Author Topic: The Sarah Palin VP announcement  (Read 21834 times)

Peter Ahlstrom

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The Sarah Palin VP announcement
« on: August 30, 2008, 12:08:06 AM »
This seems discussionworthy. I had never heard of her before this morning, but now I am kind of excited. She's such a shocking choice.
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Necroben

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Re: The Sarah Palin VP announcement
« Reply #1 on: August 30, 2008, 02:35:28 AM »
I agree.  Party line politics and gender aside, what are her qualifications for the job of VP?  Just so there’s no misunderstanding, I don't care what party she's in, or that she's female; I have nothing against a woman in office, of any kind.  But, being the Gov. of Alaska for two years?  How does that help?  How can we know she will do the right job?  Moreover, in the event of the President dieing, we would then have Sarah Palin as President, with little or no experience.
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Re: The Sarah Palin VP announcement
« Reply #2 on: August 30, 2008, 04:17:21 AM »
I can't really tell what I think yet.  It certainly is an interesting choice.
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Re: The Sarah Palin VP announcement
« Reply #3 on: August 30, 2008, 04:34:34 AM »
I'm really NOT excited about this year's election. I honestly cannot decide which buffoon would be worse for this country.

They both come with such low qualifications that I may have to vote on the quality of their running mates.....


As for this lady. It is an interesting pick. It's nice to see women getting more visibility in presidential elections, but I am not voting on which person should be in office based on their sex or race. If she is a qualified person of decent moral fibre, then its a good choice. If not, its a bad choice and feminists be hanged. :D

If anyone has any info on her I'd be interested to hear it.
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Miyabi

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Re: The Sarah Palin VP announcement
« Reply #4 on: August 30, 2008, 04:59:04 AM »
I would most definitely have wanted Biden to be Pres.  He is so much better than any of them.
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CthulhuKefka

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Re: The Sarah Palin VP announcement
« Reply #5 on: September 01, 2008, 06:43:01 AM »
In my opinion, she was a purely political pick by the McCain camp to attract a bulk of the extremely fanatical Hillary supporters who would vote for a woman just because she is a woman (please keep in mind that there ARE people like this out there and it is not something I personally relish bringing up, but it is the truth). I fully support a woman to be president if she wishes.

Personally, I don't think she is very bright. I mean, in one video I saw she pretty much came out and said she has no idea what the VP actually does...so yeah lol. Take into account that she's already under federal investigation for "abuse of power" while Governor of Alaska and certain other things about her that I dislike (she once asked her town library if they could live with censored books, something I am vehemently against).

She has been the Governor of a state with less that 600k people for less than two years, before that she was a small town mayor. She has little to no foreign policy experience, and if McCain's health should worsen (nothing against him, but he is extremely old and does have his bouts with lots of illness) I don't think she would make a very good president.

Her pick was either a brilliant ploy by the GOP or its fatal mistake.

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Re: The Sarah Palin VP announcement
« Reply #6 on: September 01, 2008, 07:20:03 AM »
I agree.  Party line politics and gender aside, what are her qualifications for the job of VP?

There aren't any qualifications to be vice president.  It's pretty much the least important job in existence.  You sit in on Senate meetings, if you can make them, and cast a tie-breaking vote, which is astronomically unlikely.  The office of the First Lady has more power than the office of the vice president.

The only reason it would be even remotely important is if

a) the president is likely to rely on the vice president for advice or to bureaucratically assign power, like the Bush administration has

or

b) the president dies, resigns or is impeached and removed from office.  I guess McCain is seventy-two, and much more likely to die in office (especially if he were elected for two terms) than most American presidents.  So his VP choice might warrant more importance than Obama's (of course, Obama would be much more likely to have attempts on his life due to his race.  I hate to say it, but it's just the truth).  But, in general, the vice president is completely unnecessary and pretty honestly unimportant.

It's really a shame somebody gets paid for that.
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Reaves

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Re: The Sarah Palin VP announcement
« Reply #7 on: September 01, 2008, 02:41:10 PM »
yeah i was gonna say something like that. I mean when Theodore Roosevelt was in politics but before he was actually president, his rivals actually wanted him to get the post of VP. They considered it a dead-end job which would go nowhere. Of course, they didn't foresee what would happen next but the fact remains the VP basically does nothing but look good on TV.
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Re: The Sarah Palin VP announcement
« Reply #8 on: September 01, 2008, 04:55:17 PM »
There are no DEFINED qualifications to be VP. . . but there are understood ones.   Basically they need to be able to deal with politics and potentially be president.  If they can't do that. . . then they shouldn't be VP.
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darxbane

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Re: The Sarah Palin VP announcement
« Reply #9 on: September 02, 2008, 01:51:24 PM »
Since we're talking qualifications here, how would anyone be more nervous about a vice presidential candidate (Palin) with two years experience as a Governer (which at least is an administrative position), but have no issue with a Presidential candidate with only three years experience in the Senate?  Unless McCain dies his first year in office, Palin will gain experience as second in command, which is more than most people have.  I also love how people take things out of context.  When Palin said she didn't know what the VEEP's job was, she meant that she didn't want to just sit around and have lunch with Senators all day, she wanted to get some work done.

