McCain Says Palin a Better Leader than Obama

Platitudes.

To clarify–McCain is speaking platitudes.
He barely even knows Sarah Palin.

As long as the Democrats and all you far left Liberal imbeciles (including the media swooning over Obama who continue to give him a free pass) continue to hammer Governor Palin’s outstanding record, her gubernatorial and executive experience and her successful accomplishments in her private life, and as long as you continue to compare the Republican’s No. 2 person to your No. 1, then the Republicans are in a much better position than they hoped to be.
What this scrutiny of Senator Palin highlights is the real shortcomings of the Democratic Presidential nominee (Obama not Biden!) who has been just one year in the Senate before running for President, but before then was plotting, scheming and outsmarting his opponents (including Hillary Clinton) in a calculating, devious manner like Chicago-style politics just like any other politician in Washington.
While Obama had lofty ambitions to run for President and made his entrance into politics for self-serving reasons and now hide behind a message of change and reform, Governor Palin has set out to quietly made a difference in the lives of her fellow Americans on many fronts as opposed to voting 130 times present in the Legislature – too afraid and too ambitious to leave a paper trail of his past records. Governor Palin is a proven reformer and change agent – not afraid to take on Big Oil, Big Business, and the Status Quo.
And here is a theory (but not far from realty) for all you die-hard Hillary supporters. Now is the time to get behind the McCain-Palin ticket. McCain knows that if he wins, there is a chance he will not run for a second term, and has paved the way for a presidential run for Hillary – after all, there are really good friends and he is a maverick.
Forget the issues for a moment – the Republicans are not going to overturn Roe v. Wade; McCain is committed to giving several thousands to each family for healthcare which will include every woman and child; he has the best education program and he knows a lot more about keeping the country safe. The enemy these days are not the army invasion kind that come wearing fatigues and boots but the terrorists that lurk in your own backyard – the ones you have to keep track of. You don’t want a President saying that Iran is just another irritant on a national stage.
Vote McCain for President!

McCain was half right, she would be a better leader than MCcAin.

Enormous responsibilities as Governor? The Alsaksa National Guard is a big deal is it? Alaska’s economy is 47th by Gross State Product http://www.statemaster.com/graph/eco_gdp-gross-state-product-current-dollars
Its population is 47th biggest as well
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_population
I think McCain may have boxed himself into a bit of a corner on the whole experience thing here. I think he would be better off just not talking about it. It just pushes Obama onto the issues, and if that happens, the Dems win hands down I think.

Yea, Yea, I know, Alaska is next to Russia, and he was a POW

Yeah, she gets things done, she got her ex-brother-in-law fired during a custody suit.

What I love about her is that she is a very accomplished woman and it is ovbious that the family works as a team.
II was raised in the good ole days when kids had to work.I work in education-my kids think that if they have to go home and do 2 hours of homework it is abuse.
When I was a kid, my parents ran a business-I came home from school and babysat every day and on weekends.
I have never used drugs or alchohol, have always worked and am 60 years old and can outwork most 40 year old men. I am widowed and the mother of a disabled child. I own my home and have a peice of property almost paid off.
My cousins also had to work hard.Two of my mother’s sisters ran businesses along side their husbands. Not a one of cousins use drugs or have a alochol problem; they are all educated or have their own business-hmmm I think Palin is a great example and her children know that Palin and her husband work as a team. Most of us in this world have to work and I mean work to get the American dream-aint life grand!
She also wears skirts-she is a class act. Great example for my students

Yes, but do you realize how many of those towns of 5 or 6,000 there are in this country who are going to find your insinuations rather offensive??
The Obama camp already did a good job of offending them the day McCain announced her selection.

Well, of course, you can SAY anything. The problem today is that the politicians, the media and apparently many voters think that saying it makes it true.

“She’s actually accomplished change.”
Yeah, like firing people for personal reasons. Nice one.
She hasn’t ‘cleaned’ anything. She was more interested in getting rid of people she didn’t like. But not the people she SHOULD have gotten rid of in her OWN Party.
The Alaskan Republican Party is still invested with lots of corrupt legislators and offices: Stevens (Father and Son); Young; Murkowski; Clark; Weimar; Bobrick; Anderson; etc. etc. The list goes on and on.

Looks like the Republican party is getting desperate…

I have never seen such idiotic comments in my life, for the love of God I hope that these comments are comming from children and not grown adults, first of all this woman has done more than Obama hands down, it’s on paper period, stop trying to diminish her accomplishments, it’s the same thing that corporate America does with women, they will hire the unqualified man and pay him more and try to downgrade the accomplishments of the woman with more credentials and experience, it’s ridiculous, she has had more time in elected office than he has, and for those of you with the small town comments, small town, big town whatever, they are all people and they are responsible for making serious decisions that affect peoples lives, they pass legislations, deal with budget issues, environmental issues, whether it’s a town of 3 million or a town of 3,000 you still have to make policies that will affect the lives of those constituance. All you have to do is look at her record and look at her accomplishments and you can see that she has had to make tough decisions, what type of decisions have Obama made, and it is telling when you are able to compare the bottom of the ticket person from the other team with the top of the ticket. As far as her being a heartbeat away from the presidency, Obama who is less qualified is trying to be the PRESIDENT, she is trying to be the VICE PRESIDENT, the person running for president has no foreign policy experience, so he picks Biden to help him out, McCain does not have great economic background so he chooses someone that will back him up, everyone refers to McCain’s Age, well how about Bidens age and his bout with an Anurism, if something happens to him the empty suit Obama would be on his own, what was your argument? You people lack basic common sense and it says a lot about our education system and why it needs to be revamped, these are things that can be easily research but yet you choose to spew lies and rhetoric instead of having a serious discussion of facts.

that the odious one, the hopelessly corrupt Ted Stevens, counts her as his insider buddy is enough to make my skin crawl… he`s a rotten – to-the-core sybarite…any notion that she is tough on corruption and cleaning house is all blather and froth and none of it true…already we have abuse of office… pathetic.

McCain is delusional. Palin is a right wing ideologue no more ready to lead a parade than the country.

John McCain once again has showed he will say whatever Karl Rove tells him. The same Karl Rove who tanked his campaign in South Carolina 2000, remember the ‘race issue’. Well John you are going to have to get alot smarter than you and Karl are. Because the American people are tired of the same Rove antics, the same hype over substance, that has served to drive America into a recession, an endless war in Iraq, an OBL still on the loose after all these years. Indeed, Mr. McCain can’t you get alittle better, alittle smarter, in your mature years? Or do you always in the end sell out to the highest bidder or the highest vote getter? Even when your facts just aren’t true!

is this the kind of people he is going to select to serve in an administration… something is seriously wrong with his judgement….

I’m even more focused on making Obama our next president with this anti-female VP pick of McCain. She has nothing that I want for the women of America. NOTHING!
She may have some estrogen in her, but that’s it. She does not represent America’s women or families. Do we need more BIG OIL interests running this country? More rejection of the science re: global warming? Haven’t you people had enough.

McCain is delusional. Palin is no more ready to lead a parade than the country.

If Palin is a better leader than Obama than McCain should quit the race and the Rebulican party should nominate Palin. What a joke.

Wouldn’t you be very enthused about the pick too if your questionairre looked like this?
Do I consider her perfect on issues?
Do I consider anyone perfect on ?
Do I consider her qualified / trust her judgment on ?
Now, if only McBush would be honest enough to replace “Nation First” with “Ideology First” or “Political Expediency” first..

McCain’s decision in selecting Sarah Palin is questionable. While she has accomplishments, her credentials fall short for the position. Can you imagine with her background handling Iran and N. Korea? Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman have more international and corporate goverance experience than Sarah has managing the state of Alaska.

Obama said the threat from Iran was smaller than the threat from Russia–during the cold war. He didn’t say Iran was a tiny country. Not understanding geography is McCain’s thing!

John McCain has chosen the least qualified major party VP candidate in American history. In doing so, he has acted recklessly and irresponsibly, and he has called his own judgment into serious question. Just last August, Sarah Palin confessed in an interview that she has never thought much about Iraq or the war or foreign affairs because she’s always been “too busy doing other things.” It’s not just that she has no experience. It’s that she’s never even thought seriously about this stuff. And now McCain wants her going toe-to-toe, on our behalf, with the leaders of Iran, Russia, China, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and North Korea. This is an act of breathtaking malpractice on McCain’s part, and it would endanger us all.

Obama had one chance to listen to the people (dems) to create the dream ticket with Clinton and he blew it.
He did not listen to the millions of people then and there is no way he ever will.

How can you compete with someone who thinks they are a God?
Why would you want to.
Obama has made a three ring circus out of the Presidential Race.
It Is All about him.
I think his childhood was so distrubing and left deep scars. With His own father abandoning him. His Mother abandoning him. Has left way to much emotional upsets he still is trying to deal with.
In his desperately seeking Attention and love. Going Overboard with the need to feel like someone loves him and that he is accepted. He is running for President for all the wrong reasons.
He is still having Identify Crisis.
He is still trying to prove to himself he is better than his Dad.
He will do absolutely any thing, any thing at all to win, no matter what.
His needs are not the Countries Needs.
Nor Should the Country made to suffer or be part of his Crisis.
Follow his life and the paths it has taken him, from doing drugs to staying friends with some pretty despicable people. Shows his bad judgments and lack of identity and self worth.
There is so much he still has not come to terms with in his life.
Being the President of Our Country will not help with that, and could possibly have detrimental effects on him and the nation.
He might be a nice man, he might have an idea, But he should not be president until he has all the Ghost out of his closet.
Reality bites sometimes, but you can not argue with the truth.

