision Historic or Hysterical and a mockery to our political system? Some in the media label it a game changer but is it really a roll of the dice? And should a Presidential candidate play Russian roulette with the people's business? It is telling of McCain's character and judgment that with all the problems we face here today, he did not have the People's interest at heart in this V.P. pick but rather a desire to win for winnings sake and did not think of the consequences of his actions or maybe did not care what it would mean for this country if she were to be sworn in as President of the United States! And, ironically, the very things he accused Barack of being (which he is not) — empty suit, no experience — he got in his own V.P. Pick, Sarah Palin!

Lastly, McCain's pick of Sarah Palin, a woman with very little executive experience, a woman who has approved a 26 billion dollar gas-pipeline to a Canadian business instead of a business here in the United States, a woman who the Alaskan legislature approved a $100,000 investigation into her motivations in firing Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan (troopergate) has proven to the world how really pathetic the Republican party has become that they will try any trick in the book to keep the power in the hands of big oil and special interest and out of the hands of the people where it belongs

Sarah Palin may be a neat woman. But her reform cred is a sham. She'll be lucky not to be indicted.

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