It's funny, everyone says they want a candidate who is different, but only if that different type of politician is in the correct party. 
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Miyabi

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Re: The Sarah Palin VP announcement
« Reply #10 on: September 02, 2008, 03:18:51 PM »
I like the concept of change no matter where it comes from, but Governing a state is no where near the experience needed on 'Capital Hill'.  Senatorial jobs at least provides you with experience of what happens in Washington on a day to day basis.
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Necroben

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Re: The Sarah Palin VP announcement
« Reply #11 on: September 02, 2008, 05:05:42 PM »
Well in my research to find out just what A VP does, I’ve found out that they do… nothing.  Well they only do what the President allows them to do.  This historically is nothing of importance in the governing of the United States.  That being said I have to agree with darxbane.
Since we're talking qualifications here, how would anyone be more nervous about a vice presidential candidate (Palin) with two years experience as a Governer (which at least is an administrative position), but have no issue with a Presidential candidate with only three years experience in the Senate? Unless McCain dies his first year in office, Palin will gain experience as second in command, which is more than most people have. I also love how people take things out of context. When Palin said she didn't know what the VEEP's job was, she meant that she didn't want to just sit around and have lunch with Senators all day, she wanted to get some work done.

It's funny, everyone says they want a candidate who is different, but only if that different type of politician is in the correct party.
I would rather have someone who has the executive experience vs. legislative to be in a position to take the helm.
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Re: The Sarah Palin VP announcement
« Reply #12 on: September 03, 2008, 01:00:13 PM »
In my opinion, she was a purely political pick by the McCain camp to attract a bulk of the extremely fanatical Hillary supporters who would vote for a woman just because she is a woman (please keep in mind that there ARE people like this out there and it is not something I personally relish bringing up, but it is the truth). I fully support a woman to be president if she wishes.

I think this is kind of a knee jerk reaction and not at all likely to sway a significant voters. And I'm dead certain the the high muckety mucks in the GOP know that. Thus I can't believe this is the case.

The die-hard Hillary voters were primarily feminist. And no feminist is going to vote for a pro-lifer, be it a woman or not. So no, I think this is not the case at all

My biggest problems with Pallin are this:
1) hypocrisy. Republicans have been making a *huge* deal about experience with Obama, yet they choose a newcomer for VP. Makes me ill. Makes me angry. Makes me stabbity.
Note this is not a problem with PALLIN being a hypocrite, just every Republican (most of them) who made a big deal about Obama's lack of experience and is now suddenly excited about the McCain ticket. Shows they were grasping at straws. Sticks in my craw a bit, y'know?

2) Her daughter. Look, I'm not pure. I've got nothing against Pallin because she had a daughter who had sex, or even got pregnant. I applaud her that she and her daughter decided to carry the baby to term. It's what I think should be done. However. The girl is 17. She's *marrying* the father?! doubleyoo tee eff. Really. Toooooo young. The baby should be given for adoption, not forced into a family with underage parents that will probably only last a couple years (statistically).
And yes, I admit the following is speculation: I really wonder how much of this the girl is doing by choice. Would she have made the choice for an abortion? Would she have never married the guy? would she prefer to give the child up for adoption? Or is all this happening because her mom was being vetted for VP? I try to think that people are trying to do the right thing, but I can't help but think that "the right thing" got confused here with "what will improve my chances for being selected and then elected?" Like I said, this paragraph is pure speculation, but I can't get myself past it.

I don't know that either of those issues would prevent me from voting for her, but there' still there and pretty big. Hard to get around.


Oh, and experience?

Abraham Lincoln, arguably the greatest president this nation has had (he always makes the top 5 list when a historian makes one), had only 8 years of experience, AS A STATE SENATOR, and only TWO as a U.S. Senator before he led this nation through the biggest crisis it ever had (yes, bigger than September 11, bigger than Katrina, bigger than everything in the last 8 years COMBINED). Let's listen to what the candidates will DO rather than worry about what their experience is. People who say things about "experience" are, imo, simply trying to find something to be wrong with candidates. I dismiss these criticisms as invalid and, at best, fuzzy muddying of the actual issues.

darxbane

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Re: The Sarah Palin VP announcement
« Reply #13 on: September 03, 2008, 04:01:46 PM »
Experience may not be required to become president, but it certainly can't hurt.  Moreover, it helps voters choose if they are able to look into the candidate's past and view actions.  Words are meaningless; every politician talks about change and new this and we are gonna fix that (they of course leave out how most of the time).  I want to see proof of change, and I certainly can't trust someone who avoided several key votes in the Senate so he could stay clean for his presidential campaign. 

Besides, why are we even comparing Palin and Obama?  Did everyone forget that Palin is the Vice-Presidential candidate?  By this rationale, I guess Obama should drop back to VP and let Biden be the pres nominee.  You can't compare the two because they are going for different jobs.
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