What a winning stategy from the left! They’re trying to poke holes in Gov. Palin because she’s the governor of the state with the 4th smallest number of residents. She has just as much executive experience as Sen. Obama has national legislative experience. From what I understand in studying government, it is much easier to go with the partisan flow as a legislator than to reform a state party system. Gov. Palin may have less “experiece” in the public arena, but knowing about what she has done in the state of Alaska puts Sen. Obama to shame.
Oh, and the objective journalism in this election is simply stunning…

She makes good moose burgers,
man. Isn’t that enough to be
Vice President of the USA and
if necessary to be President?

As the NY Daily News reported today, not even Palin’s mother-in-law thinks she is qualified.

Kim, under your analysis, the mayor of any small town in America is qualified to become president. I just think you should seriously contemplate the actual local politicians you know and whether you think they could effectively govern this country. I’ve been troubled about Obama’s lack of experience as well, but Palin’s is taking that next step in the inexperience direction. The whole thing has me wondering if everyone needs to go back to school and be re-educated about the very real impacts that politicians have on our lives – it’s not just games and advertising wars and what will sell better to the masses – it’s real. But, you’d never know it from the candidates and campaigns (and the ridiculous focus of the media analyses) that are going on in this election.

bottom line huge lack of experience on both sides…Obama & Sarah…doesn’t matter if the person is #1 or #2…is this really the best that both parties have to offer???? really disgraceful!

She didn’t have a passport until 2007.
What’s more amazing, though, is the flip-flopping the Fox-types have done on whether “experience” matters. Fred Barnes was saying “Abraham Lincoln didn’t have much experience before election, and it was no problem!”
Yet they all ripped on Obama as being inexperienced.

The selection of Sarah Palin is reckless lunacy. There is no defending it.

If Palin’s experience is as significant as portrayed , she’s better qualified than McCain, Obama, and Biden. He should step aside and place her at the top of the ticket for the good of the country.

bottom line huge lack of experience on both sides…Obama & Sarah…doesn’t matter if the person is #1 or #2…is this really the best that both parties have to offer???? really disgraceful!
Posted by: political neophyte
It’s good that you are neutral but this blog is filled with people who have a position on both sides. Maybe you should move to Switerzerland!

We are so excited about Sarah Palin. She is more experienced than Obama. This is a great match for John McCain. His cancer is the type that does not have to be a threat when caught in time. My brother has had it 3 times and after 15 years is doing fantastic. If something were to happen to John McCain, I certainly still would rather see Sarah Palin as President than Obama or Biden. The McCain/Palin is more American than Barak Hussein Obama, which scares us. Can Barak be trusted? We know what kind of character Sarah Palin has. McCain has served his country well and loves this country. If Sarah Palin is a gamble, we believe it is a very smart gamble for America. She has our vote! She has our support. Vote McCain/Palin!

And while we’re on the subject, how could John ’08 do this to all the responsible, thinking members of his own party.
Now they all have to put on a good face, spinning to reporters what a great person Sarah Palin is, how she does have experience, etc. when they know there were many other Republicans both more well-known and far more qualified.
How could he do that to his own fellow Republicans?
Speaks volumes about McCain ’08 – not even close to the man that was McCain POW or even McCain 2000.

A dubious war hero selects a
dubious VP.

That being said by McCain, no one should have any doubt now, he’s nuts. I wouldn’t trust him as a dog-catcher much less as President and his pick as VP is PLAIN stupid.

Reposting as some phrases were cut off…
Wouldn’t you be very enthused about the pick too if your questionairre looked like this?
Do I consider her perfect on “certain hot button social” issues?
Do I consider anyone perfect on “certain hot button social issues”?
Do I consider her qualified / trust her judgment on “certain hot button social issues”?
Now, if only McBush would be honest enough to replace “Nation First” with “Ideology First” or “Political Expediency” first…

Obama is right on judgement on every instance whether it is IRaq war or negociating with Iran. He has the intellectual and judgement to lead this great country. Lets not confuse about it.
Vote for Obama.

“But I heard more than one commentator on the Sunday morning shows that Palin has the MOST experience of all four on the major party tickets in the areas of energy and oil.”
Now that is a laugh! Oil pays for everything in Alaska. There are no taxes, Income, Sales, or Personal property. All Paid for by Oil. Now you don’t suppose that she might be for oil do you? Don’t think that oil might be her priority do you? Don’t think she might be in bed with the oil industry do you? Don’t think she might sell out the rest of the country for oil do you?

McCain picked Ms. Palin as an insult to the election and the democratic process. His need to “one-up” the DNC. Ms. Palin, on the other hand, by accepting the Veep position demonstrates her judgement. An embrassing display of ego, when clearly she is not equipped for the number 2 position of our nation.
A public school principal must have a Master’s Degree to administer a school and educate your children. Ms. Palin has a Bachlors Degree in journalism. An education that does not qualify Ms. Palin to administer our nation.
Think clearly here folks! Sen. McCain is an older guy with health problems. Ms. Palin is way over her head. This is not the time to play “old man” 1980s politics.

Re: Jane
“Forget the issues for a moment”
Do some of you people even hear yourselves talk? For all the talk about McCain “putting country first,” the strategy to elect him this time around so Hillary can run again in 2012 is pretty deceitful. He talks about corruption in Washington, and then his supporters openly try to bribe the female vote. Disgusting.
The reason Palin is going to flop is because independents, Hillary supporters, and women in general are smart enough to see through a blatant political stunt and vote on issues rather than ovaries.
“Forget the issues…” honestly. This isn’t junior high student council. You might as well say “Vote for Palin because boys are gross!”

Is your son being shipped
to Iraq something to boast
about?
To do what there? To
participate in further
destruction of that country?
The fact is Bush is bringing
troops home and implementing
Obama’s plan.
McCain the old warmonger
stands alone on Iraq now.

Gee Concerned on OH if you idiots in Ohio haden’t elected the Town Idiot from Crawford Texas as President we wouldn’t be so deep in debt nor at war.

Ethan:
Umm – What?

I have been a loyal democrat for over 15 years. I am now a registered republican who will vote for McCain/Palin in November. Obama and Biden is a complete JOKE.

McCain is as confident about Sarah Palin’s judgment in much the same way that he was confident that iraq has WMD.

Oh wow, can McCain be more stupid? hahahahahaha i just lmao everytime he speaks…. and hey remember… we are a nation of whiners!!!!!

He meets this woman once, declares her to be his soul mate, then claims she’s a better leader than Obama. This guy is a bigger moron than Bush. There is no other conclusion to reach. McCain would be truly dangerous as President.

But Steve you obviously overlooked the Presidency of Carter. Love him or hate him, I’ll take Bush over Carter any day.

Oh ya, He’s implementing Obama’s plan! What a JOKE! Obama never even stated a plan. He only repeated the timetable montra. What do you think the surge was for if not to add security and give the Iraqi army time to build. Now that the Iraqi’s are stronger we can think about bringing troop levels down. I dare you to state exactly any plan Obama has. Change! Change! No. I don’t have change for a dollar.

seah
Obama has been saying for months that it’s not about him! Weren’t you listening? It has been McCain who has tried to make this about Obama because McGeezer can’t talk about the polices of his party over the last 8 years. Obama has never called McCain a rockstar or compared him to Paris Hilton. You ignorant McCain supporters only hear what you want. Why don’t you try to explain why he passed over Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Condi Rice etc? These women would have been much more qualified. Do you suspose he has some sort of obession with beauty queens?

I was a life long Republication. Looking
at the Mccain ticket and his policies,
I am voting for Democrats. McCain/Palin
ticket is JOKE

Some facts about Wassila:
Public Water System serves 746 customers
Public Sewer System serves 523 customers
Police City Police Department: 21 officers including chief and communication officer
Fire/Rescue is run by the Borough
Ambulance is run by the Borough
Impressive.

It is about the oil.
McCain/Palin “Change we can line our pockets with.”
Posted by: Mr. Coffee
Actually, we’ve already been doing that. Except that instead of lining our pockets, we’ve all been fleeced! It’s the oil companies who have lined their pockets!

Glenda
We’re not running for President but if you’re scared you should buy a dog!

Great judgement on the part of Obama. It
took him more than 20 years for him to judge his pastor’s teachings. For every problem we have, Obama will come to realize about it after may be a couple of decades.Judgemnt is his forte.

Good to see so many Obama bloggers out today. Many of your outrageous comments prove just how desperate the Democrats have become. This choice has blown them out of the water.
They have a ticket composed of a do-nothing and a 36-year Washington insider. One is ranked the #1 liberal in Congress, the other #3. They talk about change, but have absolutely no record of ever bucking their own party for the good of the people.
The other team is composed of a 25-year Washington maverick paired with a governor who has a proven record of change in her state – even when her own party blasted her for her actions. She’s even acted on behalf of the American taxpayers in that role by saying “no thanks” to Sen. Ted Stevens $400 million dollar bridge to nowhere that McCain tried to block in the Senate but was unable to.
Talk of Change versus Proven Change. I’ll go with the experienced team of McCain/Palin.

“Clean up government corruption”
She is currently being investigated for abuse of power.

From what I have always heard from local residents who have “summered” in Alaska, working six months on fishing ships, wages in Alaska have always been extremely high, as compared to the rest of the country, as is the cost of living there.
I would imagine Todd Palin’s $100,000 to $120,000/year salary would probably be the equivalent of a very middle class existence in the lower 48.

