More Palin snowflakes.....
This is continued from a much more comprehensive post below.
This Politico piece nails most of the important points about the McCain/Palin pick. Give it a read. (I still think the first one is the important one.)
Joe Klein at Time frames this as a measure of McCain's judgment and broader character and asks what it would mean for a McCain foreign policy.
And, this is a brief, comprehensive "Troopergate" summary starting in the fourth excerpted paragraph.
This Politico piece nails most of the important points about the McCain/Palin pick. Give it a read. (I still think the first one is the important one.)
Joe Klein at Time frames this as a measure of McCain's judgment and broader character and asks what it would mean for a McCain foreign policy.
And, this is a brief, comprehensive "Troopergate" summary starting in the fourth excerpted paragraph.
posted by mikevotes at
12:06 PM
16 Comments:
After reading the Politico piece, I'm struck by one thing... Picking Palin was a cynical political ploy and shows either contempt or indifference to the actual governance of the United States of America. This form John "Country First" McCain. That, too, should make it's way into an ad.
I want to again raise my concern with Todd Palin. I haven't been poring over the coverage of this VP selection, but I don't think he's getting much ink. I have a feeling there's something there, but I can't quite put my finger on it.... I'm getting a bit of a wise guy vibe... Willing to do "what needs to be done" to get he (or his wife) wants.
Put it this way. I think the Democrats oppo research team will have plenty to sift through.
(As with you, however, I'm still not 100% sure this is a total cock-up for McCain. But I'd probably feel this way no matter who he picked.)
By
-epm, at 1:22 PM
EPM, that's starting to bump around the newsrooms. Frankly, If Mike Allen/Politico is writing it, you gotta figure it's out there.
As to Todd Palin, I have no idea. I've heard nothing about him. I think he's just a blue collar oil worker.
And, I dunno. Personally, I think Romney would have been a good election choice IF they believe voters in the center are in play. That may be why they went towards the base.
From a governing perspective, Ridge or Portman would have been great. Both know how things work and both get things done.
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mikevotes, at 1:29 PM
Todd has his finger in the Troopergate scandal. He was pressuring, er, "informing" Wooten's superiors that Wooten should be fired.
As I said it's just a vibe and may go nowhere. I'm just saying, let's see...
By
-epm, at 1:51 PM
With no national definition on her, just the smell of this could taint her.
(Curious how much vetting the McCain folks did on this. She seems to have been a last minute choice.)
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mikevotes, at 2:00 PM
Palin has to be held up to scrutiny for her extreme views, not any scandal or lack of experience.
Since she is a blank slate, the GOP will attempt to paint her as harmless and loveable. She will make enough clueless remarks and gaffes in the next two months to convince voters that she is not up to the job, and going overboard will just make critics seem mean.
The scandal will not be fully investigated until a few days before the election, so the GOP can effectively ask for the nation to give her the benefit of the doubt.
She can't (and won't) hide her views, however. They are quite out of the mainstream. And they are a legitimate target.
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Todd Dugdale , at 2:56 PM
Her lack of experience is not an attack on Palin, but on McCain's credibility. After having spent the better part of this year attacking Obama for his supposedly light resume -- for his inability to be commander in chief on "day one" -- his selection of Palin is an indictment of him not necessarily of her.
People thought they knew what McCain stood for (maverick, independent, experience, maturity, military, security). Picking Palin, with her resume, is a real WTF moment for people who thought they know what a McCain vote meant.
I think you're right about the troopergate scandal. Best for Obama/Biden to let that bubble -- maybe mention the investigation, but also the presumption of innocence. Keep focused on issues: Middle east, Russia, economy, (green/renewable) energy, health care, etc.
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-epm, at 3:13 PM
I know the Trooper investigation is set to break right before the election, but, many in Alaska will have incentive to stall it out for a week or two. It's being run by a Dem and opponent of Palin, so she'll try to push it through, but I don't know the levers pro-Palin locals might have to drag the thing out a week.
....
Todd, one of the questions I'd like to see posed to Palin the pro-life purist is if she's against birth control.