Hmmmm — last I looked, PTA experience didn’t count as “executive management.” Today, her mother-in-law was reported as not necessarily voting for her. Yes, she was a mayor…of a 7K-citizen village. Yes, she is the Governor…or a 700,000 citizen State. Let’s get real: Chicago has 3million people; Illinois has 13million people. Being the Senator from Illinois carries a bit more responsibility than an officer in the PTA. Times are serious — we don’t need someone second-in-command who’s claim to economic expertise is that she’s negotiating gas line rights to a CANADIAN firm!

I didn’t trust her when she first came on the scene here in Alaska, because I jumped to the conclusion she was just a pretty face. But over the years, she’s won my respect. She has demonstrated more inspired, wise, energetic, principled, and genuine leadership than her short time in office suggests. I hope America manages to see this through the fog of politics.
What I especially like about her leadership is that she leads by doing, not just talking. Yet while she’s willing to stick her own neck out for what’s right, she’s also able to work with honest opponents to achieve pragmatic compromise. She’s the kind of leader a working democracy needs.
It’s clear to me, though, that Sarah is a Mom first, and a politician second. To me, that’s about the highest compliment I could ever pay any politician. Any caring Mom or Dad will understand my sentiment. Frankly, I want someone in office who cares more about people than politics. When I watched her choose to keep Trig (her Down’s syndrome child) that pretty much sealed my approval of Sarah. Whether you’re pro-life or not, it’s hard not to respect her stand. It’s one thing to say you’re pro-life. It’s another to live it out with personal sacrifice and grace.
She has my vote – AND my wife’s. Now, and when she runs for president in 2012.
P.S.: I saw her the other day when I was on my workout jog through the Glen Alps trailhead. She was doing a video shoot on the look-out over Anchorage, and we happened to be leaving at the same time. She walked right by me with a couple of her retinue, but I didn’t intrude. She drove herself down the mountain in a small sedan. I found myself just behind her in a three-car procession. Kind of cool.

So many Mccain supporters are dying today to bring the failed policies of past. America is far more better than McCain/Palin. Obama/Biden is far more superior ticket for presidency.
Democrats 08

“Clean up government corruption”
She is currently being investigated for abuse of power.
Posted by: Willem van Oranje
You’re right Willem but those idiot McCain supporters just don’t get it! I can’t wait to see these emails that bible betty sent to the guy she fired for not firing her ex brother in-law! By the way, this might seem petty but that voice of hers is god awful! I can barely listen to her talk.

Democrats are such hypocrites. If they can put a candidate with no foreign policy on the top of the ticket, why can’t Republicans put one on the bottom of the ticket? The race is about Obama and McCain, not their running mates. Since when the VP become so important in a presidential race? People tearing Palin apart without even looking at her record are just desperate. And why do so many people assume McCain will die soon? I know a cancer surviver who lived to his 90s. The reality is, if Obama wins, the window for Hillary to run again will be closed. She’ll be too old in 2016.

Actually MO, Palin was not in favor of the bridge to nowhere.

McCain (pre-Palin): “Experience matters!”
McCain (post-Palin): “Never mind.”

Ocean8: “People tearing Palin apart without even looking at her record are just desperate.”
Bwahahaha. We ARE looking at her record: there’s just no there there.

Gretchen Well, thank god Obama doesn’t distort McCain’s comments or record. It works both ways Gretchen.
Your candidate hasn’t embraced new politics yet.

Suppose, just suppose, McCain somehow wins and then, a week before he’s to take office, dies.
Suddenly we have a President of the United States with NO National Policy experience, NO foreign policy experience, and a child still in diapers.
The President of the U.S. getting On-the-job training? No thanks.

McCain has turned this race into a complete mockery. Sad. McCain, me first. This man doesn’t give a whit about our country.

On the job training! PERFECT! That is exactly what BIDEN said about Barrak Hussein Obama during the primaries! PERFECT!!!!

A supporter of Palin’s campaign for governor, Jim Whitaker, the Republican mayor of Fairbanks, also questioned Palin’s readiness to serve as vice president in a phone interview yesterday.
The REPUBLICAN state Senate leader in Alaska flatly said she was unqualified and thought she was being tiold a joke when she heard the announcement.
These are Alaska Republicans.
Not Democrats. Not from any other place. Alaska Republicans say she is unqualified for the office.

Palin a better a leader than Obama? Really, on what basis. The Senator from Illinois…Last election Obama won the Senate with 70% of the vote and 3.5 million votiing (5 times the state of Alaska). In the primaries he has garnered 18 million votes while capturing the Democratic nomination. What has Palin led? A town of 9000 for 6 years and a state where she garnered only 114,000 last election. I understand that elections are not necessarily indications of leadership. But, what in her record indicates that is such a great leader after 2 years in office. Wasn’t GW being lauded as a great leader after 2 years and look where that went. McCain needs to be honest….he chose Palin simply because she was a woman who he thought good garner Hillary votes not because she was a great leader or was the best qualified to lead if something should happen to the president. I swear McCain is going senile….either that or he just playing a bad joke on this country. I cannot take his candidacy seriously…

For all of you who keep pointing out all of Biden’s years of experience and foreign policy savvy, you very carefully navigate the waters around the fact that he is just a small handful of years behind McCain.
So, what is Obama going to do if, God forbid, something happens to Biden?????

Steve May I remind you that Carter, Reagan, Clinton and Bush Jr all came into office having been Governor’s and with little if any foreign policy experience. In fact the only recent Prsident who did was Bush Sr. Governor’s bring in executive experience
governing, they have dealt with budgets aand are running the show over those State Senators such as Obama was in Illinois. They also come in as the real Washington outsiders. Obama has 300 foreign policy advisors and needed to bring Biden on to compensate for his lack of foreign policy experience and has pointed out over and over that judgement not experience, is what is needed in foreign policy. Obama is at the top of the ticket and Palin at the bottom and unless McCain were to drop dead in Jan. of 2009, I think she will find a couple hundered of her own advisors and will be well versed in foreign policy plus having the experience as VP that Obama’s not coming in with. Remember the President generally doesn’t go it alone because there is a Secretary of Defense and State and Centcom. and various other
people who have their input. Unless of curse you’re the inexperienced Obama who doesn’t seem to think that Petreus’s input would be necessary because of course he would be President.
Now that’s scary.

I was Republican and voted for Bush in 2000. Republicans and Bush plunge this country to deep that I regret my vote.
Come’on folks, lets vote for Barack.
He is the leader of the century.
Republication for Obama/Biden 08

Iris Bittencourt: Blacks are underrepresented??????? You do know that the people of the country elect their representatives. Not to mention that there are not that many people of color who even run for office…

Advice for McCain: you don’t go to an area that is in the process of getting evacuated. Your presence and everybody who’s in your entourage, will only hamper efforts to get people out of harm’s way.
Chalk this up as another serious error in judgement.

This time, McCain hit it out of the ball park….Saying that “Palin is a better leader than Obama” is the apex of stupidity. The “good soldier” is really out of his pond….If he keeps going at it, someone is going to suggest that the man’s head must be examined.

When Biden attempts to point out that Palin comes from a State of 670,053 people then she needs to point out that Biden comes from a State of 843,524 people. If he minimizes her governing a State of such a population does that hold true of his representing a State of such? They are second in crude oil production , they have the 5th National per capita gross State product, they have the biggest land mass of any State
and more coastline then any State and so on. Unless Biden comes from New York, California, Texas or some other larger and more populous State I don’t think I’d go there.

Palin has said she welcomes the investigation regarding her brother-in-law; in fact, she wants to get it over with in order to clear herself.
As for Alaskan Republicans speaking against her – you bet some of them will, because she went up against her own party as often as not in order to clear out the corruption and Old Boys Club that had run things for years.
As for the bridge to nowhere, she did say no which upset Republicans who had been trying to get that for years. Her view was that Alaskans should take care of themselves instead of expecting the other 49 states to and she suggested upgrading the ferry at a cost far less than a bridge whose use wouldn’t justify its cost.
This country has got to get back to fiscal responsibility. Taxes aren’t the problem – spending is. (And in case you haven’t noticed, the Bush tax cuts expire in 2010 regardless of who’s President unless Congress votes to extend them.) McCain has vowed to cut earmarks and wasteful spending; Palin has a proven track record of fiscal conservancy.
McCain/Palin – Proven Change We Can See (as opposed to that other ticket that just talks change and asks us to believe – though they have absolutely no record of ever bucking their own party and tout the same old liberal tax-and-spend mantra).

After reading McCain’s comments to the press, I can only conclude he is hoping that if he repeats these lines enough times, they just might be true. Sad that has come to this. But no matter how many times the talking points are repeated, nothing can take away from the truth that McCain made a risky and rash move to put himself, rather than the country, first.

once the 24 hour shock wears off the facts of Ms Palin will need to be answered:
(a) her financial statement of 2007 shoes she is worth $10million. As she never held a job that would produce this kind of income and her family is not of means and her husband is a union member- where was this fortune amassed? (makes her net worth 2 1/2 time more than Sen Obama who wrote 2 best selling books)
(b) she wants creationism taught in schools
(c) she does not believe in Global Warming
(d) She is anti choice
(e) she is ot for equal pay for equal work
(f) she was FOR the Bridge for Nowhere – as matter of fact this was part of her platform in 2006 in running for governor.
She accepted the money from congress for her state. She then decided not to go ahead with the bridge but kept the money for other projects.
Reformer? I don’t think so
She is for a windfall profit tax on the oil companies which is a pillar of Obama’s campaign (and McCain is against)
She is for drilling in Anwr (which McCain is against)
John McCain – made a decision who would/could be a heartbeat away from the Presidency on a person he met ONCE and had ONE telephone call with
This is not the sign of a Maverick
This is RECKLESS and cynical
Stop with the talking points – this is the audition for the most powerful person in the world –
If he wanted to shake it up and have a female running mate – what about Condi Rice? Kay Bailey Hutchinson? Christy Whitman?
There are Republican women of substance – he didn’t pick one
The man is 72 years old and been through four bouts of cancerand this is putting Country First?
I think not – this is putting blind ambition first
John McCain doesn’t get it

Willem You forgot to mention the comments in that article where she said Palin is a quick study and that it was pointed out she’s not a friend of the oil industry and is more then capable of standing up to special interests.
The article is in Huffington Post if people want the non-edited and biased version. If her mother-in-law is the best Huffington has come up with so far.
It is possible though that something may come out about Palin that McCain and ourselves our unaware of and I have no doubt the Obama camp is looking in every corner and will ensure the Huffington or other media get the story.

billy Anyone who watched Saddleback knows that was a joke and that McCain himself said he would expect that comment to be twisted and running in the media the next day. Watch Saddleback if people want the context of that comment.

The virulence with which Obamabots are attacking Palin surprises me. Perhaps they are doing so in order to deflect attention from Obama’s average speech at the convention, the fact that Obama’s ‘bounce’ from the convention really only came with Hillary’s speech, and the fact that 1/4 of Hillary supporters now say they will back McCain. Dems, you have no one to blame but yourselves.

Mc same should have waited to see if he were elected and then he could have nominated Palin to the Supreme Court. If she listened in an a small claims court case that’s all she needs

Jake, how has the GOP oppressed the poor? Please tell me.

If the Country wants to elect this woman Vice President, then so be it. McCain opened the door. But it’s ultimately half of, or perhaps more, of American people he is reflecting.
If we go down, it won’t because of Russia, or because of Iran, or because of North Korea.
It will be because the American people would rather elect the person sitting next to them at a soccer game President than the real thing.
It’s happened twice now with Bush, if it happens again, I say so be it.
But years from now don’t say the Democrats didn’t try. God bless them.

It’s unbelievable that he would say that, he thinks people are stupid.

Lisa I’m a supporter of universal health care but there is no way it will make it through Congress in the next four years or for that matter eight,
We can’t afford and Congress is not going to push it regardless of what the Dems are promising. Remember , we’re just taking our troops in Iraq and marching them over to Afghanistan.
We are trillions in debt and that didn’t even include the cost of the Iraq war up until recently. Universal health care is promise the Dems aren’t going to deliver nor intend to deliver anytime soon. I’ve been listening to Democratic rhetoric year after year after year and it’s the same old stuff and it still hasn’t happened. Pelosi and company have a 9% approval rating in comparison to Bush’s 30%. Bush deserves the rap for Iraq but the economy and energy is a culmination of bad policy and neglect by both the Democrats and Republicans over decades.
Clinton did no one any favors when he deregulated the banking industry in 1999 either and Bush’s neglect and Greenspan’s neglect over these past 8 years has been abysmal. I was a Democrat who is now an independent and I don’t think given the past 8 years the Republican deserve the White House but I also think the performance of Congress these past 4 years also means the Democrats don’t deserve the White House either.

Concerned in OH,
Exactly. Control, control… Really, that is what taxes in general amount to. The control of our money and therefore, our actions.

McCain think most Americans are dumb and stupid like the Bush supporters. The most corruption and waste of our national resources have occurred under the Republican administration. The only thing is trying to do is divide women and win the Clintons’ supporters. If Mrs. Palin, by virtue of being the Governor of Alaska for s a short period of time, has more prepared and because her executive experience, then she also has more experience than McCain in that department.
Examining Mrs. Palin’s education and background, one has to wonder what McCain had in mind in making this very important selection. I guess the most obvious is that she, like the second Mrs. McCain, is former beauty queen. See, true “celebrities” like to hang out with their same kind.

McCain think most Americans are dumb and stupid like the Bush supporters. The most corruption and waste of our national resources have occurred under the Republican administration. The only thing is trying to do is divide women and win the Clintons’ supporters. If Mrs. Palin, by virtue of being the Governor of Alaska for s a short period of time, has more prepared and because her executive experience, then she also has more experience than McCain in that department.
Examining Mrs. Palin’s education and background, one has to wonder what McCain had in mind in making this very important selection. I guess the most obvious is that she, like the second Mrs. McCain, is former beauty queen. See, true “celebrities” like to hang out with their own kind.

He met her twice and all of a sudden she is McCain’s VP? He looked at her a year and a half record as Gov. of Alaska and decided she is the one for the job? That’s ridiculous.

Here is some secular irony that is incredibly appropriate for an ABC blog.
Anyone remember that melodrama Rod Lurie thrust upon television, “Commander in Chief”? The one that was supposed to serve as the weekly advertisement of the ordained future of Senator Rodham?
The idea was to show a lady president on TV, showing that she could balance her job and family life, that she could challenge the big boys, and that she could make decisions to defend the nation.
Well, the real life ironic twist here is that Mr Lurie’s little fantasy now has a different context – where the First woman to serve as President of the United States may actually be a Republican.
Oups – Damn those unintended consequences.

This was a political and dangerous pick by McCain, he met her only twice in hit life, once people find out that she was the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people and governing for a year and a half, his credibility will go down. He chose her to rally his conservative base and gather some Hillary voters, and as far as that goes, Hillary is in her own league, Palin doesn’t even match up. She even called Hillary a whiner during the primaries, I’m not sure how they would feel about that. McCain can argue all day about Palin being more experienced than Obama, but the millions of people in America have chosen Obama to lead and believe he will be the better person for the job, I don’t think much people outside of Alaska know who she is.

all of you sure are quick to make judgements from what the media tells you. half of the information you are spatting out is probably false, first of all, and second, try opening your mind to something new for once. maybe that will get this country out of the mess it’s in.

What does it say about McCain when he thinks that Sarah Palin would be capable of being POTUS should something terrible happen to him?
At first, everybody was baffled but after it started to sink in, even sensitive conservatives were panicking. And rightly so.
And now sensitive people across the US will start wondering about McCain himself. What was he thinking? Is he really a maverick? Or just plain stupid? And can we afford to take such a risk?

McCain’s choice of Palin has made me an Obama supporter. Can you see this inexperienced “hockey mom” negotiating with Putin? We’ll be the laughingstock of the world more than we already are.

As a sucesful working & married mother of 3 I’m insulted by Mr McCain’s choice for VP. He seems to think that just because he picks a woman, any woman for that matter, all women will vote for him.
He seems to think women are stupid or something?
Even worse, Sara knows it and even talks about it openly. I’m I the only one who is o troubled by it?
Mr McCain based his first executive decision on politics only, the good of the people or nation had nothing to do with his pick. come on, there had to be much better VP picks within the GP.
He didn’t pick someone to help or counsel in case of international crisis or that could take office if something happens to the eldest elected president.
Mr McCain, i find your first executive decision reckless and sad.
Mr McCain, I can’t vote for you now.

Wasilla has more moose than people.

I would never vote for McCain/Palin. What a joke on America. I guess Obama is right when he says that McCain has poor judgment. He’s senile!

Ok – Attention Lefties/Liberals/Democrats.
You have two choices – you can either stop whining about the “evil Republican hate machine” and “Rovian tactics”, OR you can stop throwing unreferenced baseless comments into the blogosphere – such as what you’re trying now with the “Is that really *her* son”
For that party that’s SUPPOSEDLY about fairness, tolerance and equality – how ’bout you step-up and act like it?

A community organizer in urban Chicago? OMG!!!!