....
EPM, That's exactly the way you have to frame it, as an indictment of McCain, not an attack on Palin.
Because it's not her fault he's an idiot, you know?
And, the McCain camp has tried to paint this decision as "Maverick-y" but because of the obvious political nature, that already seems to be failing.
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mikevotes, at 4:17 PM
Todd, one of the questions I'd like to see posed to Palin the pro-life purist is if she's against birth control.
It's a matter of public record that she is opposed to the use of any form of birth control, even among married couples.
Her pro-life views are also extreme.
No exceptions - at all. Not if the life of the mother is at risk. Not in cases of rape or incest. Never.
She also balks at "intelligent design" in the schools. She wants the straight Biblical version taught. Absolute creationism. No mention of evolution - at all.
Denies global warming? Sure.
Once the media asks her about any of these things, she is toast. She is out of the mainstream and on the fringe.
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Todd Dugdale , at 5:05 PM
I don't think Palin is loved by the Alaska Republican establishment. She may be popular, but I think she's ruffled more than a few feathers in her own state party.
Not sure what this means in the national stage, but there it is.
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-epm, at 5:19 PM
Todd, I figured, but I'd like to see her have to respond to that on camera.
The rape/incest thing always sets me off. Yesterday afternoon I briefly put up a post "Palin says God wants rape", but I pulled it down. To me, that's perhaps the most disgusting perversion of religion to tell women that god wanted them raped.
If that's across some line, I'm sorry, but it just disgusts me that people dare to invoke god to screw with women's heads over something as heinous as rape.
I would like to see her answer all of these on camera. (And, if the love of the christian right is true, she will.) It's a disaster waiting to happen.
As I wrote sometime over the last two days, I'm fairly confident the McCain people won't put her out in "town halls."
....
EPM, There's a big fight about a natural gas pipeline, she wants it run through Canada, alot of Alaskans want it down the Alaskan coast. It's ruffled a lot of feathers and created some pretty heated enemies.
The head of the legislature that launched the Troopergate probe is Palin's mortal enemy with that issue being a big flashpoint.
And, you gotta figure she has other local enemies who will be happy to dump on her.
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mikevotes, at 5:51 PM
In addition to the pipeline, her reputation of corruption buster was built on her outing, if you will, of Republicans. I'm also wondering if she turned on Frank Murkowski after she was allegedly passed over for appointment to his senate seat when he appointed his daughter, Lisa.
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-epm, at 7:22 PM
I know there's bad blood between her and Lisa Murkowski.
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mikevotes, at 9:21 PM
If that's across some line, I'm sorry, but it just disgusts me that people dare to invoke god to screw with women's heads over something as heinous as rape.
And if the life of the mother is at risk? That steams me. How is that even pro-life?
And as far as I'm concerned, the government has no bloody right to tell married couples how many children to have. That's their decision to make, since they will have to bear the consequences.
It will all come out, and she will look like the flake that she is.
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Todd Dugdale , at 1:25 AM
New potential scandal on Palin.
It may be that her fifth child was not really hers, but her daughter's.
Her daughter had a suspiciously long "recovery" from a disease that usually lasts two weeks, and was out of sight for at least five months. Meanwhile, Palin did not appear to be pregnant herself.
If this has legs, it will not only paint her as a liar but it will be a liability to the social conservatives.
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Todd Dugdale , at 9:25 AM
I dunno, it's just such a hot button issue and I don't like to argue about it because nobody ever changes their minds. People end up screaming but there's no gain in it.
And, it's my hunch that exposure, in interviews, in the debate will not do her well.
....
As for the scandal, maybe. I don't like to frontpage stuff on evidence that light. But if that's really there, that's the kind of thing national reporters will find out.
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mikevotes, at 11:44 AM
Mike, if you'd like to read more on the scandal, here you go.
I don't consider a blog like Daily Kos as an end-all, be-all credible source for news, but it raises some interesting points. I'm hoping this gets some play in some newspapers soon.
By
Anonymous, at 12:48 PM
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