As a woman, I was highly offended but not surprised by McCain’s VP choice. This may sound strange, but McCain has just played the biggest race card to date in this election. Race, you question. Yes, race. You see, the so-called women’s rights movement received a big boost in 1964 when a conservative Southern senator inserted the term “gender” in the Civil Rights Act. This simple inclusion had a profound racial impact: when given the choice between hiring their wife, sister, cousin, aunt, niece or that of one of their white colleagues or a black person of any gender, who do you think that racist white men would choose? What started as legislation meant to redress the harm caused by slavery was effectively hijacked and transformed into a means to increase the aggregate accumulation of wealth, power and other benefits within the white community. For example, African Americans currently make up about 13% of the US population, but have historically been underrepresented in Congress. Currently 42 members (9.5%) of the House (including two non-voting delegates) are black, while Barack Obama is the only African American member of the Senate. Only five African Americans have ever served in the Senate. To put this in perspective, there have been five Asian-American senators and six Hispanic-American senators, and there are currently 16 women in the Senate, the highest number in history, and 74 female representatives.
The experience in U.S. law firms is very similar. As aptly noted in an article comparing the progress of women and minorities in large law firms, “[a]s a general rule, the available literature tends to focus more on women than minorities in the legal profession.” Since 1975, the representation of women as professionals in large firms has increased by 179.9% from 14.4 percent in 1975 to 40.3 percent in 2002, whereas the representation of African Americans increased by 91.3% from 2.3 percent in 1975 to 4.4 percent in 2002. (Hispanics increased from 0.7 percent to 2.9 percent, and Asians increased from 0.5 percent to 5.3 percent over the same period). By 1982, the percent of women reported as legal professionals was nearly identical to the percent of women receiving law degrees in that year, and since then the employment of women in these firms has remained higher than in the more general work force. Conversely, law degrees earned by African Americans appear to consistently exceed the employment of African Americans as professionals in large private law firms and as lawyers in the general work force. Unlike the employment patterns for women, the proportion of African Americans employed as lawyers in the general labor market and as professionals in law firms as captured by the EEO-1 data is fairly consistent, and changes in the employment of African American professionals in private sector firms required to file EEO-1 reports lagged behind their increase as lawyers in the general work force and in their increased rate of receiving law degrees over the past twenty years. (Contrast this experience with Asians: the growth in Asian attorneys is so rapid that by 2002, the percentage of Asian professionals in Legal Services, 5.3 percent, as reported on the EEO-1 exceeds the percentage of African Americans, 4.4 percent. Degrees conferred to Asians also increases during the twenty year study period. In 1982 just 1.3 percent of all law degrees are awarded to Asians but by 2002, they earn 6.5 percent of all degrees. Over the past twenty years the rate of change for the percent of Asians reported as professional by Legal Service firms on their EEO-1 reports is 341 percent. The increase in law degrees earned by Asians is even higher at 400 percent.)
Based on these and other statistics, who were the true beneficiaries of the Civil Rights Act that blacks marched and died for? Somehow, we have gotten to a point in our history where white women, Hispanics, Asians, handicapped people and others are equated with black people in America. When were they slaves in America?
What were white women doing while black men and women were slaves? Were white women, like me, considered a protected class in society, with rights to inherit our husband’s wealth and to child support and alimony if the marriage did not work? How is my plight equal to that of the plight of the descendants of slaves? I could never understand that and reject it openly. When people talk about equal pay, they speak about equal pay for white women, because both black men and black women earn less than white men, and black women earn on average far less than white women. If you are a white woman in this country, you benefit from the Equal Pay Act, which requires a women to prove only that she received lower pay than a similarly situated male. If you are a black man (whose descendants worked for centuries for free and has always received less pay than whites), you have to prove both that you received lower pay and that the reason that you were paid less is because of racism (a nearly impossible task, as reflected in recent civil rights jurisprudence).
So, McCain is using old faithful: selecting a white woman provides coverage for other white women to vote against Obama due to racism. Listen to the white female voters who will not vote for Obama. Their arguments make no sense. It is not about differences in policy, it is simply that they cannot countenance a black man (as one PUMA stated “an unqualified, affirmative action black male”) going ahead of white women. You can see almost open references to this tight of thinking when people talk about how Obama jumped ahead in line or did not wait his turn. His so-called place is behind white America, male or female.
What separates these anti-Obama Democratic women from their racist male counterparts? It is sad that the press does not explore this issue. Again, I ask, how are women, Asians, Hispanics, handicapped, etc. suddenly equal to the descendants of slaves? Do we equate any of these groups to the suffering of the Jews? If Obama were Joe Lieberman, would women feel as strongly as they do against Obama? Be honest. This is a test for our country. Have we moved beyond racism? Time will tell.

Willhelm,
Sarah was 7 months prego when she was on the flight, and every pediatrician that I have spoken with has said that there is nothing wrong with air travel during pregnancy at that stage.
But please, don’t let me put a dent in your hate-fest.

Correction: She was not mayor of Wasilla for ten years. She was the major for just six years–1996-2002. McCain is counting her experience as a city council member from 1992-1996.
She’s clearly very smart and sounds good at her job (although it’s hard for me to determine that since i don’t agree with her on the issues), but being good as the governor of a town with as many people as a mid-size liberal arts college and then governor of a state with less than 700,000 people is in no way preparation for president.
Obama has more experience than she does, and Hillary certainly did. And perhaps more importantly–since neither Obama nor Hillary were technically (in terms of elected years on the national stage) the most experienced candidates ever–Obama and Hillary have a knowledgeable view of the world as a whole, and they have spent years considering their positions on vital domestic and national issues. Palin, on the other hand, recently said that “she hasn’t given much thought to Iraq.”
Hillary’s candidacy excited me, although I was an Obama supporter, because I felt like if my candidate lost the primary, I’d still be able to vote for a very qualified woman for president.
Now, we’ve got a woman who, while clearly talented, is clearly not ready for this. She has not proved herself in the way that Hillary and Obama have. And therefore, what should feel like a triumph–a woman on one ticket, an African-American on the other–tastes sour. When a woman is chosen by a male candidate because he thinks that other woman are stupid enough to abandon their political positions in order to vote for a woman, that’s not progress.
For goodness’ sake,

abel
The pipeline that Palin promoted has nothing to do with filling up your gas tank. It’s for natural gas.

And, as we have witnessed, when the going gets tough, the Obama regime plays the race card…
When the going gets tougher, Obama supporters play the race card…
When all else fails, they play the race card again…
Just how many race cards are there in an Obama/OBiden deck?
Anybody But Obama…

McCain is not playing the race card. Palin is a maverick just like him that just happens to be a woman who is a reformer that the republican party needs.
Although, I do assume many democratic black voters are only voting for Obama because he is Black versus experienced. If Obama was white he would not have had gotten the black vote because they would have voted for Hillary who has always supported them in the past.

“As governor, she has had enormous responsibilities, none of which Senator Obama has had.”
McCain, you do realize that you’re a Senator too, right? If Obama has never had responsibilities because he’s a Senator rather than a Governor, then neither did you, neither did Hillary, etc. Not a good way to go.
The Republicans attacked Bill Clinton in 1992 for being inexperienced, saying that he was the governor of Arkansas, which counted for nothing. And he’d been governor of Arkansas for more than ten years. And Arkansas is bigger than Alaska by a long shot. Even the best, most noble politicians are not immune to hypocrisy, but this is an unusually shameless example of it on McCain’s part.
And when will they drop the present thing? Illinois Planned Parenthood as stated many times that they requested Democratic Senators to vote present on abortion issues because it counts as a No without giving the Republicans fodder to run against them. Similar tactics were used on other issues. And sometimes Obama stood alone or with only one or two other people on the present votes because he felt the bill was unconstitutional or flawed in some way.
This line of attack is not credible. And McCain has missed more votes in the Senate than either Obama or Hillary. What was that again about glass houses and stone throwing?
We women are smarter than McCain gives us credit for. Hillary was a qualified woman. Obama is a qualified man. They both had excellent records on women’s rights. Some women will probably just vote gender, but I think (I could be wrong, but I don’t think so) most will not be swayed by the presence of a uterus.

For those of you who have decided that McCain’s choice of an inexperienced governor has made you become an Obama supporter: hypocrite. Obama and Palin both have zero foreign policy experience. At least Palin is on the bottom of the ticket instead of on the top like Obama. In addition, Palin has more executive experience than Obama, McCain, and Biden combined. That means that she has been forced to make quick decisions that will have an almost immediate effect on those that she governs. Also, lets go back to middle school studies. The white house makes up the executive branch of the United States and again the only person with executive experience is Palin. Those other three guys are in the legislative branch.

Before you spread wild rumors, you really should question the source. Hint: Daily Kos isn’t impartial and has nothing to do with professional journalism. All who are questioning the Palin’s baby, might be interested to read this from the Anchorage Daily News:
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:tSKBWIMMOSsJ:www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/382560.html+palin+downs+syndrome+baby&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=us
The rabid left has proven exactly how worried they are that McCain/Palin will steal Obama’s thunder.

Concerned in Ohio,
Your cynical comments are of great concern to me. The intention of my post was quite simple: to show McCain’s choice for what it is — a racist ploy. If you understand the thrust of my post, it is the exact opposite of your conclusion: white women like me should not simply vote for McCain because he put a white woman on the ticket. I also raised a secondary issue: somehow we have come to a point in America where the unique struggles of black people in this country are equated with issues facing other groups in society, including white women, Asians, Hispanics, etc. When viewed in a historical context, the election of an African American male is more significant than the election of a white woman.
As a woman, I support the idea of a female president. However, I am not fooled or taken in by some of my female colleagues in their attempt to equate our concerns with the concerns of the descendants of slaves. At the same time, I do not believe that you should vote for Obama because he is black. His blackness for me is a personal characteristic, like white hair is for John McCain. No, I (as I hope all intelligent white female voters) will base my vote on the issues and not on some cynical political ploy.
If you are truly concerned in Ohio, then please do the same.

At least having attended the University of Idaho, Palin, unlike Dan Quayle, probably knows how to spell “potato.”
“Yup, yup,” she’s ready on Day 1. NOT.
Someone better explain to her before she takes up residency in the lower 48, that it is illegal down here to shoot wolves and bears from helipcopters and aircraft that she is so strongly an advocate of doing.
Also she better find a way to get Joe Lieberman to go along with her wishes to trash the Artic National Wildlife Refuge.
Not this time.

Senator McCain’s vice presidential pick has now almost vanquished any chance of me voting for him this year. It is so utterly hypocritical and politically motivated in my view, that I can barely take anything seriously the Republicans tell me from hence forth.
Their criticism of Obama is now worth nothing as the aged senator expects us to take him at his word that the potential that Governor Palin has displayed over the past year or so is reliable enough to entrust her with the presidency should he incapacitated or die during his next term. Which, btw, is not a long shot idea, seeing as McCain IS ONLY 5 YEARS AWAY FROM THE AVERAGE US LIFE EXPECTANCY!

I find it very curious that the old man picked this neophyte hockey mom and big oil shill, after it has come out that she was a staunch advocate of Pat Buchanan, in the 2000 Presidential campaign. It got my attention.
Since becoming Governor she has spent much of her time traveling outside the state lobbying for drilling in ANWR. That and getting herself pregnant.

One of Sarah’s underlying issues is that so, so many of the people who surround her view her as a sort of messiah: come to clean house and bring ethics and morality back to Alaska – and then, poof – to the nation (as V.P.) and one day as president. Earth to Died in the Wool Palin Supporters: We already have a Messiah – and He’s doing a fine job.

carl29 -President McCain, Vice-President Palin. Get over it.

Some person keeps taking down my blogs about the dangers of abortion on the mother’s health. I’m going to keep posting this so that people are informed.
DANGERS:
Hundreds of women in the U.S. have died from complications that are common from abortions and this is under doctors that may legally perform abortions.
Common side effects of abortion include ruptures in the uterus and cervical inflammation. Cervical inflammation may lead to Pelvic Inflammatory Disease and Cervical Cancer. Cervical Cancer is one of the more deadly cancers for women.
There is a 50% increase in chances of breast cancer for those who have had an abortion.
30% of women who have an abortion become infertile. The majority of these women want a child in the future just not at the present time.
There is a 200% increase in miscarriages.
There is a 400% increase in ectopic pregnancy.
This is information that the U.S. Supreme Court has deemed “not relevant to the woman’s decisions, and hat it may serve only to confuse and punish her and to heighten her anxiety.” That is why many of those who go in for abortions are unaware of the dangers. Their doctors don’t tell them because the Supreme Court does not want this information being known.

7yrs of backups??? don’t kid yourselves
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2008-07-24 18:45.
I’m a systems administrator for the state, and I assure you it is not only possible, it’s sickeningly easy for one person with Exchange and Zantaz (the state’s email archiving system) Admin rights to delete any and all traces of any email. They use single instance storage, one right-click and delete then email in that mail store is deleted. Repeat for 6-12 times more for other mail stores said mail might exist and it’s done. Delete the Zantaz archive of the email, and even a legal search couldn’t turn it up. In addition they don’t have 7 months of backups of email much less 7 years. Also, think about it Annette Kreitzer, the commissioner of DOA controls the state’s email systems and archiving solution. She’s been fingered for involvement concerning efforts to get Monegan to wrongfully fire Wooten, she’s also known in the state as Sarah’s most furvent supporter. All it would take, is for her to demand Anand Dubey (ETS director, and consumate ‘yes-man’) to delete any trail and ‘poof’ it’s gone! Corruption in the state is nothing new…but you’re right, purposefully removing an email trail to cover-up dirty laundry is felonious, but I assert anonymously it’s happened many-many-many times before.

“Unlike Senators Biden and Obama, Senator McCain had a life before he entered professional politics. ”
Certainly did. Graduated at the bottom of his class at the Naval Academy, would have flunked out except for his family connections, went on to crash three airplanes, was a POW, returning to cheat on his wife, and have an affair with a beer distributor’s daughter. Was made a vice president of the company by her daddy, and put into office with her funds.
Went on to back Charles Keating in his 3.5 billion dollar Saving and Loan fraud, and then his biggest accomplishment- lobbying for the invasion of Iraq because of oil.
Yup, he had a life alright. Just not one that would make him a good President.
Not this time

I am not surprised by the lack of responses to the substantive points that I made in my posts. The truth is sometimes hard to swallow. However, the McCain campaign itself has indicated that they expect Palin to help him among lower income female voters in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania. In addition, Palin herself made references to Hillary Clinton’s glass ceiling and to Ferraro (who herself during this campaign has called Obama an affirmative action candidate who is not qualified) in her initial speech. Get real folks. With this pick, McCain is calling lower income white women without a college education (a polite way of saying racist white trash) to a race war veiled in the tattered clothes of the white feminist movement. On what other basis are these traditional voters going to support Palin — her record?
Some have cynically asserted that black people support Obama because he is black. Early data from the election dislcaim that conclusion. Black support of Obama was slow to develop (perhaps that is why Bill Clinton campaigned so hard in the South as the “first black president”).
But even if this assertion were correct, is it then correct to equate white women’s support for Palin with blacks’ support of Obama? There are several reasons why the answer to that question is no, not the least of which is that blacks who support Obama AGREE with Obama’s policies and believe that an Obama presidency will help the plight of black people in America. Will the white female Democrats (life-long in many cases) who vote for McCain do it because they agree with his policies and believe that a McCain presidency will help the plight of women in America?

Help me get this straight. . .
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2008-07-24 17:52.
The Governor used $50,000 plus of the people’s money on her public relations campaign nation-wide and she doesn’t have a handle on things here at home? Or was the $50,000 contract for PR for the Shadow Governor? Only the Shadow knows . . . . stay tuned for the next episode.

The plot thickens…
Will Palin be able to survive this cataclismic revelation, or will she become DNC fodder?
“Tune in next week, same moon>bat time, same moon>bat channel.”

Jane Oh please, you’re right you can use and Planned Parenthood sanctions “present” votes- but 140 times? And the purpose of those “present” votes is to block bills
and to do so where you don’t need to take the political risk and vote up or down. What about the 6-7 times he mixed up the big green button vs. the big red button and said afterwards that he voted this but really meant to vote that and that he pushed the wrong button. Senators have been in office in Illinois alot longer then Obama who’ve never made that mistake once and he did 6-7 times? And where was Obama’s voice on the Senate floor those first two years in regards to Iraq? He said nothing and opposed setting timelines and withdrawal until he decided to run for President. He went out and campaigned for pro-war Lieberman over Lamont, he has a VP now who voted right along with McCain. Where was Obama while McCain was calling Rumsfeld the worst Secretary of Defense in American History? and when he called Cheney and idiot? When he attacked the Bush administration’s incompetence in waging a war that you and I would both agree shouldn’t have been waged in the first place? Why did he stand on the podium in Berlin as ask our Europen allies to support us as we wage George W’s war on terror in Afghanistan? The war moving to Afghanistan is still George W’s war on terror not Obama’s new thinking outside the box.

Chuck Considering Palin ousted a bunch of Republicans I don’t think I’d put too much stock in an Alaskan Republican Senator until you know her background.

“10 years as mayor, 8 years as
governor, 2 years as ambassador
add up to zero.”
And yet another child left behind. Darn that Bush!

Brilliant pick by McCain to get Hillary voters. What Obama doesn’t realize is that women aren’t just about Roe vs. Wade – they make decisions with their heart, not based on just practical considerations like men. Women want another woman to make up for Hillary getting passed over by Obama, and this pick will even the score. Women will flock to the republican ticket now. Obama has shown himself to be a sexist, and women can see this and will punish him now.

“She’s not prepared to be governor; how can she be prepared to be vice president or president?” said state Senate President Lyda Green, a Wasilla Republican who told the Anchorage Daily News that she at first thought news of Palin’s selection was a joke.

Mr./Ms. Moderator, why do you keep deleting this question; is there something you’re trying to hide? Again:
There is an interesting story floating around that Governor Palin’s daughter may be Trigs mother, along with photos. Is there any truth to this?

“What about the 6-7 times [Obama] mixed up the big green button vs. the big red button and said afterwards that he voted this but really meant to vote that and that he pushed the wrong button.”
—-
It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that Obama’s spent most of his official life trying to avoid leaving ANY kind of record with which ANYone can disagree.
Meanwhile, MoveOn — which last week tried to get its “members” to demand AP reporter Ron Fournier be fired — is acting as the hatchet-man on Palin #calling her “dangerous”, among other things#, while the candidates exclaim over how cute she is.

Belle My favorite is Obama’s not being able to make the Kyle Lieberman vote, the vote which would open the door to an aerial attack on Iran the equivalent of the Iraq vote. The vote that designated the Iranian national guard a terrorist group, which by the way Obama has publicly agreed with.
But Obama couldn’t show up that day to vote because he said he was at a rally
(which he wasn’t) and then he said he didn’t know they were going to vote on it that day. So now he’s put himself in a position where he has no vote cast to hold him accountable on and he will tell us all, if Bush were to involve us in an aerial attack on Iran, that his judgement was no on that vote. Everything he said prior would indicate a yes on that vote but I’ve already heard him and his camp when he was up against Clinton saying his judgement was right on Kyle and hers was wrong
(she voted yes and tried to pass a bill with Webb shortly after which would require Bush to get Congressional approval before a strike on Iran which guess who quietly squashed that bill?
Pelosi). At least a CLinton showed up, stood up, cast her vote and was willing to take the risk and the consequences of her vote which is more then can be said about Obama. Obama=symbol of change. McCain and Palin have records of change.

How would McCain know what kind of leader Sarah Palin is since he barely vetted her! It’s quite apparent that McCain’s judgement fits into a thimble. P.S. Does McCain know what the VP does???? Howard Gallas, Reno, NV.

So – on the one hand we have Palin who took on coruption in Alaska – and on the other hand we have Biden – a person that is a demonstrated plagairizer. Palin wins. And then we have McCain – with a lifetime of service to his country, and Obama, who was “present” for the better part of 2 years. McCain wins. But just for fun, lets compare Palin and Obama. Palin lead a Ship of State for the same amount of time as Obama was “present” in the senate. Palin has more experience than him. Give it up. Obama/Biden are losers for losers. Don’t be a loser. Say yes to America and no to Obama.

Maybe if Democrats are nice they’ll ask Palin to replace Barack as presidential nominee. She has more balls, that’s for sure.

Things that make you go hmmmm:
WASHINGTON – Cindy McCain said Sunday that Republican vice presidential pick Sarah Palin understands what’s at stake in national security issues in part because she is governor of Alaska, whose borders nearly touch Russia’s.
The wife of soon-to-be GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain also said she’s “offended” by Democrats calling her husband elitist because of the number of homes their family owns.
Asked about Palin’s credentials, Cindy McCain told ABC-TV’s “This Week:” “The experience that she comes from is with what she’s done in the government. And also, remember: Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia. So, it’s not as if she doesn’t understand what’s at stake here.”

OOH Obama was a community organizer! How is Chicago doing these days? Gee how is Alaska doing these days? I’ll take the Governor of Alaska. Oops I forgot she is the # 2 on the ticket not # 1.
Obama is a joke. He should try running for dog catcher. I think he’s qualified.

this woman only was a mayor for a town that is the size of a high school football field.i in charge of a navy platoon larger than that.

I will trust Sarah Palin, but i will never trust Obama.

OMG Your shock about Palin’s interview a couple weeks ago is only shocking because who you think McCain is , is most likely not the real McCain independents want to see more of and that the far right and the neo-cons hate.

And Obama has run something the size of an EMPTY football stadium…NADA experience -except as a professional candidate( no thanks I’ll take the lady!)

for crying out loud, i am so sick of the obama haters talking about his lack of experience. does anyone has any experience in the white house running this country? HELL NO! just because you’re a gov. doesnt mean you can run a country. doesn’t mean you will make an excellent president. hell bush sr. had a whole lot of white house experience and was a lousy president and so is his son who was the gov. of texas. this experience crap needs to stop NOW! if your educated, meet the requirements to become a president, and no prison record, then i say go for it.

Palin is the most reckless, egotistical, over the top, downright irresponsible choice that McCain could have made. He’s had CANCER four times. He could croak anytime. This Palin has only been overseas once in her life. She is under investigation for corruption. She was mayor of a small town of 6500 until 1.5 years ago with her main responsiblity being to reside over the parade and beauty contest. She is far more radical right than even George Bush.
McCain proves with his vp pick that he is willing to put short term political gain in front of his country. He just right now on the news listed Palin being in the PTA as a reason why she’s ready to be President of the USA!!!!!
McCain needs a checkup from the neck up. I don’t want someone so completely unqualified to be so close to the nuclear trigger.
Imagine her sitting across from Putin? He’d talk to her for five minutes and invade Poland.

Yes Elizabeth, Midshipman McCain finished 5th from the bottom at Annapolis. Do you know what they call the person who graduated at their class in medical school? I’ll give you a hint, it’s called “doctor.” Do you even know where your favorite physician was stack-ranked?
Further, do you understand the curricula within a service academy? Do you realize that things like cleanliness of room, serviceability of uniform, and strict adherence to orders, ANY legal order, no matter the function/applicability/or sense are part of what determine your class rank.
Do you understand that the service academies have the strictest honor codes known? Do you know that *plagiarism* at Annapolis would not get you a lower grade – it would get you expelled and a dishonorable discharge. I’ve no idea what the honor code is at UD or Syracuse Law, that said – I do know that it’s shallow to openly focus on John McCain’s class standing, given that the Dem VP selection has been routinely questioned about his familiarity with plagiarism – including in Law School. Thus, it’s entire conceivable that if Mr Biden where in a school that focused on “character” it would be questionable if he would have had ANY class standing.
And yes, the Keating 5, or what is really the Keating 3. Are you aware that the Dem led investigation cleared two of the falsely accused – Senators John McCain and John Glenn, a Democrat? Do you know that the three who were found complicit were ALL Democrats? Do you know that after the investigation, one of the three found complicit, DeConcini, was actually appointed by President Clinton to the board of directors for FreddieMac ??
Senators McCain and Glenn were accused of exhibiting poor judgment, though not unanimously by the Senate Ethics Committee. However, to correct that “judgment” Senator McCain reached across party lines and together drafted the McCain-Feingold Act, which defines all campaign financing regulations for federal elections.
I ask you please, cite me one reference of even *marginal* consequence where either Senators Obama or Biden have reached across the aisle to sponsor anything beyond “National Lawnmower Day,” or the like.
That sound of crickets chirping is not only in your head, it’s in the heads of all disciples of the Obamasiah.

Obama in 2002 said that Iraq would devolve into a civil war and that Shia and Sunni wouldn’t be able to live together. (This is one Bush didn’t know the difference between the two. ) Obama said at the time, as he was running for Senate, “I’m not opposed to all war, I’m opposed to a dumb war.”
Obama passed the first major ethics reform in a generation in the U.S. Senate, being the reason candidates cannot take corporate jets for free.
Obama passed the nuclear non proliferation bill, to gather up rogue nukes in Eastern Europe. A landmark bill.
Obama was the first African America editor of the Harvard Law review, and turned down over 700 corporate job offers out of college to organize his community in Chicago and become a civil rights attorney.
He’s a well respected constitutional law professor at Columbia.
He’s devoted his life to helping those less fortunate than he.
Meanwhile, Sarah Palin graduated from Idaho State University with a C average in Journalism.
She was a beauty queen, second runner up.
She has expressed no interest in foriegn policy as mayor of her tiny town of 6500.
She’s never been on a national news broadcast like Meet The Press EVEN ONCE.
She is woefully unprepared to step in and take over for McCain if his skin cancer returns.

“Miss Congeniality” aka “the Barracuda,” versus thirty years of foreign relations experience and chair of the United States Senate foreign relations committee.
A C- student from the University of Idaho, who was a part time sportscaster at a tiny radio station, a part time city council person in a tiny town, a part time Mayor in the same tiny town, and a part time newly elected Governor in an uninhabited state run by Exxon and BP versus a statesman who has run the Senate Judiciary committee, and the Foreign Relations committee for many years, and who is very well acquainted with the leaders of the world.
What was the old man thinking? His “soulmate,” is going to turn out to be his “bad dream.”
Please don’t do this to us, Mr Custer.
Please.

Lucas,
Please provide a reference to the statement he made about consequences of his actions?
I would suspect what he was saying is that he would not let the consequences he personally/politically/professionally may suffer cloud his judgment to make the correct choice. i.e., choosing based on ones convictions – not based on how carrying out those convictions may impact your career.
This is a stark contrast to one who chooses to abandon their convictions for the purpose of political expediency. Examples of which may be voting “present” on an amazing number of bills, more recently – abandoning your conviction to vote to approve the new FISA bill – irrespective of the ad nauseum diatribes of how you may be opposed and would never support.
As an officer, you know you know the type of man you would want to follow (or at least deity, I hope so) – the one looking out for what’s right for “him”, or the one looking out for what he believes is right for us.

McCain listed Palin’s executive experience: governor, council member, mayor, PTA. Make sure you get to the bottom of that PTA executive assignment!

Lisle,
Absolutely correct on the history of “The Pledge of Allegiance.” But you do accept the presence of the word “God” and “Creator” being present in “The Declaration of Independence.”
I believe the term “founding fathers” refers to those responsible for the declaration, those leading the battle, those who wrote “The Articles of Confederation”, and those who participated in The Philadelphia Convention.
Given this, Gov Palin is correct – whether she knew it or not. The use of the word “God” was acceptable to the founding fathers – at least for something thats a non-binding document – I wouldn’t argue that the Pledge is binding.
That said, Oaths are binding – and all I’m aware of in this country include the term “God” …whether I like it or not.

There is a lot of interesting info that does not add up with Sarah Palin. There was a photo of Sarah Palin in front of the “family seaplane” in Vogue. Ok, then I go and look up who licensed pilots are in the FAA database at and I find that Sarah Palin’s husband is listed there with a designation for a Single Engine Land rating, not a Single Engine Sea rating as would be required for a seaplane. So what is it? Is the FAA’s database wrong or is Sarah Palin’s husband flying illegally?

Palin left her tiny city with $20 in debt, and pushed for the “bridge to nowhere”. She’s no fiscal conservative.
Can’t wait to see the “hockey mom” leader of the free world.

twisted What exactly has Obama done?
He spent the first year looking at a Presidential run and the rest of his not completed first term running for President. He’s spent his one and only US Senate term either prepping or running for President. So other then sitting in meetings with Axelrod and his team thinking of strategies to convince people such as yourself that he has a long list of accomplishments, what has he really done?

Lucas,
Yes, I agree Senator Obama was a great “grass-roots” story. I agree that he did give-up a lot of money he would have earned at a big law firm. His community involvement is admirable and what I think is right with this country. That said, his long time involvement with the religious groups in Chi make his “I never knew Rv Wright said those things” defense more than a little suspect.
I think it’s when he was transitioning from the grass to the marble where he adopted the “me” focus. While I’m aware of no proof,
After that, records indicate calculation, and an aversion to professional risk.
His “present” voting record in the IL senate is difficult, if not impossible to interpret as being for the common good.
His caves on campaign finance reform and most especially FISA are impossible to interpret as someone with convictions. The former is bitter on multiple fronts – at Saddleback, Sen Obama listed his efforts to cross party lines to work on campaign finance legislation as his LONE example of bipartisanship.
Once he had effectively eliminated the competition of Sen Rodam, he wasted zero time returning to his partisan nature and backing out of his pledge. And his justification – too funny, that the current campaign finance laws were too ineffective.
Are we all supposed to believe that the Magna Cum Laude Harvard Law Review ^Constitutional Scholar^ was not aware that the campaign finance laws were *EXACTLY* the same when he broke his pledge as they were when he made it?
Once again, it benefited “Him” so he made the choice – irrespective of supposed convictions he claimed to hold.

Lucas said -
“It has always been about “John” as evident by his training records, his life driving corvettes, heavy drinking, and one night stands.”
What you describe is the custom character definition of a fighter pilot.
Let’s look at the creme de la creme of fighter pilots from that era – those dashing fighter jockeys we call astronauts.
I know each of the original seven all drove vettes. I believe the same is true for the new nine and beyond.
While some certainly held to convictions of staying faithful and limiting the booze, many were cursed with zipper problems and a work hard/play hard lifestyle. Many also crashed in training and transport operations – some fatal.
Are you seriously telling me that because our Mercury/Gemini/Apollo astronauts exhibited many of the same traits that they were mediocre pilots and someone unfit to lead? Seriously?

Yup, yup, she really has the experience. Alaska is close to Russia, that really counts, got her first passport in 2007 to go to Kuwait to visit the Alaskan National Guard, PTA, City Council, Mayor of a small town and governor for less than two years. A republican state representative from Alaska said yesterday that she wasn’t even qualified to be governor, let alone VP. Pro-life, not even in case of rape or incest, doesn’t believe in birth control, doesn’t believe in evolution. Doesn’t know what the VP does, called Hillary a whiner, currently under investigation by her state legislature. Yup, yup, she’s a real winner!!

cynicism,
Senator Obama only agreed to limit himself to public campaign financing, if his opponent would agree to reign in the 527 smear machine that Republican groups used to slime John Kerry.
There is also a huge loophole in these laws that allow the RNC and DNC to spend as much as they want. Since the Republicans have huge access to large corporate lobby funds, the DNC is at a distinct disadvantage.
John McCain abandoned public financing after agreeing to it during the primaries. With his big corporate fat cats now on board sending millions to the RNC he can “afford” to take the tax payers money. He knew he would never be able to approach Senator Obama’s grass roots efforts so he did what he had to do- as did Senator Obama.

Choosing Palin was a cynical attempt at tricking people into thinking McCain is progressive. I voted for him in the 2000 primaries. Who he is now is a mystery, and Palin is bait on a hook. Let’s see which midwest housewives take the bait and think a choice for her is a feminist choice.
I’ll take a chance on Obama.

ame another Governor who has been elected in a mostly uncontested contest, from a mostly uninhabited state- served for 18 months and then been nominated for Vice President. She is a hockey mom, PTA member, part time mayor and tool for big oil. In addition she is under investigation for ethics violations.
Not this time.
Posted by: Ann
Why don’t we ask he ex brother-in-law who
is being harassed by her and her husband.
Abusing her authority by using employees,
state money and time in getting him booted
off of the state police force.

McCain told a bold-faced lie that he should be called on. Palin became mayor in the late 90′s. Obama was elected to the state senate in the late 90′s. He was not an organizer while she was in office as McCain stated abv. Although he may have been an organizer while she was in the PTA.

McCain has been talking up
his choice of VP 24/7.
She must be a really poor
choice if he has to talk
her up so much.

From what I’ve read, there is still plenty of work for Governor Palin to do right there in Alaska:
In the 2008 Dept of Education report only 65.9% of Alaska’s public schools are making adequate yearly progress, and only 59.6% of the students are graduating.
Alaska’s unemployment rate is up to 6.9% as of July 2008 (which in 1.2% higher than the US average), and is up from the 6.2% it was in July 2007.
17% of the Alaskan population is uninsured.
And, the teen birth rate is 37 per 1000 of population.
Looks to me like that money she handed back to the people of Alaska might have given her a nifty approval rating; but, is she truly looking out for the welfare of her constituents?

Sen McCain,
You are belittling Sen. Barrack Obama. He is the next President of the United States of America.

What about the judgement to SERVE the people who elected her RATHER than the people who are crooks . What about the judgement to take the risk of ending a career and do what is Right and moral . What about the judgement to stand up to the Big Old Boys for the small town people . Those are judgements that Obama does not have as his record show and those are judgements that only a person with STRONG SPINE has . I say these are judgements we need more than anything else . These judgements trumph experiences in a big way , and yes , this lady DOES have more executive experiences than Obama . What is the point of us electing someone who lines his pocket rather than works for us to make sure that Washington is Clean ? I say this lady gets the only kind of judgement that is required of a public servant , to SERVE THE PUBLIC AND NOT THAT PARTY !

Amy T Gee, Pelosi and company did so well these past 4 years in Congress also. They have a 9% approval rate in comparison to Bush’s 30% approval rate
(which has gone up but was never 9%).
I kind of recall Obama is part of that waste called Congress. Actually I take that back, he missed most of his votes because he spent the first year doing exploratory committees to see about a Presidential bid and the rest of his first term campaigning for President.
His contribution was so extremely minimal in the Senate his first term that I guess we can give him some slack when partioning out blame.

McCain assumes Americans are stupid.
Obama assumes Americans are intelligent.
Vote for how you would like to be viewed. Americans are not stupid, but they can, like all people, be deceived and misled. How? By people who appeal to their anger and fear, their animal and less rational side.

Maccain Country Last

As a woman Sarah Palin makes me very, very afraid. She does not understand one of the basic principles our country was founded on…separation of church and state. I truly believe she was forced on John McCain by the right wing conservative religious right of the Republican party. They would be thrilled if McCain got elected and then something happened to him. Nothing would make them happier than having a right wing nut running this country. She makes George Bush look like a liberal. As a woman and mother of a daughter I believe she would take the women’s movement back 40 years. No choice, no equal pay, be submissive to your husband, creationism in public schools. I have never so afraid of a candidate in my life. I think Abraham Lincoln would be appalled to see what today’s Republicans have done to his party.

Amy Said:
“Looks to me like that money she handed back to the people of Alaska might have given her a nifty approval rating; but, is she truly looking out for the welfare of her constituents?”
Yep – that is the quintessential ideology difference we are dealing with here. Where the left believes you are incapable of making any decision in your own best interest, and thus – Govt must do it for you.
Gov Palin decided that each individual can better make decisions for what is in their best interest.

Cynicism101…the Republicans are so big on being “Pro-life”. Unfortunately once the babies are born they don’t want to help those mothers (or fathers)take care of those children. They are against equal pay for women, don’t want to raise the minimum wage, are against unions, don’t want to provide affordable healthcare, and don’t want to help them get an education. So as far as I’m concerned the Republican party should be called the Hippocrite Party. They want to condemn people morally but have no interest in truly helping people. If they really cared about children they wouldn’t have voted against every bill to help children have a better life.

I’m amazed that American’s can be so easily duped in falling for McCain’s gimmick. Country first, please. People do your research….McCain has missed more votes in the Senate this year than anyone else. He hasn’t been in the Senate since Apri & he has zero executive experience. To argue that military service is “executive” is absurd. Palin’s outstanding record? What record? She has been Governor as long as Obama & McCain have been running for President. A 20 month “maverick”? Mayor of a little town of 8,700 people doesn’t qualify one to be VP. To qualify as VP one has to qualify to be president, period. Obviously Palin has no credentials to lead this country. This is not a liberal or conservative issue- its about the importance of preserving the integrity & competency of the Vice Presidency for the safety & success of America. Being a 72 year old heart beat away from being the leader of the free world is serious business. Adding an incompetant rookie to the ticket endangers us all & makes a mockery of the VP office.

McCain is either out of his mind or loosing his mind and demented if he said Palin is a better leader. I have lost all respect for McCain. He is in his terminal stages of his political career and I am glad that he lost to Bush in 2000, because McCain would have been a worse President.

Some statements are so rediculous on their face that they need no respose. This is one of them.

McCain and Palin have a son in the Army and Obama has a speech in 2002 , oops 2 speeches one in 2002 and one in 2008.
- A McCain Democrat from MA

My daughter is the leader of her girls scout troop. That does not make her qualified to run the GSA National association. I find it amazing that people have such strong and convincing opinions on her qualifications when they no nothing about her. Stop being clones America! Repeating talking points on both sides does nothing to true debate in our country!

And now Sen. McCain claims to be a mind-reader. Perhaps he needs remedial
mind-reading.
“Obama? thinks Iran? is a minor? irritant????” McCain declares!
Perhaps the reality is that Obama says what he thinks, and McCain thinks what he says.

McCain has recklessly chosen an unqualified clone and is either irresponsibly gambling with America’s future or too senile to grasp the enormity of his abysmal selection for Vice President. Seventy-two year old McCain President/Palin Vice President – Can anyone imagine a greater threat to our security and prosperity?

Obama’s twisted logic that merely running for office provides him with the qualifications, experience and credentials to perform in that office, is as laughable as his twisted logic that a whirlwind 9 day, six country, overseas photo op qualifies him as an expert on foreign policy. Obama is an empty suit who is obviously trying to create the illusion that he is something that he is not. If its a choice between an experienced mayor and Governor, with an approval rating of 80% for V.P. versus. a community organizer, and junior senator, who spent most of his time in office running for President … I choose Palin. No Wright, no Farrakahn, no Ayers, no Rezko, no mean Michelle, NOBAMA